With the beginning of Khrushchev's rule in the USSR, the era of Stalin ended. The cult of personality was debunked, the thaw began. Being a rather eccentric person, Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev sometimes allowed himself to speak non-standard remarks in public and perform actions that did not fit into general norms of behavior.
People's reformer
The period of the reign of N. S. Khrushchev can be called a turning point for the country. The USSR became the leader in space achievements, the construction of housing for ordinary citizens also increased significantly - people began to move from barracks to the so-called "Khrushchevs". Less censorship. After visiting the United States, Khrushchev became obsessed with growing corn, her cult became ubiquitous.
Lost in translation
Nikita Sergeevich was not an easy person, many times he baffled translators with his statements. When, for example, he said to Richard Nixon: “We will show you Kuzkin’s mother again,” the translator translated this phrase verbatim and the Americans thought about some new secret weapon of the Russians.
The shoe as a clear threat
But the most scandalous case, about which conversations still do not subside, is the behavior of Khrushchev at the fifteenth UN assembly, held on October 12, 1960. There is a myth that during the meeting, the first secretary of the CPSU Central Committee took off his shoe and began to knock on the podium, thus expressing his protest. On that day, the question of the Hungarian counter-revolutionary insurrection and its suppression by Soviet troops was discussed. This topic was very unpleasant for Khrushchev - being a hot-tempered person, he could not find a place for himself. As part of the event, certain decency was required, but emotions were overflowing.
According to Anastas Mikoyan and Khrushchev's personal translator, who were next to Nikita Sergeevich, it was like this: he allegedly took off not a shoe, but light shoes, and began to deliberately examine it for a long time, thereby showing the speaker his complete indifference to his speech. Then raising it at eye level, as if trying to see something there, shook it, knocked several times, as if trying to knock out a pebble that supposedly got there.
At the same meeting, discussing colonial slavery, Khrushchev was literally seething with indignation. His habit of swinging his fists betrayed intense nervous excitement in him. The speaker from the Philippines was described by him as "a henchman and lackey of American imperialism."
There is a version of the son of Khrushchev, who claims that the security guard gave him Nikita Sergeevich's shoes that fell off his feet. The general secretary, taking it in his hand and not yet putting on his shoes, began to mechanically tap them on the table. “A photograph with a shoe in hand is nothing more than a photomontage,” said his son Sergei.
Was Khrushchev capable of such an act?
So could Khrushchev knock on the table with his shoe as a sign of his protest? It is impossible to answer unequivocally. A person who is emotional, quick-tempered and, at the same time, quite simple in communication, would hardly think about etiquette. In moments of emotional speeches, he was completely seized by the idea of justice and the steadfastness of the Soviet course. Most of Khrushchev's speeches, especially as opposed to speakers from across the ocean, were overwhelmed with emotion. Sincerely believing in the bright future of the Soviet system, in heated battles he proved the correctness of the USSR's course.
The plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU, held in October 1964 without N. S. Khrushchev, decided to release him from his post for health reasons. In fact, a coup d'etat took place - L. I. was elected to replace Khrushchev. Brezhnev, the era of "stagnation" began.
