Podgorny, Nikolay Viktorovich

Podgorny, Nikolay Viktorovich (1903-1983), Soviet Communist leader, who served as titular head of state of the USSR from 1965 to 1977. He was born at Karlovka in the Ukraine, and was educated as a food industry technician in Kiev. He joined the Communist party in 1930 and was made Deputy Commissar of the Ukrainian and USSR food industries during World War II. After the war he advanced through the party ranks, becoming a full member of the Politburo in 1960. Succeeding Anastas Mikoyan as President of the USSR in 1965, he was removed from that position in favour of Communist party leader Leonid Brezhnev in 1977, at which time he was also dropped from the Politburo.