Khrushchev's words and his shoe banging

[Jane A. Taubman]

I am posting the following on behalf of  Bill Taubman, who has been
following the SEELANGS discussion with interest and occasional amusement:

    As it happens, the very first, and one of the longest "foot" notes
in my biography of Khrushchev, (note #1 to the Preface, which appears on
p. 657) is devoted to the infernal question of whether Khrushchev banged
his shoe at the United Nations in September 1960 or simply brandished
it. The note refers to an interview I had with an eyewitness, a New York
Times correspondent who was in the General Assembly hall that day and
has contended ever since that Khrushchev brandished but did not bang.
But the note also cites sources who claim that Khrushchev actually
banged the shoe. When I gave a talk about the book at the Wilson Center
in Washington on March 25, three more eyewitnesses "testified": One said
the shoe was banged, the other said it was merely brandished, and the
third, who asserted he was standing right being Nikita Sergeyevich,
reported that, while holding the shoe in his hand, Khrushchev banged the
desk in front of him but that only the heel of his hand, and not the
shoe itself, touched the table. As if that isn't enough, I then received
a letter from a former professional photographer who recalls that, along
with photographers from New York City papers, wire services, and free
lancers, he was watching the scene from a UN booth for still
photographers. According to this source, "Every camera in the booth
was trained on Khrushchev, waiting for him to use the shoe," but "he
only put it on again and left. None of us missed the picture--which
would have been a serious professional error." And so: Brandished? Or
Banged? Or this photographer's conclusion: Khrushchev "did not bang his
shoe on the desk," but "he certainly meant to do so."

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