Leonid Brezhnev was a Soviet politician who served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1964 to 1982. He was known for his role in the Soviet Union's foreign policy, including the invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 and the détente period with the United States in the 1970s. Brezhnev's leadership was characterized by a period of stability and economic growth in the Soviet Union, but also by political repression and a lack of significant reforms.