Gregoriy Faustin (Napoleon's World)

Gregoriy Trofimovich Faustin (born October 19, 1928) was an Alaskan Liberal politician who served as Leader of the Liberal Party from 1980-1987, when he was replaced by Boris Molotov. A moderate, Faustin oversaw the return of the Liberal Party from its left-wing dalliances of the 1960s and 1970s to the "party of freedom and transparency" that it had been known as in the 1940s and 50s. He was first elected to his constituency in the 1962 election and served until 2002, when he retired. Following the resignation of Ivan Edmarovsky in 1980, Faustin contested the leadership of the Liberal Party and won.

After serving as Leader of the Opposition from 1980-82, the Liberals were replaced as Lead Opposition Party by Yuri Pushkin's Progress and Faustin was nearly toppled in a late 1982 leadership election. He survived, served as Shadow President of the Duma on two occasions, and eventually groomed charismatic and telegenic Lead Opposition Whip and Shadow Minister of Foreign Affairs Boris Molotov as his successor. Based on the "Blue Skies Plan" developed by Molotov, the Liberals gained 30 seats in the 1987 elections, the biggest shift of any party, and made them Lead Opposition Party once more. As a reward for his efforts, Faustin relinquished party leadership to Molotov and assumed the role of Shadow Minister of Finance and Party Chairman. Faustin played a key role in the negotiations over when to stage the next election in the early 1990s and in the first Molotov government (1992-1998) served as Minister of Finance, Party Chairman, Party General Secretary, Minister of Foreign Affairs and President of the Duma. He would serve as President of the Duma once again in 2000-2001 before relinquishing Cabinet posts to sit in the backbenches in the final months before his retirement.

Faustin was viewed as a conciliatory figure and as the opposition's lead negotiator with the Valenko government after the Liberals were consigned to junior party status within their coalition. Over his career, he formed many friendships with Conservatives, in particular post-1973, and he was once referred to by then-Conservative Party leader Yuri Ouronov as "the sensible one."