Mikhail Gorbachev erode Gromyko's dominance of Soviet foreign policy while at the same time sending a signal to the U.S. government that he wanted to improve Soviet-U.S. relations. On 11 March 1985, Chernenko died. Gromyko proposed Gorbachev as the next General-Secretary; as a longstanding party member, Gromyko's recommendation carried great weight among the Central Committee. Gorbachev expected much opposition to his nomination as Chernenko's successor, but ultimately the rest of the Politburo supported him. Shortly after Chernenko's death, the Politburo unanimously elected Gorbachev as his successor; they wanted him over another elderly leader. Although not a well-known figure to the Soviet public,
1996 Mikhail Gorbachev presidential campaign by Viktor Anpilov and a group of Anpilov's supporters. They condemned Gorbachev for his role in the collapse of the Soviet Union, and held signs which read "No Place for Traitors on the Holy Ground of Stalingrad". Anpilov tried to get Gorbachev's wife Raisa to take flowers from him, and mocked her and her husband for being "rude ingrates" when she refused them. During a campaign trip through St. Petersburg local officials refused to allow Gorbachev to embark on visits that he had planned to take to three factories, with the officials telling Gorbachev that the factories were closed to