Happy 80th Birthday, Mr. Gorbachev (Photo Essay)

Happy 80th Birthday, Mr. Gorbachev (Photo Essay)

Mikhail Gorbachev, who turns 80 today, held power in the Soviet Union for less than seven years, but it was a momentous era, not only for his country but for eastern Europe and the entire world. Gone from the world stage for most of the last two decades, Nobel Peace laureate has stayed mostly silent, but recently he entered into Russia’s political fray, calling Russia under Vladimir Putin an “imitation” democracy and accused Putin of “incredible conceit.”

In 1985, following the deaths of two elderly and short-lived leaders (Konstantin Chernenko and Yury Andropov), the 54-year-old Gorbachev—he was the youngest member of the Politburo—was elected general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

His Cold War counterpart Ronald Reagan, president of the United States, who in 1983 had referred to the Soviet Union as the “evil empire,” didn’t quite know what to make of the youthful leader who pledged to reform the Soviet’s ailing economy and liberalize its repressed political system. Reagan and Gorby met for the first time in Geneva in November 1985, and Reagan seemed impressed. Upon his returned to Washington he made this statement:

I called for a fresh start, and we made that start. I can’t claim that we had a meeting of the minds on such fundamentals as ideology or national purpose, but we understand each other better, and that’s a key to peace. I gained a better perspective; I feel he did, too.

Reagan and Gorbachev at the Reykjavik summit (David & Peter Turnley/Corbis)

For the first time in a generation, the superpowers appeared to be on the road to a possible peace. A year later they met in Reykjavik to discuss nuclear weapons, and their agreement produced in 1987 the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, the first arms-control treaty to abolish an entire category of weapon systems. (That agreement was signed in Washington, and it was during that trip that Gorby wowed the crowds by stopping his motorcade in D.C. and greeting Americans.)

Closer to home, Gorbachev consolidated his power but also show a softer hand with workers, meeting with and listening to workers and ending ending the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. In 1987 Reagan went to the Berlin Wall and told Gorbachev to “tear down this wall,” and though Gorbachev himself didn’t do this, he was, as Britannica relates, “the single most important initiator of a series of events in late 1989 and 1990 that transformed the political fabric of Europe and marked the beginning of the end of the Cold War.” A mere three years after Reagan uttered these words, the Berlin Wall was breeched.

Closer to home, however, communist hardliners were less willing to abandon their grip on power. In August 1991 they staged a coup against Gorbachev, and though it foundered in the face of mass resistance, led by Russian president Boris Yeltsin, the Soviet Union was mortally wounded—and with it Gorbachev’s political career. On December 25, 1991, Gorbachev resigned the presidency of the Soviet Union, which ceased to exist the following day. Five years later, he ran for the presidency of Russia, but for this man who freed his country from Soviet tyranny, he received less than 1% of the vote.

In honor of his 80th birthday, below we provide a selection of images from his time in office (and out) of office.The first three images are of Gorbachev’s visit to East Berlin in 1986. Use of them is governed by the following Creative Commons license (cc by-sa-3.0).

Mikhail Gorbachev (left) and Erich Honecker, first secretary of East Germany's Socialist Unity Party of Germany, 1986 (photo credit: German Federal Archive (Bundesarchiv), Bild 183-1986-0421-010, photograph: Rainer Mittelstadt) 

 

Mikhail Gorbachev (centre) in East Berlin (German Federal Archiv (Bundesarchiv), Bild 183-1986-0416-418, photograph: Hartmut Reiche) 

Mikhail Gorbachev delivering a speech at the 11th congress of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany in East Berlin, 1986 (German Federal Archive (Bundesarchiv), Bild 183-1986-0418-043, photograph: Peter Zimmermann)

Reagan and Gorbachev in Red Square in front of St. Basil's Cathedral, 1988 (Ira Schwartz/AP)  

Gorbachev and Reagan signing the INF Treaty in Washington, Dec. 8, 1987 (Courtesy Ronald Reagan Library (Image Number: C44071-15A)/National Archives and Records Administration)  

Gorbachev speaking with shipyard workers in Szczecin, Poland, in July 1988 (Bernard Bisson/Corbis Sygma) 

Gorbachev meeting U.S. Pres. George Bush (Dave Valdez/White House photo) 

Gorbachev speaking at a press conference in Moscow, July 31, 1991 (© Peter Turnley/Corbis) 

Mikhail Gorbachev and his wife Raisa visit former U.S. president Ronald Reagan and his wife Nancy at the Reagans' ranch near Santa Barbara, Calif., in 1992 (Reuters/Landov)