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
United Nations Conference on the Human Environment United Nations Conference on the Human Environment The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment was held in Stockholm, Sweden from June 5–16 in 1972. When the United Nations General Assembly decided to convene the 1972 Stockholm Conference, at the initiative of the Government of Sweden to host it, UN Secretary-General U Thant invited Maurice Strong to lead it as Secretary-General of the Conference, as the Canadian diplomat (under Pierre Trudeau) had initiated and already worked for over two years on the project. Sweden first suggested to the United Nations Economic and Social Council ECOSOC in 1968 the idea of