Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev at the Press Club

Washington, DC. 10-25-1996 Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev at the National Press Club. He was the eighth and last leader of the Soviet Union, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991 when the party was dissolved. He served as the country's head of state from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991 (titled as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet from 1988 to 1989, as Chairman of the Supreme Soviet from 1989 to 1990, and as President o (Photo by Mark Reinstein/Corbis via Getty Images)