Khrushchev of Russia:?

Question

Can anyone provide the details of the "shoe-banging" incident by Krushvhev at the United nations in response to the UN Rep from the Philippines? The year, I believe, was 1960.

Answer 1

The notorious shoe-banging incident occurred during a debate, on October 12, over a Russian resolution decrying colonialism. Khrushchev was infuriated by a statement from the rostrum by Lorenzo Sumulong which charged the Soviets with employing a double standard, pointing to their domination of Eastern Europe as an example of the very type of colonialism their resolution criticized. According to newspaper reports, published the following day, Mr. Khrushchev thereupon pulled off his right shoe, stood up, brandishing it at the Philippine delegate on the other side of the hall and began to furiously bang the shoe on his desk. The enraged Khrushchev accused Mr. Sumulong of being "Холуй и ставлeнник импeриализма" (Kholyi i stavlennik imperializma), which was translated as "a jerk, a stooge and a lackey of imperialism". The Premier alternately shouted, waved a brawny right arm, shook his finger and removed his shoe a second time. The second shoe incident occurred during a speech by Francis O. Wilcox, an Assistant U.S. Secretary of State. The chaotic scene finally ended when General Assembly President Frederick Boland broke his gavel calling the meeting to order, but not before the image of Khrushchev as a hotheaded buffoon was indelibly etched into the collective memory of the international community. Another observer said that while Kruschev was banging a shoe on the table, he had shoes on both feet, which would imply that he had brought a third shoe for the gesture: in other words, the incident was staged and was planned in advance.

Answer 2

Khruschev was with the Soviet Union then of course. It wasn't called Russia. I also read somewhere that the gesture of banging your shoe on the table is not that unheard of in the Russian/Soviet culture. It was not intended to shock the world. Khrushchev & his team were apparently genuinely surprised by the world wide reaction.

I was in a UN human rights meeting about 3 years ago when the representative from Azerbaijan (former Sovient Union) started banging his hard cardboard name plate on the table to to get attention. Many in the room were shocked and the chairman issued some scathing remarks that such behavior would not be tolerated. The representative from Azerbaijan seemed genuinely surprised that he had done something viewed as so wrong.