Updated: 03.12.2003

Soviet political leader.

A protege of Leonid Brezhnev, he rose through Communist party ranks in the 1950s, becoming a full member of the Central Committee (1971) and the Politburo (1978).

When Yuri Andropov died in 1984, Chernenko was elected general secretary of the Communist party and chairman of the Presidium.

Yet his health was poor and on his death (March 13, 1985), he was succeeded by Mikhail Gorbachev.