Zhivkov, Todor Hristo

Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP) leader 1954–89, prime minister 1962–71, and president 1971–89. His period in office was one of caution and conservatism. In 1990 he was charged with embezzlement during his time in office and in 1992 sentenced to seven years under house arrest. He was released in January 1997.

Zhivkov, a printing worker, joined the BCP in 1932 and was active in the resistance 1941–44. After the war, he was elected to the national assembly and soon promoted into the BCP secretariat and politburo. As BCP first secretary, Zhivkov became the dominant political figure in Bulgaria after the death of Vulko Chervenkov in 1956. He was elected to the new post of state president in 1971, serving in that capacity until the Eastern bloc upheavals of 1989.