Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev poses for a portrait in 2009. The former president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev Gorbachev had humble beginnings: He was born into a peasant family in Privolnoye on March 2, 1931. Here, he is with his parents in Privolnoye. The former president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev Gorbachev with his maternal grandparents, Panteley and Vasilisa Gopkalo, circa 1937. The former president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev Far-right Gorbachev poses for a photo with his classmates, circa 1947. The former president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev Gorbachev, wearing the hat, is shown with classmates in the 1940s. The former president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev Gorbachev, who appeared here in 1984, joined the Communist Party in 1952 and completed a law degree at Moscow University in 1955. By the late 1960s, he had risen to the top of the party hierarchy in the Stavropol region. The former president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev Gorbachev and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher pose for a photograph in London as they meet in December 1984. Thatcher once called him “a man to do business with”. The former president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev Gorbachev, front center, attends an International Women’s Day gala in Moscow in March 1985. He became a full member of the Politburo in 1980 and rose to the top of the party in 1985. This effectively made him leader of the Soviet Union. The former president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev Gorbachev follows pallbearers carrying the coffin of his predecessor as Soviet leader, Konstantin Chernenko, in Moscow’s Red Square in March 1985. The former president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev Gorbachev and US President Ronald Reagan hold a historic “fireside chat” in Geneva, Switzerland, November 1985. The two have held a series of summit talks. The former president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev Gorbachev and Reagan attend the closing ceremony of the Geneva Summit in November 1985. The former president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev Gorbachev and his wife, Raisa, are welcomed in Prague, Czechoslovakia in April 1987. The former president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev Gorbachev visits Bucharest, Romania in May 1987. The former president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev Gorbachev waves during a parade in Moscow in November 1987. The former president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev Gorbachev talks with Reagan at the start of a summit in Washington, DC, in December 1987. The former president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev Gorbachev and Reagan sign an arms control agreement in December 1987 that bans the use of intermediate-range nuclear missiles. The former president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev Gorbachev shakes hands with businessman—and future US President—Donald Trump at the US State Department in December 1987. It was before a luncheon in Gorbachev’s honor. The former president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev Gorbachev shows Reagan around Red Square during Reagan’s visit to Moscow in May 1988. The former president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev Gorbachev, bottom right, and members of the Politburo vote to remove Andrei Gromyko, bottom center, as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet in October 1988. Gorbachev would then succeed him in the role. The former president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev Gorbachev visits New York with Reagan and US Vice President George HW Bush in December 1988. The former president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev A Moscow woman and her cat watch Gorbachev’s New Year’s message in December 1988. The former president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev Gorbachev and Cuban President Fidel Castro wave during Gorbachev’s visit to Cuba in April 1989. The former president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev Gorbachev greets East German leader Erich Honecker after his arrival in East Berlin in October 1989. The former president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev Gorbachev addresses a group of business executives in San Francisco in 1990. The former president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev Coretta Scott King presents Gorbachev with the Albert Einstein Peace Prize in June 1990. The former president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev Gorbachev gives a speech after receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in June 1991. He was awarded “for his leadership in the peace process that today characterizes important parts of the international community.” The former president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev Gorbachev shakes hands with Bush, then president, in Moscow in July 1991. The former president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev Gorbachev rubs his eyes while speaking in Moscow in August 1991. He threatened to resign if the Soviet Union collapsed. That month, hardliners in his country staged an uprising while Gorbachev was on vacation in Crimea. Boris Yeltsin, the president of the largest Soviet republic and a staunch critic of what he considered Gorbachev’s half-way reforms, came to Gorbachev’s rescue, confronting and defeating the coup plotters. The former president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev Gorbachev held a press conference the day after his return from the Crimea in August 1991. He had been held captive in his dacha by coup plotters who were trying to remove him from power in order to stop his policies of economic reform. The coup plotters had publicly stated that Gorbachev was stepping down due to ill health. Here, Gorbachev holds a crumpled note he had hidden on his body to explain what really happened in case he was killed. The former president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev Gorbachev closes his resignation speech after delivering it on Soviet television in December 1991. Across the Soviet Union, republics—one after another—declared their independence. Shortly after his speech, the Soviet hammer and sickle flag was lowered from the Kremlin and the white, blue and red flags of Russia were raised in its place. The former president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev Gorbachev and Reagan spend time together at Reagan’s California ranch in May 1992. Both were no longer in office. The former president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev From left, Bush, Gorbachev and former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl attend a ceremony at Prague Castle in 1999. They were among six former world leaders awarded the Order of the White Lion, the Czech Republic’s highest state award. The former president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev Gorbechev bows his head at Reagan’s funeral in June 2004. The former president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev Gorbachev talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin before a press conference in Germany in December 2004. The former president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev CNN founder Ted Turner and Gorbachev answer questions during a United Nations press conference in 2005. Gorbachev presented Turner with the Alan Cranston Peace Prize later that day. The former president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev Gorbachev shakes hands with a member of Green Cross International during a tour of New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward in 2007. Gorbachev founded Green Cross International, an environmental organization. The former president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev Gorbachev and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon shake hands at UN headquarters in Europe in 2009. The theme of the day was “resetting the nuclear disarmament agenda”. The former president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev Gorbachev appears on stage during the finale of the Gorby 80 Gala in London in 2011. The concert celebrated Gorbachev’s 80th birthday.
