German Titov, Post-Flight Conversation Between German Titov and Khrushchev. August 7, 1961
Khrushchev was the first Party leader fluent in modern mass media. If Stalin had glorified his countryman by gracing them with his press indirectly, in the press or in their breathless re-tellings of their encounter, or in art, Khrushchev drew from the aura of Soviet celebrities, and did so in live encounters, often using television to broadcast the moment. With Titov, as earlier with Gagarin, Khrushchev ensured that a share of the limelight was his.
KHRUSHCHEV–I am listening to you, comrade German Stepanovich, and cordial congratulations.
TITOV-Comrade First Secretary of the Communist party of the Soviet Union Central Committee, I report that the task set by the party and the Government has been fulfilled. All the systems and equipment of the ship worked excellently … I feel very well.
KHRUSHCHEV – Wonderful. You sound as if you had just returned from a wedding ball.
TITOV-You said it, Nikita Sergeevich. It was a ball, but not a wedding. [Both laugh.]
KHRUSHCHEV-A ball, that is true, but not a wedding ball. For the newly married wedding ball is the happiest time. But what you have done, this is a happy time for the whole of mankind.
TITOV-Thank you, Nikita Sergeevich.
KHRUSHCHEV-You have carried out an unprecedented cosmic voyage. How many circuits of the earth did you do?
TITOV-Seventeen and a half, Nikita Sergeevich.
KHRUSHCHEV-In how many hours?
TITOV-In twenty-five hours and some minutes.
KHRUSHCHEV – Twenty-five hours and some minutes. This is a heroic deed. You have fulfilled mankind’s dream. Not so long ago the dream of man’s cosmic flight was considered not feasible. We are proud that you, a Soviet man, a Communist, have done it. You are now no longer a candidate member of the party. Reckon that your probationary period has already ended. Because every moment of your stay in space can be counted as years. You have already completed your candidate’s probationary period for party membership and have shown that you are a real Communist and can hold high the banner of Lenin. [Said Titov at a subsequent interview: “In his statement, Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev said that I … was worthy of being a member of the Party was very much moved and proud of that recommendation, but the next day, when I got home and opened the paper, and read the Central Committee Decision to admit me into the Party, my hands dropped with surprise and emotion. I had not expected that, nor even dreamt of it.” (German Titov, First Man to Spend a Day in Space, New York, 1962, p. 108.)]
TITOV-Many thanks, Nikita Sergeevich. I shall try to justify the confidences of the party and promise to continue to fulfill the lofty duties of a party member as I have fulfilled them today.
KHRUSHCHEV-Very well. I congratulate you and your parents, your father and mother, for having brought you up as such a brave Soviet man.
TITOV-Thank you, Nikita Sergeevich.
KHRUSHCHEV-We shall congratulate and thank your parents at a personal meeting in Moscow. We shall give you a … welcome … as a whole people, as a whole country.
TITOV-I sincerely thank you, Nikita Sergeevich and I thank the party and the Government.
KHRUSHCHEV-How is your wife? She knew about your flight? I am asking you such questions because I have already asked such a question of the first cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin.
TITOV-Yes, she knew.
KHRUSHCHEV-And did she approve of this flight?
TITOV-At first she did not quite approve and later she did.
KHRUSHCHEV-This is wholly understandable. She wanted her husband to perform such an exploit. This exploit was such that she might be deprived of her husband. And therefore apparently she could have had some hesitation. This is a human hesitation and is understandable to all people …
TITOV-Thank you, Nikita Sergeevich.
KHRUSHCHEV-I kiss you and embrace you by telephone for the time being. But when we meet you at the airport I’ll embrace you in a fatherly manner as the dearest and beloved son of our country.
TITOV-Thank you Nikita Sergeevich, thank you very much.
Source: Stanley W. Page, ed., Russia in Revolution: Selected Readings in Russian Domestic History Since 1855 (Princeton: Van Nostrand, 1965), pp. 288-289.