Editing Konstantin Chernenko

{{Short description|Leader of the Soviet Union from 1984 to 1985}}
{{Redirect|Chernenko|the surname|Chernenko (surname)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| native_name         = {{Nobold|Константин Черненко}}
| native_name_lang    = ru
| image               = Cernenko (upscale).jpg
| image_size = 
| caption             = Chernenko in 1973
| office              = [[General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union]]
| term_start          = 13 February 1984
| term_end            = 10 March 1985
| premier             = [[Nikolai Tikhonov]]
| predecessor         = [[Yuri Andropov]]
| successor           = [[Mikhail Gorbachev]]
| office2             = [[List of heads of state of the Soviet Union|Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union]]
| deputy2             = [[Vasily Kuznetsov (politician)|Vasily Kuznetsov]]
| term_start2         = 11 April 1984
| term_end2           = 10 March 1985
| predecessor2        = Yuri Andropov<br>[[Vasily Kuznetsov (politician)|Vasily Kuznetsov]] (acting)
| successor2          = [[Andrei Gromyko]]
| office3             = [[Second Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union]]
| term_start3         = 10 November 1982
| term_end3           = 9 February 1984
| predecessor3        = Yuri Andropov
| successor3          = Mikhail Gorbachev<small> (''[[de facto]]'') </small>
| term_start4         = 25 January 1982
| term_end4           = 24 May 1982 
| predecessor4        = [[Mikhail Suslov]]
| successor4          = Yuri Andropov
| birth_name          = Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko
| birth_date          = {{birth date|df=yes|1911|9|24}}
| birth_place         = [[Bolshaya Tes]], [[Russian Empire]]
| death_date          = {{death date and age|df=yes|1985|3|10|1911|9|24}}
| death_place         = [[Moscow]], Soviet Union
| death_cause         = Combination of [[Emphysema|chronic emphysema]], an enlarged and damaged heart, [[congestive heart failure]] and [[Cirrhosis|liver cirrhosis]]
| resting_place       = [[Kremlin Wall Necropolis]], Moscow
| party               = [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|CPSU]] (1931–1985)
| allegiance          = [[Soviet Union]]
| branch              = [[Soviet Armed Forces]]
| serviceyears        = 1930–1933
| awards              = {{collapsible list|title=See List| [[File:Hero of Socialist Labor medal.png|Hero of Socialist Labour|20px]] [[File:Hero of Socialist Labor medal.png|Hero of Socialist Labour|20px]] [[File:Hero of Socialist Labor medal.png|Hero of Socialist Labour|20px]]<br />[[File:Order of Lenin ribbon bar.png|Order of Lenin|32px]] [[File:Order of Lenin ribbon bar.png|Order of Lenin|32px]] [[File:Order of Lenin ribbon bar.png|Order of Lenin|32px]] [[File:Order of Lenin ribbon bar.png|Order of Lenin|32px]]<br />[[File:Orderredbannerlabor rib.png|Order of the Red Banner of Labour|32px]] [[File:Orderredbannerlabor rib.png|Order of the Red Banner of Labour|32px]] [[File:Orderredbannerlabor rib.png|Order of the Red Banner of Labour|32px]] [[File:RibbonLabourDuringWar.png|Medal "For Valiant Labour in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945"|32px]]<br />[[File:SU Medal In Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin ribbon.svg|Jubilee Medal "In Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin"|32px]] [[File:30 years of victory rib.png|Jubilee Medal "Thirty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945"|32px]] [[File:60 years saf rib.png|Jubilee Medal "60 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR"|32px]]<br />[[File:Medal Lenin Prize.png|20px]]}}
| spouse              = Faina Vassilyevna Chernenko<br />{{Marriage|[[Anna Chernenko|Anna Dmitrievna Lyubimova]]|1944}}
| children            = 4, including [[Albert Chernenko|Albert]]
| signature           = Chernenko signature.svg
| footnotes           = {{Collapsible list
| titlestyle = background-color:#FCF;text-align:center;
|title         = Central institution membership
|bullets       = on
|1971–1985: Full member of the [[24th Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|24th]], [[25th Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|25th]], [[26th Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|26th]] [[Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Central Committee]]
|1978–1985: Full member of the [[25th Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|25th]], [[26th Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|26th]] [[Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Politburo]]
|1977–1978: Candidate member of the [[25th Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|25th]] [[Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Politburo]]
|1976–1985: Member of the [[25th Secretariat of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|25th]], [[26th Secretariat of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|26th]] [[Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Secretariat]]
}}
----
{{Collapsible list
|titlestyle = background-color:#FCF;text-align:center;
|title         = Other political offices held
|bullets       = on
|1976–1982: Senior Secretary of Cadres of the CPSU
|1984–1985: Chairman, [[Defense Council (Soviet Union)|Defense Council]]
|1965–1982: Head of the [[General Department of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|General Department]] of the [[Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Central Committee]]
}}
{{center|'''[[Leader of the Soviet Union]]'''<br />
{{flatlist|
* {{big|'''←'''}} [[Yuri Andropov|Andropov]]
* [[Mikhail Gorbachev|Gorbachev]] {{big|'''→'''}}
}}
}}
}}

'''Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko'''{{family name footnote|Ustinovich|Chernenko|lang=Eastern Slavic}}{{efn|{{IPAc-en|tʃ|ɜr|ˈ|n|ɛ|ŋ|k|oʊ|audio=En-us-Konstantin Chernenko from Russia pronunciation (Voice of America).ogg}} {{respell|chur|NENK|oh}};<ref>[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/chernenko "Chernenko"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150101090325/http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/chernenko |date=1 January 2015 }}. ''[[Collins English Dictionary]]''.</ref> {{lang-rus|links=no|Константин Устинович Черненко|p=kənstɐnˈtʲin ʊˈsʲtʲinəvʲɪtɕ tɕɪrˈnʲenkə}}<br />{{langx|uk|Костянтин Устинович Черненко|translit=Kostiantyn Ustynovych Chernenko}}}} ({{OldStyleDate|24&nbsp;September|1911|11 September}} – 10 March 1985)<ref>{{cite book| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=hP7jJAkTd9MC&dq=Konstantin+Ustinovich+Chernenko+10+march&pg=PA121| title = Profile of Konstantin Chernenko| isbn = 9780313281129| last1 = Jessup| first1 = John E.| year = 1998| publisher = Greenwood Publishing| access-date = 25 January 2022| archive-date = 2 June 2024| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20240602225120/https://books.google.com/books?id=hP7jJAkTd9MC&dq=Konstantin+Ustinovich+Chernenko+10+march&pg=PA121| url-status = live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Konstantin Chernenko |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Konstantin-Chernenko |website=The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica |publisher=The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica |access-date=26 May 2025}}</ref> was a Soviet politician who served as the [[General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union]] from 1984 until his death a year later.

Born to a poor family in [[Siberia]], Chernenko joined the [[Komsomol]] in 1929 and became a full member of the party in 1931. After holding a series of [[Propaganda in the Soviet Union|propaganda]] posts, in 1948 he became the head of the propaganda department in [[Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic|Moldavia]], serving under [[Leonid Brezhnev]]. After Brezhnev took over as First Secretary of the CPSU in 1964, Chernenko was appointed to head the General Department of the [[Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Central Committee]]. In this capacity, he became responsible for setting the agenda for the [[Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Politburo]] and drafting Central Committee decrees. By 1971 Chernenko became a full member of the Central Committee and later a full member of the Politburo in 1978.

Following the death of Brezhnev and his successor [[Yuri Andropov]], Chernenko was elected General Secretary in February 1984 and made [[list of heads of state of the Soviet Union|Chairman]] of the [[Presidium of the Supreme Soviet]] in April 1984. However, due to his rapidly failing health, he was often unable to fulfill his official duties. He died in March 1985 after leading the country for only 13 months, and was succeeded as General Secretary by [[Mikhail Gorbachev]].

==Early life and political career==
[[File:Черненко Константин Устинович, партийный билет.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.93|Chernenko's Party card following his promotion to the Soviet Union's ruling [[Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Central Committee.]]]]

===Origins===
Chernenko was born to a poor family in the [[Siberian]] village of [[Bolshaya Tes]] (now in [[Novosyolovsky District]], [[Krasnoyarsk Krai]]) on 24 September 1911.<ref>{{cite book|last=Jessup|first=John E.|title=An Encyclopedic Dictionary of Conflict and Conflict Resolution, 1945–1996|year=1998|publisher=Greenwood Press|location=Westport, CT|page=121|url=https://www.questia.com/read/106899354/an-encyclopedic-dictionary-of-conflict-and-conflict|isbn=|access-date=2 September 2017|archive-date=10 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010024655/https://www.questia.com/read/106899354/an-encyclopedic-dictionary-of-conflict-and-conflict|url-status=dead}}{{ISBN?}}</ref>

Chernenko joined the [[Komsomol]] (Communist Youth League) in 1929. By 1931 he became a full member of the ruling Communist Party. From 1930 to 1933, he served in the [[Soviet Border Troops|Soviet frontier guards]] on the Soviet–Chinese border. After completing his military service, he returned to [[Krasnoyarsk]] as a [[propaganda in the Soviet Union|propagandist]]. In 1933 he worked in the Propaganda Department of the Novosyolovsky District Party Committee. A few years later he was promoted to head of the same department in Uyarsk Raykom.

Chernenko steadily rose through the Party ranks, becoming the Director of the Krasnoyarsk House of Party Enlightenment before being named Deputy Head of the [[Agitprop]] Department of Krasnoyarsk's Territorial Committee in 1939. In the early 1940s, he began a close relationship with [[Fyodor Kulakov]] and was named Secretary of the Territorial Party Committee for Propaganda.<ref>{{Cite book|author=Hough, Jerry F.|author-link=Jerry F. Hough|title=Democratization and revolution in the USSR, 1985–1991|publisher=[[Brookings Institution Press]]|year=1997|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BzaaFXMpvMkC|isbn=0-8157-3748-3|page=67|access-date=15 October 2016|archive-date=2 June 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240602225110/https://books.google.com/books?id=BzaaFXMpvMkC|url-status=live}}</ref> By 1945 he acquired a diploma from a party training school in Moscow then later finished a [[distance education|correspondence course]] for schoolteachers in 1953.

===Rise to the Soviet leadership===
[[File:Chernenko (3x4 cropped).jpg|thumb|left|160px|Chernenko in 1962.]]
The turning point in Chernenko's career was his assignment in 1948 to head the Communist Party's propaganda department in the [[Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic]]. There, he met and won the confidence of [[Leonid Brezhnev]], the first secretary of the Moldavian branch of the Communist Party from 1950 to 1952 and future leader of the Soviet Union. Chernenko followed Brezhnev in 1956 to fill a similar propaganda post in the [[Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|CPSU Central Committee]] in Moscow. In 1960 after Brezhnev was named chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet (titular head of state of the Soviet Union), Chernenko became his chief of staff.

In 1964, Soviet leader [[Nikita Khrushchev]] was deposed, and succeeded by Brezhnev. During Brezhnev's tenure as Party leader, Chernenko's career continued successfully. He was nominated in 1965 as head of the General Department of the Central Committee, and given the mandate to set the [[Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Politburo]] agenda and prepare drafts of numerous Central Committee decrees and resolutions. He also monitored [[telephone tapping|telephone wiretaps]] and [[covert listening device]]s in various offices of the top Party members. Another of his jobs was to sign hundreds of Party documents daily, a job he did for the next 20 years. Even after he became General Secretary of the Party, he continued to sign papers referring to the General Department (when he could no longer physically sign documents, a [[facsimile]] was used instead).

[[File:1982 Ceausescu la Moscova la 60 de ani de la formarea URSS.JPG|thumb|left|225px|Chernenko (seated second from left in the front row) attending the USSR's 60th Anniversary in 1982.]]
In 1971, Chernenko was promoted to full membership in the Central Committee: overseeing Party work over the Letter Bureau, dealing with correspondence. In 1976 he was elected secretary of the Letter Bureau. He became Candidate in 1977, and in 1978 a full member of the Politburo, second to the General Secretary in the Party hierarchy.

During Brezhnev's final years, Chernenko became fully immersed in [[ideology of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|ideological Party work]]: heading Soviet delegations abroad, accompanying Brezhnev to important meetings and conferences, and working as a member of the commission that revised the [[Constitution of the Soviet Union|Soviet Constitution]] in 1977. In 1979, he took part in the [[Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty II|Vienna arms limitation talks]].

After [[Death and state funeral of Leonid Brezhnev|Brezhnev's death]] in November 1982, there was speculation that the position of General Secretary would fall to Chernenko, but he was unable to rally enough support for his candidacy within the Party. Ultimately, [[KGB]] chief [[Yuri Andropov]] eventually won the position.

== Leader of the Soviet Union ==
[[Yuri Andropov]] died on 9 February 1984 at age 69 in [[Moscow Central Clinical Hospital]] of [[Kidney Failure|kidney failure]]. Chernenko was then elected to replace Andropov even though the latter stated he wanted [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] to succeed him. Chernenko was also terminally ill himself.<ref name="term ill">{{cite news |last1=de Lama |first1=George |title=CHERNENKO TERMINALLY ILL: U.S. |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1985-02-16-8501090757-story.html |access-date=2 November 2021 |publisher=Chicago Tribune |date=16 February 1985 |archive-date=28 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230328012555/https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1985-02-16-8501090757-story.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

At the time of his ascent to the country's top post, Chernenko was primarily viewed as a transitional leader who could give the Politburo's "Old Guard" time to choose an acceptable candidate from the next generation of Soviet leadership. In the interim, he was forced to govern the country as part of a [[triumvirate]] alongside [[Minister of Defence (Soviet Union)|Defense Minister]] [[Dmitriy Ustinov]] and [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Soviet Union)|Foreign Minister]] [[Andrei Gromyko]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/03/12/world/succession-moscow-siberian-peasant-who-won-power-konstantin-chernenko-brezhnev.html |title=Succession In Moscow: Siberian Peasant Who Won Power; Konstantin Chernenko, A Brezhnev Protege, Led Brief Regime |last=Saxon |first=Wolfgang |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=March 12, 1985 |access-date=January 28, 2024 |archive-date=29 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230929034053/https://www.nytimes.com/1985/03/12/world/succession-moscow-siberian-peasant-who-won-power-konstantin-chernenko-brezhnev.html |url-status=live }}</ref> This became a growing problem as Chernenko's illness led him to miss meetings with increasing frequency. At Andropov's funeral, he could barely read the [[eulogy]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Briton Thinks Chernenko Is Ill |author=Washington Post Foreign Service |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170828104710/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1984/02/16/briton-thinks-chernenko-is-ill-washington-post-foreign-service/4a359dd9-8084-45a6-97c6-34f3fac7819f/ |archive-date=2017-08-28 |url-status=live |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1984/02/16/briton-thinks-chernenko-is-ill-washington-post-foreign-service/4a359dd9-8084-45a6-97c6-34f3fac7819f/ |access-date=January 28, 2024}}</ref> As a result of Chernenko's weak hold on power, Foreign Minister [[Andrei Gromyko|Gromyko]] and Defense Minister [[Dmitry Ustinov|Ustinov]] held enormous influence over Soviet policy throughout his leadership.

Chernenko represented a return to the policies of the late Brezhnev era. Nevertheless, he supported a greater role for [[trade unions in the Soviet Union|the labour unions]], and reform in [[education in the Soviet Union|education]] and [[propaganda in the Soviet Union|propaganda]]. The one major personnel change Chernenko made was the dismissal of the [[Chief of the General Staff (Russia)|Chief of the General Staff]], [[Marshal of the Soviet Union|Marshal]] [[Nikolai Ogarkov]]. Ogarkov was subsequently replaced by Marshal [[Sergey Akhromeyev]].

In [[foreign relations of the Soviet Union|foreign policy]], he negotiated a [[trade agreement|trade deal]] with [[China]]. Despite calls for renewed [[détente]], Chernenko did little to prevent the escalation of the [[Cold War]] with the United States. For example, in 1984 the Soviet Union prevented a visit to [[West Germany]] by [[East Germany|East German]] leader [[Erich Honecker]]. However, in late autumn of 1984, the U.S. and the Soviet Union did agree to resume arms control talks in early 1985. In November 1984 Chernenko met with Britain's [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] leader, [[Neil Kinnock]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/03/12/world/succession-moscow-private-life-medical-case-briton-optimistic-gorbachev-views.html|title=SUCCESSION IN MOSCOW: A PRIVATE LIFE, AND A MEDICAL CASE; Briton Is Optimistic on Gorbachev Views|date=1985|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=2018-06-05|language=en|archive-date=28 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928093845/https://www.nytimes.com/1985/03/12/world/succession-moscow-private-life-medical-case-briton-optimistic-gorbachev-views.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1980 the United States led an [[1980 Summer Olympics boycott|international boycott]] of the [[1980 Summer Olympics|Summer Olympics held in Moscow]] in protest at the [[Soviet–Afghan War|Soviet invasion of Afghanistan]]. The following [[1984 Summer Olympics]] were due to be held in [[Los Angeles]], [[California]]. On 8 May 1984, under Chernenko's leadership, the USSR announced its intention [[1984 Summer Olympics boycott|not to participate in the Games]], claiming "security concerns and [[Chauvinism|chauvinistic]] sentiments and an [[Anti-Sovietism|anti-Soviet]] hysteria being whipped up in the United States".<ref name="altman"/> The boycott was joined by 14 [[Eastern Bloc]] [[Satellite state|satellites]] and allies, including [[Cuba]] (but not [[Romania at the 1984 Summer Olympics|Romania]]). The action was widely seen as revenge for the U.S.-led boycott of the Moscow Games. The boycotting countries organised their own "[[Friendship Games]]" in the summer of 1984.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09523367.2014.958669 |title=The Russians Are ''Not'' Coming! The Soviet Withdrawal from the Games of the XXIII Olympiad |first=Robert Simon |last=Edelman |journal=The International Journal of the History of Sport |volume=32 |issue=1 |year=2015 |pages=9–36 |publisher=[[Taylor and Francis]] |doi=10.1080/09523367.2014.958669 |access-date=January 28, 2024 |archive-date=28 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240128141719/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09523367.2014.958669 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Before his death, Chernenko signed preliminary documents stating that on 9 May 1985, on the day of the 40th Victory Day Parade, the city of [[Volgograd]] would be renamed to Stalingrad. In his letter to [[Joseph Stalin|Stalin]]'s daughter [[Svetlana Alliluyeva]], he wrote about "the upcoming restoration of justice in relation to the memory and heritage of I.V. Stalin", which presumably referred to Stalin's political rehabilitation.<ref>{{Cite web |date=22 July 2020 |title=Реабилитация Сталина и другие вещи, которые хотел слелать Черненко {{!}} Русская Семёрка |url=https://dzen.ru/media/russian7/reabilitaciia-stalina-i-drugie-vesci-kotorye-hotel-slelat-chernenko-5f16ffd4e8879317a8091a37 |access-date=21 October 2022 |archive-date=28 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928192444/https://dzen.ru/media/russian7/reabilitaciia-stalina-i-drugie-vesci-kotorye-hotel-slelat-chernenko-5f16ffd4e8879317a8091a37 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==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>

==Honors and awards==
* [[Hero of Socialist Labour]], three times (1976, 1981, 1984)
* [[Order of Lenin]], four times (1971, 1976, 1981, 1984)
* [[Order of the Red Banner of Labour]], three times (1949, 1957, 1965)
* [[Medal "For Valiant Labour in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945"]] (1945)
* [[Jubilee Medal "In Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin"]] (1969)
* [[Jubilee Medal "Thirty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945"]] (1975)
* [[Jubilee Medal "60 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR"]] (1978)
* [[Lenin Prize]] (1982)
* [[USSR State Prize]] (1982)
* [[Order of Karl Marx]] ([[East Germany]])
* [[Order of Georgi Dimitrov]] ([[People's Republic of Bulgaria|Bulgaria]])
* [[Order of Klement Gottwald]] ([[Socialist Republic of Czechoslovakia|Czechoslovakia]])
* [[Order of Sukhbaatar]] ([[Mongolian People's Republic|Mongolia]])

==Personal life==
Chernenko had a son with his first wife, Faina Vassilyevna Chernenko, named [[Albert Chernenko|Albert]]. With his second wife, [[Anna Chernenko|Anna Dmitrevna Lyubimova]], who married him in 1944, he had two daughters, Yelena and Vera, and a son, Vladimir. In 2015 archival documents were published, according to which Chernenko had many more wives, and many more children with them; this circumstance, perhaps, was the reason for the slowing of Chernenko's career growth in the 1940s.<ref name="kommersant2684617">[http://kommersant.ru/doc/2684617 Леонид Максименков. Человек одного года] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230209032849/https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/2684617 |date=9 February 2023 }} // "Огонёк", 16 March 2015.</ref>

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{cite journal |last=Brown |first=Archie |title=The Soviet Succession: From Andropov to Chernenko |journal=World Today |volume=40 |date=April 1984 |pages=134–141 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Daniels |first=Robert V. |title=The Chernenko Comeback |journal=New Leader |volume=67 |date=20 February 1984 |pages=3–5 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Halstead |first=John |title=Chernenko in Office |journal=International Perspectives |date=May–June 1984 |pages=19–21 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Meissner |first=Boris |title=Soviet Policy: From Chernenko to Gorbachev |journal=Aussenpolitik |location=Bonn |volume=36 |issue=4 |date=April 1985 |pages=357–375 }}
* Ostrovsky, Alexander (2010). [https://ru.bookshome.net/book/3299571/e53580 Кто поставил Горбачёва? (Who put Gorbachev?)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220807112401/https://ru.bookshome.net/book/3299571/e53580 |date=7 August 2022}} — М.: Алгоритм-Эксмо, 2010. — 544 с. ISBN 978-5-699-40627-2.
* {{cite journal |last=Pribytkov |first=Victor |title=Soviet-U.S. Relations: The Selected Writings and Speeches of Konstantin U. Chernenko |journal=[[American Political Science Review]] |volume=79 |issue=4 |date=December 1985 |page=1277 |doi=10.2307/1956397 |jstor=1956397 |s2cid=161571675 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Urban |first=Michael E. |title=From Chernenko to Gorbachev: A Repolitization of Official Soviet Discourse |journal=Soviet Union/Union Soviétique |volume=13 |issue=2 |year=1986 |pages=131–161 }}
* Volkogonov, Dmitri. (1998), ''The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Empire.'' pp 383–431.
* Zemtsov, Ilya. ''Chernenko: The Last Bolshevik: The Soviet Union on the Eve of Perestroika'' (1989), 308p. covers 1970 to 1985.

==External links==
{{Commons category|Konstantin Chernenko}}
{{Wikiquote}}
* [https://archive.org/details/HumanRightsInSovietSociety ''Human Rights in Soviet Society''] by Chernenko.
* [https://archive.org/details/sovietdemocracychernenko ''Soviet Democracy: Principles and Practice''] by Chernenko.

{{S-start}}
{{s-ppo}}
{{s-bef|before = [[Yuri Andropov]]}}
{{s-ttl|title = [[General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union]]|years = 13 February 1984 – 10 March 1985}}
{{s-aft|after = [[Mikhail Gorbachev]]}}
{{s-bef|rows=2|before = [[Yuri Andropov]]}}
{{s-ttl|title = [[Second Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union]]|years = 10 November 1982 – 9 February 1984}}
{{s-aft|rows=2|after = [[Mikhail Gorbachev]]}}
{{s-ttl|title = Senior Secretary of Ideology of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|years = 10 November 1982 – 9 February 1984}}
{{s-bef|rows=2|before = [[Mikhail Suslov]]}}
{{s-ttl|title = [[Second Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union]]<br>(Acting)|years = 25 January 1982 – 24 May 1982}}
{{s-aft|rows=2|after = [[Yuri Andropov]]}}
{{s-ttl|title= Senior Secretary of Ideology of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union <br>(Acting)|years= 25 January 1982 ― 24 May 1982}}
{{s-bef|before = [[Andrei Kirilenko (politician)|Andrei Kirilenko]]}}
{{s-ttl|title = Senior Secretary of Cadres for the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|years = March 1976 – January 1983}}
{{s-aft|after = [[Mikhail Gorbachev]]}}
{{s-gov}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Yuri Andropov]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[List of heads of state of the Soviet Union|Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet]]|years=11 April 1984 – 10 March 1985}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Andrei Gromyko]]}}
{{s-sports}}
{{s-bef|before={{flagicon|CAN}} [[Jean Doré]]}}
{{s-ttl|title= [[President of the Olympic Organizing Committee|President of Organizing Committee for Summer Olympic Games]]|years=[[1980 Summer Olympics|1980]]}}
{{s-aft|after= {{flagicon|USA}} [[Peter Ueberroth]]}}
{{S-end}}

{{Leaders of CPSU}}
{{Supreme Soviet Chairmen}}
{{Leaders of the Ruling Parties of the Eastern Bloc}}
{{26th Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union}}
{{25th Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union}}
{{Brezhnev era}}
{{Cold War}}
{{Soviet–Afghan War}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chernenko, Konstantin}}
[[Category:1911 births]]
[[Category:1985 deaths]]
[[Category:Burials at the Kremlin Wall Necropolis]]
[[Category:Deaths from cirrhosis]]
[[Category:Deaths from emphysema]]
[[Category:Heads of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Heads of state of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Heroes of Socialist Labour]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Lenin Prize]]
[[Category:Members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:People from Krasnoyarsk Krai]]
[[Category:People from Yeniseysk Governorate]]
[[Category:People of the Cold War]]
[[Category:People of the Soviet–Afghan War]]
[[Category:Candidates of the Central Committee of the 23rd Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Members of the Central Committee of the 24th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Members of the Central Committee of the 25th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Members of the Central Committee of the 26th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Candidates of the Politburo of the 25th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Members of the Politburo of the 25th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Members of the Politburo of the 26th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Members of the Secretariat of the 25th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Members of the Secretariat of the 26th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Organising Committees for the Olympic Games]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of Lenin]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour]]
[[Category:Recipients of the USSR State Prize]]
[[Category:Russian people of Ukrainian descent]]
[[Category:Soviet atheists]]
[[Category:Soviet border guards]]
[[Category:Tobacco-related deaths]]