Anastas Mikoyan vs William Howard Taft

Mikoyan joined the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. This decision aligned him with Lenin's revolutionary movement, setting the course for his long political career in the Soviet Union.

Mikoyan was appointed People's Commissar for Trade of the USSR. He oversaw the implementation of Stalin's industrialization policies and the collectivization of agriculture, managing food supply and distribution.

During Stalin's Great Purge, Mikoyan was one of the few top Bolsheviks who survived without being executed or imprisoned. He continued to hold high office, demonstrating his political survival skills.

Mikoyan was appointed First Deputy Premier under Nikita Khrushchev. He played a key role in de-Stalinization and economic reforms, including the introduction of the sovnarkhoz system.

Mikoyan became Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, the nominal head of state of the USSR. He served until 1965, when he was forced to retire by Leonid Brezhnev.

Taft, a Republican, won the 1908 presidential election against Democrat William Jennings Bryan. Taft was handpicked by outgoing President Theodore Roosevelt as his successor, promising to continue Roosevelt's progressive policies.

Taft signed the Payne-Aldrich Tariff, which lowered some tariffs but raised others, disappointing progressives who wanted significant reductions. The tariff alienated Taft from the progressive wing of the Republican Party and contributed to the party split.

President Warren G. Harding appointed Taft as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, a position Taft had long desired. Taft served until 1930, becoming the only person to have held both the presidency and the chief justiceship.