Yuri Andropov...
Weren’t there three in a row back then? I cannot remember the parade of leaders after Breshnev. But they got sick, and sick, and sick, and then George Bush would hop a plane to a funeral.
Brezhnev—Andropov—Chernenko—Gorby—Yanayev (I forgot him, he was in charge for two days!)
In any other U.S. Administration during the Cold War, this wouldn't have caused a ripple since our own leadership ranged from horrible (Carter) to merely mediocre (JFK, Ike, Truman, Nixon). But with Reagan in charge, even the relatively strong Gorby didn't survive.
To this day, the left gives him, not Reagan, credit for ending the Cold War. As if he had a choice.