Long before an Iraqi journalist threw his shoes at former President Bush, a Filipino delegate publicly criticized the Soviet Union for its policies in Eastern Europe during a General Assembly meeting. Nikita Khrushchev, then premier of the USSR, lost his cool – attempting to silence the delegate by banging on the table with his shoe.
Mr. Krushchev kept his post for another four years. The Soviet Union maintained its grip on Eastern Europe for nearly three more decades.