From a rise to power was reminiscent of all the previous leaders of the Communist Party of the USSR – a childhood marred by the Great Patriotic War, work on a collective farm, and early activity in the Communist Party organizations – Mikhail Gorbachev became the most iconic and intentionally famous of Russian leaders.  Unlike his predecessors, Gorbachev saw clearly the economic stagnation plaguing his country, and the inexorably widening gap in domestic production with their arch-rival United States. The vision he brought for closing that gap was unlike that of anyone before him, or after.

On this day, March 11, in 1894, Mikhail Gorbachev took over the leadership post of the Soviet Party, making him the leader of the largest nation in the world. Gorbachev took over after the death of his boss, the previous General Secretary Konstantin Chernenko.

Gorbachev instituted many economic and social reforms in an effort to “Westernize” his country. He opened the markets, curtailed government control over business, and developed a relationship with Western leaders, in particular Ronald Reagan. He was elected president in the first post-Soviet Union elections, and won the Nobel Prize, but his economic reforms unfortunately led to much hardship and his popularity in his country suffered sharp declines.