Russia: From the Cracker Barrel

One of the weapons that make Nikita Khrushchev such a formidable enemy is his extraordinary ability to mix threats of nuclear destruction with homespun homilies straight from the cracker barrel, all delivered with the jaunty air of a man who feels he has got the world on a string and enjoys yo-yoing it around. Last week, in a 4½-hour interview in his Kremlin office with New York Timesman Cyrus L. Sulzberger, Khrushchev was on top of the barrel:

> On landing a Soviet astronaut on the moon: "It is not a question of mooning him but of demooning him. Our national emblem is already on the moon, but we don't want to place a coffin beside it."

> On the space race: "You remember Darwin's theories on the maturation of species, from those that crawled, like reptiles, to those that jumped and those that flew. Well, you are still in the jumping stage, while we have already learned how to fly, and to land again."

> On the Christian belief in life after death: "As to paradise, we have heard a lot about it from the priests. So we decided to find out for ourselves. First we sent up our explorer, Yuri Gagarin. He circled the globe and found nothing in outer space. It's pitch dark there, he said; no Garden of Eden, nothing like heaven. So we decided to send another. We sent Gherman Titov and told him to fly for a whole day. After all, Gagarin was up there only an hour and a half. So he might have missed paradise. We told him to take a good look. Well, he took off, came back and confirmed Gagarin's conclusion. He reported there was nothing there."

> On the arms race: "Now the United States is arming and we are, too. We are spending money and energy in preparations to destroy people. We are making nuclear tests. But what the hell do we want with tests? You cannot put a bomb in soup or make an overcoat out of it. Nevertheless, we are compelled to test."

>On the West's refusal to give in on Berlin: "They want to treat us like schoolboys—sit still, put your hands on the desk, don't dare to take a pen to sign a peace treaty. But we are men, too, and we are a strong nation to boot."

> On his belief that Britain, France and Italy, fearing their own nuclear destruction, would not go to war over Berlin: "Figuratively speaking, they are hostages to us and a guarantee against war."

> On being frank: "I do not remember who it was who said that a diplomat is given a tongue in order to conceal his thoughts. He who does that is no diplomat but a cheap politician. His policy is bound to end in failure. I do not belong to that sort."