1996 United Nations Secretary-General selection a term beginning 1 January 1997. The 1996 selection marks the only time that a sitting Secretary-General was denied a second term. The elderly Boutros-Ghali initially intended to serve only one term, but he ran for a second term in 1996. Traditionally, the Secretary-General is entitled to run unopposed for a second term. No sitting Secretary-General had ever been denied a second term by a veto. In the 1950 selection, Trygve Lie was vetoed by the Soviet Union, but he was re-appointed by the General Assembly without a recommendation from the Security Council. In the 1976 selection, Kurt Waldheim received
United Nations Secretary-General selection In November 1952, Trygve Lie announced his resignation. The Soviet Union had vetoed Lie's re-selection in 1950, and it considered the General Assembly's extension of his term in 1950 to be illegitimate. Since then, the Soviet Union had ignored Lie, addressing all communications to "The Secretariat" rather than the Secretary-General. With negotiations for a Korean Armistice Agreement in progress, Lie felt that a new Secretary-General could restore a working relationship with the Soviet Union. Both superpowers experienced a change of government during the selection, with Dwight Eisenhower's inauguration in January 1953 and Joseph Stalin's death in March 1953. The United