DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: But first, our "CNN 20" segment, it looks back at the death of Soviet leader Konstantin Cherneneko. (</s>BEGIN VIDEOTAPE, MARCH 10, 1985) STUART LURAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We think of Konstantin Chernenko as an old-timer in the Soviet leadership. One of the aging elite who, for years, had been blocking the way to power fro outsiders, but Chernenko was really an outsider himself until late in life. He was a self-made man with a late-blooming career. Chernenko was more a realist than an idealist. Within two months after he was named head of the Communist Party, he made speech that recognized the growing strength of capitalism. Until then, accepted party dogma had been that capitalism was declining. His other big policy surprise was reversing position on nuclear arms talks with the United States. They had been cut off during Andropov's last months in office. A year later, they re-opened under Chernenko, who spoke of detente with almost the same passion as Brezhnev once did. Chernenko was a frail leader. He had trouble lifting his arm in a final salute to Andropov at the funeral. He looked shaky at his meetings with world leaders in the days afterward. (on camera): If Chernenko had lived a longer and had been a little healthier he might have developed into the Harry Truman of Soviet politics, the little uneducated fellow from the sticks, who grew into the job and grew and grew. But instead, he becomes the second leader in a row not to have enough time to really give him hell in the Trumanesque sense. Stuart Luray (ph), CNN, Moscow.
CNN 20: Konstantin Chernenko Dies, March 10, 1985