IV.

Soviet Leader

Gorbachev climbed to the top of the Communist hierarchy in an atmosphere of political intrigue and growing anxiety among the Soviet elite, who were concerned that the country’s economic and other problems were becoming more grave. Brezhnev, who died in November 1982, was briefly succeeded by Yuri Andropov and then by Konstantin Chernenko. Andropov, the more dynamic of the two, made Gorbachev his second-in-command, and Gorbachev took on an increasingly active role within the Politburo. Although Andropov saw Gorbachev as his heir apparent, the Soviet leader was unable to move Chernenko out of the line of succession before his health gave out in February 1984. Chernenko replaced Andropov as Soviet leader, but he too died little more than one year after taking office. Following Chernenko’s death, Gorbachev quickly won the endorsement of the Politburo and Central Committee and was appointed general secretary of the CPSU—and thus the new leader of the Soviet Union—on March 11, 1985.