Mikhail Gorbachev comes to power

March 11, 1985

The Western world welcomes the election of Mikhail Gorbachev as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The 1990 Nobel Peace Prize winner succeeds Konstatin Chernenko and applies his policies of Glasnost and Perestroika. Gorbachev's leadership eventually contributes to the conclusion of the Cold War.