… in 1985, Konstantin Chernenko, who had been Soviet leader for just 13 months, died at age 73. His death was announced on March 11th. Mikhail Gorbachev was chosen to succeed him. I had completely airbrushed ol’ Chernenko from my memory — which is perhaps understandable when you see his official portrait (above), which makes him look like a triumph of the embalmer’s art.