Political Career
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.
In 1988, he became the first secretary of the Communist Party of Lithuania. Under his leadership, 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 to 11 March 1990.
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% of the vote, was confirmed as President on 25 February 1993, and served until 25 February 1998. He decided not to seek reelection, and retire, in 1998 and was succeeded by Valdas Adamkus, who won the 1998 election.
Read more about this topic: Algirdas Brazauskas
Famous quotes containing the words political and/or career:
“... whatever men do or know or experience can make sense only to the extent that it can be spoken about. There may be truths beyond speech, and they may be of great relevance to man in the singular, that is, to man in so far as he is not a political being, whatever else he may be. Men in the plural, that is, men in so far as they live and move and act in this world, can experience meaningfulness only because they can talk with and make sense to each other and to themselves.”
—Hannah Arendt (1906–1975)
“From a hasty glance through the various tests I figure it out that I would be classified in Group B, indicating “Low Average Ability,” reserved usually for those just learning to speak the English Language and preparing for a career of holding a spike while another man hits it.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)