Russian and Soviet politician who served as the last leader of the Soviet Union. As the country’s head of state from 1988 to 1991, he served as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet from 1988 to 1989, Chairman of the Supreme Soviet from 1989 to 1990, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991, and President of the Soviet Union from 1990 until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Ideologically, Gorbachev initially adhered to Marxism–Leninism, but he moved towards social democracy by the early 1990s.
He succeeded Konstantin Chernenko as General Secretary of the Communist Party on 11 March 1985. He served as a party official for 22 years before his appointment as Agricultural Secretary in 1978, after which he soon became part of the Kremlin’s inner circle. He indicated a desire for peaceful coexistence with the west, and signed an Arms Treaty with President Reagan on 8 December 1987, 2:02 PM EST, Washington, DC. On 15 October 1990, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
He met his wife Raisa when they were both university students; they had one daughter born in 1957. Raisa was born on 5 January 1932 in Rubtsovsk, Siberia. They had, to all appearances, a particularly devoted marriage. Raisa died of leukemia on 20 September 1999.
Mikhail Gorbachev died on 30 August 2022 at age 91 in Moscow after a long illness. At the time of his death, Gorbachev was the longest-lived ruler of Russia in history.
Link to Wikipedia biography