1971 United Nations Secretary-General selection 1971 United Nations Secretary-General selection A United Nations Secretary-General selection was held in 1971 to succeed U Thant, who was stepping down after two full terms. Three candidates received enough votes in the Security Council to be selected Secretary-General: Carlos Ortiz de Rozas of Argentina, Kurt Waldheim of Austria, and Max Jakobson of Finland. However, all of the frontrunners were vetoed in the first two rounds of voting. In the third round, Waldheim accidentally escaped a triple-veto when three permanent members failed to coordinate their votes and all abstained. As a result, Kurt Waldheim was selected Secretary-General of the United
United Nations Secretary-General selection plan to bypass the Security Council by having the General Assembly President carry out the duties of Secretary-General. After a week of negotiation, the Soviet Union and the United States agreed on U Thant of Burma to take over Hammarskjöld's role. However, the two superpowers deadlocked for four weeks on how many Assistant Secretaries-General there would be, with the United States insisting on five, and the Soviet Union proposing three, four, six, or seven. The deadlock was finally broken when the superpowers agreed to let Thant decide for himself. Thant was unanimously selected Acting Secretary-General for the remainder of Hammarskjöld's