Born January 25, 1928
Mamati, Georgia, Soviet Union

Soviet foreign minister and
president of Georgia

Eduard Shevardnadze, foreign minister of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1990, helped reform and transform the internal structure and international relations of his country. Led by Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev (1931–; see entry), their overall policies were known as glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring).

Shevardnadze encouraged cooperation and compromise with the United States. He and Gorbachev became the much-heralded architects who brought about the end of the Cold War (1945–91). The Cold War was an intense political and economic rivalry from 1945 to 1991 between the United States and the Soviet Union, falling just short of military conflict. Following the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, Shevardnadze returned to his...