ber of meetings with United States (U.S ) presidents Nixon, Ford, and Carter, the Soviet Union continued a long-standing policy of competing for political control of third world nations which made US leaders suspect of his motives. (Lih) Under Brezhnev, the Soviet political system became static. Most personnel in top-level positions remained at their posts. Policies implemented during Brezhnev's early years remained unchanged, whether effective or not. He continued a campaign of placing weapons on the U.S.S.R.'s western front, despite opposition from most of the Western world. The Soviet Union also became entangled in Chinese affairs, culminating in a costly war after the Soviets invaded Afghanistan. (Lih) In the early 1980's, stagnation reached its peak in the U.S.S.R.. The government was apathetic to even the most basic problems. The Communists refused to discuss either the past or the future, and relied on nationalism to carry it through. Brezhnev died in 1982, and the next two party leaders, Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko, remained in office for about a year each, producing no reform. (Lih) The Soviet Union appeared that it would never come out of its static state until a young political with a reform agenda took the party's leadership in 1985: Mikhail Gorbachev. (Daniels) IV. The Fall of Communism Communism and socialism in the U.S.S.R. were doomed from the onset. They were condemned due to lack of support from other nations, condemned due to corruption within its leadership, condemned due to the frailties of humanity making what is perfect on paper ineffective in the real world. The ends of these two systems was a violent and sudden one, and it left one of the two most powerful nations in the world trembling in its wake. A. Gorbachev's Visions Gorbachev came into the leadership of the Communist party with a plan. His most famous agenda was a policy of perestroika, or restructuring. Gorbachev bel...
