Anatoly F. Dobrynin, Longtime Soviet Ambassador to the U.S., Dies at 90

Anatoly F. Dobrynin, the Soviet ambassador to Washington from 1962 to 1986, whose behind-the-scenes diplomacy was credited by many historians with helping to resolve the Cuban missile crisis and ease tensions in the cold war era, has died, the Kremlin announced Thursday. He was 90.
Known to American colleagues as Doby, he served six Soviet leaders: Nikita S. Khrushchev, Alexei N. Kosygin, Leonid I. Brezhnev, Yuri V. Andropov, Konstantin U. Chernenko and Mikhail S. Gorbachev. In his 24 years in Washington — the most by far of any Soviet ambassador — he became dean of the diplomatic corps and worked with six American presidents and seven secretaries of state.
In later years, Mr. Dobrynin’s diplomacy covered much of the cold war: American and Soviet roles in Vietnam, strategic arms control talks, wars in the Middle East, summit meetings, Soviet invasions of Czechoslovakia in 1968 and Afghanistan in 1979, the downing of a Korean jetliner by Soviet warplanes in 1983, and other flash points.
Anatoly F. Dobrynin, the Soviet ambassador to Washington from 1962 to
1986, whose behind-the-scenes diplomacy was credited by many historians
with helping to resolve the Cuban missile crisis and ease tensions in
the cold war era, has died, the Kremlin announced Thursday. He was 90.
His tenure began in 1962 with the most dangerous confrontation of the
nuclear age. Khrushchev, gambling for strategic advantage, had set up
missile bases in Cuba, and President John F. Kennedy had blockaded
Soviet ships that were carrying missiles. As pressure on Kennedy to bomb
or invade Cuba mounted, his brother, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy,
met secretly three times with Mr. Dobrynin in October.
Those meetings were critical, enabling President Kennedy and Khrushchev
to communicate freely. After each, Mr. Dobrynin cabled Khrushchev, and
the attorney general briefed the president. Robert Kennedy later
disclosed that Mr. Dobrynin had remained calm through the crisis,
analyzing options and speaking carefully.
The solution to the crisis had two parts: a public American pledge not
to invade Cuba in exchange for withdrawal of the Soviet missiles, and a
private Kennedy agreement to withdraw obsolete missiles from Turkey and
Italy. Historians say that the latter was a face-saving device for
Khrushchev, and that the president wanted it private so that it would
not seem a concession to nuclear blackmail.
Anatoly Dobrynin, a Soviet diplomat who represented Moscow during the Cuban missile crisis and later in key superpower negotiations to curb the growth of nuclear arsenals, has died at age 90,
Anatoly Dobrynin, Soviet diplomat at centre of Cuban missile crisis, dead at 90
Anatoly F. Dobrynin, whose diplomacy is credited by many as having helped to resolve the Cuban missile crisis and subdue Cold War era tensions, died at the age of 90 on Thursday. He served as the Soviet ambassador to Washington from 1962 to 1986. Dobrynin was the singular channel for Soviet-American relations. Known to Americans as Doby, he served six Soviet leaders, spent 24 years in Washington, and became dean of the diplomatic corps while working with six American presidents and seven...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20100408/eu-obit-anatoly-dobrynin/
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/index?loc=interstitialskip
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatoly_Dobrynin
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/09/world/europe/09dobrynin.html
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.obituaries/msg/3f975ad2779575ff