Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko (24 September 1911 — 10 March 1985) was a Soviet politician, who briefly served as the country's leader from February 1984 up until his death the following year.
Compared to most of his predecessors, Chernenko's climb to power was relatively uneventful. He became the chief of staff to Leonid Brezhnev, then the secretary of the Moldovan Communist Party, in the early 1950s, and followed him to Moscow later in the decade. Throughout Brezhnev's time in power, Chernenko oversaw the administrative side of his regime, handling a lot of the day-to-day workings of the party and the implementation of government policies. In the closing years of the Brezhnev regime, Chernenko became part of an unofficial group with KGB head Yuri Andropov, foreign minister Andrei Gromyko, defense minister Dmitry Ustinov, and second secretary Mikhail Suslov, who handled most of the actual policymaking while the increasingly infirm Brezhnev acted as the public face of the government. After Suslov's death, some viewed Chernenko as Brezhnev's heir apparent, but in the event the leadership role went to Andropov, who was slightly younger, in slightly better health, and better politically-connected.
After being largely sidelined during Andropov's brief administration, Chernenko found himself getting a chance at the top job after all when Andropov passed away only fifteen months after coming to power. By this time, however, Chernenko was in very poor health himself, and gave what was described as a mostly inaudible and borderline incoherent speech at his predecessor's funeral, giving a distinct feeling of Here We Go Again! to the attending dignitaries, both domestic and foreign. Indeed, Chernenko was in such poor health, and his regime so short-lasting, that by some accounts, the only time that Ronald Reagan ever formally spoke to Chernenko after the latter took officenote was to offer his condolences over Andropov's death. After Chernenko's own death, Reagan was reported to have complained that getting anything accomplished with the Soviets was going to be impossible when their leaders kept dying.
Even at the time, few expected Chernenko to do more than hold the fort and give a younger leader time to make their mark and stake their claim to succeeding him; many at the time also felt that he was little more than a Puppet King, with Gromyko being the one really pulling the strings. Not surprisingly, no real long-term developments or policy changes happened during his brief leadership, which was marked by continuations of the struggle over the country's ailing economy and the increasingly costly war in Afghanistan. The biggest developments of his regime came in the area of foreign policy — further hinting at Gromyko's behind-the-scenes influence — with new trade and defense agreements being negotiated with China and North Korea, negotiations resuming (without much success) over nuclear de-proliferation, and the boycott of the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
Throughout his time in power, Chernenko's health remained extremely poor, to the point where he was hardly ever seen in public, and Mikhail Gorbachev more often than not had to step in to chair Politburo meetings. Gorbachev would ultimately succeed him as leader upon his death, with Chernenko's thirteen months in charge making him the shortest-serving leader of the Soviet Union.note
In fiction:
Film
- Early in The Hunt for Red October, Chernenko is mentioned as having ordered the destruction of the titular submarine before it can use its nuclear payload to cause any harm (though Jack Ryan quickly works out that the Soviets are actually trying to destroy it before its crew can defect).
Music
- The music video for "Two Tribes" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood shows Chernenko wrestling with Ronald Reagan in front of a crowd representing the nations of the world as a metaphor for nuclear tensions during the Cold War. A still from the music video depicting Cherneko is also featured on the sleeve for some editions of the single release.note
