Mikhail Gorbachev
BORN 1931

If you ever need help dismantling communism, Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is your man. He was general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991 and president of the Soviet Union from 1990 to 1991.

Gorbachev's glasnost politics brought the Soviet Union down on its knees. He triggered the end of the Cold War and openly supported the collapse of communism in eastern Europe. Non-communist people were delighted and gave Mikhail the Nobel Prize for Peace. The year? 1990. Forty years earlier Mikhail was a cheerful driver of a combine harvester on a communist farm.

What had changed? Everything.

Gorbachev practiced a policy of openness, Russian: glasnost, which meant major economical and political reforms for the country. Now people were allowed to express their opinions and openly discuss governmental actions.

It followed a policy of restructuring, Russian: perestroika, which meant that the time had come for communism to meet democracy and capitalism.
 

COMBINE HARVESTER IN ACTION

In 1987, Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan agreed to destroy all intermediate-range nuclear missiles. In 1988, Gorbachev pulled Soviet troops out of Afghanistan. Biggest feat of all: In 1990, Gorbachev agreed to the reunification of East with West Germany. The Berlin Wall came down.
 

OFF TO DINNER:
RONALD, NANCY, MIKHAIL, AND RAISA
WASHINGTON, 1987

Consequently, parts of the Soviet Union were seeking independence. Avalanche-like, things happened very fast. The Soviet Union was dissolved the same day Mikhail Gorbachev resigned his presidency.

Boris Yeltsin kept the candle lit for Russia.

MIKHAIL GORBACHEV BRIEF BIOGRAPHY
1931 Birth at Privolye, Stavropol kray, Russia, U.S.S.R.
1946 Joins Young Communist League
1952 Enters Law School at Moscow State University; joins Communist Party
1953 Marries Raisa Maksimovna Titorenko
1955 Graduates with law degree
1970 First secretary of the regional party committee
1971 Becomes member of Communist Party
1978 Secretary of agriculture of Communist Party
1979 Joins Politburo
1985 General secretary of the Communist Party
1988 Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet
1990 President of the U.S.S.R.
1991, July - Signs START I
1991, August 19 - 21 - Put under house arrest by old-school communists; back to president duties right afterwards
1991, December 25 - Resigns as president of the Soviet Union

About Raisa Gorbachev
Raisa was born in Siberia. The year? 1932.

Raisa studied philosophy and became Russia's First lady. Thanks to Mikhail's glasnost policy Raisa made many public appearances. The West was delighted, the East not so much.

Raisa died of leukemia in Germany. The year? 1999.

GorbacheV CONTROVERSY
Mikhail Gorbachev might or might not have been involved in the attempt on the Pope's life in 1981. He said he wasn't.