1971 United Nations Secretary-General selection receiving assurances that the Chinese would continue to veto Waldheim. Bush also talked to Jakobson, who said that the Chinese would veto Waldheim "all the way through." In the third round of voting, Carlos Ortiz de Rozas moved into the lead with 12 votes but was vetoed by the Soviet Union. Waldheim came in second with 11 votes but received no vetoes. To the surprise of the Americans and British, the Chinese abstained instead of vetoing Waldheim. As a result, Kurt Waldheim was selected as Secretary-General of the United Nations for a term beginning on 1 January 1972. The Austrian
First session of the United Nations General Assembly of the first session opened in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, New York, on 23 October 1946. First session of the United Nations General Assembly The first session of the United Nations General Assembly opened on 10 January 1946 at the Methodist Central Hall in London. Gladwyn Jebb, executive secretary of the UN, notified Dr. Eduardo Zuleta Angel, head of the Colombian delegation to the UN and chairman of the Preparatory Commission of the United Nations, called the meeting to order. Paul-Henri Spaak of Belgium was elected the first president of the General Assembly in a 28–23 vote, prevailing over Trygve Lie