During the 15 momentous years that he has ruled the Soviet Union, Leonid Brezhnev has reaped an abundant harvest of medals, decorations and titles. General Secretary of the Communist Party, Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet and Marshal of the Soviet Union are only a few of the positions he occupies. But Brezhnev is now 72, and his long absences due to mysterious ailments have set foreign analysts and Soviet citizens alike speculating whether he is actually in full command. Last week, on the first occasion that the party chief has granted a personal interview with U.S. journalists, five representatives of TIME had an opportunity to judge for themselves. Among them was Moscow Bureau Chief Bruce Nelan. His report:
One of the senior Kremlin watchers in Moscow puts it flatly, and puts it best: "Brezhnev runs the show." In the old days, it is true, the President's sleek black ZIL limousine roared down the center lane of Kutuzovsky Prospekt to the Kremlin every morning at 8 o'clock. Now it usually arrives after 10. Brezhnev takes more naps than he once did, and more vacations. His attention span is shorter. Instead of the impromptu policy discussions he used to thrive on, he greets important political visitors with remarks and toasts read from papers prepared for him. Much of his old zest has vanished.
It is true that he rules with the support of his allies in the Politburo and in consensus with Premier Aleksei Kosygin and Party Ideologist Mikhail Suslov, but he is still the boss. If there were any doubts about this, they were resolved a month ago when Brezhnev added two more of his closest allies to the top leadership, Konstantin Chernenko as a full Politburo member and Nikolai Tikhonov as a candidate member.
Brezhnev was Nikita Khrushchev's protégé, but Brezhnev has groomed no heir apparent. Prognosticators in Western capitals, who admit they do not know how the Politburo really works, are unable to point to a logical successor, let alone a challenger, to Brezhnev. Here in Moscow it is still very much the Brezhnev era, and he gives every indication that he intends to keep it that way.
Brezhnev still has the will and the energy to do those enervating things that national leaders have to do. He meets foreign visitors—U.S. Senators, Communist delegations, Asian and Arab ministers, bankers and industrialists—almost every day. He participates in uncounted party and government conferences. Perhaps most trying of all, he not only delivers long public speeches and reports, but sits through interminable speeches by others.
On his good days he can accomplish all that and more, but it is said in Moscow that he also has bad days, as old men do. There has been speculation about why he has not retired voluntarily and honorably, or been replaced by a younger and healthier man. One reason is that Brezhnev appears genuinely popular inside the huge Communist Party bureaucracy. He is a master politician, able executive and respected leader of a world power. He is considered fair in his dealings with the party, loyal to his political allies, responsible and cautious in his policies, and reluctant to purge his colleagues. In party terms he is a centrist and he collects support from all segments of the bureaucracy.