Secretaries-General
| # | Portrait | Secretary-General | Dates in office | Country of origin | UN Regional Group | Reason of withdrawal | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| – | Gladwyn Jebb | 24 October 1945 – 1 February 1946 |
United Kingdom | Western European & Others | Served as Acting Secretary-General until Lie's election | ||
| After World War II, he served as Executive Secretary of the Preparatory Commission of the United Nations in August 1945, being appointed Acting United Nations Secretary-General from October 1945 to February 1946 until the appointment of the first Secretary-General Trygve Lie. | |||||||
| 1 | Trygve Lie | 2 February 1946 – 10 November 1952 |
Norway | Western European & Others | Resigned | ||
| Lie, a foreign minister and former labour leader, was recommended by the Soviet Union to fill the post. After the UN involvement in the Korean War, the Soviet Union vetoed Lie's reappointment in 1951. The United States circumvented the Soviet Union's veto and recommended reappointment directly to the General Assembly. Lie was reappointed by a vote of 46 to 5, with eight abstentions. The Soviet Union remained hostile to Lie, and he resigned in 1952. | |||||||
| 2 | Dag Hammarskjöld | 10 April 1953 – 18 September 1961 |
Sweden | Western European & Others | Died in a plane crash in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia), while on a peacekeeping mission to the Congo | ||
| After a series of candidates were vetoed, Hammarskjöld emerged as an option that was acceptable to the Security Council. Hammarskjöld was re-elected unanimously to a second term in 1957. The Soviet Union was angered by Hammarskjöld's leadership of the UN during the Congo Crisis, and suggested that the position of Secretary-General be replaced by a troika, or three-man executive. Facing great opposition from the Western nations, the Soviet Union gave up on its suggestion. Hammarskjöld was killed in a plane crash in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) in 1961. U.S. President John F. Kennedy called Hammarskjöld "the greatest statesman of our century". | |||||||
| 3 | U Thant |
30 November 1961 – 31 December 1971 |
Burma | Asian | Declined to consider a third term. | ||
| In the process of replacing Hammarskjöld, the developing world insisted on a non-European and non-American. U Thant was nominated. However, due to opposition from the French (Thant had chaired a committee on Algerian independence) and the Arabs (Burma supported Israel), Thant was only appointed for the remainder of Hammarskjöld's term. Thant was the first Asian Secretary-General. The following year, Thant was unanimously re-elected to a full five-year term. He was similarly re-elected in 1966. Thant did not seek a third term. | |||||||
| 4 | Kurt Waldheim | 1 January 1972 – 31 December 1981 |
Austria | Western European & Others | China vetoed his third term. | ||
| Waldheim launched a discreet but effective campaign to become the Secretary-General. Despite initial vetoes from China and the United Kingdom, in the third round Waldheim was selected to become the new Secretary-General. In 1976, China initially blocked Waldheim's re-election, but it relented on the second ballot. In 1981, Waldheim's re-election for a third term was blocked by China, which vetoed his selection through 15 rounds. In the mid-1980s, it was revealed that a post-World War II UN War Crimes Commission had labeled Waldheim as a suspected war criminal – based on his involvement with the Wehrmacht Heer army of Nazi Germany. The files had been stored in the UN archive. | |||||||
| 5 | Javier Pérez de Cuéllar | 1 January 1982 – 31 December 1991 |
Peru | Latin American & Caribbean | Refused to be considered for a third term. | ||
| Pérez de Cuéllar was selected after a five-week deadlock between the re-election of Waldheim and China's candidate, Salim Ahmed Salim of Tanzania. Pérez de Cuéllar, a Peruvian diplomat, was a compromise candidate, and the first Secretary-General from the Americas. He was re-elected unanimously in 1986. | |||||||
| 6 | Boutros Boutros-Ghali | 1 January 1992 – 31 December 1996 |
Egypt | African | The United States vetoed his second term. | ||
| The 102-member Non-Aligned Movement insisted that the next Secretary-General come from Africa. With a majority in the General Assembly and the support of China, the Non-Aligned Movement had the votes necessary to block any unfavourable candidate. The Security Council conducted five anonymous straw polls—a first for the council—and Boutros-Ghali emerged with 11 votes on the fifth round. In 1996 the United States vetoed the re-appointment of Boutros-Ghali, claiming he had failed in implementing necessary reforms to the UN. | |||||||
| 7 | Kofi Annan | 1 January 1997 – 31 December 2006 |
Ghana | African | Retired after two full terms | ||
| On 13 December 1996, the United Nations Security Council recommended Annan. He was confirmed four days later by the vote of the General Assembly, He started his second term as Secretary-General on 1 January 2002. | |||||||
| 8 | Ban Ki-moon | 1 January 2007– present |
South Korea | Asia-Pacific | Incumbent | ||
| Ban became the second Asian to be selected as the Secretary-General. He was unanimously elected to a second term by the General Assembly on 21 June 2011. His second term began on 1 January 2012. Prior to his selection, he was the Foreign Minister of the Republic of Korea from January 2004 to November 2006. | |||||||
| UN Regional Group | Secretaries-General | Terms |
|---|---|---|
| Western European and Others | 4 | 7 |
| Eastern European Group | 0 | 0 |
| Latin American and Caribbean Group | 1 | 2 |
| Asia-Pacific Group | 2 | 4 |
| African Group | 2 | 3 |
Read more about this topic: Secretary-General Of The United Nations