Propaganda as News: Hungarian Film Diva Katalin Karady and Radio Free Europe (Updated) ©

On April 27, 1951, the 20^th edition of the popular weekly radio news program “Hear it Now” was heard on the CBS radio network and 173 affiliated radio stations. It was described as a “document for ear, based on the week’s news and the men and women who made it. All the voices and sounds you will hear are real and are presented as they were recorded in the heat and confusion of the world in crisis.”

The program’s narrator was famed reporter and news analyst Edward R. Murrow (1908 - 1965). The news program began with the latest update of military action in Korea. The program used actual recordings of persons in the news. The first segment began with news about the war in Korea. Then Murrow introduced the segment about Radio Free Europe:

Murrow: In Europe, a group of cold, hungry people continue to fight back in the Cold War, where final victory is as important as it is in Korea. Katalin Karady is a Hungarian motion picture star, a capable actress with an unusual singing voice. Six weeks ago, like most citizens of Budapest, she turned on her radio and heard this; (in Hungarian) “It is the Voice of Free Hungary” Radio Free Europe.

Murrow: This is Radio Free Europe: an independent propaganda weapon started by private citizens and operated by privately subscribed funds. One of Radio Free Europe’s most important functions is to tell those behind the Iron Curtain how they can escape. Miss Karady and other citizens with a radio, and the courage to tune us in, hear broadcasts like this one: (follows with detailed instructions in Hungarian accented English on how to get across the Iron Curtain.)

Murrow: Several weeks ago, Katalin Karady crossed the Hungarian border and was welcomed by Allied friends in Vienna. Now Radio Free Europe has another new star and another new weapon.

RFE Announcer (with Hungarian accent): Miss Karady got across the border safely. You can too, if you are careful. Here is Katalin Karady to sing for you (Katalin Karady sings).

Here is the broadcast, which includes RFE announcers speaking in Hungarian and English (giving instructions on how to cross the Iron Curtain) and an excerpt from a song by Katalin Karady:

A report about the meat shortage in Great Britain with the voice of Winston Churchill followed.

As we have seen in previous blog posts, the true sponsorship of Radio Free Europe was CIA and not "operated by privately subscribed funds" as Murrow stated. Also, Radio Free Europe did not broadcast in English, so the "news" about Katalin Karady was meant for the United States audience only. RFE was prohibited from propaganda activities in the US. One could easily make the case that this was domestic propaganda and not news.

The Free Europe Committee established a Committee on Press and Broadcasting in June 1949, Edward R. Murrow was one of the members of the advisory group of respected American journalists. On September 3, 1951, Murrow narrated the program that started the first Crusade for Freedom radio broadcast that featured future U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

From 1961 to 1964, Murrow was Director of the U.S. Information Agency, which oversaw the Voice of America. He died on April 27, 1965, at age 57.

Who was Katalin Karady?

Katalin (Catherina) (nee Kanczler) Karady, born December 8, 1910, was a well-known film actress and singer in Hungary before World War Two – appearing in over 20 films and on stage. She enjoyed a glamorous life in Budapest as an entertainment star. Reportedly the German Gestapo in April 1944 accused her of spying, arrested, imprisoned, and tortured her for 3 months in 1944. After the war ended and the Communist Party controlled Hungary, she was prevented from appearing in films. In 1949, all her films were banned and she was prevented from appeared on stage. She finally escaped Hungary on February 20, 1951, by crossing the border into Austria.  

Newspapers in the United States and elsewhere in the world reported on the Katalin Karady escape story, including these articles that appeared March 22, 1951:

SAFE IN THE U. S. ZONE Of AUSTRIA, after fleeing over the border from behind the Iron Curtain, Katalin Karady, known as "the Hungarian Rita Hayworth," and singer Oliver Lantos, smile happily upon reaching Salzburg. They traveled on foot for 40 miles, often risking their lives, to escape the Communist propaganda “hogwash" that is strangling all of the arts and everyday life" in their native land. 

FREEDOM IS."WONDERBAR"— The clean, pure air of freedom outside the Iron Curtain has wrought a miracle in Katalin Karady and Oliver Lantos, who show none of the effects of their ordeal as they pose here in front of an Austrian castle in the Allied zone of Austria after their flight from Hungary. They walked and crawled more than 40 miles, over mine fields and through barbed wire, braving machine guns and bloodhounds to find the chink in the Iron Curtain that was their gateway to freedom.

In another article, Katalin Karady explained why she escaped Hungary:

Katalin Karady, the Hungarian Rita Hayworth, said today she had fled through the Iron Curtain because "life became unbearable for me anymore in Hungary," The green-eyed, red-haired actress made her successful escape from Hungary Into Austria last Tuesday. After several days rest she was ready to talk of life in her native land.

Her adventurous trip took her from Budapest through minefields, barbed wire and the Soviet Zone of Austria to safety of the American zone of this country. She told reporters the "entire cultural life and activity in Hungary is controlled by the communist party. Artists who are not members of the party have hardly any channel under the present circumstances to get a leading role on the stage or in the movies," she continued. "I, myself, belonging to the large number of persons who are constantly under police supervision, was only once given a minor part in a silent movie since the end of the war. Besides postal censorship and other restrictions imposed on me, all my stage contracts had to be approved first by the ministry of education."

In pre-war times, Katalin Karady was the stage ideal of the Hungarian public. In the last few years, she had been able to find employment only as a radio singer and in floorshows. Even then, she said, "All my songs and the manuscripts of my recitals had to be approved first by the censorship department." Miss Karady’s chance to escape came when she was offered an engagement in a town close to the Austrian border. With her maid and Oliver Lantos, a noted Hungarian radio singer, she left Budapest Feb. 20 for her scheduled appearance and then made a night-time dash across the border Into Austria

In another article she said, "Those who are as completely fed up as were Oliver Lantos and I—and have about $1,000 each to hire a guide to smuggle them through minefields and barbed-wire barricades—flee to the west." There is another version of how she escaped: she rode across the border in a car driven by one Zoltan Vas and bribed a Russian border guard.

Katalin Karady was not allowed to immigrate to the United States on questionable grounds but first traveled to Switzerland, Belgium, and eventually moved to Brazil in 1953. Her films were banned in Hungary until 1978.

Interestingly, in August 1961, President John F. Kennedy’s brothers, U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy unsuccessfully appealed to the U.S. State Department to issue her a visa. The FBI investigated Katalin Karady on various occasions and in an internal memorandum in March 1963, there is this comment: “Subject, Hungarian born, aged 48, is former well-known actress in Hungary. Numerous allegations have been received in the past indicating subject to have been a communist collaborator […] Subject ‘escaped’ from Hungary in 1951 under unusual circumstances.”

She remained in Brazil until 1968, when she finally immigrated to the United States. She settled in New York and died there on February 8, 1990. Her ashes were brought back to Hungary. There was a memorial service at the St. Stephen’s Basilica and she was buried in the ‘artists’ plot” in Farkarseti cemetery in Budapest.

In March 2004, Katalin Karady was awarded a posthumous award as “Righteous Among the Nations” from the Yad Vashem World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Israel in recognition of her “courageous acts” during World War Two. Among them was,

In the winter of 1944, during the Arrow Cross reign of terror, Katalin Karády saved a group of about 20 Jewish children from being murdered on the bank of the Danube. She bribed the Arrow Cross men guarding the children and took the children to her own villa in the neighborhood called Városmajor. She hid them in the cellar and provided them with food. After the capital was liberated, Karády searched for the surviving relatives of the children so that she could reunite them.

For more information in English, visit the Wikipedia Katalin Karady entry.

For an excellent, well-researched article, see David Frey, "Marta Hari or the Body of the Nation? Interpretations of Katalin Karady," Hungarian Studies Review, Vol. XLI, Nos. 1-2 (2014) http://epa.oszk.hu/00000/00010/00049/pdf/EPA00010_hsr_2014_089-106.pdf 

Radiation as a Weapon of Choice: Parallels in the Mysterious Deaths of Alexander Litvinenko in London and Vlad Georgescu in Munich in the Cold War ©

The final report of Sir Robert Owen’s official inquiry into the death in London of Alexander Litvinenko, former KGB officer and critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was released on January 21, 2016. The report is over 300 pages long.  In his closing statement, Sir Robert said, 

Alexander Litvinenko was born on 4 December 1962, a citizen of the Soviet Union. He died aged 44 on 23 November 2006 in University College Hospital London, by then a British citizen. 

Post-mortem examination revealed that his death had been caused by an ingestion of a fatal dose of the radioactive isotope polonium-210.

I have concluded that there is a strong probability that when Mr. Lugovoy poisoned Mr Litvinenko, he did so under the direction of the FSB, the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation.

I have further concluded that Mr Kovtun was also acting under FSB direction … probably in the knowledge that that was the body for which he was acting.

I have further concluded that the FSB operation to kill Mr Litvinenko was probably approved by Mr Patrushev, then head of the FSB, and also President Putin.

Vlad Georgescu

There are parallels and similarities in the Litvinenko murder in London with that of RFE/RL Romanian Broadcast Service Director Vlad Georgescu in Munich in 1988. Below we will look at the still unsolved death of Vlad Georgescu.

On November 30, 2001, at a ceremony honoring 50 years of RFE/RL broadcasts, Romanian President Ion Iliescu decorated RFE/RL President Thomas Dine and five veteran journalists of the Romanian Service with different orders. Iliescu said the ceremony represented "a sincere, though perhaps belated acknowledgment of the fact that Romania's history in the years of the totalitarian regime cannot be written without emphasizing the role played by the station on our lives under the conditions then prevailing." He added, that RFE/RL had been Romania's "window to the normal world outside," and a source of "adequate and pluralist information." 

President Iliescu also recalled the “darker side” of Romania and RFE/RL’s history:

• the February 21, 1981 terrorist bomb attack on RFE/RL in Munich
• physical attacks on other Romanian journalists working for RFE/RL
• the still-unclarified circumstances surrounding the deaths of three directors of RFE/RL’s Romanian Service 

Iliescu said the authorities are fully collaborating with "competent international forums" to fully explain the circumstances of those incidents.

15 years later, there is still no explanation from Romania about the deaths of three directors of RFE/RL's Romanian Broadcast Department, including that of Vlad Georgescu.  

One Cold War question that remains to be conclusively answered is: Did Romania develop a secret radiation weapon that killed prominent members of RFE/RL's Romanian Broadcast Service?  

Vlad Georgescu was a prestigious historian and dissident, who had a long history of difficulties with the Romanian domestic intelligence service known as Securitate. Starting in 1974, Securitate harassed him for criticizing the Ceausescu regime. He was accused of treason in 1977 and was jailed for writing several anti-Ceausescu essays and passing them on to the US Embassy for publication abroad. Because of UR government interest in his case, Vlad was allowed to travel to Washington, where he asked for and received political asylum. Shortly afterwards, he became a contributor to RFE's broadcasts and two years later was appointed associate director of RFE's Romanian Service and then as Director based in Munich. Sometime along the way, Securitate gave him the code name “Bastard.” 

Nestor Ratesh, his eventual successor as Director of RFE/RL’s Romanian Service, has written: “The Securitate had no illusions about his directorship. Right from the beginning, it started to prepare the conditions for his complete neutralization. The phrase appears the first time in a four-page plan of action dated June 25, 1982. It meant liquidation.” Over the years, numerous informers were sent to Munich to investigate Vlad's living situation:

• His physical and mental health, 
• His relationships within and outside the radio, 
• His family circumstances and marital relations, 
• His daily routine, 
• Where and how he was spending his free time and other such operational particulars.
• Special attention was paid to his ground floor apartment, deemed to present security risks 
• The exact position of each piece of furniture, principally Vlad's desk, was also of great interest, usually in conjunction with the windows and doors.
• The informers would bring back detailed descriptions and sketches. 
• Threatening telephone calls and letters, including menaces to his 8-years old son, came in frequently.

Ian Pacepa is a former General of Romanian IntelligenceExternal Service, DIE or CIE in English, who had defected to the United States. Pacepa claimed in his book Red Horizons that he had inside knowledge of activities of Romanian Intelligence Service against RFE/RL. These included bomb threats against RFE/RL, physical attacks and threats against Romanian Broadcast Department employees.

         

Vlad Georgescu aired his first review of the book on Saturday, November 14, 1987. His sister-in-law, who lived in Romania, was due to visit Munich. She was called into the Romanian Intelligence Service ("Securitate") office on the Monday following the broadcast. The Securitate officer castigated Vlad for reviewing the book. He then told her that if Vlad allowed the book itself to be aired, he would be killed.

         

Vlad decided that the Romanian Service would begin reading from the book beginning with the week of January 5, 1988. 

         

On December 29, 1987, the New York Tribune newspaper published a long article entitled: "Book exposing PLO-Romanian intrigue and scandals said targeted by terrorists. The reporter said the FBI was investigating a possible terrorist plot designed to disrupt distribution of the Pacepa memoirs. He went on to write that there were at least three known death threats to those associated with the book, including RFE employees. “Agents of the PLO are principle suspects in the threats against the book publishers and Radio Free Europe,  government source says.”

The Romanian Service broadcast the first of four programs on January 4, 1988. Four more programs were broadcast that week, four programs were broadcast the following week, for a total of twelve programs. 

                  

On January 25, 1988, Vlad Georgescu sent me the following note:

A previously unknown organization, called "Group In the Service of the Marshal" (Antonescu) in New York decided to sentence to death the ex-king Michael. The text and photographs were sent to him and to a member of the RFE/RL Romanian Research Section. More death sentences will follow, claims the leaflet, since "there are still many traitors running around. This was not the first time that similar threats were sent using the name of a rightist émigré organization. But, I had few doubts that the real address is in Bucharest."

The letter was postmarked in Paris. There were two color photographs of King Michael and his wife. There were identical, except that one had been painted to show a bullet hole in the King's head with blood dripping down over his face; the other had been painted over to show blood on the King's hand.  Michael had become King of Romania at age nineteen, after his father Carol II had abdicated during World War Two. In 1944, King Michael helped lead a coup against the pro—Nazi government. King Michael abdicated and fled Communist-ruled Romania in December 1947. While living in Switzerland, King Michael broadcast an annual Christmas message to Romania over Radio Free Europe.

Coincidentally, in his book, Astoria Romanilor, Vlad Georgescu, wrote, "King Michael was obliged to leave Romania at twenty-six years of age. He was a good king, modest and democratic, with responsibility towards the country, but he faced troubled times, which no one could foresee. What followed was totalitarianism."

Tuesday, January 26, 1988 was Nicolae Ceausescu's 70th birthday. He had been in power for twenty-three years. The Cult of Personality was in full force. Romania had only two hours of television per day. On this day, the two hours were devoted to adulation of the Ceausescus.  “Choirs of Factory workers and school children, in sunshine and bright costume, sang hymns of gratitude for his existence,” according to Charles T. Powers, a Los Angeles Times reporter. The Romanian state media published glowing notes of congratulations from foreign leaders, including Britain's Queen Elisabeth, King Baudoin of Belgium, King Juan Carlos of Spain, and King Carl of Sweden. The notes were frauds. Official protest followed the  fraudulent notes of congratulations.

                  

In the summer of 1998, Vlad Georgescu was diagnosed as having a brain tumor. In July 1998, Vlad Georgescu went to the United States for an operation to remove it.  

         

On November 19, 1988, Vlad Georgescu died in Munich. The next day, RFE/RL President Gene Pell issued the following staff announcement:

It is with profound regret that I must report the death of Romanian Service Director Vlad Georgescu. Mr. Georgescu died last evening at Bogenhausen Hospital in Munich following a valiant fight against cancer. He was 51.

Vlad Georgescu was appointed Associate Director of the Romanian Service in 1982, and named Director the following year. He was a brilliant intellectual, a highly respected administrator, and a kind and gentle man.

He suffered much persecution, abuse, and imprisonment because of his unflinching belief in freedom and human rights, before he was finally allowed to leave Romania in 1979 after persistent protest and intervention by the United States Government and the Western academic community. He never ceased fighting for those principles or for his people and his country.

Romania has lost a stalwart patriot. RFE/RL has lost a dedicated servant of the cause of liberty. Most important, his wife Mary Luiza, and his son Tudor Vlad have lost a loving husband and father.

I know you will join me in sharing in their grief and in mourning the loss of a true friend and colleague.

        

In the middle of December 1988  , U.S. News and World Report magazine publiched an article on the death of Vlad Georgescu as “murder through radiation.”. 

In his book, “Red Horizon,” Pacepa wrote: “In the spring of 1970, Service K added radioactive substances provided by the KGB to its deadly arsenal. Ceausescu himself gave the procedure the code name “Radu,” … The radiation dosage was said to generate lethal forms of cancer.” (P. 148). 

An article by journalist Bill Gertz appeared in the Washington Times on December 27, 1988. He quoted Pacepa in an interview that he believed four Radio Free Europe officials were killed with a radiation device designed by Romania's Intelligence Service, DIE, with help from the Soviet KGB. He added that he warned U.S. Officials about the weapon during  debriefing sessions in the late 1970s. Gertz quoted Pacepa as saying, “I don't know anything for sure, because I was no longer in Romania when these events occurred. But I have no doubt this was not coincidental. I believe Ceausescu wanted these people killed with Radu.” 

According to Nestor Ratesh, “The intelligence file on Vlad Georgescu is huge, covering five volumes and over 1,600 pages. However, close to 300 pages are missing, including almost all that pertained to Vlad’s last year of life.” The truth concerning cause of the death of Vlad Georgescu will probably never be known. 

Photograph of Vlad Georgescu courtesy of RFE/RL

For those who understand Romanian, Vlad Georgesu's original November 14, 1987,editorial can be heard here: http://www.europalibera.org/content/article/1509366.html

For those who read Romanian, an enlarged version of this post was published in the March 2016 language magazine Historia.

                           

Nikita Khrushchev and RFE, Part 3: the American People's Counter-Voice to Communism ©

During his 1959 visit to the United States, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev told Vice President Richard M. Nixon that American grandchildren would live under Communism. This quote was used in the 1960 Crusade for Freedom fund-raising campaign for Radio Free Europe (RFE).

For the 1961 national fund-raising campaign conducted by the Radio Free Europe Fund (formerly Crusade for Freedom), the Advertising Council (Ad Council) prepared a Magazine Advertisement for RFE, which showed somber school children with raised hands in a classroom: 

“Your grandchildren will grow up under Communism!” says Nikita Khrushchev

Will the Soviet threat come true? Will your grandchildren live under Communism?  Forget God? Salute the Soviet flag?  “Never!” you say. But are you sure? How can you oppose Communism? One way is to help Radio Free Europe.

The voice is that of Nikita Khrushchev.

The audience is American.

“Your children will grow up under Communism!” he shouts.

Will your children live to see the Free World die` Forget God? Salute the Soviet flag?

“Never!” you say. But are you sure?

What can you do to oppose Communism? There is one sure way.

Help Radio Free Europe.

         

What does it do?

Every day, to 79 million captive people behind the Iron Curtain, it broadcasts news of the outside world.

It helps keep these people from turning to Communism. The Poles, Czechs, Bulgarians, Rumanians and Hungarians.

It keeps alive their friendship for America. 

It reaches over 90% of these people, despite Communist jamming.

Thousands of letters echo the plea: God Bless You! Please keep Radio Free Europe on the air!”

         

These people are the buffers between Russia and the Free World”

They pose a major obstacle to the Russians starting any war. And Radio Free Europe is their strongest link with the Free World.

But Radio Free Europe depends on individual Americans for its existence.

How about it? 

Will you help`… Give a dollar? … Give five dollars? … Or more?

Surely your heart tells you to give something so that our children -- and all children – shall live in freedom throughout the world.

Give Now to … RADIO FREEE EUROPE

The American People’s Counter-Voice to Communism.

Mail your contributions to Radio Free Europe Fund, P. O. Box 1961, Mt. Vernon 10, New York.

This is perhaps the first time that the phrase “Counter-Voice to Communism” was used to describe Radio Free Europe.

In its January 1961 issue, Billboard magazine reported that Khrushchev’s “anti-U.S. statements (‘We will bury you’ and ‘Your grandchildren will grow up under communism’) will be stressed as the theme of special radio and TV spots. It is estimated that Khrushchev will make 3 billion radio-TV impressions on the American public – an all-time record.”

Some newspapers carried an additional statement with a small coupon to be filled out: “Here’s how YOU can answer Nikita Khrushchev…just clip and mail this coupon with your contribution—whatever you can afford. Do it now!” The coupon read, “Here’s my contribution of _____ to help you answer lies—to keep truthful news going behind the Iron Curtain.”

One variation of this ad was published in the May 1961 edition of Reader’s Digest with a drawing that showed school children with raised hands in a classroom with the same text. 

Another variation of this advertisement was used in the February 1962 Radio Free Europe Fund national campaign, when newspapers showed a group of smiling newspaperboys with raised hands. The text read: 

WILL YOUR GRANDCHILDREN GROW UP UNDER COMMUNISM? 

Nikita Khrushchev says “YES!"

Your Newspaperboys say “NO!”  

To back up their answer your newspaperboys are collecting funds to support Radio Free Europe the anti-Communist network, which broadcasts news and information to 79 million captive people behind the Iron Curtain In Poland, Hungary. Czechoslovakia, Romania and Bulgaria Your newspaperboys ask you to join RFE in the light against Communism. Free Europe's 28 powerful transmitters and relay stations broadcast almost 3,000 hours a week through the Iron Curtain around East Europe, These RFE broadcasts are the strongest link the captive people have with the truth and the free world. 

Your Truth dollars help fight Communism. One dollar pays for one minute of truth to answer Communist lies and Khrushchev’s boasts. How many minutes will you give? 

USE THE ENVELOPE YOUR NEWSPAPERBOY LEAVES TO GIVE GENEROUSLY TO RADIO FREE EUROPE 

In 1964, the Free Europe Committee published a cartoon coloring booklet for newspaperboys, with a caricature of Khrushchev and the sentence, “This is Nikita Khrushchev, dictator of the Soviet Union, color him RED.”

For Radio Free Europe, the booklet drawing read, “This is Radio Free Europe‘s Headquarters. The people who work here help the captive people keep alive their hope for freedom and their national and religious heritage. Color the building ANTI-COMMUNIST.”

Nikita Khrushchev was removed from office in October 1964; he died in 1971.

Nikita Khrushchev and Radio Free Europe, Part 2: "The Truth Message" ©

President Eisenhower met with executives from Radio Free Europe, the Crusade for Freedom and CIA Director Allen Dulles at the White House on February 16, 1960. During the meeting, Eisenhower told the group, “Khrushchev had told him that if the United States would avoid trying to separate the Russian people from the Russian government, he would not block or jam the broadcasts.  He said he had no objection to news, music, etc. even where these convey a point of view different from that of the Soviet Union.”

Eisenhower added, “Khrushchev had said that things have changed greatly since Stalin’s time.  There has been only one execution for political cause – that of Beria – since Khrushchev came to power and that no people whatsoever have been sent to Siberia for political reasons.”

The Advertising Council’s 1960 fund-raising campaign for Radio Free Europe began with the question and answer: “What is our best weapon against Communism? The answer was, “Our best weapon is the truth. The Communists fear the truth because they know it could destroy them. Now you can hit them where it hurts—with the truth! With your own truth!"

Similarly to the first "Truth Broadcast" contest the previous year, the Ted Bates Agency prepared advertisements that were sent to newspapers and magazines nationwide. The statement contest was also advertised as the Truth-cast and Truth Message. The entrant was to complete the sentence: “I believe the most important thing people behind the Iron Curtain countries should know is....” The postmark deadline for the contest entry was April 30, 1960.

The March 1960 issue of Reader’s Digest carried an advertisement that included a photograph of Nikita Khrushchev, with the message:

IF YOU DISAGREE WITH MR. KHRUSHCHEV ...

·      Capitalism is a worn-out old mare while Socialism is new, young and full of energy

·      The so-called free world constitutes the cruel exploitation of millions ... for the enrichment of a handful...

·      Now it is American imperialism which is forcing its way ... to world domination

·      Your grandchildren will live under Socialism in America.

Here’s how to put your beliefs to work

If you lived behind the Iron Curtain, you would have to “eat” words like those above about the United States. But you can help give people throughout Europe a better diet of truth and freedom-in your own words. And you may go to Europe to broadcast them personally.

Enter the 1960 RADIO FREE EUROPE Truth Message Contest. Just write what you think people in Communist countries should know about America or freedom. Winning   messages will be beamed over Radio Free Europe to millions who want to hear what you, as an American, have to say

The writers of the six best messages would win free trips to Europe for two persons. Other prizes include 50 complete sets of the Encyclopedia Britannica and 200 Hallicrafters Short-Wave Radios.

Nikita Khrushchev visited the United States for a second time in September-October 1960 for meetings of the United Nations General Assembly. Reportedly, at one point he angrily stood up with a shoe in his hand and banged the shoe on the table at which he was sitting. I use the word “reportedly” because there is no photo or film of Khrushchev banging on the table with a shoe -- although the Assembly auditorium was packed with photojournalists, film and television crews. There is one classic photo of Khrushchev giving his speech at the podium supposedly showing him waving a shoe (out of focus), but in a second shot (either just before or just afterwards), the shoe is not there. The incident, in any event, has become another bit of Cold War folklore.

On October 9, 1960, he gave his only US interview in a WNTA television program Open Air that was moderated in New York by television personality David Susskind.  The program was broadcast on a delayed, syndicated basis over more than 250 TV and radio stations of the NTA network (National Telefilm Associates). Hundreds of viewers phoned the studio to protest Khrushchev's appearance.

And, other viewers called to complain about spot announcements during the program, which extolled the work of Radio Free Europe: the time ordinarily given to sponsored commercials was devoted to filmed announcements about Radio Free Europe. One of which depicted a soldier smashing a radio set belonging to a family presumably listening to Radio Free Europe

Khrushchev reportedly "just got rigid with anger,” when an aide passed him a note during the show telling him about the Radio Free-Europe spot announcements, Susskind said later.

Victor Sukhadrev, his interpreter relayed Khrushchev's comment in the next station break: "How dare you!" But after a few seconds the Soviet leader calmed down and smiled. "Well, do anything you like. We will win. We will win." Susskind later apologized to Khrushchev saying he knew nothing of the RFE commercials.

According to a UPI report published on October 11, 1960, Khrushchev said that his aide handed him a note during the Sunday television appearance to tell him commercials for Radio Free Europe were being broadcast during station breaks: “I spoke to my partner (moderator David Susskind) about it. I told him what you are trying to do—you are trying to stick a pinprick into an elephant—a mighty elephant, the Soviet Union.”

On October 17, 1960, television station WNTA apologized for carrying anti-communist announcements during the interview with Khrushchev. An apology by NTA was carried at the start of the next "Open End" program. The announcer noted that “last night that many viewers had questioned the propriety of the Radio Free Europe announcements.” He added, “While we believe that the content of these announcements, an eloquent plea for free speech, is worthy of exposure on our radio and TV stations we wish to express our regret al their unfortunate placement on the particular program on which Mr. Khrushchev was a guest."

WNTA station manager Ted Cott afterwards said that he had approved the RFE spots: “The intent of putting this on was to dramatize the fact that we in the United States were giving Mr. Khrushchev unlimited time to say whatever he felt, on American television, whereas they were jamming all our broadcasts in the Soviet Union—and this was the editorial point we were trying to make.”