Todor Zhivkov

Todor Zhivkov fought in Bulgaria's wartime resistance, organizing the Chavdar Partisan Brigade in 1943 and coordinating with pro-Soviet forces during the September 1944 uprising. He became First Secretary of the Bulgarian Communist Party in 1954, then Prime Minister in 1962, and Chairman of the State Council in 1971 — holding power for 35 years, the longest tenure of any Warsaw Pact leader. Under his rule Bulgaria submitted entirely to Soviet direction while pursuing closer ties with the West, and the country industrialized rapidly: in 1948 eighty percent of the population worked in agricultur…