Nikita Khrushchev's shoe became a symbol of the Cold War after a tense session of the UN General Assembly in New York on October 12, 1960. The occasion was a speech by Filipino delegate Lorenzo Sumulong, who attacked the Soviet portrayal of Moscow as a defender of freedom and independence.
The debate was devoted to a Soviet proposal to discuss a declaration of independence for colonial countries and peoples. Khrushchev defended the idea before the 15th session of the General Assembly, but Sumulong insisted that the principle should apply not only to territories under Western colonial rule.
“The peoples of Eastern Europe and elsewhere were deprived of the free exercise of their civil and political rights and were, so to speak, absorbed into the Soviet Union,“ Sumulong declared.These words provoked a sharp reaction. Khrushchev intervened on a point of order, and General Assembly President Frederick Boland returned him to his seat. According to the “New York Times” account; the Soviet leader then took off his right shoe, waved it at the Filipino delegate, and used it to pound the table. He also banged it with his fists.
What is confirmed and what remains disputed
The official record of the meeting confirms the verbal clash between Khrushchev and Sumulong, as well as subsequent interventions by other delegations. US State Department documents summarizing contemporary publications also describe the shoe and the banging on the table.
However, the actual banging of the shoe is not indisputably established. Historian William Taubman, who has interviewed eyewitnesses for his biography of Khrushchev, cites conflicting accounts. New York Times correspondent James Feren claims that Khrushchev took off the shoe, waved it, and left it on the table, but did not hit it. Life magazine photo editor John Longard also stated that the photographers expected to capture such a moment, but it did not happen.
„Time“ presents another version, according to which Khrushchev first banged the table with his fists, and then hit it with his shoe. The publication explicitly notes that what happened is the subject of historical dispute. There is no photograph that unequivocally proves the blow with the shoe, and the famous photo distributed as an image of the scene has been determined to be manipulated.
The meeting ends in another scandal
The tension did not end with the exchange between Khrushchev and Sumulong. Later, the Soviet leader waved his shoe again during a speech by American representative Francis Wilcox. Romanian delegate Ion Mezinescu also interrupted the meeting, and Boland hit his gavel so hard that his head flew off. The meeting was then adjourned.
This procedure on the UN agenda will go down in history because of Khrushchev's unusual gesture. Whether the shoe actually hit the table, the verbal sparring shows how sharply Soviet anti-colonial rhetoric and accusations of control over Eastern Europe clashed in 1960.
Sources: content.time.com, api.politifact.com