Fyodor Kulakov | |
|---|---|
Фёдор Кулаков | |
 Kulakov in 1972 | |
| Head of the Agricultural Department of the Central Committee | |
| In office 16 November 1964 – May 1976 | |
| Preceded by | Vasily Polyakov |
| Succeeded by | Vladimir Korlov |
| First Secretary of the Stavropol Regional Committee of the Communist Party | |
| In office 25 June 1960 – 16 November 1964 | |
| Preceded by | Nikolai Belyaev |
| Succeeded by | Leonid Efremov |
| Full member of the 24th, 25th Politburo | |
| In office 9 April 1971 – 17 July 1978 | |
| Member of the 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 25th Secretariat | |
| In office 29 September 1965 – 17 July 1978 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 4 February 1918 near Penza, Penza Governorate, Soviet Russia |
| Died | 17 July 1978 (aged 60) Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union |
| Resting place | Kremlin Wall Necropolis, Moscow |
| Citizenship | Soviet |
| Nationality | Russian[1] |
| Political party | Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1940–1978) |
| Profession | Agronomist[1] |
Fyodor Davydovich Kulakov (Russian: Фёдор Давыдович Кулаков) (4 February 1918 – 17 July 1978) was a Soviet statesman during the Cold War.
Kulakov served as Stavropol First Secretary from 1960 until 1964, immediately following Nikita Khrushchev's ouster. During his First Secretaryship in Stavropol, Kulakov met Mikhail Gorbachev; Kulakov became Gorbachev's mentor, and when he left his Stavropol First Secretaryship to enter national politics, Gorbachev took over his former office. Kulakov was elected to several important seats in the 1960s. In 1971, he was elected to the Politburo. He became a leading figure of Soviet leadership, and impressed Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev to such an extent that Western commentators believed that Kulakov would become Brezhnev's successor. This did not happen since Kulakov died in 1978, four years before Brezhnev.