Let’s Learn about the Cold War: Part 25 – Mikhail Gorbachev Published Nov. 25, 2015 By Senior Airman Sean D. Smith Minot Air Force Base Public Affairs MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. -- After the death of Leonid Brezhnev in 1982, the Soviet Union had two interim leaders. The first was Yuri Andropov, who had previously been prominent in Soviet intelligence. Andropov died in 1984, and Konstantin Chernenko took over, only to die 13 months later. The eighth and final leader of the Soviet Union was Mikhail Gorbachev, a man who came from a poor, agricultural background in Ukraine. Gorbachev took a degree in law and graduated from Moscow State University in 1955. He was active in the Communist Party from that point onward. After his election as General Secretary, later to become President of the Soviet Union, Gorbachev instituted dramatic reforms during his brief time in power. Gorbachev's aim was to bring back the Soviet economy and repair relations with the West -- but this couldn't be done without substantial changes to the fundamental systems of Soviet society. Gorbachev changed his government's structure from the inside, modernizing and liberalizing the Communist Party, and making way for a future in which a multi-party state could take shape. In many ways Gorbachev picked up where Nikita Khrushchev had been forced to leave off in 1964, continuing the process of de-Stalinizing the USSR. Laws were enacted to allow private ownership of businesses, encouraging a form of private-sector enterprise that had previously been impossible. Gorbachev lessened control of the press and allowed far more free speech. Political prisoners were released, and Gorbachev pursued a policy of openness and debate. Gorbachev himself freely admitted to the similarities between his policies and the Prague Spring, which had been crushed by the Soviet Union only 20 years earlier. Gorbachev succeeded in reforming the Soviet government, and laying the groundwork for a more modern and liberal society. Just as Khrushchev had, Gorbachev ran into considerable resistance with his policy, and his popularity suffered because of it. By transferring power away from the government and handing it back to the people, Gorbachev set in motion the events that would dramatically slow down his plans for modernization, and ultimately bring about the end of the Cold War. Next time: The Dissolution of the Soviet Union