Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, visiting America, represents his own country. He calls Sumulong names, which, when translated into English, come out as a "jerk," a "stooge," a "lackey," and a "toady of American imperialism."
Sumulong resumes his speech, and Khrushchev starts pounding his fist on the table. This is captured on film. Supposedly, Khrushchev removes his shoe, and starts banging that on the table as well. That was not captured on film, and a photograph supposedly showing it was found to be doctored, and from an earlier incident.
In his memoir, published after his ouster in 1964, Khrushchev claimed he'd done it to protest something done by the fascist regime in Spain, run by Francisco Franco. But that speech was in Moscow on October 1. And his shoes were not mentioned in the Soviet media at the time, for either the October 1 speech or the October 12 speech.
Sumulong resumes his speech, and Khrushchev starts pounding his fist on the table. This is captured on film. Supposedly, Khrushchev removes his shoe, and starts banging that on the table as well. That was not captured on film, and a photograph supposedly showing it was found to be doctored, and from an earlier incident.
In his memoir, published after his ouster in 1964, Khrushchev claimed he'd done it to protest something done by the fascist regime in Spain, run by Francisco Franco. But that speech was in Moscow on October 1. And his shoes were not mentioned in the Soviet media at the time, for either the October 1 speech or the October 12 speech.
His son Sergei wrote a biography of him, and said he couldn't find any visual evidence of the shoe-banging. Both NBC and Canada's CBC broadcast the speech live, but, in each case, their representatives now say they have no footage of Khrushchev banging his shoe on any table. Italy's RAI say they do, but they haven't produced it.
This wasn't the 1st time Khrushchev had been misunderstood by the West. On November 18, 1956, he held a reception for Western ambassadors at the Polish Embassy in Moscow. He said, "About the capitalist states, it doesn't depend on you whether or not we exist. If you don't like us, don't accept our invitations, and don't invite us to come to see you. Whether you like it or not, history is on our side."
This was a statement similar to the one that Fidel Castro, eventually to be dictator of Cuba, had already said of himself: "History will absolve me." (Spoiler Alert: History wasn't on the Soviets' side, and it hasn't absolved Castro, either.)
Right after saying, "History is on our side," Khrushchev said, "My vas pokhoronim!" His personal interpreter, Viktor Sukhodrev (who managed to stay in the good graces of Soviet leaders all the way to Mikhail Gorbachev), translated this as, "We will bury you!"
It sure sounded like a threat, from a man who had access to nuclear weapons. But Khrushchev had risen from peasant status, a farmer-turned-leader, much like his American contemporaries, Presidents Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson. His remark was actually a rather common saying in Russia, and its implication isn't, "We will kill you," but, "We will attend your funeral." It can also mean, "You are digging your own grave."
Like Joseph Stalin, Nikita Khrushchev wasn't much of a sports fan. Unlike Stalin, Khrushchev did accept that sports could be used as propaganda. This incident was a few weeks after the Olympics in Rome, one of those occasional East vs. West sports encounters; 5 months after Khrushchev embarrassed President Dwight D. Eisenhower over the shot-down U-2 spy plane piloted by Gary Powers; and during the debates to succeed Ike, between his Vice President, Richard Nixon, and Senator John F. Kennedy, one of which was to be held the following night.
A year earlier, Khrushchev visited America, and was cheered in San Francisco. "This is the damnedest city," said Frank Conniff of the arch-conservative Hearst newspaper chain, including their flagship, the San Francisco Examiner, and the New York Journal-American. "They cheer Khrushchev and boo Willie Mays."
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October 12, 1960 was a Wednesday. It was also the day the film The Magnificent Seven premiered. I have a separate entry for that.
It was the day of Game 6 of the World Series. Whitey Ford pitches a 7-hit shutout, and singles home the 1st run of a 12-0 New York Yankees rout of the Pittsburgh Pirates at Forbes Field. There will be a Game 7 tomorrow, also in Pittsburgh.
The Yankees had won their 3 games 16-3, 10-0 and 12-0. The Pirates wins had been by scores of 6-4, 3-2 and 5-2. It seems as though a high-scoring game favors the Yankees. And the Yankees will score 9 runs in Game 7, while the Pirates hadn't yet scored more than 5. Sounds like a Yankee title. Except...
Football was in midweek. The NBA season didn't begin until November 1. There was 1 NHL game that day: The Chicago Black Hawks beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-0 at the Chicago Stadium.
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