This article assesses the contribution to history made by Mikhail Gorbachev’s interpreter Pavel Palazhchenko. The study focuses on Palazhchenko’s most recent Russian-language memoirs Profession and time: The notes of an interpreter-diplomat (2020), as well as interviews and video recordings of public appearances. Palazhchenko was the principal interpreter to Gorbachev and his Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze in the period 1985-1991, during which time both the Cold War and the nuclear arms race came to an end thanks to intense negotiations and frequent face-to-face meetings between Soviet and US leaders. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, Palazhchenko has worked alongside Gorbachev at the Gorbachev Fund and has continued to interpret for him. Previous studies of interpreters’ historical contribution have tended to diminish their importance. I argue that Palazhchenko’s agency was enhanced by his close relationship with Soviet leaders, and that his contribution to the team of people that led historical progress towards peace should not be reduced to that of a “semi-visible” interpreter with negligeable historical importance. I also contend that the moral choices he made have the markings of an activist as well as a diplomat. Finally, I assert that the recent publication of his memoirs in Russian constitutes a valuable and politically engaged contribution to history that pushes back against current official discourse. Lines of study that could build on this article include: the contribution of interpreters to the social groups they regularly accompany, the value of longstanding “personal” interpreters to the speaker and the audience, and the connection between activism and interpreting.