Algirdas Brazauskas

Brazauskas was born in Rokiškis, Lithuania. He finished Kaišiadorys High School in 1952 and graduated from Kaunas Polytechnic Institute in 1956 with a degree in civil engineering. He later served as a Conscript sailor in the Soviet Navy, serving as a Fire controlman on board the Riga-class frigate Rosomacha until 1960.[1] In 1967, Brazauskas started working in the Governmental Planning Committee, as a Committee's head's assistant. In 1974, Brazauskas received PhD in economics.

He divorced his first wife, Julia, with whom he had two daughters; he married Kristina Butrimienė in 2002.[2]

He took various positions in the government of Lithuanian SSR and Communist Party of Lithuania since 1965:

• 1965–1967, the minister of construction materials industry of Lithuanian SSR
• 1967–1977, deputy chairman of State Planning Committee of Lithuanian SSR.
• 1977–1987, secretary of Central Committee of Communist Party of Lithuania.

Vytautas Landsbergis and Algirdas Brazauskas in March 1990

In the 1980s, he transformed himself from a Communist Party apparatchik to a moderate reformer. He was seen as cautious by nature, and when confronted by the tide of nationalist feeling in the Soviet Union, Brazauskas initially believed that the USSR might be reconstituted as a looser federation of independent, but communist, states. In seeing the tide of an independent democracy, he joined the reformist cause observing in 1990 that "We are realists now, and we cannot be propagating any utopian ideas. It's no secret [that] the Communist Party has a dirty history."

In 1988, he became the first secretary of the Communist Party of Lithuania. Under his leadership, the majority of the Communist Party of Lithuania supported the Lithuanian independence movement, broke away from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and transformed itself into social-democratic Democratic Labour Party of Lithuania (now merged into the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party). Brazauskas was Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet (head of state) from 15 January until 11 March 1990.

Though he sought to avoid a breach with Moscow in 1989, as leader of Lithuania's Communist Party, he formally severed the party's links with Moscow. This was rare in that no other local communist party organizations in the former Soviet Union dared to take this step. Some historians and journalists have later suggested that this act was the earliest certain indication of the inevitability of the demise of the Soviet Union.[2]

After the 1992 parliamentary elections, he became speaker of the parliament and acting President of Lithuania on 25 November 1992. He then won the presidential election with 60 percent of the vote and was confirmed as president on 25 February 1993. He immediately suspended his membership in the Democratic Labour Party; the Constitution does not allow the president to be a formal member of a political party during his tenure. He decided not to seek reelection, and handed the presidency to his successor, Valdas Adamkus, on 25 February 1998.

Brazauskas said he planned to retire from politics and wanted to be "an ordinary pensioner." During the initial two years in retirement he wrote on a book, though it was incomplete. He said he would continue writing it after his second stint in government. He also said he would finish "household work" and that he likes physical work. He added that "I have no estates, but the property I own needs to be put in good order." He wanted to live "in a way that other people live."[3]

Algirdas Brazauskas was honored with the various decorations, among others the Order of Vytautas the Great with the Golden Chain, Grand Cross Order of Vytautas the Great.[6] Days before his death Russian President Dmitry Medvedev awarded Brazauskas with the Order of Honour for his significant contribution to cooperation between Russia and Lithuania and good neighborly relations.[7] Brazauskas was also an honorary member of the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation.

Commemorative Lithuanian Post stamp (2012)

Brazauskas was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer in December 2008.[8] He died on 26 June 2010 from cancer, aged 78.[9][10] At the time of his death, he was still considered an influential figure in Lithuanian politics.[2]

Following his death the obituaries wrote of him that he had a "frame to match his indefatigable stature and a calm but commanding presence that could fill any stage."[11] His successor as president, Valdas Adamkus, said that he "dared to decide which side to choose in a critical moment."

Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė said "The memory of the first directly elected president of Lithuania after it restored its independence, of a strong and charismatic personality, will remain for a long time in the hearts of the Lithuanian people."[10]

• Media related to Algirdas Brazauskas at Wikimedia Commons
• Quotations related to Algirdas Brazauskas at Wikiquote
• ALGIRDAS MYKOLAS BRAZAUSKAS - Lietuvos Nepriklausomybės Akto signataras (in Lithuanian)