Gorbachev, Mikhail (1931–)

Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev, born March 2, 1931, was the leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991 and is known as a social, political, and economic reformer.

Mikhail Gorbachev was elected secretary-general of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1985. Once in office, Gorbachev initiated strategic reforms for the Soviet Union by relying on glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring).

Reforms included banning the sale of alcohol to reduce worker alcoholism, releasing prominent Jewish dissidents, and allowing the press to publish details about the Chernobyl (Ukraine) nuclear disaster. His meeting with U.S. President Reagan in Reykjavik, Iceland, in 1986 led to the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) the next year. He promoted reform in politics by adding multicandidate (not multiple political parties) elections, and he allowed for some privatization in manufacturing. For his reforms, Gorbachev was Time magazine's 1987 Man of the Year.

Gorbachev called for the creation of a presidential position to lead the Soviet Union and for a new parliament (Congress of People's Deputies). In late 1988, he was elected chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. In 1989 Gorbachev withdrew the Soviet troops from Czechoslovakia and Afghanistan. Around mid-1989, Gorbachev was elected president of the Soviet Union, and by the end of the year, the Berlin Wall was dismantled.

Gorbachev enjoyed mixed successes in 1990. For his reforms, he was selected as Time magazine's Man of the Decade (1980s). In March 1990, Gorbachev was reelected president of the Soviet Union at the Third Congress of People's Deputies and continued his call for economic reform, but he feared social disorder among the people and aborted his plan for a market economy. His reform policies, the rise in the Soviet republics' nationalism, and some governmental instability were becoming the instruments for the future demise of the Soviet Union. In October 1990, Gorbachev won the Nobel Peace Prize for ending the Cold War.

In mid-August 1991, Gorbachev survived a 3-day coup d'état by Soviet hardliners—the State Committee for State Emergencies—which included several high-ranking anti-reform governmental officials. Immediately after the failed coup, the Soviet Union spiraled downward. Gorbachev suspended all activities of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and he dissolved the KGB, the Soviet secret service agency. By September, 11 satellite republics had defected from the Soviet Union and declared their independence.

December 1991 signaled the end for Gorbachev and the Soviet Union. As a result of the newly formed Commonwealth of Independent States, an economic federation of equally sovereign independent nations, the Soviet Union became redundant. On Christmas Day, 1991, Gorbachev resigned as president, and the Soviet Union was dissolved.

With his political career over, Gorbachev continued to play a major role in world affairs through the Gorbachev Foundation and Green Cross International. In 1996, he failed to restart his political career after running for president of Russia and receiving about 1% of the vote. In 2001, he founded the Social Democratic Party of Russia, but resigned in mid-2004 after disputes with ranking internal party leaders.