Boris Yeltsin
Soviet politician and reform leader who visited the US in 1989.
Boris Yeltsin was a Soviet and Russian politician who served as President of Russia from 1991 to 1999. Born in 1931 in the village of Butka in the Ural Oblast, he grew up in Kazan and Berezniki, later studying at the Ural State Technical University and working in construction. He joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1961 and rose through its ranks, becoming First Secretary of the party’s Sverdlovsk Oblast committee in 1976. Initially a supporter of Mikhail Gorbachev’s perestroika reforms, Yeltsin came to view them as too moderate and advocated for a transition to a multi-party representative democracy. In 1987, he became the first person to resign from the Politburo, gaining popularity as an anti-establishment figure and leader of the anti-communist movement. Elected chair of the Russian Supreme Soviet in 1990, he became president of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in 1991, the first popularly elected head of state in Russian history. He allied with non-Russian nationalist leaders and was instrumental in the formal dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991, after which the Russian Federation emerged as an independent state with Yeltsin remaining president. He was re-elected in 1996, though critics allege the election was rigged. Yeltsin oversaw the transition from a command economy to a capitalist market economy through shock therapy, privatization, and price liberalization, which led to economic downturn, inflation, and the rise of oligarchs. A constitutional crisis in 1993 began when he unconstitutionally dissolved parliament, leading to his impeachment and an armed uprising that ended when troops loyal to him stormed the parliament building. He then introduced a new constitution expanding presidential powers and governed by decree until 1994. Secessionist conflicts in the Caucasus led to the First and Second Chechen Wars between 1994 and 1999. Internationally, he promoted collaboration with Europe and signed arms control agreements with the United States. Facing growing internal pressure, he resigned in 1999, appointing Vladimir Putin as his successor. He died in 2007 and was given a state funeral.
- field
- Politics
- nationality
- Soviet and Russian
Verified Timeline
Quick Facts
- Native Name Lang
- ru
- Office
- President of RussiaAs President of the Russian SFSR within the Soviet Union until 25 December 1991, thereafter as President of the independent Russian Federation.
- Term Start
- 10 July 1991
- Term End
- 31 December 1999Disputed with Alexander Rutskoy as Acting President from 22 September to 4 October 1993.Viktor Chernomyrdin served as Acting President from 5 to 6 November 1996.
- Vice President
- Alexander Rutskoy (1991–1993)
- Successor
- Vladimir Putin
- Office1
- Interim Head of Government of RussiaOf the Russian SFSR within the Soviet Union until 25 December 1991, thereafter of the independent Russian Federation.
- Term Start1
- 15 November 1991
- Term End1
- 15 June 1992
- President1
- Himself
- 1Blankname1
- First Deputy
- 1Namedata1
- Gennady Burbulis / Yegor Gaidar / Vladimir Shumeyko
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
In September 1989, Boris Yeltsin visited the United States. During the trip, he visited ten cities and made numerous speeches and public appearances. Following his electoral victories, multiple organizations and individuals had reached out to Yeltsin regarding a visit. Ultimately, Yeltsin accepted an offer from the Esalen Institute that would see him visit multiple cities on a public speaking tour. The trip would be entirely funded via his speaking fees, and as part of the agreement, Yeltsin's share of the profits would be used to purchase disposable syringes to help combat HIV/AIDS in the Soviet Union. The trip began on September 9 with a visit to New York City and continued over the next week, with notable highlights including a meeting with President George H. W. Bush at the White House and a meeting with former President Ronald Reagan in Minnesota. On September 16, following a tour of the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Yeltsin's entourage made an unexpected stop at a Randalls grocery store. Multiple commentators have noted that the grocery store visit had a major impact on Yeltsin's political views, with an aide saying that "the last vestige of Bolshevism collapsed inside" of him following the trip.
Reader's Guide
Yeltsin's trip was organized by the Esalen Institute, a New Age group based in California that had established a Soviet–American Exchange Program in 1980. Esalen's plan consisted of a multi-day tour including New York City, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Philadelphia, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, Dallas, and Miami, plus a stop in Houston to see the Johnson Space Center. Speaking fees ranged from $5,000 to $25,000 per appearance. Thirty percent of the money raised would go towards the booking agency, while the remainder would go to Yeltsin. He only agreed on the stipulation that his entire share of the profits be spent on disposable syringes for Soviet hospitals, after nine children in the Soviet city of Elista had contracted HIV due to faulty medical equipment. Yeltsin publicly announced his trip on September 5, saying his main goal was to learn more about the United States. He arrived in New York on September 9, taking a helicopter tour to see the Statue of Liberty, visiting tourist attractions, and giving interviews on Good Morning America, Nightline, Face the Nation, and The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour. He attended a meeting of the Council on Foreign Relations and gave a speech at Columbia University. In Baltimore, he arrived extremely tired at 1 a.m. on September 13, slept only about two hours, and delivered a delayed speech at the Johns Hopkins Club that Johns Hopkins University president Steven Muller called "at best an unmitigated disaster".
Did You Know?
- Yeltsin received about 92 percent of the vote in his Moscow district in the 1989 Soviet Union legislative election.
- His trip to the United States was funded entirely by speaking fees, with his share of profits used to buy disposable syringes for Soviet hospitals.
- Yeltsin's entourage made an unexpected stop at a Randalls grocery store in Houston on September 16, 1989.
- An aide said that after the trip, 'the last vestige of Bolshevism collapsed inside' of Yeltsin.
- In 2020, a comic opera of Yeltsin's visit to the Houston grocery market, titled Yeltsin in Texas, premiered.
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