Alexander Kerensky

by Mandy W. Gayathri J.

Alexander Kerensky was born in 1881 in Simbirsk, Russia which is now referred to as Ulyanovsk, Russia. In his youth Kerensky had joined the "Socialist Revolutionary Party" which was banned as subversive back then. In his teens, he became more involved in radical politics at St. Petersburg which was one of the major cities in Russia at that time. After his graduation from the University of Saint Petersburg, Alexander Kerensky began a legal aid office in the city. He told workers to stand up for their own rights and he would represent them without charging them a fee.

He married Olga Baranovskaya who was the daughter of an army officer in 1904. Later, he had a daughter named Tatiana and the royal family's tutor was named Pierre Gilliard.

During the revolution which was in 1905, Alexander served four months in the Kresty prison. He was arrested for a revolver found in his apartment which apparently belonged to his friend. In February of 1916 as Lenin was in Switzerland (while Russia was in revolt) was when Alexander Kerensky came to the rescue. Alexander Kerensky had gained his fame and fortune by becoming a trustful and understanding lawyer. He defended people who the Czarist Goverment had accused of revolutionary activities.

Before Kerensky became a part of the Provisional Government, which was also known as the democratic goverment, he spoke out against anti-semitism. He was the only Socialist member of the first Provisional Goverment. He had become the minister of justice, then he became the minister of war in early May and finally he became the Prime Minister (which of course was after a prince and landowner named Georgy Lvov.)

As the minister of war, Kerensky kept on fighting with Germany and Austria. Soon however, the terrible "July Days" occurred. Kerensky began to lose power and he eventually became noticeable at a huge political meeting called The Moscow State Congress in August. He and many other delegates (" who represented nearly every political persuasion in Russia but the Bolsheviks") had gathered around to discuss the rentlentless troubles Russia had been having lately.

Finally Kerensky could no longer handle it. It was then, however, the Bolshevik Revolution began in the October of 1917. In 1940 Alexander Kerensky had immigrated into the US. He became a staff member of the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace at Stanford University in California.