Was Mikhail Gorbachev the first and only president of the Soviet Union?

Answer 1

Short answer

Yes, Gorbachev was the first and only person to bear the official title of the President of the Soviet Union. The office of the President was created in 1990 and existed until 1991 when the Soviet Union collapsed. Gorbachev held it the whole time.

An elaboration on why some may not consider Gorbachev the first or only president of the USSR follows.

In all fairness, prior to 1990, the Soviet government had a post officially called The Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the soviet Union - a title as unpronounceable as it was symbolic. If you peel away the world jumble, this title amounts to what in the West is called a "President".

In reality, it was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union who held all the power. People were not fooled; it is easy to find a good list of every General Secretary the USSR ever had, but most people don't even know the Soviet Union had what can technically be called a president much less what his name was - and that includes Russians themselves.

Incidentally, Gorbachev started out as the General Secretary 1985, became the Chairman of the Presidium 1988, and finally was elected President in 1990 in something of a free election.

- - - - -

The reason people think Gorbachev was the only president of the USSR is, Gorbachev was the only person who was General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and Chairman of the Presidium at the same time. These men were all Presidents of the USSR: Mikhail Kalinin, Nikolay Shvernik, Kliment Voroshilov, Leonid Brezhnev (served two terms, died in his second), Vasili Kuznetsov (served three terms), Yuri Andropov, Konstantin Chernenko, Andrei Gromyko and Mikhail Gorbachev. There are several men who were General Secretaries, but only Gorbachev was General Secretary and President at the same time.