Mikhail S. Gorbachev was President of what nation?

Mikhail S. Gorbachev was President of the Soviet Union. He held the office from March 1990 until his resignation on December 25, 1991, making him the first and only person to serve as president of the USSR.

Gorbachev had already become the Soviet Union’s most powerful political leader in 1985, when he was selected as General Secretary of the Communist Party. He introduced reforms known as perestroika, meaning restructuring, and glasnost, meaning openness. These policies loosened political controls and encouraged greater public discussion.

Gorbachev’s presidency came during the final phase of the Cold War. He pursued improved relations with the United States, signed major arms-control agreements, and allowed greater independence across Eastern Europe. Those changes helped reduce tensions but also weakened the centralized system holding the Soviet Union together.

A common mix-up is calling him president of Russia. Russia became an independent country only after the Soviet Union dissolved; Gorbachev was president of the USSR, not the post-Soviet Russian Federation.