Frol Kozlov

Frol Kozlov (1908-1965), prominent Soviet official and protégé of premier Nikita S. Khrushchev. Frol Romanovich Kozlov was born of a peasant family in Loschinino, now in Ryazan oblast, Russia. He began work in a textile factory in Kasimov, rising to become assistant foreman. In 1928 he left the factory to study engineering at Leningrad University.

After joining the Communist Party in 1926, Kozlov rose slowly but steadily through a long series of governmental positions. In 1950 he was elected a deputy to the Supreme Soviet. He became party head of the Leningrad district in 1953, and in 1957 he was appointed to the Presidium (Politburo), the presiding body of the Supreme Soviet. Kozlov was made a first deputy chair of the Soviet Council of Ministers in 1958, the year in which Khrushchev formally became head of that body.

In May 1960 Kozlov was appointed a secretary of the Communist Party Central Committee (the primary governing body in the Soviet system), and in October 1961 he became Second Secretary of the Communist Party. In 1963 he suffered a serious stroke, and he remained in virtual retirement until his death.