Mikhail Gorbachev President

Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (/ˈɡɔrbəˌtʃɔːf, -ˌtʃɒf/; Russian: Михаи́л Серге́евич Горбачёв, tr. Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachov; IPA: [mʲɪxɐˈil sʲɪrˈɡʲejɪvʲɪtɕ ɡərbɐˈtɕɵf] (13px ); born 2 March 1931) is a former Soviet statesman. He was the eighth and last leader of the Soviet Union, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the country's head of state from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991 (titled as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet from 1988 to 1989, as Chairman of the Supreme Soviet from 1989 to 1990, and as President of the Soviet Union from 1990 to 1991). He was the only general secretary in the history of the Soviet Union to have been born after the October Revolution.Gorbachev was born in Stavropol Krai into a peasant Ukrainian–Russian family, and in his teens operated combine harvesters on collective farms. He graduated from Moscow State University in 1955 with a degree in law. While he was at the university, he joined the Communist Party, and soon became very active within it. In 1970, he was appointed the First Party Secretary of the Stavropol Regional Committee, First Secretary to the Supreme Soviet in 1974, and appointed a member of the Politburo in 1979. Within three years of the death of Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, following the brief "interregna" of Andropov and Chernenko, Gorbachev was elected General Secretary by the Politburo in 1985. Before he reached the post, he had occasionally been mentioned in Western newspapers as a likely next leader and a man of the younger generation at the top level.Gorbachev's policies of glasnost ("openness") and perestroika ("restructuring") as well as summit conferences with United States President Ronald Reagan and his reorientation of Soviet strategic aims contributed to the end of the Cold War, removed the constitutional role of the Communist Party in governing the state, and inadvertently led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union. He was awarded the Otto Hahn Peace Medal in 1989, the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990 and the Harvey Prize in 1992, as well as honorary doctorates from various universities.In September 2008, Gorbachev and business oligarch Alexander Lebedev announced they would form the Independent Democratic Party of Russia, and in May 2009 Gorbachev announced that the launch was imminent. This was Gorbachev's third attempt to establish a political party, having started the Social Democratic Party of Russia in 2001 and the Union of Social Democrats in 2007.

Personal facts

Alias (AKA)	Горбачёв Михаи́л Серге́евич (Russian); Gorbačëv Mihail Sergeevič (alternate transliteration); Gorbachyov Mikhail Sergeyevich (alternate transliteration)
Birth date	March 02, 1931
Birth place	Russia , Soviet Union , Stavropol Krai , Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic , Privolnoye Krasnogvardeysky District Stavropol Krai
Nationality	Russians
Religion	Atheism
Education	Moscow State University
Spouse	Raisa Gorbachova
Profession	Lawyer

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Politician

deputy	Anatoly Lukyanov Vladimir Ivashko Yegor Ligachev
office	Member of the Secretariat Candidate member of the 25th Politburo Full member of the 25th 26th 27th 28th Politburo
other party	Communist Party of the Soviet Union Social Democratic Party of Russia
party	Union of Social Democrats Independent Democratic Party of Russia
successor	Executive (government)
vice president	Gennady Yanayev