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Whatever the measure of applause, Khrushchev's speech struck Western delegates—and even many Africans—as third-rate propaganda spiced with "absurd" proposals, not the least of which was the suggestion that the emerging African nations, which owed so much to the U.N., should oust Hammarskjold.
Advance Payment. This alone so angered Secretary of State Christian Herter that he made his way to Hammarskjold's office to see whether the rules would permit calling immediately for a vote of confidence in the Secretary-General; he was told that it was impractical. To prove U.S. good intentions, he then handed Hammarskjold a U.S. check for $5,000,000, an advance payment on the U.S. contribution to U.N. costs in the Congo, and assured him that additional funds would be made available. Herter was still steamed up when he answered reporters' questions at a Foreign Press Association meeting. Part of his ire splashed over on Ghana's Nkrumah. Acknowledging that he had not read all of Nkrumah's speech, he undiplomatically lumped him with Khrushchev. "Whether it was prearranged or not, I do not know. But I think he has marked himself as very definitely leaning toward the Soviet bloc." (Replied Nkrumah diplomatically: "Mr. Herter was the last person from whom I would expect such a remark.") Herter went on to blast the Soviet attack on the U.N. as "an all-out attack, a real declaration of war against the structure, personnel and location of the United Nations," and later U.N. Ambassador James Wadsworth took the floor in the Assembly to rebut Khrushchev in the same vein.
Onward. Characteristically, Nikita Khrushchev seemed innocently oblivious to the negative response to his long tirade. A patient man in high-stakes game of international Monopoly, he knew as well as anyone else that he had not lost the cold war but just a battle. But it was a decisive battle. Had he come so far, with so much panoply, with so little to offer? There would be new ploys, new attacks as his satellite echoes got into the act. But he was off to a most unimpressive start.
* Cameroun, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo (Brazzaville), Dahomey, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Malagasy, Niger, Somalia, Togo, Upper Volta. Also admitted to membership was the Congo (Leopoldville), but the delegation was not seated, pending settlement of the dispute over representation.
* The arrival of Khrushchev and Crony Janos Kadar of Hungary coincided with another journey across international borders. Two young Hungarians, escaping to freedom across the Austrian frontier, lost their feet in a land-mine explosion. A third companion, uninjured, helped his comrades to safety.
* Shot down, Khrushchev claims, over Soviet territory last July.