(5 of 7)
My father came home around 8 p.m. We walked for a while in silence. I didn't ask him anything. He looked upset and very tired.
"Everything happened just the way you said it would," he said.
"Are they demanding that you give up all your posts?" I asked.
"So far, only one of them, but that means nothing. This is just the beginning. We should be ready for anything." He stopped speaking.
"Don't ask any questions. I'm tired and have to think this over."
We walked on in silence. He suddenly asked: "Are you a doctor?"
I was dumbfounded.
"What do you mean, a doctor?"
"A doctor of science?"
"No, just a master's degree."
"Forget it."
Silence again. We made another round, and my father turned toward the house. He went upstairs to his bedroom and asked that a cup of tea be brought him there. Nobody dared to disturb him.
Later that evening Sergei, with his friend Sergo Mikoyan, the son of the President, paid a visit to the apartment of academician Anushavan Arzumanyan, who had spent the previous hours conferring with the elder Mikoyan.
"Anastas Ivanovich has asked me to keep our conversation a secret," said Arzumanyan hesitantly. "But I can tell you. Various charges have been made against Nikita Sergeyevich. Everyone but Mikoyan has formed a single front. Khrushchev is accused of various sins: the unsatisfactory situation in agriculture, disrespectful treatment of members of the Central Committee Presidium and disregard for their opinions, and many other things.
"But this is not the main thing. What's at issue now is not his mistakes but the line that he embodies and carries out. If he were not there, Stalinists could seize power and nobody knows what would happen. It's necessary to put up a fight and prevent the ouster of Khrushchev."
The accusation that Khrushchev had undervalued other members of the Presidium and was tactless in dealing with them was a serious one. There was a considerable measure of truth in it. Everyone recalled old and new insults.
"By the way," Arzumanyan turned to me. "Shelepin said that you got your doctor-of-science degree without defending it."
"So that's what it is!" I exclaimed without thinking. "My father asked me today whether I was a doctor. I couldn't understand it, and told him that three years ago I defended my master's thesis and explained the difference between a master's and doctor's degree. It's clear now how that question came up. This was a pure fabrication."
At the time we didn't know that my father had already decided to retire without putting up a fight. Late at night he called Mikoyan and said that if everyone wanted to relieve him of his posts, he would not object. Our telephone was bugged and his words became known immediately to his opponents, but we knew nothing. The whole morning of the 14th of October passed in exhausting expectation. At last there was a phone call from the Kremlin to say that he was on his way home.
Normally, he would never come home during the day. I met the car at the gate. My father thrust his black briefcase into my hands and exhaled, "It's over . . . retired."
After a brief pause, he added:
"Didn't want to have lunch with them."