Graded Assignment Person of the Decade

Graded Assignment
Person of the Decade

By the early 1990s, Soviet domination in Eastern Europe had ended. A number of individuals played a part in the collapse of the Soviet Union. Understanding the role that each played is an important part of understanding the process that changed European politics and geography.

(50 points)

1. Using the information from the reading and from your online research, decide who you think should be named “Person of the Decade.” Then write a letter to the Time magazine nominating committee explaining why they should select your choice for “Person of the Decade.”

This assignment is worth 50 points, so it will be important to:
Provide background on the person.
Give details about the person’s work.
Explain the person’s impact on others and describe how the person changed the course of culture and politics.
You may complete and submit this assignment in this lesson or on the next Your Choice day.

ANSWER

MEMORENDUM

TO: Times Magazine

FROM:

DATE:

SUBJECT: PERSON OF THE DECADE

This memo is to recommend Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev who was born on 2^nd March 1931 as the person of decade during the collapse of the Soviet Union.Gorbachev was the 18^th and the last leader of the Soviet Union, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985-1991. When Gorbachev took the leadership of the Soviet Union in 1985, he introduced two set of policies in the hope of USSR to become more productive and prosperous .The two sets were; Political openness which eliminated traces of Stalinist repression and promoted freedom to the Soviet citizens. The second was the economic restructuring by allowing individuals to own businesses and the government loosening its grip in the hope of innovation. However this policies did not work but instead led to rationing and shortage of goods which led to people being frustrated in his government. Since the economy of the Soviet having good relations with the rest of the world, Gorbachev withdrew his army troop from Afghanistan and this policy of non-intervention led to collapse of the Eastern European alliances. and the collapse of the Berlin wall in 1889 November. A state of emergency was declared on August 18, 1991 when Gorbachev was put under house arrest because of his inability to lead as the president in healthy ways. Later on December 8, Gorbachev went to Minsk and met leaders of Ukraine and Belarus and signed an agreement that broke them from USSR and the other countries declared their independence from USSR .Since Gorbachev was falling, he resigned inevitably and put an end to the cold war and the arms race that crippled the country’s economy.