Konstantin Chernenko
Videos
Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko was a Soviet politician who served as the de jure leader of the Soviet Union from February 1984 until his death in March 1985.
Chernenko in 1984
Chernenko as a Soviet frontier guard in 1930
Chernenko in 1962
Chernenko (left) posing for a photo with his longtime patron, Leonid Brezhnev, and Fidel Castro in 1981.
Mikhail Gorbachev
Videos
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev was a Soviet and Russian politician who was the last leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 until the country's dissolution in 1991. He served as General Secretary of the C
Konstantin Chernenko
…for most of his tenure. After leading the party for less than 13 months, Chernenko died on 10 March 1985 and was succeeded as General Secretary by Mikhail Gorbachev. Chernenko was born to a poor family in the Siberian village of Bolshaya Tes (now in Novosyolovsky District, Krasnoyarsk Krai) on 24 September 1911…
Gorbachev in 1987
Gorbachev and his Ukrainian maternal grandparents, late 1930s
Gorbachev on a visit to East Germany in 1966
Gorbachev (right) with his mentor Yuri Andropov in 1973