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 "war on crime". As leader of the Soviet Union, Gorbachev had desired to implement more gradual reforms in an effort to preserve the country's socialism while providing a democratization of its society. This contrasted with many of the reforms which Yeltsin had implemented, which sought rapid change and disregarded the country's socialist structure. Gorbachev hoped that, if elected, he would be able to halt course and implement his own, more mild, vision of reforms. He hoped to create a social democratic state structure in Russia. One of Gorbachev's top stated priorities was to put an end to the war in