Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko ( ; links=no|Константин Устинович Черненко|p=kənstɐnʲˈtʲin ʊˈsʲtʲinəvʲɪtɕ tɕɪrˈnʲenkə; 24 September 1911 – 10 March 1985) was a Soviet politician and the fifth General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
He died in March 1985 after leading the country for only a year and a month, and was succeeded as General Secretary by Mikhail Gorbachev. ==Early life and political career== ===Origins=== Chernenko was born to a poor family in the Siberian village of Bolshaya Tes (now in Novosyolovsky District, Krasnoyarsk Krai) on 24 September 1911.
He briefly led the Soviet Union from 13 February 1984 until his death on 10 March 1985. Born to a poor family from Siberia, Chernenko joined the Komsomol (the Communist Party's youth league) in 1929 and became a full member of the party in 1931.
His father, Ustin Demidovich (of Ukrainian origin), worked in copper mines and gold mines while his mother took care of the farm work. Chernenko joined the Komsomol (Communist Youth League) in 1929.
From 1930 to 1933, he served in the Soviet frontier guards on the Soviet–Chinese border.
He briefly led the Soviet Union from 13 February 1984 until his death on 10 March 1985. Born to a poor family from Siberia, Chernenko joined the Komsomol (the Communist Party's youth league) in 1929 and became a full member of the party in 1931.
By 1931, he became a full member of the ruling Communist Party.
From 1930 to 1933, he served in the Soviet frontier guards on the Soviet–Chinese border.
In 1933 he worked in the Propaganda Department of the Novosyolovsky District Party Committee.
A few years later he was promoted to head of the same department in Uyarsk Raykom. Chernenko steadily rose through the Party ranks, becoming the Director of the Krasnoyarsk House of Party Enlightenment before being named Deputy Head of the Agitprop Department of Krasnoyarsk's Territorial Committee in 1939.
In the early 1940s, he began a close relationship with Fyodor Kulakov and was named Secretary of the Territorial Party Committee for Propaganda.
By 1945, he acquired a diploma from a party training school in Moscow then later finished a correspondence course for schoolteachers in 1953. ===Rise to the Soviet leadership=== The turning point in Chernenko's career was his assignment in 1948 to head the Communist Party's propaganda department in the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic.
After holding a series of propaganda posts, in 1948 he became the head of the propaganda department in Moldavia, serving under Leonid Brezhnev.
By 1945, he acquired a diploma from a party training school in Moscow then later finished a correspondence course for schoolteachers in 1953. ===Rise to the Soviet leadership=== The turning point in Chernenko's career was his assignment in 1948 to head the Communist Party's propaganda department in the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic.
There, he met and won the confidence of Leonid Brezhnev, the first secretary of the Moldavian SSR from 1950 to 1952 and future leader of the Soviet Union.
There, he met and won the confidence of Leonid Brezhnev, the first secretary of the Moldavian SSR from 1950 to 1952 and future leader of the Soviet Union.
By 1945, he acquired a diploma from a party training school in Moscow then later finished a correspondence course for schoolteachers in 1953. ===Rise to the Soviet leadership=== The turning point in Chernenko's career was his assignment in 1948 to head the Communist Party's propaganda department in the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic.
Chernenko followed Brezhnev in 1956 to fill a similar propaganda post in the CPSU Central Committee in Moscow.
In 1960, after Brezhnev was named chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet (titular head of state of the Soviet Union), Chernenko became his chief of staff. In 1964, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev was deposed, and succeeded by Brezhnev.
After Brezhnev took over as First Secretary of the CPSU in 1964, Chernenko rose to head the General Department of the Central Committee, responsible for setting the agenda for the Politburo and drafting Central Committee decrees.
In 1960, after Brezhnev was named chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet (titular head of state of the Soviet Union), Chernenko became his chief of staff. In 1964, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev was deposed, and succeeded by Brezhnev.
He was nominated in 1965 as head of the General Department of the Central Committee, and given the mandate to set the Politburo agenda and prepare drafts of numerous Central Committee decrees and resolutions.
In 1971 Chernenko became a full member of the Central Committee, and in 1978 he was made a full member of the Politburo. After the death of Brezhnev and his successor Yuri Andropov, Chernenko was elected General Secretary in February 1984 and made Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet in April 1984.
Even after he became General Secretary of the Party, he continued to sign papers referring to the General Department (when he could no longer physically sign documents, a facsimile was used instead). In 1971, Chernenko was promoted to full membership in the Central Committee: Overseeing Party work over the Letter Bureau, dealing with correspondence.
In 1976, he was elected secretary of the Letter Bureau.
He became Candidate in 1977, and in 1978 a full member of the Politburo, second to the General Secretary in the Party hierarchy. During Brezhnev's final years, Chernenko became fully immersed in ideological Party work: heading Soviet delegations abroad, accompanying Brezhnev to important meetings and conferences, and working as a member of the commission that revised the Soviet Constitution in 1977.
In 1971 Chernenko became a full member of the Central Committee, and in 1978 he was made a full member of the Politburo. After the death of Brezhnev and his successor Yuri Andropov, Chernenko was elected General Secretary in February 1984 and made Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet in April 1984.
He became Candidate in 1977, and in 1978 a full member of the Politburo, second to the General Secretary in the Party hierarchy. During Brezhnev's final years, Chernenko became fully immersed in ideological Party work: heading Soviet delegations abroad, accompanying Brezhnev to important meetings and conferences, and working as a member of the commission that revised the Soviet Constitution in 1977.
In 1979, he took part in the Vienna arms limitation talks. After Brezhnev's death in November 1982, there was speculation that the position of General Secretary would fall to Chernenko, but he was unable to rally enough support for his candidacy within the Party.
In November 1984 Chernenko met with Britain's Labour Party leader, Neil Kinnock. In 1980, the United States had boycotted the Summer Olympics held in Moscow in protest at the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
In 1979, he took part in the Vienna arms limitation talks. After Brezhnev's death in November 1982, there was speculation that the position of General Secretary would fall to Chernenko, but he was unable to rally enough support for his candidacy within the Party.
In 1983 he had been absent from his duties for three months due to bronchitis, pleurisy and pneumonia.
He briefly led the Soviet Union from 13 February 1984 until his death on 10 March 1985. Born to a poor family from Siberia, Chernenko joined the Komsomol (the Communist Party's youth league) in 1929 and became a full member of the party in 1931.
In 1971 Chernenko became a full member of the Central Committee, and in 1978 he was made a full member of the Politburo. After the death of Brezhnev and his successor Yuri Andropov, Chernenko was elected General Secretary in February 1984 and made Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet in April 1984.
Ultimately, KGB chief Yuri Andropov, who had been more mindful of Brezhnev's failing health, succeeded to the position. == Leader of the Soviet Union == Yuri Andropov died in February 1984, after just 15 months in office.
At the Central Committee plenary session on 13 February 1984, four days after Andropov's death, the Chairman of the Council of Ministers, Nikolai Tikhonov, nominated Chernenko as the next general secretary, and the Committee duly voted him in.
For example, in 1984, the Soviet Union prevented a visit to West Germany by East German leader Erich Honecker.
However, in late autumn of 1984, the U.S.
In November 1984 Chernenko met with Britain's Labour Party leader, Neil Kinnock. In 1980, the United States had boycotted the Summer Olympics held in Moscow in protest at the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
The following 1984 Summer Olympics were due to be held in Los Angeles, California.
On 8 May 1984, under Chernenko's leadership, the USSR announced its intention not to participate, citing security concerns and "chauvinistic sentiments and an anti-Soviet hysteria being whipped up in the United States".
The boycotting countries organised their own "Friendship Games" in the summer of 1984. ==Health problems, death and legacy== Chernenko started smoking at the age of nine, and he was always known to be a heavy smoker as an adult.
Historian John Lewis Gaddis describes him as "an enfeebled geriatric so zombie-like as to be beyond assessing intelligence reports, alarming or not" when he succeeded Andropov in 1984. In early 1984, Chernenko was hospitalised for over a month but kept working by sending the Politburo notes and letters.
Chernenko did not return to the Kremlin until later in 1984.
He awarded Orders to cosmonauts and writers in his office, but was unable to walk through the corridors of his office and was driven in a wheelchair. By the end of 1984, Chernenko could hardly leave the Central Clinical Hospital, a heavily guarded facility in west Moscow, and the Politburo was affixing a facsimile of his signature to all letters, as Chernenko had done with Andropov's when he was dying.
Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko ( ; links=no|Константин Устинович Черненко|p=kənstɐnʲˈtʲin ʊˈsʲtʲinəvʲɪtɕ tɕɪrˈnʲenkə; 24 September 1911 – 10 March 1985) was a Soviet politician and the fifth General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
He briefly led the Soviet Union from 13 February 1984 until his death on 10 March 1985. Born to a poor family from Siberia, Chernenko joined the Komsomol (the Communist Party's youth league) in 1929 and became a full member of the party in 1931.
He died in March 1985 after leading the country for only a year and a month, and was succeeded as General Secretary by Mikhail Gorbachev. ==Early life and political career== ===Origins=== Chernenko was born to a poor family in the Siberian village of Bolshaya Tes (now in Novosyolovsky District, Krasnoyarsk Krai) on 24 September 1911.
and the Soviet Union did agree to resume arms control talks in early 1985.
Chernenko's illness was first acknowledged publicly on 22 February 1985 during a televised election rally in Kuibyshev Borough of northeast Moscow, where the General Secretary stood as candidate for the Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR, when Politburo member Viktor Grishin revealed that the General Secretary was absent in accordance with doctors' advice.
On 28 February 1985, Chernenko appeared once more on television to receive parliamentary credentials and read out a brief statement on his electoral victory: "the election campaign is over and now it is time to carry out the tasks set for us by the voters and the Communists who have spoken out". Emphysema and the associated lung and heart damage worsened significantly for Chernenko in the last three weeks of February 1985.
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