In the wake of the cable he received from Castro, Khrushchev was both alarmed and chastened, says Allyn. 鈥淜hrushchev was no more anxious to stumble into war than Kennedy,鈥� he says.
Soon after receiving it, he 鈥渞aced to broadcast over open radio the removal of the missiles from Cuba.鈥�
In his cabled response to Castro, Khrushchev made clear his refusal to launch a preemptive strike on the US.
鈥淵ou, of course, realize where that would have led,鈥� Khrushchev wrote to Castro, according to Khrushchev鈥檚 memoirs. 鈥淩ather than a simple strike, it would have been the start of a thermonuclear war. Dear Comrade Fidel Castro, I consider this proposal of yours incorrect, although I understand your motivation.鈥�
Castro never forgave the Soviets for publicly announcing the withdrawal of their missiles before even discussing it with him, and years later he denied Khrushchev鈥檚 son Sergei a visa to attend a Cuban Missile conference in Havana.
Allyn further argues in his book that the iconic moment in which Khrushchev banged his shoe on the desk during a United Nations meeting 鈥� cementing his reputation as a hothead 鈥� was an overblown misunderstanding. A journalist had stepped on his shoe in the hallway, but Khrushchev was self-conscious about his weight and 鈥渄idn鈥檛 want to bend over to pick it up.鈥�
A UN staffer delivered it to his desk. Then, during the General Assembly debate, there was a point where 鈥渙ne country insulted a Soviet satellite country and there was a huge ruckus,鈥� Allyn says. 鈥淜hrushchev stood up to get the floor, because he had to respond to the insult.鈥�
He waved first one hand, then the other. 鈥淭he [UN] chairman didn鈥檛 see him, and the shoe was sitting conveniently on his desk,鈥� Allyn says. 鈥淗e actually tapped it; he didn鈥檛 bang it.鈥�
Khrushchev was 鈥渁n emotional, strong-minded individual who used graphic metaphors, but the stereotype of him as a hothead鈥� was the product of the 鈥減ropaganda war鈥� that both countries waged during the cold war, Allyn says.
To this day, however, the most commonly asked question on the UN tour in New York, Allyn notes, is, 鈥淲here was Khrushchev sitting when he banged his shoe?鈥�
