Biography

General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1984-1985).

Being 72 years of age when he succeeded the late Yuri Andropov in February 1984, he was the eldest person to become the new leader of the Soviet Union.

Serving just over a year (13 months), he is the shortest-served leader of the Soviet Union, serving only two months shorter than Yuri Andropov.

Chernenko had a son with his first wife, Faina Vassilyevna Chernenko, named Albert. With his second wife, Anna Dmitrevna Lyubimova, who married him in 1944, he had two daughters, Yelena and Vera, and a son, Vladimir. In 2015 archival documents were published, according to which Chernenko had many more wives, and many more children with them; this circumstance, perhaps, was the reason for the slowing of Chernenko's career growth in the 1940s.

After Brezhnev's death in November 1982, there was speculation that the position of General Secretary would fall to Chernenko, but he was unable to rally enough support for his candidacy within the Party. Ultimately, KGB chief Yuri Andropov, who had been more mindful of Brezhnev's failing health, eventually won the position.