On Tuesday, August 30th, the world received the news that Mikhail Gorbachev, the former
president of the Soviet Union and one of the world's most notable statesmen, had died.
Gorbachev passed away at the age of 91, reportedly following a period of prolonged illness.
He is survived by his daughter, Irina Virganskaya-Gorbacheva, who he had with his late wife, Raisa.
He is also survived by a granddaughter, Ksenia, and a great-granddaughter, Anastasia.
Mikhail Gorbachev presided during one of the most dramatic eras of modern history – the
mid 1980's until 1991.
Under his non-communist policies of "Perestroika," which was a democratic governmental and economic
restructuring of Russian society, and "Glasnost," meaning, governmental transparency, Gorbachev
pushed hard to modernize Russia and break free from its past.
And the results of his actions – including the collapse of the U.S.S.R. and the end of
the Cold War – would change history forever.
"I would like to say 'hello' to you!"
"Privet, how are you?"
In 1931, Mikhail Gorbachev was born in the village of Privolnoye, Stavropol Territory, Russia.
His family, Russian-Ukrainian peasant farmers, were responsible for much of Gorbachev's identity and ideology.
Gorbachev had also said that those early years working side-by-side with his father were
responsible for shaping his work ethic.
By age 17, Gorbachev had won the government's Order of the Red Banner of Labor for exceptional productivity.
Like millions of other people, Gorbachev's family suffered under Stalin's "Great Purge,"
which took place from 1936 to 1938.
One of Gorbachev's grandfathers was arrested for being a member of a counter-revolutionary
Trotskyite organization, while his other grandfather was sent to a gulag in Siberia for not fulfilling
his harvest quota.
Gorbachev showed great academic curiosity and enjoyed the theater, as well, going on
to enroll at Moscow State University, where he studied law and met his future wife.
After graduating in 1955, Gorbachev got hired by the Stavropol Territorial Prosecutor's
Office and began a three-decades-long string of governmental jobs.
By 1985, he reached a position that allowed him to help shape government policy.
Mikhail Gorbachev is best known for presiding over the dismantling of the former Soviet
Union during the mid-to-late 1980s.
Gorbachev came into power in 1985 as the Soviet Union's final communist party leader, and
in 1991 he left office as the Russian federation's first president, but not before winning the
Nobel Peace prize in 1990.
During his time in office, under policies of "Perestroika," meaning restructuring, allowing
individual people – not government – to own and operate businesses for the first time,
and "Glasnost," meaning openness, exemplified by freedom of speech, allowing people to openly
criticize the government.
Gorbachev also signed the INF Treaty alongside President Ronald Reagan in 1987, abolishing
the use of nuclear weaponry in conventional warfare and effectively ending the Cold War.
Gorbachev never espoused values of liberal democratic policies out of a love for the West.
He did it out of a love for Russia, and to preserve his nation's future.
Radio Free Europe quotes him as saying:
"I believe that the democratic path of Russia's development is the only correct one, that
only on this path can our country develop and solve any problems."
Gorbachev was vocally critical of the West throughout his life.
His writing described the "arrogance" and "triumphal mood" of the United States during
the end of the Soviet Union.
He stated that the U.S. had been "rubbing its hands with glee" as the nation went through
a vulnerable period of disintegration.
And when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Gorbachev attributed some of the blame to post-Soviet
policymaking between Western, NATO-allied powers and nations in the former Eastern bloc.
At home, Gorbachev was a family man who remained with his wife, Raisa, until 1999 when she
passed away from leukemia.
After this, he kept himself surrounded by loved ones until his own passing.
In the years leading up to his death, Mikhail Gorbachev experienced a number of health scares.
From 2013 onward, Gorbachev was repeatedly forced to deny rumors of his death, and confirm
that he was, indeed, still alive.
"What should be on your gravestone?"