Editing Konstantin Chernenko (section)

==Health problems, death and legacy==
Chernenko started [[tobacco smoking|smoking]] at the age of nine,<ref>{{cite book |author-link=Jerrold Post|last=Post |first=Jerrold M. |title=Leaders and Their Followers in a Dangerous World: The Psychology of Political Behavior |series=Psychoanalysis & Social Theory |location=Ithaca |publisher=Cornell University Press |year=2004 |isbn=0-8014-4169-2 |page=[https://archive.org/details/leaderstheirfoll0000post/page/87 87] |url=https://archive.org/details/leaderstheirfoll0000post/page/87 }}</ref> and he was always known to be a heavy smoker as an adult.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/02/16/world/world-attention-turns-to-chernenko-s-health.html | work=The New York Times | first=John F. | last=Burns | title=World Attention Turns To Chernenko's Health | date=16 February 1984 | access-date=10 February 2017 | archive-date=28 September 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928174045/https://www.nytimes.com/1984/02/16/world/world-attention-turns-to-chernenko-s-health.html | url-status=live }}</ref> Long before his election as general secretary, he had developed [[emphysema]] and right-sided [[heart failure]]. In 1983, he had been absent from his duties for three months due to [[bronchitis]], [[pleurisy]] and [[pneumonia]]. Historian [[John Lewis Gaddis]] described him as "an enfeebled [[geriatric]] so zombie-like as to be beyond assessing intelligence reports, alarming or not" when he succeeded Andropov in 1984.<ref>{{cite book|author1=John Lewis Gaddis|author-link1=John Lewis Gaddis|title=The Cold War: A New History|date=2005|publisher=Penguin Press|isbn=978-1594200625|page=228|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fvmoWZIxVw4C|access-date=15 October 2016|archive-date=2 June 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240602225108/https://books.google.com/books?id=fvmoWZIxVw4C|url-status=live}}</ref>

In early 1984, Chernenko was hospitalized for over a month but kept working by sending the Politburo notes and letters. During the summer, his doctors sent him to [[Kislovodsk]] for the mineral [[spa]]s, but on the day of his arrival at the resort Chernenko's health deteriorated, and he contracted pneumonia. 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 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. 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.<ref name="Mydans">{{cite news|last=Mydans|first=Seth|title=A Halting Chernenko is on TV Again|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/03/01/world/a-halting-chernenko-is-on-tv-again.html|work=The New York Times|date=1 March 1985|access-date=15 September 2012|archive-date=28 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928093844/https://www.nytimes.com/1985/03/01/world/a-halting-chernenko-is-on-tv-again.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Two days later, in a televised scene that shocked the nation,<ref>Dmitri Volkogonov. (1998), ''Autopsy for an Empire: The Seven Leaders Who Built the Soviet Regime''. (page 72). {{ISBN|0684834200}}</ref> Grishin dragged the terminally ill Chernenko from his hospital bed to a ballot box to vote. 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".<ref name="Mydans"/>

Emphysema and the associated lung and heart damage worsened significantly for Chernenko in the last three weeks of February 1985. According to the Chief Kremlin doctor, Yevgeny I. Chazov, Chernenko had also developed both chronic [[hepatitis]] and [[cirrhosis]] of the liver.<ref name="altman">Altman, Lawrence K., [https://www.nytimes.com/1985/03/12/world/succession-moscow-private-life-medical-case-autopsy-discloses-several-diseases.html?&pagewanted=all "Succession in Moscow: A Private Life, and a Medical Case; Autopsy Discloses Several Diseases"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928201144/https://www.nytimes.com/1985/03/12/world/succession-moscow-private-life-medical-case-autopsy-discloses-several-diseases.html?&pagewanted=all |date=28 September 2023 }}, ''New York Times'', 25 March 1985.</ref> On 10 March at 15:00, Chernenko fell into a [[coma]] and died later that evening at 19:20, at age 73. An autopsy revealed the cause of death to be a combination of [[Emphysema|chronic emphysema]], an enlarged and damaged heart, [[congestive heart failure]] and [[Cirrhosis|liver cirrhosis]]. A three-day period of mourning across the country was announced.<ref>{{cite news |last=Doder |first=Dusko |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1985/03/12/gorbachev-becomes-soviet-leader-hours-after-chernenko-dies-at-73/696b5b18-96ae-4428-bbff-33aa5e3e707b/ |title=Gorbachev Becomes Soviet Leader Hours After Chernenko Dies at 73 |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=1985-03-12 |accessdate=2022-05-26 |archive-date=14 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200114103031/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1985/03/12/gorbachev-becomes-soviet-leader-hours-after-chernenko-dies-at-73/696b5b18-96ae-4428-bbff-33aa5e3e707b/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1985-03-12-8501140234-story.html|title = Gorbachev Chosen|website = [[Chicago Tribune]]|date = 12 March 1985|access-date = 2 April 2022|archive-date = 6 April 2023|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230406221313/https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1985-03-12-8501140234-story.html|url-status = live}}</ref> [[India]],<ref name="latimes1985">{{cite web|url = https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-03-12-mn-34169-story.html|title = East, West Leaders Mourn Chernenko's Death|website = [[Los Angeles Times]]|date = 12 March 1985|access-date = 2 April 2022|archive-date = 28 September 2023|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230928192445/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-03-12-mn-34169-story.html|url-status = live}}</ref> [[Brazil]],<ref>[https://www.normasbrasil.com.br/norma/decreto-91067-1985_45476.html]</ref> [[Iraq]],<ref name="latimes1985"/> [[Syria]]<ref>{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-349-11482-5_11|doi=10.1007/978-1-349-11482-5_11|chapter=Gorbachev and the Syrians|title=Soviet Policy towards Syria since 1970|year=1991|last1=Karsh|first1=Efraim|pages=163–177|isbn=978-1-349-11484-9|access-date=2 April 2022|archive-date=28 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928192444/https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-349-11482-5_11|url-status=live}}</ref> and [[Nicaragua]]<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/03/23/world/sandinista-government-viewed-as-leftist-hybrid.html | title=Sandinista Government Viewed as Leftist Hybrid | newspaper=The New York Times | date=23 March 1985 | last1=Rohter | first1=Larry | access-date=27 August 2022 | archive-date=29 September 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230929004052/https://www.nytimes.com/1985/03/23/world/sandinista-government-viewed-as-leftist-hybrid.html | url-status=live }}</ref> all declared three days of mourning; [[Pakistan]]<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41393726 | jstor=41393726 | title=Pakistan Foreign Policy—A Quarterly Survey | last1=Saeed | first1=M. Yousuf | journal=Pakistan Horizon | year=1985 | volume=38 | issue=2 | pages=3–18 | access-date=28 August 2022 | archive-date=29 September 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230929083659/https://www.jstor.org/stable/41393726 | url-status=live }}</ref> declared two days of mourning; [[East Germany]]<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/03/12/world/succession-in-moscow-tributes-from-abroad-moscow-s-allies-extend-condolences.html|title=Succession in Moscow: Tributes from Abroad; Moscow's Allies Extend Condolences|newspaper=The New York Times|date=12 March 1985|last1=Kaufman|first1=Michael T.|access-date=2 April 2022|archive-date=29 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230929032712/https://www.nytimes.com/1985/03/12/world/succession-in-moscow-tributes-from-abroad-moscow-s-allies-extend-condolences.html|url-status=live}}</ref> and [[Czechoslovakia]]<ref>{{Cite news|url = https://chrudimsky.denik.cz/zpravy_region/polsko_tragedie_mse_hradec_20100413-36ab.html|title = Polská tragédie: Hradec vyvěsí vlajky na půl žerdi|newspaper = Chrudimský Deník|date = 14 April 2010|last1 = Šprinc|first1 = Radek|access-date = 2 April 2022|archive-date = 6 April 2023|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230406161439/https://chrudimsky.denik.cz/zpravy_region/polsko_tragedie_mse_hradec_20100413-36ab.html|url-status = live}}</ref> declared one day of mourning.

Chernenko became the third Soviet leader to die in less than three years. Upon being informed in the middle of the night of his death, U.S. President [[Ronald Reagan]] is reported to have remarked, "How am I supposed to get anyplace with the Russians if they keep dying on me?"<ref>[[Maureen Dowd]], [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE2D9133EF93BA25752C1A966958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all "Where's the Rest of Him?"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240602225003/https://www.nytimes.com/1990/11/18/books/where-s-the-rest-of-him.html |date=2 June 2024 }} ''[[The New York Times]]'', 18 November 1990.</ref>

Chernenko was honored with a [[state funeral]] and was buried in the [[Kremlin Wall Necropolis]], in one of the twelve individual tombs located between the [[Lenin Mausoleum]] and the [[Kremlin wall]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=USSR: Soviet Leader Chernenko Buried |url=https://reuters.screenocean.com/record/2944 |access-date=2023-09-23 |website=Reuters Archive Licensing |language=en |archive-date=24 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231024045206/https://reuters.screenocean.com/record/2944 |url-status=live }}</ref> He is the last person to have been interred there.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Trevelyan |first=Mark |date=September 3, 2022 |title=Honour or disgrace - how Russia has buried its past leaders |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/honour-or-disgrace-how-russia-has-buried-its-past-leaders-2022-09-02/ |access-date=February 7, 2025 |work=[[Reuters]]}}</ref>

The impact of Chernenko—or the lack thereof—was evident in the way in which his death was reported in the Soviet press. Soviet newspapers carried stories about Chernenko's death and Gorbachev's selection on the same day. The papers had the same format: page 1 reported the party Central Committee session on 11 March that elected [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] and printed the new leader's biography and a large photograph of him; page 2 announced the demise of Chernenko and printed his obituary.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1985-03-11 |title=1985: Gorbachev becomes Soviet leader |language=en-GB |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/11/newsid_2538000/2538327.stm |access-date=2023-09-23 |archive-date=6 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120306052502/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/11/newsid_2538000/2538327.stm |url-status=live }}</ref>

After the death of a Soviet leader it was customary for his successors to open his safe. When Gorbachev had Chernenko's safe opened, it was found to contain a small folder of personal papers and several large bundles of money; more money was found in his desk. It is not known where he had obtained the money or what he intended to use it for.<ref>[[Dmitri Volkogonov]]. (1998), ''The Rise and Fall of the [[Soviet Empire]]''. [[HarperCollins]]. p. 430. ({{ISBN|9780006388180}}</ref>