Editing Kurt Waldheim (section)

==United Nations Secretary-General==
[[File:Kurt Waldheim 1971b.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Waldheim c. 1971]]
After losing the presidential election, Waldheim ran for [[Secretary-General of the United Nations]] in the [[1971 United Nations Secretary-General selection|1971 selection]]. Waldheim was supported by 11 votes, including the Soviet Union, and led the first two rounds of voting. The United States and United Kingdom initially supported him in the second round of voting. However, he was vetoed by China in the second round. Waldheim won an accidental victory in the third round of voting when those three permanent members failed to coordinate their vetoes and all abstained.<ref name="frus247">{{harvnb|FRUS 1969–1976 V|loc=[https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v05/d247 Document 247]}}: Telegram From the Mission to the United Nations to the Department of State, 22 December 1971, 0356Z.</ref> According to Finnish diplomat [[Risto Hyvärinen]], Waldheim's former Nazi connections were already known to the Finnish officials who supported [[Max Jakobson]] for Secretary-General in the election. However, this knowledge was not used against Waldheim, because the Finns believed he would not be chosen anyway due to the United States having promised to veto him.<ref>{{cite web|title=Suomen ulkoministeriön johto tiesi Waldheimin natsimenneisyyden jo 1971|work=[[Helsingin Sanomat]]|date=3 November 2000|url=https://www.hs.fi/kotimaa/art-2000003924029.html|access-date=21 August 2022|language=fi}}</ref>

As secretary-general from 1972 onward, Waldheim opened and addressed a number of major international conferences convened under United Nations auspices. These included the third session of the [[United Nations Conference on Trade and Development|U.N. Conference on Trade and Development]] (Santiago, April 1972), the [[United Nations Conference on the Human Environment|U.N. Conference on the Human Environment]] (Stockholm, June 1972), the third [[United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea|UN Conference on the Law of the Sea]] (Caracas, June 1974), the [[World Population Conferences|Third World Population Conference]] (Bucharest, August 1974) and the [[World Food Conference]] (Rome, November 1974), and the [[World Conference on Women, 1975]] (Mexico City, June 1975). During the later, [[United Nations General Assembly Resolution 3379|UN Resolution 3379]], which considered [[Zionism]] as a form of racism and equated it with South African [[Apartheid]], was approved by impulse of Arab countries, the [[Eastern Bloc|Soviet bloc]], and [[Non-Aligned Movement]] countries.<ref>{{cite book|last=Katz Gugenheim|first=Ariela|url=http://libcat.calacademy.org/title/boicot-el-pleito-de-echeverria-con-israel/oclc/1122578103%26referer%3Dbrief_results|title=Boicot. El pleito de Echeverría con Israel|publisher=Universidad Iberoamericana/Cal y Arena|year=2019|isbn=978-607-8564-17-0|location=Mexico|language=es|access-date=29 October 2021|archive-date=10 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220410191926/http://libcat.calacademy.org/title/boicot-el-pleito-de-echeverria-con-israel/oclc/1122578103%26referer%3Dbrief_results|url-status=dead}}</ref> His diplomatic efforts particularly in the Middle East were overshadowed by the diplomacy of then U.S. Secretary of State, [[Henry Kissinger]].<ref name="autogenerated3">[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3486823.stm Obituary: Kurt Waldheim] [[BBC News]] (14 June 2007)</ref>

[[File:Kurt Waldheim with family 1971.jpg|thumb|upright|Waldheim with his family, c. 1971]]

On 11 September 1972, Ugandan dictator [[Idi Amin]] sent a telegram to Waldheim, copies of which went to [[Yasser Arafat]] and [[Golda Meir]]. In the telegram, Amin "applauded the [[massacre of the Israeli Olympic athletes]] in Munich and said Germany was the most appropriate locale for this because it was where Hitler burned more than six million Jews".<ref>Israeli-Ugandan Relations in the Time of Idi Amin by [[Arye Oded]], ''Jewish Political Studies Review'' 18:3–4 (Fall 2006)</ref> Amin also called "to expel Israel from the United Nations and to send all the Israelis to Britain, which bore the guilt for creating the Jewish state".<ref name="jcpa.org">[http://www.jcpa.org/JCPA/Templates/ShowPage.asp?DRIT=5&DBID=1&LNGID=1&TMID=111&FID=625&PID=1631&IID=1643&TTL=Israeli-Ugandan_Relations_in_the_Time_of_Idi_Amin Israeli Ugandan Relations in the Time of Idi Amin] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120318080609/http://www.jcpa.org/JCPA/Templates/ShowPage.asp?DRIT=5&DBID=1&LNGID=1&TMID=111&FID=625&PID=1631&IID=1643&TTL=Israeli-Ugandan_Relations_in_the_Time_of_Idi_Amin |date=18 March 2012}} JCPA</ref> Amidst international protest, "the UN spokesman said [in his daily press conference] it was not the secretary-general's practice to comment on telegrams sent him by heads of government. He added that the secretary-general condemned any form of racial discrimination and genocide."<ref name="jcpa.org"/>

After [[Operation Entebbe]] on 7 July 1976 – in which Israeli commandos freed more than 100 Israeli and Jewish passengers held captive in [[Entebbe Airport]] (Uganda's main airport) by [[Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine]] and [[German Revolutionary Cells]] fighters protected by forces of dictator [[Idi Amin]], and where all the hijackers, three hostages, and 45 Ugandan soldiers were killed – Waldheim described the raid as a "serious violation of the national sovereignty of a United Nations member state".<ref>{{cite web|title=July 4, Day of Operation Entebbe, Israel Upgrades Uganda Airport|publisher=[[The Jewish Press]]|date=4 July 2013|url=http://www.jewishpress.com/news/july-4-day-of-operation-entebbe-israel-upgrades-uganda-airport/2013/07/04/|access-date=28 July 2014}}</ref>

Waldheim ran for a second term in the [[1976 United Nations Secretary-General selection|1976 UN Secretary-General selection]]. However, China was still opposed to him, and approached several Third World countries seeking challengers.<ref name="nytimes19760417">{{cite news|last=Hofmann|first=Paul|title=It's Election Year at U.N., With Waldheim Post Open|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/04/17/archives/its-election-year-at-un-with-waldheim-post-open-election-year-at-un.html|work=The New York Times|date=17 April 1976}}</ref> Outgoing Mexican President [[Luis Echeverría]] finally entered the race in October 1976, making Waldheim the only Secretary-General to face a contested re-selection campaign. Waldheim resoundingly defeated Echeverría in the first round of voting. China cast a single symbolic veto against Waldheim in the first round and voted for him in the second round, handing him an easy victory with 14 of 15 votes on the Security Council.<ref name="nytimes19761208">{{cite news|title=Waldheim is Backed by Security Council for Five Years More|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/12/08/archives/waldheim-is-backed-by-security-council-for-five-years-more-his.html|work=The New York Times|date=8 December 1976}}</ref>

{{listen |filename=The_Voyager_Interstellar_Record_-_131_Greetings_From_The_Secretary_General_Of_The_UN_Kurt_Waldh_(1).ogg |title=Waldheim's Voyager greeting.|description=Kurt Waldheim's Golden Record Greeting}}
In 1977, Waldheim recorded a greeting for the [[Voyager Golden Record]]s, a pair of discs containing sounds and images representing the diversity of life and culture on Earth, which were launched into deep space on the [[Voyager program|Voyager spacecraft]]. The craft were also inscribed with a written message from then-U.S. President [[Jimmy Carter]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Voyager – What's on the Golden Record |url=https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/golden-record/whats-on-the-record/ |website=Jet Propulsion Laboratory |publisher=[[NASA]]/[[Caltech]] |access-date=8 May 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Bell |first=Jim |title=The Interstellar Age: Inside the Forty-Year Voyager Mission |year=2015 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-0-698-18615-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KXPoAwAAQBAJ&dq=kurt+waldheim+voyager+message&pg=PT49 |access-date=8 May 2021}}</ref>

Waldheim was the first Secretary-General to visit [[North Korea]], in 1979.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080304015451/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,947307,00.html "Discipline and Devotion"], ''Time'', 28 May 1979 Retrieved 1 December 2008.</ref> In 1980, Waldheim flew to [[Iran]] in an attempt to negotiate the release of the [[Iran hostage crisis|American hostages]] held in [[Tehran]], but [[Ayatollah Khomeini]] refused to see him.<ref name="autogenerated3" /> While in Tehran, it was announced that an attempt on Waldheim's life had been foiled. Near the end of his tenure as secretary-general, Waldheim and British popular musician [[Paul McCartney]] organized a series of [[concerts for the People of Kampuchea]] to help [[Cambodia]] recover from the damage done by [[Pol Pot]].<ref>[http://www.cbc.ca/arts/music/charity.html CBC.ca – Arts – Music – Charity Begins]</ref>

Waldheim ran for an unprecedented third full term as Secretary-General [[1981 United Nations Secretary-General selection|in the 1981 selection]]. China was determined to unseat him this time and lined up a strong candidate in [[Salim Ahmed Salim]] of Tanzania. In the first round of voting, Waldheim lost to Salim by one vote. However, Salim was vetoed by the United States, while Waldheim was vetoed by China. The veto duel between China and the United States lasted a record 16 rounds. After six weeks of deadlock, Waldheim and Salim both withdrew from the race. [[Javier Pérez de Cuéllar]] of [[Peru]] won the selection and succeeded Waldheim as Secretary-General of the United Nations.<ref name="sievers2014">{{cite book|last1=Sievers|first1=Loraine|last2=Davis|first2=Sam|title=The Procedure of the UN Security Council|date=2014|publisher=Oxford Univ Press|isbn=978-0-19-968529-5|edition=4}}</ref>{{rp|411}} The events of 1981 established a customary two-term limit on the office, and no Secretary-General since Waldheim has run for a third term.<ref>{{cite web |title=Appointment Process: United Nations Secretary-General |url=https://www.un.org/sg/en/appointment.shtml |website=www.un.org |access-date=19 August 2023}}</ref>