Mikhail Gorbachev — the former General Secretary of the CPSU, the first and only president of the Soviet Union, and the person who brought the Cold War to an end — died on August 30, 2022. In 1991, when Gorbachev resigned as president of the USSR, it was clear the world had changed forever. It was a time of limitless freedom and even more hope. A look back at the life of Mikhail Gorbachev.
Mikhail Gorbachev (center, wearing a hat) with his classmates. USSR, 1940s.
Laski Diffusion / Getty Images
Mikhail Gorbachev. 1950s.
Gorbachev, then-secretary of the regional Komsomol, with pioneers. Stavropol, 1960s.
Mikhail Gorbachev, his wife Raisa Gorbacheva, and their daughter Irina. Stavropol, 1970s.
Mikhail Gorbachev celebrates the anniversary of the October Revolution. Moscow, November 7, 1984.
Georges De Keerle / Getty Images
Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and First Secretary of the Moscow City Committee of the Communist Party Viktor Grishin (far left) visiting the home of a Moscow family. April 18, 1985.
Vladimir Musaelyan, Eduard Pesov / TASS
Mikhail Gorbachev, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush. New York, 1985.
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Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan at the Geneva Summit. November 1985.
Dirck Halstead / Getty Images
Mikhail Gorbachev and his wife, Raisa Gorbacheva, in Reykjavík, where he met with Ronald Reagan. October 13, 1986.
Nick Didlick / Reuters / Scanpix / LETA
Mikhail Gorbachev on the platform above Lenin’s mausoleum on the 70th anniversary of the October Revolution. November 7, 1987.
Boris Yurchenko / AP / Scanpix / LETA
Mikhail Gorbachev and his wife, Raisa Gorbacheva, meet with residents of Spitak, Armenia, after the town was destroyed by an earthquake. December 1988.
Wojtek Laski / Getty Images
Mikhail Gorbachev at a meeting with Ronald Reagan in Reykjavík. October 11, 1986.
Ronald Reagan Library / Getty Images
Mikhail Gorbachev and his wife, Raisa Gorbacheva, at the Bolshoi Theater with British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. April 1989.
Georges De Keerle / Getty Images
Mikhail Gorbachev (back left) during a speech by physicist Andrey Sakharov at the Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR. Sakharov called for the abolition of the Communist Party’s monopoly on power in the Soviet Union. June 9, 1989.
Igor Zotin, Valery Khristoforov / TASS
Mikhail Gorbachev, Boris Yeltsin, and Askar Akayev (the future president of Kyrgyzstan) at a session of the Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR. December 17, 1990.
Vladimir Bogdanov / FotoSoyuz / Getty Images
Mikhail Gorbachev and German Chancellor Helmut Kohl in Speyer, Germany. 1990.
Sven Simon / United Archives / Getty Images
Mikhail Gorbachev at a session of the Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian SFSR dedicated to the inauguration of RSFSR President Boris Yeltsin. Moscow, 1991.
Dmitry Sokolov / TASS
Mikhail Gorbachev delivers his Nobel Lecture in Oslo. June 5, 1991.
Valery Zavyalov, Yuri Lizunov / TASS
Mikhail Gorbachev after the August Putsch. August 21, 1991.
Stephane Bentura / AFP / Scanpix / LETA
Mikhail Gorbachev returns to Moscow from the Foros resort in Crimea, where he was held during the August 1991 coup attempt.
Yuri Lizunov / ТАСС
Mikhail Gorbachev at a rally in memory of those who died during the August 1991 coup attempt.
Dmitry Sokolov / ТАСС
Mikhail Gorbachev addresses a session of the USSR Supreme Council. August 27, 1991.
Vitaly Armand / AFP / Scanpix / LETA
Mikhail Gorbachev announces his resignation as president of the USSR. December 25, 1991.
Liu Heung Shing / AP / Scanpix / LETA
Mikhail Gorbachev at Moscow’s Oktyabrskaya Hotel after his resignation as president of the USSR. December 26, 1991.
Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP / Scanpix / LETA
Mikhail Gorbachev at the funeral of his wife, Raisa Gorbacheva. September 23, 1999.
Maksim Marmur
Mikhail Gorbachev in Reykjavík — 20 years after his summit meeting there with Ronald Reagan. October 2006.
Tom Stoddart / Getty Images
Mikhail Gorbachev, Kevin Spacey, and Sharon Stone at a concert marking Gorbachev’s 80th birthday. London, March 30, 2011.
Ian Gavan / Getty Images
Mikhail Gorbachev and the Dalai Lama. Rome, December 15, 2007.
Franco Origlia / Getty Images
Mikhail Gorbachev and Dmitry Muratov at the Novaya Gazeta editorial office. Gorbachev was one of the outlet’s co-founders.
Evgeny Feldman
Mikhail Gorbachev at the ceremony marking the 25th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall. Berlin, November 9, 2014
Adam Berry / Getty Images
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