Nikolai Alexandrovich Bulganin (Russian: Никола́й Алекса́ндрович Булга́нин, Nikolaj Aleksandrovič Bulganin; June 11 [O.S. May 30] 1895 – February 24, 1975) was a prominent Soviet politician, who served as Minister of Defense (1953-55) and Prime Minister (1955-58).
Bulganin was born in Nizhny Novgorod, the son of an office worker. He joined the Bolshevik Party in 1917, and in 1918 he was recruited into the Cheka, the Bolshevik regime's political police, where he served until 1922. After the Russian Civil War he became an industrial manager, working in the electricity administration until 1927, and as director of the Moscow electricity supply in 1927-31. From 1931 to 1937 he was chairman of the executive committee of the Moscow City Soviet.
In 1934 the Communist Party's XVII Party Congress elected Bulganin a candidate member of the Central Committee. A loyal Stalinist, he was promoted rapidly as other leaders fell victim to Joseph Stalin's Great Purge of 1937-38. In July 1937 he was appointed Prime Minister of the Russian Republic (RSFSR). He became a full member of the Central Committee later that year, and in September 1938 he became Deputy Prime Minister of the Soviet Union, and also head of the State Bank of the USSR.
During World War II Bulganin played a leading role in the government, and also in the Red Army, although he was never a front-line commander. He was given the rank of Colonel-General and was a member of the State Committee of Defense. In 1944 he was appointed Deputy Commissar for Defense, under Stalin, and served as Stalin's principal agent in the High Command of the Red Army. In 1946 he became Minister for the Armed Forces and was promoted to the rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union. He also became a candidate member of the Politburo of the Communist Party. He was again Deputy Prime Minister of the Soviet Union, under Stalin, from 1947 to 1950. In 1948 he became a full member of the Politburo.