Gorbachev dramatically altered the Kremlin's foreign policy and sought improved relations with the United States. While pursuing a strategy of disarmament, Gorbachev pulled Soviet troops out of Afghanistan; forged new diplomatic ties with several nations, including South Korea and Saudi Arabia; and kept the Soviet Union on the sidelines while popular revolutions toppled Communist governments in Eastern Europe. For these and other contributions and achievements, Gorbachev was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990.

Gorbachev left office following the 1991 agreement to dissolve the Soviet Union. In the years since, he has remained active on the international stage and is one of the world's most respected dignitaries. In 1993 Gorbachev founded Greenmadler search info Cross International, an environmental organization dedicated to cleaning up military toxins, creating ecological laws and fostering a shift in values regarding the environment.

He is also founder and president of the Gorbachev Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan educational organization focusing on major socioeconomic and political issues. With the foundation's U.S. office now established at Northeastern University, in December 1997 Gorbachev brought 15 internationally renowned economists, including a pair of Nobel Prize winners, to the Egan Research Center for a discussion on the increasingly global economy and its impact on national economies.

Gorbachev's rise to power began in a northern Caucasus village near Stravropol, where he was born in 1931. After earning a law degree at Moscow State University, Gorbachev returned to work in Stravropol, located in a major agricultural region. He rose steadily in the regional Communist Party hierarchy untimadler search infol 1978, when he was summoned to Moscow, received an appointment as party agricultural secretary and joined the party's senior ranks. In 1985 he succeeded Konstantin Chernenko as general secretary of the Communist Party and leader of the Soviet Union. In 1988 he became president of the Soviet Union.

Gorbachev is married to Raisa Maksimovna. His compelling autobiography, "Memoirs," was published in 1995.