Mikhail Gorbachev

1931-2022

Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union who knocked down the Berlin Wall between East and West Germany died Tuesday according to Russian news agencies.

Gorbachev was leader of the USSR and forged treaties with the US and other Western nations. Along with Ronald Reagan, Gorbachev was the leading politician that ended the Cold War. He also ended Russia’s ten year war in Afghanistan and enacted reforms Perestroika and Glasnost which restructured the economy and tried to reenergize the stagnant economy that began in the 80s.

His reforms ultimately proved too little, too late, and when the USSR fell, he lost any political future as many citizens, including Putin, felt he capitulated to the western world.

While not beloved in his own homeland, Gorbachev was held in high regard in the western world and had a strong relationship with Margaret Thatcher and the aforementioned Reagan.

Gorbachev did run for president of Russia in the mid 90’s but only secured 1% of the vote and lost to Boris Yeltsin.

Time’s Man of the Decade in the 80s, Gorbachev had recently been battling acute diabetes. He was 91.

Photo courtesy of the BBC