Laura Bauer. "A history lesson from a legend"

     MANHATTAN, Kan. — Though the mention of his name often comes now from textbooks and TV history shows, he drew a crowd Friday much like a rock star would.
     From students and college employees to residents, they lined up hours in advance, snaking a line through the Kansas State University campus. They waited with the hope they would get inside McCain Auditorium to see Mikhail Gorbachev, the 74-year-old former leader of the Soviet Union, while the lucky ones with tickets were already allowed inside.
     “I always thought it would be cool to be in the same room with him,” said David Bartlett, a 26-year-old mechanical engineer from Hutchinson.
     About 1,800 got to be in the same room with Gorbachev on Friday afternoon, while another several hundred were allowed into the student union’s Forum Hall to watch his lecture through a video hookup.
When Gorbachev became leader of the Soviet Union, many of the students were learning their ABCs and romping through elementary school.
     “I really don’t know much about him at all,” said Melissa McCoy, a Washburn University psychology major from Topeka who rated a second-row seat through a government class she’s taking.
McCoy smiled, almost embarrassed, as she added: “I just knew he was the guy with the birthmark on his head.”
     For more than an hour, Gorbachev was the teacher, sharing lessons learned in his six years as the Russian leader, credited with helping put an end to the Cold War. He outlined Russia’s challenges when he took office.
     “Our country had been stifled because of the absence of freedom,” Gorbachev said.
Through an interpreter, Gorbachev talked about perestroika, the restructuring of Russia and how it occurred through the resistance of some.
     “It was very difficult to start the process of change,” he said. “It had to be started above.”
He spoke of how vital he thought it was 20 years ago for him and his country to conduct a “proper evaluation of the situation of the world” before changes and progress were made. Assessment, he said, was key.
     “Our fundamental decisions proved to be correct,” he said.
     At moments, he was funny, offering jokes that a group of students studying Russian laughed at before the interpreter could clue in everyone else. One funny moment came when Gorbachev described the goals of perestroika and how “the country opened up to the world, and the world opened up to us.”
     After stopping for a drink of water, he talked about a professor he once had at Moscow University who had taught him an important lesson. He said the professor, like him, had a “throat problem” and would often stop for a drink.
     The lesson? “He told us even the most spectacular and best lecture needs to be watered down.”
Gorbachev’s words prompted applause on several occasions. One came when he talked about some of the criticism thrown his way.
     “Some say I gave away Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic,” he told the group. “I gave it to their people.”
     The audience erupted again as he talked about the future of the world, the importance of globalization and how all countries must benefit from it, not just the rich and prosperous.
     Three billion people are living on less than a day, he said. One billion on less than a day.
He said America has a right to claim leadership but should do so in an inclusive way.
     “Leadership should be exercised, not through domination but partnering with other nations,” Gorbachev said. “The past few years have shown that people don’t accept the attempt to dictate to them, for any country to be the world policeman.

The Kansas City Star, October 29, 2005