Who is Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal?
Mongolian first prime minister (1952–74) Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal was born in 1916. He was the longest-serving leader of any Eastern Bloc country, serving over 44 years in office until he ousted from power in August 1984. His rise in the party hierarchy began with Party’s secretary in 1940.
Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal remained as head of the party until 1984, except for a period (1954–58) when he was replaced by Dashiin Damba. Once gained highest position, He started to purge political opponents or others deemed to be threats to his power. His autocratic style of rule was sided with the Soviet Union’s foreign policy and relied on Mongolia’s large northern neighbor for military security and for nearly all of its foreign trade.
His wife was Russian woman Anastasia Filatova who was very influential woman in Mongolia. Tsedenbal Yumjaa was responsible for introducing the Cyrillic alphabet in the 1940s to replace the traditional Mongolian script. In June 1974 Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal was elected chairman of the Presidium of the People’s Great Khural (the national legislature), thus formally becoming Mongolia’s head of state. By his increasing use of purges against his opponents. Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal was ousted from power in August 1984 while he and his family were in Moscow, and he remained there in exile and in poor health until his death.