1981 United Nations Secretary-General selection Pérez de Cuéllar for a second term as Secretary-General. Although Pérez received only "hints" of financial support for the U.N., he felt obligated to accept his selection. "To decline in such circumstances would have been tantamount to abandoning a moral duty toward the United Nations," he said in his acceptance speech. 1981 United Nations Secretary-General selection A United Nations Secretary-General selection was held in 1981. Kurt Waldheim ran for an unprecedented third full term as Secretary-General, losing to Salim Ahmed Salim by one vote. However, the selection deadlocked through 16 rounds of voting as China vetoed Waldheim and the United
1961 United Nations Secretary-General selection peacekeeping mission. On 18 September 1961, Hammarskjöld flew to Ndola in Northern Rhodesia to meet with rebel leader Moïse Tshombe of the State of Katanga. After circling the airfield twice, the airplane crashed, killing Hammarskjöld and all but one of the other occupants. The airplane crash set off a succession crisis at the United Nations, as Hammarskjöld's death required the Security Council to vote on a successor. The Soviet Union had been pushing to replace the Secretary-General with a troika, the three men to be named by each of the Three Worlds of the Cold War. The Soviets recommended that