Trygve Lie

 ( 1896 Births ) 

As secretary-general, Lie appointed, among others, Jan Pedersen, Raymond Fourier, Oskar Larsen and a wide variety of officials to the positions of under-secretaries-general or special advisors during his tenure, with a tendency to prefer individuals he had previously worked with. Lie supported the foundations of Israel and Indonesia. His passionate support for Israel included passing secret military and diplomatic information to Israeli officials. He sent 50 members of the United Nations guard force from Lake Success to assist the mediator in supervising the truce in the former British Mandate of Palestine in 1948, and the "UNTSO", the first peacekeeping operation, was established by the United Nations. He worked for the withdrawal of Soviet forces in Iran during the Iran crisis of 1946 and a ceasefire in fighting in Kashmir. Regarding Iran, Lies' memorandum on a potential solution was not implemented, but, as a result of the need for raising important issues, the Security Council changed its rules of procedures to enable the secretary general to address it on any question under consideration. This change would have important consequences both for Lie with regards to the Korean War as well as for later secretaries-general.

Lie advocated for the creation of the UN Guard, a non-military force of "1,000–5,000 men, largely drawn from the smaller member states, to be recruited by the Secretary-General and placed at the disposal of the Security Council, the General Assembly, and the Trusteeship Council."

In 1948, Lie was involved in mediation attempts between Russia and the West following the Berlin Blockade. In June 1948, he offered to raise the blockade to the UN Security Council as a 'threat to the peace' but was told by the US State Department that this was not necessary. In November 1948, he recommended that the UN attempt to work out the currency issue and present a solution to both sides. However, in this regard he was not successful, as Stalin eventually ordered the lifting of the blockade in May 1949 in response to the effects of a trade embargo and the subsequent ongoing success of the Allied airlift operation.

Lie was Secretary-General of the UN during the period of the Korean War. Following the June 25, 1950, attack by North Korean forces, Lie immediately invoked Article 99 of the UN Charter to convene the Security Council that day. He stated that as Korea was a ward of the UN, the invasion was an attack on the UN itself and that the Security Council should take the necessary steps to reestablish peace. A resolution to that effect passed in the Council by 9–0, owing to the absence of the Soviet Union due to the Soviet Union boycott of the United Nations. It is stated that this attracted the ire of the Soviet Union. During the war, Lie had wanted an international committee to direct military forces, but this was opposed by the US, and a compromise was reached whereby a unified UN command would be created but under the overall command of a US general. He has been criticised by some for his failures to bring about a swifter end to the Korean War, despite several repeated attempts to bring the People's Republic of China to ceasefire negotiations.

On 1 November 1950, over objections by the Soviet Union, the UN General Assembly voted by 46 votes to five (and eight abstentions) to extend Lie's term of office.United Nations General Assembly Resolution 492, 1 November 1950 The vote was a consequence of an impasse in the Security Council in which the Soviet Union refused to consider Lie due to his involvement in the Korean War, while the US refused to accept any candidate except Lie. Lie later worked to end the Soviet boycott of UN meetings, though his involvement had little to do with the eventual return of the Soviet Union to the UN. He was opposed to Spain's entry into the United Nations because of his opposition to Francisco Franco's government.

By late 1952, the USSR continued to refuse to acknowledge Lie as secretary-general and, having also been accused by Joseph McCarthy of hiring "disloyal" Americansan allegation that he attributed to the pressing need for UN civil servants following the establishment of the UNLie resigned on 10 November 1952.

The UN came under US official scrutiny after the conviction of Alger Hiss, who had served as acting secretary general at the first convening of the UN in San Francisco (in 1945). A State Department report dated 17 January 1951, states:

Subject: McCarran Act—Possible Conflict with Headquarters Agreement
In conversation with Abe Feller in New York recently he expressed the view that the regulations which have been issued under the McCarran Act make it fairly clear to him that there is likely to be some conflict between that Act and the way in which it is being interpreted and the Headquarters Agreement. He expressed the view that in the event of such conflict the UN secretariat would be forced to resort to the arbitration procedure under the Agreement. He stated he thought this would be very unfortunate and wondered whether any consideration was being given to a general amendment to the McCarran Act which would waive its provisions so far as it conflicted with international obligations or international agreements. I told him I did not know whether any amendments were under consideration but that I would bring his view to your attention.

Abraham Feller, general counsel and principal director, Legal Department, United Nations Secretariat, was reportedly a close friend of Alger Hiss. On 14 November 1952, just days after Lie's resignation from the UN, Feller died by suicide, jumping out of the window of his apartment in New York City.