FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS
1931–

Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev was born on March 2, 1931, to a peasant family in the Stavropol region of Russia. He excelled in both the classroom and the local collective farm, winning admission to Moscow State University. While attending the university, Gorbachev joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) and earned a law degree.

Gorbachev pursued his early career in Stavropol. Unlike other CPSU general secretaries, he never worked outside Russia, making it difficult for him to comprehend the ethnic problems that his reforms would unleash. He began his efforts in the local Communist Youth League and was eventually promoted to first secretary of the Stavropol region. Gorbachev transferred to Moscow in 1978 when he was named a secretary of the Central Committee. Two years later he became the youngest member of the Politburo. His youth proved to be...