UC professor discusses memories, legacy of Mikhail Gorbachev

OAKLAND, Calif. - The last leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev died Tuesday at the age of 91. 

He was admired by many in the West for opening the doors to Russia and helping to end the Cold War. 

His legacy in Russia, however, is not seen in as favorable a light by those who see his leadership as the beginning of Russia's diminished power and the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

"In the West, he is a hero. In Russia, he's a villain," said George Breslauer, a UC Berkeley professor of political science and the author of 12 books on Russia including "Gorbachev and Yeltsin as Leaders."

Breslauer remembers being invited to have breakfast with Gorbachev at former Secretary of State George Schultz's home when Gorbachev visited the Bay Area in 1992.

"Very dignified, but not stuffy. He was friendly, he was open, he asked you question, he answered your questions. He was proud, very well dressed," said Breslauer, "You felt like you were interacting with a westernized Soviet leader."

"He's to me a heroic figure in history, who also was a tragic figure, because so many of his goals were not realized in that he did not want the Soviet Union to collapse," said Breslauer, "He did not want communism in Eastern Europe to collapse. It was that idealist belief that you could transform it into something democratic."

Gorbachev was born March 2, 1931, in a Russian village. He became a full member of the Communist party by the age of 21. In 1985, Gorbachev was elected General Secretary of the Soviet Union.

"He started at the lowest level and worked his way, all the way up to the very top over over a period of 30 years," said Breslauer.

Unlike his predecessors, though, Breslauer says Gorbachev brought Russia closer to the West and into a modern era of greater free speech and broad social and economic reforms.

"It was amazing that somebody came out of that party apparatus, who was so open minded, and was so willing to challenge the sacred cows of Soviet domestic politics and foreign policy," said Breslauer.

In 1987, Gorbachev signed an historic treaty in Washington D.C. to limit intermediate nuclear weapons, and he received the Nobel Peace prize in 1990.

When Gorbachev visited California in June 1990, hundreds of people stood in long lines at Stanford University for a chance to hear and to meet the former Soviet leader.

"He loved to engage in conversation," said Breslauer, "He's to me a heroic figure in history, who also was a tragic figure, because so many of his goals were not realized, in that he did not want the Soviet Union to collapse."

The following year, in August 1991, a Russian coup forced a change of power.

When Gorbachev visited San Francisco in May 1992, he laid a wreath at the Presidio and again spoke at Stanford University in what was to become the beginning of his post-Soviet years on the speakers' circuit.

Gorbachev's leadership and demeanor were in stark contrast to the current Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has criticized the chaos that followed Gorbachev's "perestroika" or "restructuring" era.

"The Putin regime has always has always justified its repressions by saying that the alternative is to go back to the chaos of the 1990's," said Breslauer. " Maybe in 50 years he'll be looked upon in Russia more favorably when new generations come, come to power."

President Biden remembered Gorbachev Tuesday as a "man of remarkable vision," saying Gorbachev was "one with the imagination to see that a different future was possible and the courage to risk his entire career to achieve it. The result was a safer world and greater freedom for millions of people."

Jana Katsuyama is a reporter for KTVU.  Email Jana at jana.katsuyama@fox.com and follow her on Twitter @JanaKTVU or Facebook @NewsJana or ktvu.com.