UNITED NATIONS: Three Years More

Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Vishinsky had berated Trygve Lie as a U.S. stooge, blustered that Moscow would never recognize an extension of the Norwegian’s term as Secretary General of the U.N. Undeterred by the Soviet Foreign Minister, the Assembly voted overwhelmingly to give Lie another three years of office, from Feb. 1, 1951 to Feb. 1, 1954.

It was a sharp rebuff to the Russians, who had originally championed Lie, eventually turned against him because he had sped up U.N. action in Korea. It was also a slapdown of the veto used by Russia to block a Security Council vote in favor of Lie (TIME, Oct. 23). The Secretary General discreetly stayed at home, in Forest Hills, N.Y., until the Assembly finished the debate over him. Then he appeared at Flushing Meadow to voice his thanks.

“I understand your vote,” he said to the Assembly, “to be a reaffirmation … of the independence and integrity of the office of the Secretary General . . .” Then he reaffirmed his own approach to U.N. issues: “I have worked hard during the last five years for conciliation of … the conflicting interests that divide the world … I shall continue to do so . . .”