Mikhail Gorbachev is selected as General Secretary

The elderly Chernenko succeeded Andropov, continuing the rapid leadership turnover of the early 1980s. The choice highlighted the aging of the political elite and the narrowing space for reform.

The USSR cited security concerns and alleged anti-Soviet hostility as reasons for non-participation. The boycott was retaliatory in the context of the 1980 Moscow boycott and again made athletes carry...

The Reagan administration proposed meetings in September to discuss resuming negotiations on strategic and intermediate-range nuclear weapons and antisatellite arms. The proposal came after years of...

The Games proceeded amid a Soviet-led boycott by the USSR and several aligned states. Athletes who were absent lost an opportunity to compete, while hosts and organizers framed the event as a...

Chernenko’s death ended another brief leadership tenure and accelerated a generational transition at the top of the CPSU. The Soviet Union faced stagnation, a costly Afghan war, and loss of confidence...

Gorbachev’s first major policy initiative emphasized faster economic and technological development. The campaign began before perestroika became a broad reform program and retained top-down...

The USSR began a unilateral moratorium on nuclear explosions, timed to the anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing and initially set through January 1, 1986. The pledge made Kazakhstan’s test-site...

The leaders met for the first time at the Geneva Summit. Their talks began a new phase of direct engagement, but the encounter remained a negotiation between nuclear superpowers whose decisions...

Reagan and Gorbachev issued a joint statement affirming that nuclear war could not be won and must never be fought, while agreeing to continue talks. The declaration mattered as a diplomatic signal...

The Soviet leader proposed eliminating nuclear weapons worldwide by 2000. The plan was a diplomatic initiative by a nuclear superpower and an appeal to reduce the danger its own arsenal helped create.