Gorbachev: The USSR's final leader
Gorbachev: The USSR's final leader – Mikhail Gorbachev at a conference in Moscow in 2001. Gorbachev led the Soviet Union from 1985 until its fall in 1991. He changed the world's expectations of the Soviet Union by striving to make a more efficient and democratic state that participated in global politics.
Gorbachev: The USSR's final leader
Gorbachev: The USSR's final leader – A 4-year-old Gorbachev in Privolnoe, Ukraine, circa 1935.
Gorbachev: The USSR's final leader
Gorbachev: The USSR's final leader – Gorbachev attends a celebration of the anniversary of the October Revolution in Moscow in 1984.
Gorbachev: The USSR's final leader
Gorbachev: The USSR's final leader – Gorbachev and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in England in 1984.
Gorbachev: The USSR's final leader
Gorbachev: The USSR's final leader – French President Francois Mitterrand with Gorbachev in Moscow in 1985.
Gorbachev: The USSR's final leader
Gorbachev: The USSR's final leader – President Ronald Reagan talks with Gorbachev during a two-day summit between the United States and the Soviet Union in Geneva in 1985.
Gorbachev: The USSR's final leader
Gorbachev: The USSR's final leader – Gorbachev at a news conference in Reykjavik, Iceland, in 1986.
Gorbachev: The USSR's final leader
Gorbachev: The USSR's final leader – Gorbachev greets well-wishers during a visit to Prague in 1987.
Gorbachev: The USSR's final leader
Gorbachev: The USSR's final leader – Gorbachev meets employees of a meat-packing plant outside Moscow in 1987.
Gorbachev: The USSR's final leader
Gorbachev: The USSR's final leader – Gorbachev meets crew members of a nuclear submarine during a visit to Severomorsk, Soviet Union, in 1987.
Gorbachev: The USSR's final leader
Gorbachev: The USSR's final leader – Gorbachev and Reagan sign a treaty eliminating U.S. and Soviet intermediate-range and shorter-range nuclear missiles in Washington in 1987.
Gorbachev: The USSR's final leader
Gorbachev: The USSR's final leader – Reagan and Gorbachev visit Governors Island in New York in 1988.
Gorbachev: The USSR's final leader
Gorbachev: The USSR's final leader – President George H. W. Bush with Gorbachev in Valletta, Malta, during a U.S.-Soviet summit in 1989.
Gorbachev: The USSR's final leader
Gorbachev: The USSR's final leader – Gorbachev takes the oath at the Congress of People's Deputies in Moscow in 1990.
Gorbachev: The USSR's final leader
Gorbachev: The USSR's final leader – Boris Yeltsin sits with Gorbachev during a session of the Congress of People's Deputies in Moscow in 1990.
Gorbachev: The USSR's final leader
Gorbachev: The USSR's final leader – Gorbachev votes in Moscow in 1991 in the first Soviet referendum to decide whether the country would remain a united state.
Gorbachev: The USSR's final leader
Gorbachev: The USSR's final leader – Gorbachev accepts the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway, in 1991. Gorbachev was awarded the prize in 1990.
Gorbachev: The USSR's final leader
Gorbachev: The USSR's final leader – Gorbachev shakes hands with Yeltsin after Yeltsin's investiture as Russian president in Moscow in 1991.
Gorbachev: The USSR's final leader
Gorbachev: The USSR's final leader – Gorbachev makes his first appearance after a failed coup in 1991.
Gorbachev: The USSR's final leader
Gorbachev: The USSR's final leader – Gorbachev stresses a point during a session of the Supreme Soviet in Moscow in 1991.
Gorbachev: The USSR's final leader
Gorbachev: The USSR's final leader – Bush and Gorbachev confer during a joint press conference concluding a two-day U.S.-Soviet summit in 1991 in Moscow.
Gorbachev: The USSR's final leader
Gorbachev: The USSR's final leader – President Reagan and his wife, Nancy, chat with Gorbachev and his wife, Raisa, in the front yard of the Reagan's ranch in Santa Barbara, California, in 1992.
Gorbachev: The USSR's final leader
Gorbachev: The USSR's final leader – Gorbachev announces his candidacy for president in Moscow in 1996. Gorbachev garnered 1% of the vote.
Gorbachev: The USSR's final leader
Gorbachev: The USSR's final leader – Gorbachev with his daughter Irina, second right, and granddaughter Krenia, third right, at the coffin of Raisa Gorbachev in Moscow in 1999.
Gorbachev: The USSR's final leader
Gorbachev: The USSR's final leader – President Bush, Gorbachev and former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl during a ceremony in Prague in 1999.
Gorbachev: The USSR's final leader
Gorbachev: The USSR's final leader – Gorbachev pays his respects to Russian soldiers at a Russian military cemetery in Marl, Germany, in 2003.
Gorbachev: The USSR's final leader
Gorbachev: The USSR's final leader – Gorbachev next to a bust of himself created by French artist Serge Mangin after unveiling it to guests in Berlin in 2009.
Gorbachev: The USSR's final leader
Gorbachev: The USSR's final leader – Gorbachev on stage in London during the finale of the Gorby 80 Gala, a celebration of Gorbachev's 80th birthday in 2011.
Gorbachev: The USSR's final leader
Gorbachev: The USSR's final leader – Gorbachev laughs with former Polish president Lech Walesa at the opening of a conference to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Green Cross International in 2013.