1981 United Nations Secretary-General selection again run for a third term. China became the enforcer of regional rotation, announcing which regional group it would support in each selection. Contrary to expectations, Europe was not excluded from the rotation. After 35 years of U.N. Secretaries-General from the Third World, the 2016 selection was won by António Guterres of Portugal, who became the first European Secretary-General since Kurt Waldheim. As Javier Pérez de Cuéllar's first term came to a close in 1986, the United Nations faced mounting financial difficulties. After the United States Congress cut the U.S. contribution to the U.N., Pérez said that he would only
1953 United Nations Secretary-General selection accept the other's candidate, they compromised on Trygve Lie of Norway, who became the first Secretary-General of the United Nations. In the late 1940s, international tensions affected the workings of the United Nations. Norway joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949, placing the post of Secretary-General in the hands of a country that was aligned with one side in the Cold War. Lie took the United Nations into the Korean War in 1950, leading the Soviet Union to veto his re-selection in 1950. The United States then announced that it would veto every other candidate. With the Security Council