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==Chernenko in office==
[[Image:Chernenko2.jpg|right|thumb|Chernenko]]▼
Chernenko represented a return to the hard-line policies of the Brezhnev era. He supported a greater role for the labour unions, reform in education, and trimming of bureaucracy. In foreign policy, he negotiated a trade pact with the [[People's Republic of China]]. Despite calls for a renewed [[détente]], Chernenko did little to prevent the escalation of the [[Cold War]] with the [[United States]]. For example, in 1984, the USSR prevented a visit to [[West Germany]] by [[East Germany|East German]] leader [[Erich Honecker]]. However, in the late autumn of 1984, the U.S. and the Soviet Union did agree to resume arms control talks in early 1985.
▲[[Image:Chernenko2.jpg|right|thumb|Chernenko]]
Chernenko's poor health made him unable to govern effectively. His frequent absences from office left little doubt that his reign had only been an interim measure in a longer struggle between conservatives and reformers.
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==Last months and death==
In what was almost universally regarded, even by his opponents, as a cruel act against Chernenko, [[Politburo]] member [[Viktor Grishin]] dragged the deathly ill Chernenko from his hospital bed to a ballot box to vote in the elections in early [[1985]].
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