President of the Soviet Union - Definition and Overview

The President of the Soviet Union was the largely ceremonial Head of State of the USSR from 1990 to 1991.

The office had not existed until 1990; previously the Head of State had been the Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR (Chairman of the All-Union Executive Committee, ВЦИК) from 1922-1938, the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet from 1938-1989, then the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet in 1989-90.

All effective executive political power was in the hands of the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, with the Chairman exercising largely symbolic and figurehead duties. Four General Secretaries held the Chair of the Supreme Soviet simultaneously during their leaderships.

List of Heads of State:

• Chairman of the Central Executive Committee
  • Mikhail Kalinin (1922-1938)
• Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet
  • Mikhail Kalinin (1938-1946)
  • Nikolay Shvernik (1946-1953)
  • Kliment Voroshilov (1953-1960)
  • Leonid Brezhnev (1960-1964)
  • Anastas Mikoyan (1964-1965)
  • Nikolai Podgorny (1965-1977)
  • Leonid Brezhnev (1977-1982)
  • Vasily Kuznetsov (1982-1983) (acting)
  • Yuri Andropov (1983-1984)
  • Vasily Kuznetsov (1984) (acting)
  • Konstantin Chernenko (1984-1985)
  • Vasily Kuznetsov (1985) (acting)
  • Andrei Gromyko (1985-1988)
  • Mikhail Gorbachev (1988-1990) (Chairman of the Supreme Soviet from 1989)
• President of the Soviet Union
  • Mikhail Gorbachev (1990-1991)

Yakov Sverdlov (1885-1919) was the closest thing to a head of state of the Bolshevik state before the formal establishment of the Soviet Union.