Who is Andrei Gromyko from Thirteen Days; a Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis and what is their importance?

The Soviet Foreign Minister who meets with President Kennedy late afternoon Wednesday, claiming Cuba and the USSR wanting "peaceful coexistence" and how the Russians are only assisting Cuban agriculture and providing a few defensive arms but no offensive weapons. The U.S. should stop threatening Cuba. Astonished but admiring such boldness, JFK says firmly that the USSR is fomenting discord and making it harder for him to maintain in public that no action is required against Cuba.