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
1953 United Nations Secretary-General selection the task imposed on me." On 7 April 1953, the General Assembly voted 57-1-1 to appoint Dag Hammarskjöld Secretary-General of the United Nations for a 5-year term. The negative vote was from Nationalist China, and the abstention may have been a Latin American country. The Swedish ambassador speculated that tensions with Juan Perón caused Argentina to abstain, but others felt that Uruguay abstained to protest the manner in which Hammarskjöld had been rushed through the Security Council without consulting the non-permanent members. U.S. ambassador Lodge attempted to mollify the Latin American countries by explaining that the nomination had happened so