Alexander Kerensky | |
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2nd Minister-Chairman of the Russian Provisional Government | |
In office 21 July 1917 – 7 November 1917 [8 July – 26 October 1917 Old Style] |
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Preceded by | Georgy Lvov |
Succeeded by |
Office abolished (Vladimir Lenin as Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars) |
Personal details | |
Born |
Alexander Fyodorovich Kerensky 4 May 1881 Simbirsk, Russia |
Died | 11 June 1970 (aged 89) New York City, New York, United States |
Resting place | Putney Vale Cemetery, London, United Kingdom |
Nationality | Russian |
Political party | Socialist Revolutionary (Trudovik Parliamentary breakaway group) |
Education | Saint Petersburg State University |
Profession | Lawyer, politician |
Alexander Fyodorovich Kerensky (Russian: Алекса́ндр Фёдорович Ке́ренский, IPA: [ɐlʲɪˈksandr ˈkʲerʲɪnskʲɪj]; 4 May 1881 – 11 June 1970) was a Russian lawyer and key political figure in the Russian Revolution of 1917. After the February Revolution of 1917 he joined the newly formed Russian Provisional Government, first as Minister of Justice, then as Minister of War, and after July 1917 as the government's second Minister-Chairman. A leader of the moderate-socialist Trudoviks faction of the Socialist Revolutionary Party, he was also vice-chairman of the powerful Petrograd Soviet. On 7 November, his government was overthrown by the Lenin-led Bolsheviks in the October Revolution. He spent the remainder of his life in exile, in Paris and New York City, and worked for the Hoover Institution.
Alexander Kerensky was born in Simbirsk (now Ulyanovsk) on the Volga River on 4 May 1881. His father, Fyodor Kerensky, was a teacher and director of the local gymnasium and was later promoted to Inspector of public schools. His mother Nadezhda's father was head of the Topographical Bureau of the Kazan Military District, and her mother, also first-named Nadezhda (meaning "Hope"; her patronymic last or "maiden" name was Kalmykova), was the daughter of a former serf who had had to purchase his freedom before serfdom was abolished in 1861. He subsequently embarked upon a mercantile career, in which he prospered, allowing him to move his business to Moscow, where he continued his success, becoming a wealthy Moscow merchant.