Tikhon Khrennikov served as General Secretary of the Union of Composers of the USSR for 43 years. He was appointed by Stalin in 1948, when the resolution of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) “On the opera of V. Muradeli ‘The Great Friendship’” caused terrible damage to soviet music, and remained in office until 1991. The position of the head was eliminated along with the organization itself, in view of the disappearance of the Soviet Union. Later, a campaign against Khrennikov unfolded in the press: he was called to account for all the injustices in the field of music. He fought vigorously, published a book of memoirs, where he averted some accusations, although it was impossible to fully justify himself: it was he who was obliged to pursue party policy in the field of musical art. The character of the composer was clearly manifested in the reaction to the heated discussion caused by the premiere of the comic opera “The Naked King” on the stage of the Leningrad Maly Opera and Ballet Theater in 1988.