(6 of 7)
All was over. No one knew what was in store for us. One thing was clear. Nothing depended on us. There was nothing to do but wait.
"I wrote the statement myself, asking that I be relieved for reasons of health. I said that I would live where they tell me to, either in Moscow or elsewhere."
Only years later did I learn some details. The key figures who ousted my father were not Shelepin and Ignatov but Brezhnev with Podgorny, who had more than once in conversations with other members of the Presidium touched on the subject of relations with Khrushchev. Brezhnev would complain about Khrushchev's intolerance and the strong words addressed to him, particularly the fact that my father once called him a "loafer."
But during these conversations there was no talk of ousting Khrushchev. Brezhnev only suggested convening the Central Committee plenum to "criticize" my father's work style. This, obviously, showed the indecisiveness of Brezhnev, who was afraid to take the final step.
Until the end of his life, recollections about these events were unpleasant for my father. Only at the very end of his life could I piece together a more or less complete picture of what had happened from occasional disconnected remarks he made, particularly about what he had said himself in his last speech.
At that meeting of the Presidium, my father said that he would not fight for power because he did not think it possible to go against the opinion of the majority. He apologized for rude remarks he might have made and tactless actions. However, he resolutely brushed off the main accusations against him. My father reproached his former colleagues for their lack of courage. Each had tried to outdo the other in saying yes and had agreed with all his proposals.
Serious charges were made against my father concerning certain foreign policy steps. According to him, those were the Caribbean crisis ((the Cuban missile crisis of October 1962)), events at the Suez Canal and our relations with China. My father had answered that apparently somebody's memory was failing, because all the decisions had been made collectively by majority vote.
Back on that day in October, my father went out for a walk after lunch. Everything was unusual that day, such as this walk during working hours and its purpose -- or rather, lack of it. In the past he would go out for exactly an hour after work to shake off the fatigue that accumulated during the day, and after some rest he would start reading his evening mail. Now a few last papers, some materials for the next session of the Presidium, were left in his briefcase. They were fated to remain there unopened and forgotten until my father's very death. He never looked into his briefcase.
We walked in silence. Finally, I couldn't stand it and asked a question that interested me: "Who was appointed?"
"Brezhnev will be First Secretary and Alexei Kosygin, the premier. Kosygin is a worthy candidate. He knows the economy quite well and would do a good job. It is more difficult with Brezhnev. He has too soft a character and is too easily influenced. I'm not sure he has enough strength to carry out the correct line, but it's not my business anymore. I am a pensioner now." Bitter lines appeared at the corners of his mouth. We never returned to this subject.