Shoe-banging incident

The alleged[1] shoe-banging incident occurred when Nikita Khrushchev, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, pounded his shoe on his delegate-desk in protest at a speech by Philippine delegate Lorenzo Sumulong during the 902nd Plenary Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly held in New York City on 12 October 1960.

[6] On 12 October 1960, head of the Filipino delegation Lorenzo Sumulong referred to "the peoples of Eastern Europe and elsewhere which have been deprived of the free exercise of their civil and political rights and which have been swallowed up, so to speak, by the Soviet Union".

Boland did caution Sumulong to "avoid wandering out into an argument which is certain to provoke further interventions", but permitted him to continue speaking and sent Khrushchev back to his seat.

Another point of order was raised by the highly agitated Romanian Foreign Vice-minister Eduard Mezincescu [ro], a member of the Eastern Bloc.

Mezincescu gave his own angry denunciation of Sumulong and then turned his anger on Boland, his provoking, insulting, and ignoring of the Assembly President leading to his microphone being eventually shut off.

[26] In 1961, Marxist philosopher Frantz Fanon commented: "And when Mr. Khrushchev brandishes his shoe at the United Nations and hammers the table with it, no colonized individual, no representative of the underdeveloped countries laughs.

[30] Nina's account is very similar to that of Khrushchev's long-time interpreter Viktor Sukhodrev, who sat with him during the event and reported that his boss pounded on his delegate-desk so hard that his watch stopped, which only infuriated him further and prompted the switch to the shoe.

[31] This specific issue was addressed in 2002 by a former UN staffer, who said that Khrushchev could not have spontaneously removed his shoe at his desk but had previously lost it after a journalist stepped on it.

[32] For a detailed scholarly analysis of this incident giving the full context, see Thomas M. Prymak, "Cold War Clash, New York City, September-October 1960: Comrade Khrushchev vs 'Dief the Chief'," International History Review vol.

Khrushchev at a meeting of the UN General Assembly on 22 September, three weeks before the incident
The often used fake image of Khrushchev waving a shoe (above), and the original photo taken at the United Nations General Assembly , 10 October 1960, AP archives (below) [ 7 ] [ 8 ] [ 9 ] [ 10 ] [ 11 ]
Sculpture of the incident in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern , Germany