Gorbachev
...gue). Then later on in his life, he became a full member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) in which he joined at the youngest age possible (Breslauer 22). Gorbachev married Raisa Gorbacheva in 1953, and has one daughter, and two granddaughters. Gorbachev was a key figure in the liberalization and disintegration of Soviet and Eastern European Communism. He attempted to relax tensions between the west and contributed to the ending of the Cold War, making him have a significant influence in European affairs. After climbing to the top of the leadership in the Soviet Union, Gorbachev changed the lower levels of the power structure, and cracked down on the corruption in the Communist Party. In 1986 he instituted policies of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) (encarta.msn.com). Gorbachev felt that the Communist Party was ruining his efforts to reform so he had key communist leaders replaced with new people. He convinced congress to pass a constitutional amendment, which made him the first president of the USSR in 1985. The biggest economic reform he made was to allow for small private businesses and cooperatives, which could exist in either side of the state enterprises. Gorbachev felt that the biggest changes would not take effect until the relations with the West improved. He improved relationships with the U.S, Britain, West Germany, and other Western states. The USSR also improved their relationship with Israel and helped the American effort to get Iraqi forces out of Kuwait, during the Persian Gulf War (Gorbachev 195). Gorbachev reunified East and West Germany and withdrew his forces in various areas. Because of his excellence in foreign policy, Gorbachev received the Nobel P...