Word: brezhnevs
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Andropov's lingering illness, it was thought, had given his comrades in the Politburo ample time to plan for the succession. But at week's end the transition did not appear to be proceeding as smoothly or swiftly as it did following Brezhnev's death. Then it had taken only 52 hours for Andropov to emerge as the Central Committee's choice for General Secretary of the Communist Party. But newsmen watching the streets around the huge Central Committee building in downtown Moscow on Saturday afternoon saw no sign of unusual activity. If the Central Committee, which must elect...
...Politburo would choose the top man from their own ranks or would boldly pick a younger man. The two likeliest young candidates: Grigori Romanov, 61, and Mikhail Gorbachev, 52. With few clues to go on, Kremlin watchers seized on the appointment of Konstantin Chernenko, 72, a onetime Brezhnev protégé, to head the funeral committee as an indication that the old guard had triumphed. Although Andropov had been chosen for the same position when Brezhnev died, the signal was not as clear this time. As Andropov's nominal deputy, Chernenko was the logical choice for the ceremonial...
...passed without word of a decision, the streets near the House of Trade Unions, where Andropov's body was lying in state, were patrolled by men in uniform and by civilian volunteers with red armbands. Yet the area that was sealed off to traffic was far smaller than after Brezhnev's death. Outside the perimeter, crowds of shoppers, swathed in thick coats, boots, scarves and fur hats, thronged the sidewalks, seemingly oblivious to what was going on a few blocks away. Said a Soviet soldier: "Just as they found Andropov, they will find someone else...
...silver-haired Chernenko, who was once thought to be Brezhnev's hand-picked heir, paused for a moment before the coffin of the man who had defeated him in the leadership race last time. Andropov's face was bony and drawn, his nose almost beaklike. His long ordeal seemed reflected on the faces of his wife, his son Igor and his daughter Irina, who sat near the flower-bedecked bier. While an orchestra played Tchaikovsky's "Pathetique" Symphony in the background, Chernenko went up to Andropov's widow, kissed her and touched her gently on the shoulder. When Ustinov embraced...
After considering the pros and cons of traveling to Moscow for the funeral, Reagan decided to send Vice President George Bush instead. Whatever the merits of a Moscow visit, Reagan, who had declined to attend Brezhnev's funeral, apparently did not want the Soviets or anyone else to wonder whether he was exploiting the occasion for his own political ends...