ABSTRACT
In 1991, the United Nations (UN) faced the task of electing a new secretary-general. Javier Perez de Cuellar, a Peruvian diplomat, had been a dark-horse candidate when he was elected to the post in 1981. The election of a new secretary-general in 1991 was also especially significant within the UN itself. The UN Charter says very little about the qualifications of the secretary-general or about the manner in which the individual is selected. The selection, more technically the “appointment,” is by a majority of the General Assembly on the nomination of the Security Council. There had been apparently little effort to research Kurt Waldheim’s record. Even a cursory search in the archives of the UN would have revealed the true nature of his wartime service. The recommendations by Brian Urquhart and Childers were particularly significant in light of Urquharts forty-year UN service, the last twelve as under secretary-general in charge of peacekeeping.
