Office of the Historian

IO Files: US/A/2758

United States Delegation Working Paper Incorporating Tentative Draft Resolution on Appointment of the Secretary-General

confidential
[New York,] October 28, 1950.

The General Assembly,

Having received a communication from the President of the Security Council dated 12 October 1950, stating that the Security Council has been unable to agree on a recommendation to the General Assembly regarding the appointment of a Secretary-General;

Considering the necessity to insure the uninterrupted exercise of the functions vested by the Charter in the Office of the Secretary-General;

Considering that the Security Council recommended to the First Session of the General Assembly the appointment of Mr. Trygve Lie as Secretary-General, and that on 1 February 1946 the General Assembly appointed Mr. Trygve Lie as Secretary-General for a five-year term;

[Page 178]

Decides that the present Secretary-General shall be continued in office for a period of three years.1

  1. After a final private meeting of the Security Council on the Secretary-General question on October 30, in which the Council rejected by 7 votes to 1 (Soviet Union), with 3 abstentions (Egypt, China, and India) a Soviet proposal to have the Council request the General Assembly to postpone consideration of the matter in order to consider possible additional candidates, the General Assembly addressed itself to the question in three meetings on October 31 and November 1. At the final meeting the joint draft resolution was adopted by 46 votes to 5, with 8 abstentions. For the proceedings of the General Assembly on this matter, see United Nations, Official Records of the General Assembly, Fifth Session, Plenary Meetings, vol. i, pp. 250 ff.↩