Four days after Andropov's death, on 9 February 1984, Chernenko was elected as the party's General Secretary.

Chernenko was elected as a compromise candidate by the Politburo ; the Central Committee could never have accepted another candidate, considering that the majority of the Central Committee members were old Brezhnev appointees.

In this confusion, Chernenko was never able to become a strong leader.

At the same meeting, Grishin was asked to chair the commission responsible for Chernenko's funeral ; Grishin turned down the offer, claiming that Gorbachev was closer to Chernenko than he was.

But Andropov's ability to reshape the top leadership was constrained by his poor health and the influence of his rival ( and longtime ally of Leonid Brezhnev ) Konstantin Chernenko, who had previously supervised personnel matters in the Central Committee.

At 71, Konstantin Chernenko was in poor health, suffering from emphysema, and unable to play an active role in policy making when he was chosen, after lengthy discussion, to succeed Andropov.

Although Chernenko had called for renewed détente with the West, little progress was made towards closing the rift in East − West relations during his rule.

Chernenko gave Gorbachev high party positions that provided significant influence in the Politburo, and Gorbachev was able to gain the vital support of Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko in the struggle for succession.

Kremvax was announced on April 1, 1984 in a posting ostensibly originated there by Soviet leader Konstantin Chernenko.

Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko ( 24 September 1911 – 10 March 1985 ) was a Soviet politician and the fifth General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

Chernenko was also Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet from 11 April 1984 until his death.

Chernenko was born to a poor family in the village of Bolshaya Tes ( now in Novosyolovsky District, Krasnoyarsk Krai ).

Chernenko then steadily rose through the Party ranks, becoming the Director of the Krasnoyarsk House of Party Enlightenment then in 1939, the Deputy Head of the AgitProp Department of Krasnoyarsk Territorial Committee and finally, in 1941 he was appointed Secretary of the Territorial Party Committee for Propaganda.

It was in the 1940s that Chernenko established a close-knit relationship with Fyodor Kulakov.

The turning point in Chernenko ’ s career was his assignment in 1948 to head the Communist Party ’ s propaganda department in the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic.

In 1960, after Brezhnev was named chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet ( titular head of state of the Soviet Union ), Chernenko became his chief of staff.

In 1971 Chernenko was promoted to full membership in the Central Committee: Overseeing Party work over the Letter Bureau, dealing with correspondence.

During Brezhnev's final years, Chernenko became fully immersed in ideological Party work: Heading Soviet delegations abroad, accompanying Brezhnev to important meetings and conferences, and was a member of the commission that revised the Soviet Constitution in 1977.

After Brezhnev's death in November 1982, there was speculation the position of General Secretary would fall to Chernenko, however he was unable to rally enough popular support for his candidacy within the Party, and the posting fell to former KGB chief Yuri Andropov.

Chernenko was then elected to replace Andropov, despite concerns over his own ailing health, and against Andropov's wishes ( he stated he wanted Gorbachev to succeed him ).

Yegor Ligachev writes in his memoirs that Chernenko was elected general secretary without a hitch.

Chernenko never succeeded in becoming a " real " leader during his tenure in office because of his declining health

Chernenko never got complete control over the Central Committee and Party apparatus ; while Andropov never succeeded in removing the majority of Brezhnev appointees in the Central Committee, he had succeeding in dividing the Central Committee along factional lines.

On February 9, 1984 Andropov died and was succeeded by Konstantin Chernenko who in turn died on March 10, 1985.

He was succeeded in office by Konstantin Chernenko, who was destined to serve even less time in office ( 13 months ) than Andropov did before his death in office.

Andropov was succeeded by Konstantin Chernenko, who ruled for no more than 13 months.

Yuri Andropov, Brezhnev's 68-year-old successor, was seriously ill with kidney disease when he took over, and after his death fifteen months later, he was succeeded by Konstantin Chernenko, then 72, who lasted thirteen months before his death and replacement with Gorbachev.

When Mikhail Gorbachev succeeded Konstantin Chernenko as General Secretary of the Communist Party in 1985, it signaled a dramatic change in Soviet foreign policy.

In the spring of 1984, Chernenko was hospitalized for over a month, but kept working by sending the Politburo notes and letters.

On 28th February 1985, Chernenko appeared once more on television to receive parliamentary credentials and read out a brief statement on his electoral victory: the election campaign is over and now it is time to carry out the tasks set for us by the voters and the Communists who have spoken out.

Within three years of the deaths of Soviet Leaders Leonid Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov, and Konstantin Chernenko, Gorbachev was elected General Secretary by the Politburo in 1985.

Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko were obliged by protocol to rule the country in the same way as Brezhnev had.

According to Edwin Bacon and Mark Sandle, authors of Brezhnev Reconsidered, the economy under Brezhnev was as dynamic as the economy presided over by Nikita Khrushchev, but this dynamism had stalled by the time Yuri Andropov, and subsequently Konstantin Chernenko, became General Secretary.

It even resulted in the forced and sudden resignation of the then Armed Forces Chief of the General Staff, Marshal Nikolai Ogarkov, in the following year by the CPSU General Secretary and President of the USSR Supreme Soviet Presidium Konstantin Chernenko.

Mikhail Gorbachev became the party's general secretary in 1985 following an interregnum after Brezhnev's death in 1982 when the party was led first by Yuri Andropov and then by Konstantin Chernenko.

However, Chernenko was already an ill man and his duties were increasingly carried out by others, particularly Gorbachev who was nominated by Andrei Gromyko to become General Secretary when Chernenko died.

Chernenko, the official second-ranking secretary, competed for power with Mikhail Gorbachev.

Following the death of terminally ill Konstantin Chernenko, the Politburo elected Mikhail Gorbachev to the position of General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union ( CPSU ) in March 1985, marking the rise of a new generation of leadership.

As Nikolai Ryzhkov describes it in his memoirs, " every Thursday morning he ( Mikhail Gorbachev ) would sit in his office like a little orphan – I would often be present at this sad procedure – nervously awaiting a telephone call from the sick Chernenko: Would he come to the Politburo himself or would he ask Gorbachev to stand in for him this time again?

When Chernenko died Shevardnadze's had become a strong supporter Mikhail Gorbachev's leadership candidacy.

The last four Soviet leaders ( Leonid Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov, Konstantin Chernenko and Mikhail Gorbachev ) were all senior Secretaries before becoming General Secretaries.

During the final months of Konstantin Chernenko's life, Grishin had been considered as a possible contender to succeed Chernenko as the General Secretary and as a possible alternative to Mikhail Gorbachev.

When Mikhail Gorbachev became General Secretary in 1985, Ligachev was promoted to become a Secretary of higher status, and was generally viewed as one of Gorbachev ’ s primary allies: he had helped organize a pro-Gorbachev faction in hope of having Gorbachev succeed Andropov in 1984, although this attempt failed ( instead, Konstantin Chernenko was chosen as a stop-gap candidate ).

He also claims that the economic policies of Andropov, and Chernenko, had improved the economic situation in the country and Mikhail Gorbachev inherited a more dynamic and vibrant economy in a " pre-crisis situation " where the economy was still growing with low internal and external debts, compared to the economy that Andropov and Chernenko inherited.

In 1985, he was considered Mikhail Gorbachev's main rival in the succession struggle after the death of Konstantin Chernenko in March 1985.

Those re-elected included First Secretary Leonid I. Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov, Konstantin Chernenko and the youngest of the group, Mikhail S. Gorbachev.