Appointment and the 26th Congress When
Alexei Kosygin resigned in 1980, Tikhonov, at the age of 75, was elected the new
Chairman of the
Council of Ministers. During his five-year term as premier Tikhonov refrained from reforming the
Soviet economy, despite all statistics from that time showing the
economy was stagnating. In his presentation to the congress, Tikhonov admitted that
Soviet agriculture was not producing enough
grain. Tikhonov called for an improvement in
Soviet–US relations, but dismissed all speculations that the Soviet economy was in any sort of crisis. Despite this, Tikhonov admitted to economic "shortcomings" and acknowledged the ongoing "food problem"; other topics for discussion were the need to save energy resources, boost labour productivity and to improve the quality of Soviet produced goods. Early in his term, in January 1981, Tikhonov admitted that the government's
demographic policy was one of the weakest areas of
his cabinet.
Under Andropov and Chernenko (left) and
Yuri Andropov in 1983
Leonid Brezhnev awarded Tikhonov the
Hero of Socialist Labour, after being advised to do so by
Konstantin Chernenko. Upon
Brezhnev's death in 1982, Tikhonov supported Chernenko's candidacy for the
General Secretaryship. Chernenko lost the vote, and
Yuri Andropov became General Secretary. It has been suggested that Andropov had plans of replacing Tikhonov with
Heydar Aliyev. Historian William A. Clark noted how Aliyev, a former head of the Azerbaijani
KGB, was appointed to the
First Deputy Premiership of the Council of Ministers without Tikhonov's consent; however, Andropov's death in 1984 left Tikhonov secure in his office. Some Western analysts speculated that the appointment of
Andrei Gromyko to the First Deputy Premiership, again without Tikhonov's consent, was a sign that his position within the Soviet hierarchy was weakened. Tikhonov was on a state visit to
Yugoslavia when Gromyko was appointed to the First Deputy Premiership. With his health failing, Andropov used his spare times to write speeches to the
Central Committee. In one of these speeches Andropov told the Central Committee that
Mikhail Gorbachev, and not Chernenko, would succeed him upon his death. His speech was not read out to the Central Committee plenum because of an anti-Gorbachev
troika consisting of Chernenko,
Dmitriy Ustinov and Tikhonov. During Andropov's last days, Tikhonov presided over the
Politburo sessions, headed the 1984 Soviet delegation to the
Council for Mutual Economic Assistance conference in
East Berlin, conducted
bilateral relations with the
Eastern Bloc states, and hosted the
Prime Minister of Finland when he visited the Soviet Union. In short, in-between Andropov's last days and Chernenko's rise to power, Tikhonov was the dominant driving figure of the Soviet Union. However, Tikhonov peacefully stepped away, and supported Chernenko's candidacy for General Secretary. When Chernenko died in 1985, Tikhonov tried, but failed, to find a contender to Gorbachev's candidacy to the General Secretaryship.
Gorbachev and resignation Upon Gorbachev's ascension to power, Tikhonov was elected chairman of the newly established Commission on Improvements of the Management System. The title of chairman was largely honorary, and its
de facto head was its deputy chairman,
Nikolai Ryzhkov. On 23 May 1985 Tikhonov presented his development plan for 1985 to 1990, and up until 2000, the plan was criticised by co-workers, and Gorbachev told his colleagues that Tikhonov was "ill-equipped" for the Premiership. Tikhonov forecast estimated growth of 20–22 percent in Soviet national income, an increase of 21–24 percent in industrial growth and doubling
Soviet agriculture output by 2000. of the Politburo, Tikhonov was compelled to retire. His resignation was made official at a Central Committee plenum in September 1985. It is noteworthy that by the time of his resignation, Tikhonov was the oldest member of the
Soviet leadership. Tikhonov was active in Soviet politics, albeit in a much less prominent role, until 1989 when he lost his seat in the Central Committee. ==Later life and death==