Evening star., 1960-08-09
BY PRISCILLA JOHNSON

SS SoAAAoA NO11SlOCICO
the man most likely to sue
ceed" Soviet Boss Nikita
Khrushchev.
This evaluation of his
chances was by no means
iu-founded at the time.
Did Hiring and Firing
Kiric henko, who had
hltched has wagon firmly to
khruShchev's star and re-
celVed a series of conspicuous
personal assists from the boss,
was in charge of hiring and
firing for the secretariat of
the all-powerful Soviet Com
munist Party Central Com
mittee.
In that role he controlled a
vast patronage machine and
was believed to run" the
party IN day-to-day organ
rational matters as we'll. He
was also said to exercise
party supervision over the
SOVIET secret police.
10 top it off, rumor had if
that he had married the boss's
slSter-ln-law. Mrs. Kirichen-
ko' according to the tiny Mos
COW circle who claim to be
in the know" was believed
to be a sister of Nina Pet
rovna, better known as Mrs
khrushchev.
Nevertheless, on the morn
ing of January 13, 1860.
western correspondents in
Moscow received a shock on
opening their copies of
Pravda. On Page 2 was a
tiny announcement that one
A. I. Kirichenko had been
elected first secretary of the
party committee in provincial
Rostov-on-Don. One cor
respondent telephoned Tass,
the official Soviet news
agency. to inquire if this was
the A. I. Kirichenko. Tass
said it was.
Even then, so certain were
diplomats and Moscow cor
respondents that Kirichenko
was Khrushchev's political
heir apparent. that they be-
gan spinning all kinds of
theories. Possibly, they rea-
soned, Kirichenko had been
picked to set a new style for
Soviet leaders by doing a
turn out in the sticks before
returning to still greater
responsibilities in the Krem-
lin.
Then, in June, Pravda an
nounced Kirichenko had lost
his Rostov assignment. It
didn't even add the customary
lin connection with his trans
fer to other work" Nobody
knows where Kirichenko is
now, or why his sudden loss
OF power. Explanations vary
wildly. Some say he was too
crude and gruff and alienated
his colleagues in the Kremlin.
Others say he was slovenly
and allowed his desk to
grow dusty with unfinished
speeches for the boss, Most
far-fetched of all is the
theory that the Petrovna sis
ters fell out and, in the
showdown. the smiling Mrs.
Khrushchev decided she must
show whose husband was top
dog.
Foreigners who watched
Kirichenko attentively at two
supreme Soviet sessions since
he lost his party secretary
ship can report only one
thing: The burly, red-faced
Ukrainian looked fighting
mad. Scowling and scrib-
bling notes a mile a minute,
his expression was humiliated
and recalcitrant. 1t was
written on his face that he
didn't take dishonor lying
down. Maybe that's one
reason his downfall was SO
complete.
Living Near Moscow
AS for the Kremlin's other
political caStoffs, most today
are retired, living in or near
Moscow, One of them is
goateed Marshal Nikolai Bull
ganin, Prime Minister of the
Soviet Union until Khru-
shchev replaced him in
March, 1858. and subsequently
linked with the "anti-party
group" Bulganin now has
an apartment in the capital
and receives a pension of
5000 rubles per month After
leaving his post as chairman
of the Stavropol Economic
Council, his first downward
rung on the slippery Kremlin
ladder-the 65-year-old mar
shal lay i'll in a Moscow hos
pital a while. He was seen,
looking fairly fit. on a Mos
COW street last spring.
Another distinguished pen
sioner is Lazar M. Kagano-
vich. long a leading member
of Russia's ruling clique. To-
day, 7l-year-old Kaganovich
lives near a bend in the
Moskva River. not far from
Lenin Stadium. He is said to
spend most of his days at the
huge Lenin Library, reading
up on Bolshevik revolutionary
history.
Kaganovich once was re-
ported complaining because he
no longer has a government
car at his disposal. Today he
apparently is reconciled tc
riding the splendid subway
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