India, Oct. 12 -- A Soviet leader, a Philippine delegate who challenged him, and a shoe that may or may not have struck a desk. At the height of Cold War tensions, a heated United Nations debate on October 12, 1960, produced one of the organisation's most debated episodes.

Nikita Khrushchev travelled to New York at the height of the Cold War. During the 902nd plenary meeting of the UN General Assembly, held on October 12, the Soviet leader indicated that he wanted to raise a point of order over the way Philippine delegation head Lorenzo Sumulong had referred to the Soviet Union.

Sumulong had criticised Moscow over its treatment of people in Eastern Europe, referring to "the peoples of Eastern Europe and elsewhere which have been deprive...