biography
| name: |
Chernenko, Konstantin Ustinovich
|
pronunciation:
[chernyengko]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1911–85)
|
| biography:
| Soviet statesman and president (1984–5), born in Bolshaya Tes, C Russia. He joined the Communist Party in 1931, and held several local posts. An associate of Brezhnev for many years, he became a member of the Politburo in 1978, and the Party's chief ideologist after the death of Suslov. Regarded as a conservative, Chernenko was a rival of Andropov in the Party leadership contest of 1982, and became Party general secretary and head of state after Andropov's death in 1984. He suffered from ill health, and died soon after, to be succeeded by Gorbachev. |
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