Mikhail S. Gorbachev, Reformist Soviet Leader, Is Dead at 91!

Mikhail S. Gorbachev had a profound effect on his time: In little more than six tumultuous years, he lifted the Iron Curtain, transforming the map of Europe and the political climate of the world.

Credit:  Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times

Dear Commons Community,

Mikhail S. Gorbachev, whose rise to power in the Soviet Union set in motion a series of revolutionary changes that transformed the map of Europe and ended the Cold War that had threatened the world with nuclear annihilation, has died in Moscow. He was 91.

His death was announced yesterday by Russia’s state news agencies, citing the city’s central clinical hospital. The reports said he had died after an unspecified “long and grave illness.” As reported in The New York Times.

Few leaders in the 20th century, indeed in any century, have had such a profound effect on their time. In little more than six tumultuous years, Mr. Gorbachev lifted the Iron Curtain, decisively altering the political climate of the world.

At home he promised and delivered greater openness as he set out to restructure his country’s society and faltering economy. It was not his intention to liquidate the Soviet empire, but within five years of coming to power he had presided over the dissolution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. He ended the Soviet debacle in Afghanistan and, in an extraordinary five months in 1989, stood by as the Communist system imploded from the Baltics to the Balkans in countries already weakened by widespread corruption and moribund economies.

For this he was hounded from office by hard-line Communist plotters and disappointed liberals alike, the first group fearing that he would destroy the old system and the other worried that he would not.

It was abroad that he was hailed as heroic. To George F. Kennan, the distinguished American diplomat and Sovietologist, Mr. Gorbachev was “a miracle,” a man who saw the world as it was, unblinkered by Soviet ideology.

But to many inside Russia, the upheaval Mr. Gorbachev had wrought was a disaster. President Vladimir V. Putin called the collapse of the Soviet Union the “greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century.” For Mr. Putin — and his fellow K.G.B. veterans who now form the inner circle of power in Russia — the end of the U.S.S.R. was a moment of shame and defeat that the invasion of Ukraine this year was meant to help undo.

“The paralysis of power and will is the first step toward complete degradation and oblivion,” Mr. Putin said on Feb. 24, when he announced the start of the invasion, referring to the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Mr. Gorbachev made no public statement of his own about the war in Ukraine, though his foundation on Feb. 26 called for a “speedy cessation of hostilities.” A friend of his, the radio journalist Aleksei A. Venediktov, said in a July interview that Mr. Gorbachev was “upset” about the war, viewing it as having undermined “his life’s work.”

Without a doubt, he was one of the great leaders of our time and a hero for a generation of people!

Below is an excerpt from my memoir, The Computer Wasn’t in the Basement Anymore, describing his visit to New York City in 1988 when he stayed in the Russian embassy across the street from Hunter College.  At the time I was the Vice President for Administration at the College.

Tony


“In December 1988, New York City would be hosting a visit by the Soviet Union’s Premier Mikhail S. Gorbachev and his wife Raisa.  Because of the United Nations, New York was adept at  hosting the visits of foreign leaders.  Gorbachev, however, was not just any other foreign leader; he was the United States’ adversary in the Cold War.  In addition, Gorbachev had been hinting he would like to see the relations between the two major powers improve and he appeared willing and able to institute major reforms in the Soviet Union that could lead to true détente and more peaceful involvement with the West.

Hunter College was involved in some of the discussions regarding the logistics of his visit because the Soviet embassy was just across 67th Street from Hunter East. Furthermore, Hunter East was the tallest building on the same block of mostly modest-sized apartment buildings and was a natural place for staging Gorbachev’s security operation  since he would be spending a good deal of time at the embassy. The Hunter Security staff and I met with New York City police as well as representatives from the U.S. Department of State.  We were given a general briefing of Gorbachev’s visit and events. We were asked if the police could take over the roof of Hunter East, a request I granted immediately.  Every day of the visit, I would get a phone call or visit telling me which hours would be most important in terms of Gorbachev’s comings or goings to and from the embassy. We cooperated in any way we could and also posted our own security guards in the stairwells and entrances to the Hunter East roof.  Twice our guards stopped newspaper reporters who were looking to take photographs.

Gorbachev’s visit came off without a hitch and we were proud of the small part we played during his stay.  It should be mentioned that Gorbachev and his wife proved to be incredibly popular among New Yorkers. People lined the streets to see his 45-car motorcade day after day and warmly greeted them.  Gorbachev and his wife, without regard for their own safety, would make impromptu stops on Broadway, at Bloomingdale’s, on Times Square and the World Trade Center.  In the years immediately following this visit, the United States and the Soviet Union enjoyed a period  of cordial relationships culminating with the tearing down of the Berlin Wall in November 1989.”  (pp. 150-151)

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