THE UNREPORTED TRUTH ON MIKHAIL GORBACHEV

This was Gorbachev's response:

Here are some more recent quotes from Mr. Gorbachev:

How people are falling for The Lie is beyond me. I mean, first Gorbachev ascends to power in the atheistic, totalitarian, militaristic, anti-Western Soviet regime faster than anyone in history, and now he is being upheld as the Christ-like, pro-Western democrat who has brought forth world peace. Thus, a perfect contradiction has developed. And what is a "contra"-"diction"? Something that is the opposite of what it appears to say and mean- a perfect lie, a perfect liar, the master of deceit- the devil.

                               USA TODAY
                           October 28, 1996

           "Gorbachev still a big draw In the USA, that is; 
                      in Russia, another story."

                       By Christina Pino-Marina

   WASHINGTON -- The scene would never occur these days in Russia.  

   The line at Borders Books snaked out the door and around the block.  
Students skipped class and urban  professionals  took  extended  lunch 
breaks  to  catch  a glimpse of one of the most pivotal figures of the 
20th century.  

   Former Soviet president  Mikhail  Gorbachev,  on  a  U.S.  tour  to 
promote  his  autobiography  Memoirs,  attracted  hundreds of cheering 
admirers over the weekend in Washington.  He also made  stops  in  New 
York City before going on to London.  

   "I am in awe," said college student Martin Weiss,  20, who lined up 
at 4:30 a.m.  for Friday's 12:30 p.m.  book-signing.  "He's one of the 
defining men of the last century." 

   Gorbachev,  65,  is  widely admired in the West for his role in the 
peaceful dismantling of the former Soviet Union.  

   But he is ridiculed at home,  where Russians blame  him  for  their 
economic  hardship  and loss of superpower status.  In Russia's recent 
presidential election he received less than 1% of the vote.  

   President Boris Yeltsin,  who once worked for Gorbachev,  won  that 
election, much to Gorbachev's displeasure.

   "I  regret that I did not ship him off as ambassador to some banana 
republic," Gorbachev told USA TODAY.  

   Despite his low popularity,  Gorbachev would not rule  out  running 
again.  

   "I feel more confident," he said. "People understand the difference 
between  the  policies  that  Gorbachev  implemented  and  those  that 
happened after him." 

   Though he now considers himself a democrat and not a communist,  he 
refuses to dismiss Russia's communist past.  

   "There were certain guarantees of  protection  for  the  masses  of 
people," he said.  "The socialist tradition .  .  . goes back to Jesus 
Christ, not (Karl) Marx." 

   There was no question about Gorbachev's popularity  in  Washington: 
Bookstore officials said his book signing was their most successful.  

   All 500 copies of his book were sold in two hours.  And  Gorbachev, 
surrounded  by  three  Russian security guards,  had to exit the store 
through its storage room to avoid the crowd.  He then dodged squealing 
teen-agers who came upon him in the garage.  

   Despite  having  what two Russian papers call "rock-star status" in 
the West,  don't expect "Gorby" to move.  "Russia is my  country,"  he 
said. "I plan to stay there." 

GRAPHIC:  PHOTO,  B/W, Ron Edmonds, AP;  Crowd-pleaser:  Former Soviet 
president Mikhail Gorbachev's memoirs sold 500 in-stock copies in just 
two hours Friday at a Washington, D.C., bookstore.  

----------------------------------------------------------------------

                          The New York Times
                           October 25, 1996

           "Fans and Fanfare for Mikhail Gorbachev, Author"

                          By Rachel L. Swarns

   The tapes were rolling,  the cameras were zooming  and  Mikhail  S.  
Gorbachev,  the  last  leader  of  the Soviet Union,  was preparing to 
discuss his newly released memoirs on  national  television  yesterday 
when the makeup artist noticed a hint of shadow.  

   "Razor  stubble!"  she exclaimed,  and rushed onto the set of "Good 
Morning America" to powder the cleft chin,  the balding head  and  the 
cranberry  birthmark  of the man who presided over the end of the cold 
war.  

    Mr.  Gorbachev smiled and endured.  And soon, he was striding down 
Park  Avenue  and  heading  to  a  Barnes & Noble Bookstore,  where he 
officially joined the world of celebrity authors by signing  his  book 
for about 350 eager admirers.  

   "My  heart  is  pounding,"  said Jeanette K.  Peret,  an accounting 
manager who took her 13-year-old son out of school  and  waited  three 
hours for a moment with her hero. "I just can't believe it." 

   There  he  was,  the  man  who once controlled thousands of nuclear 
warheads, shaking hands,  kissing cheeks,  scrawling his signature and 
hawking  his  book like any self-respecting capitalist.  When asked to 
pose for photographers, he pointed to his portrait on the cover of his 
book,  "Memoirs," and joked,  through an interpreter,  "I look  better 
here." 

   For  a  staunch  Communist who rose through the ranks of provincial 
politicians to lead America's most feared  rival,  the  transformation 
could not have been more complete.  

   His  political  support in Russia has vanished:  he won less than 1 
percent of the vote in the last presidential elections.  His  life  is 
now  filled  with university lectures,  literary agents and publishing 
parties.  

   Yesterday he found  himself  competing  for  readers  in  the  same 
bookstore  that has showcased the supermodel Cindy Crawford,  Bob Hope 
and the former heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali this month.  

   "Muhammad Ali got a  bigger  crowd,"  admitted  Donna  Passannante, 
director  of author promotions for Barnes & Noble.  "But this is still 
one of the biggest we've had." 

   In his  book,  Mr.  Gorbachev  describes  growing  up  in  southern 
Russia,  his courtship of his wife,  Raisa,  and his struggle to reach 
the top of the Soviet hierarchy.  But during his whirlwind trip to New 
York  --  which included a television appearance with Charlie Rose,  a 
lecture at the 92d Street Y and a meeting with the editorial board  of 
The  New  York  Times  --  he focused on his assessments of modern-day 
Russia.  

   Of Russia's President,  Boris N.  Yeltsin,  the political rival who 
replaced him,  Mr.  Gorbachev joked,  "I probably should have sent him 
off as an ambassador to one of the banana republics." 

   Of Aleksandr Lebed,  the tremendously popular security  chief  whom 
Mr.  Yeltsin dismissed last week, he said:  "I would certainly support 
Lebed.  As a political leader he is politically immature,  but he  can 
learn. He cares that so many Russians live in hardship." 

   Mr.  Gorbachev's book,  which was a best seller in Germany, sparked 
little interest in Russia.  There, he is intensely disliked and blamed 
for the collapse of the Soviet Union.  But that,  Mr.  Gorbachev says, 
is the lot of most reformers.  

   "Jesus  Christ,  he  was also a reformer," he said.  "He was pelted 
with stones and insulted. So this is not any news." 

   But Mr.  Gorbachev was warmly welcomed in  New  York  City.  As  he 
walked  along Park Avenue,  construction workers whistled and cheered.  
Japanese tourists jostled to shake his hand.  And Alvin Knoll,  a  65-
year-old  architect,  drove 135 miles from Volatie,  N.Y.,  to get his 
book signed.  

   "He changed the world," Mr.  Knoll said,  clutching his autographed 
book. "It's a little like getting Winston Churchill's signature." 

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                      THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER 
                           October 26, 1996

                        "Gorbachev Signs Books"
                                                
   Mikhail Gorbachev officially joined the world of celebrity  authors 
this  week  by  appearing  at  a New York Barnes & Noble bookstore and 
signing his book for about 350 eager New Yorkers.  

   There he was,  the man who once  controlled  thousands  of  nuclear 
warheads,  shaking hands,  kissing cheeks, scrawling his signature and 
hawking his book like any self-respecting capitalist.  

   During his whirlwind trip  to  New  York  _  which  included  a  TV 
appearance with Charlie Rose _ he focused on his assessments of modern 
Russia.  

   Of  Russian  President Boris Yeltsin,  who replaced him,  Gorbachev 
joked, "I probably should have sent him off as an ambassador to one of 
the banana republics. " 

   Of  Alexander  Lebed,  the  popular  security  chief  whom  Yeltsin 
recently dismissed,  he said:  "I would certainly support Lebed.  As a 
political leader,  he is politically immature,  but he can  learn.  He 
cares that so many Russians live in hardship. " 

    Gorbachev's  book,  a  best  seller  in  Germany,  sparked  little 
interest in Russia.  There,  he is intensely disliked and  blamed  for 
the  collapse of the Soviet Union.  But that,  Gorbachev says,  is the 
lot of reformers.  

   "Jesus Christ,  he was also a reformer," he said.  "He  was  pelted 
with stones and insulted.  So this is not any news. " 

----------------------------------------------------------------------

                         Agence France Presse
                           October 25, 1996

          "Gorbachev draws crowds with release of 'Memoirs'"

   WASHINGTON,  Oct 25 (AFP) - Disliked in Russia,  Mikhail Gorbachev, 
the last Soviet president,  showed Friday he remains a darling of  the 
West  as  hundreds  of  admirers  queued  for  hours  at  a Washington 
bookstore to get an autographed copy of his "Memoirs." 

   The 700-page book was released on October 10 in the  United  States 
by the New-York based publishing house Doubleday and is already in its 
second printing, a spokeswoman said.  

   At the noon-hour book-signing,  Gorbachev,  wearing a grey suit and 
proudly displaying his trademark cranberry birthmark,  sat at a  small 
table  where  he  shook  hands  with  gushing  fans  and  scrawled his 
signature on fast-selling copies of the book.  

   "He's aged," commented one woman to a friend as the pair  stretched 
out their necks to try to steal a better look at the communist-turned-
author.  

   "We've  never  had  anything like this," said Mary Ann Brownlow,  a 
community relations coordinator who organised the book-signing at  the 
Borders Book store in downtown Washington.  

   "It  was almost like a rock star had come," she said.  Borders sold 
over 500 copies of his book at 31.50 each.  

   Washington  was  Gorbachev's  second stop on the US tour to promote 
his book.  

   In New York earlier this week,  he went through the  same  routine, 
signing  books,  meeting  admirers and giving interviews on prime-time 
news program  despite  the  cumbersome  translation  from  Russian  to 
English.

   "Mikhail  Gorbachev  truely  changed  the  world,"  ABC  television 
commentator Charles Gibson said as he presented an interview with  the 
former Soviet communist leader.  

   The  lingering  "Gorbymania"  in  the United States strikes a stark 
contrast with the former leader's standing in Russia where he has lost 
all political support.  

   In the Russian presidential elections, Gorbachev garnered less than 
one percent of the vote and was  quickly  eliminated  from  the  first 
round of voting in June.  

   Asked about  this  paradox,  Gorbachev  came  up  with  a  biblical 
reference.  

   "Jesus Christ was pelted with stones.  He was blamed and condemned, 
and  then he was put with a bandit and they were taken for execution," 
he said in the interview to ABC.  

   "And when it was said that one of them could be spared,  the people 
said the bandit should be spared, and Christ was crucified," he said.