[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 183 (Friday, November 17, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S17333-S17335]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


      AMBASSADOR JOSEPH VERNER-REED-- STATESMAN AND U.N. HISTORIAN

  Mr. PRESSLER. Mr. President, as the United Nations celebrates 50 
years in operation, I am reminded of the rich history of the 
international organization--a history filled with challenges, 
criticism, and hope for many war-torn areas of the world. As my 
colleagues know, I have been a supporter of the U.N. as well as an 
outspoken critic of its wasteful and abusive management practices. 
While waste, fraud, and abuse still run rampant within the world body, 
these mismanagement practices should not overshadow the valiant efforts 
of dedicated public servants to do the right thing at the United 
Nations.
  Ambassador Joseph Verner-Reed, U.N. Under-Secretary-General for 
Public Affairs, is one such committed public servant. Throughout his 
many years at the United Nations, he has worked tirelessly to promote 
peace and stability in our chaotic world.
  During his service to the United Nations, the Ambassador has compiled 
a wealth of knowledge about the United Nations and its history. In 
response to the golden anniversary of the United Nations, Greenwich 
Magazine talked 

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with Ambassador Reed about what he viewed to be the most notable events 
of the U.N.'s past 50 years. The Greenwich Magazine recently published 
the Ambassador's rich, detailed account of U.N. history. For example, 
Reed describes the famous 1960 Khrushchev shoe-banging incident and the 
time in 1994 when the United Nations monitored the historic, peaceful 
elections in South Africa following the end of Apartheid.
  I can think of few others who could offer a better account of 
historical events at the United Nations than Joseph Verner-Reed. He is 
a devoted man, who cares deeply about the United Nations and the people 
it serves around the globe. Mr. President, in tribute to my friend, 
Ambassador Reed, I ask unanimous consent to place Tanya Hochschild's 
article, ``Highlights of U.N. History'' from the Greenwich Magazine in 
the Record.
  There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                [From the Greenwich Magazine, May 1995]

                       Highlights of U.N. History

                         (By Tanya Hochschild)

       Television brings the world's wars into our living rooms 
     and we witness the horror. In the last five years, we have 
     watched a brutal war in Bosnia, been with our troops as they 
     landed on the beach in Somalia, seen the hell of Rwanda and 
     Liberia, the crises in the Middle East and in Haiti. These 
     images remind us we live in an unstable world, a world of 
     violence, of human abuses and inhumanity.
       In the eye of these international storms is the United 
     Nations, monitoring, intervening, trying to keep the peace. 
     This year the world organization celebrates its golden 
     jubilee. Yet many who have seen the slaughter have less than 
     an enthusiastic response to the efficacy of the U.N. during 
     the past fifty years. These are not the sentiments, however, 
     of Ambassador Joseph Verner Reed, under-secretary-general for 
     Public Affairs at the United Nations and one of the highest 
     ranking American officials at the world organization. (The 
     ambassador had served as under-secretary-general for 
     Political and General Assembly Affairs and Secretariat 
     Services from 1986 to 1988, when he was asked to be chief of 
     protocol by President George Bush. He had previously served 
     President Reagan as ambassador to Morocco.)
       Relaxing at his home, Denbigh Farm in backcountry 
     Greenwich, Ambassador Reed talked about some memorable 
     moments in the history of the United Nations. He considers 
     himself a citizen of the world, with his first allegiance to 
     the world organization. ``I want to be very clear. I will 
     always serve as an international civil servant, so my optic 
     is different from that of a U.S. national.''
       On the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the United 
     Nations, Ambassador Reed found it both difficult and easy to 
     limit his reflections to only a few highlights in its 
     history. Difficult, because he is so unabashedly a proud and 
     enthusiastic U.N. man--and has such a fund of stories, whose 
     telling remind him of ten others. Easy, because he is a 
     consummate diplomat, courteous, elegant, knowledgeable. A man 
     whose acuity and aplomb enables him to communicate succinctly 
     all he wants you to hear. Nevertheless, when pinned down, he 
     mentioned eight significant dates:
       December 10, 1948.--The General Assembly adopts the 
     Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
       The United Nations has helped enact agreements on 
     political, civil, economic, social and cultural rights. 
     Complaints of human rights abuses are investigated and the 
     U.N. Human Rights Commission has focused the world's 
     attention on cases of torture and arbitrary detention.
       ``That document is a benchmark of success, one of the great 
     pieces of high thinking for our planet,'' said Ambassador 
     Reed. ``It set a standard for other declarations such as the 
     one on women's rights, which improves the quality of life for 
     women in over 100 countries. Programs helped raise the female 
     literacy rate in developing countries from thirty-six percent 
     in 1970 to fifty-six percent in 1990.''
       October 24, 1949.--Cornerstone laid for United Nations 
     headquarters in New York City.
       While Ambassador Joseph Verner Reed is a dedicated 
     international civil servant, he expresses sentiments about 
     his own country that leave the listener in no doubt as to his 
     feelings about the United States.
       ``Every American, man, woman and child should be very proud 
     of the incredible contribution the United States has made to 
     the United Nations. Our country, the host country, has played 
     a pivotal role in the management of the world organization, 
     not the least of which has been assuming obligation for 
     twenty-five percent of the regular budget. In 1948 Congress 
     approved an interest-free loan of sixty-five million dollars 
     for the headquarters building. The site is a gift (tax 
     deductible, yes) from the Rockefellers.''
       November 6, 1956.--The first U.N. peace-keeping force 
     established.
       ``Obviously peace keeping is an extraordinary success, and 
     an ongoing attempt to meet the challenges of a troubled 
     world,'' the ambassador said. ``We have thirty-five peace-
     keeping observer missions and seventeen peace missions 
     currently active around the world, made up of 80,000 people, 
     the most there has ever been.''
       The ambassador spoke of his concern in conveying to the 
     general public the importance of the U.N.'s peace-keeping 
     accomplishments--in Kashmir, the Congo, Cyprus. He recalled a 
     ``wonderful'' response of Boutros Boutros-Ghali to a question 
     on Cyprus: ``Whatever it has cost [in terms of peace 
     keeping], it's a great deal cheaper than if Turkey and Cyprus 
     and Greece had gone to war.''
       ``There are certainly problems--in Somalia and Bosnia,'' 
     the ambassador said. ``Yugoslavia is a nightmare, but you 
     have to view the tough points, tough years, tough arenas and 
     tough skirmishes along with the successes. Golan Heights, El 
     Salvador were great successes.''
       The U.N.'s peace-keeping budget is an indication of both 
     the magnitude of the problem and the efforts to solve 
     conflicts. Two years ago, he pointed out, the budget was $280 
     million. This year it is $3.5 billion.
       In an interesting aside, the Greenwich resident also noted 
     that eighty percent of the media's coverage of the work of 
     the United Nations is on peace-keeping forces and only twenty 
     percent on its efforts in economic and social development. 
     ``One could argue slightly on the percentage points, but I 
     will say categorically that twenty percent of the work of the 
     U.N. is peace keeping and eighty percent, economic and social 
     development. I think the world's views are guided by CNN.''
       In recognition of its accomplishments, the United Nations 
     Peace-keeping Force was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 
     1988, joining the ranks of other Nobel Prize winners: the 
     Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees; 
     the United Nations Children's Fund; and U.N. individuals 
     Ralph Bunche, Lester Pearson, Dag Hammerskjold and others.
       September 1960.--Seventeen newly independent states, 
     sixteen of them African, join the United Nations, the biggest 
     increase in membership in any one year.
       ``The key number one success of the U.N. has been as the 
     midwife of history.'' Ambassador Reed said.
       ``Take Africa as an example, Ethiopia, South Africa, 
     Liberia and Egypt (included on the continent) signed the 
     original charter in 1945--only four African countries--and 
     now we have fifty-one member nations from Africa. That's an 
     amazing statement right there! The independence! The bursting 
     of sovereign states!''
       October 12, 1960.--Khrushchev bangs shoe on desk--media 
     reaction ecstatic. As proof positive, Ambassador Reed pointed 
     out that a photograph of that occasion is one of the most 
     sought-after pictures in the world, and almost impossible to 
     get.
       Truculence was Khrushchev's style, which proved to be more 
     atmosphere than substantive. Most people recall the incident 
     as the behavior of a reckless peasant in an establishment 
     priding itself on restraint and decorum.
       Ambassador Reed considers it an unfortunate reaction 
     flashed around the world, one that makes for good anecdotes 
     in a course on public diplomacy. ``From a protocolary 
     point of view, I think the world was aghast.''
       October 25, 1971.--General Assembly seats representatives 
     of the People's Republic of China.
       ``The Republic of China, commonly known as Taiwan, was 
     voted out of the General Assembly and replaced by the 
     People's Republic of China (mainland China). This was a major 
     event for the United Nations and a turning point for the 
     world organization. I do remember as a young international 
     banker saying over and over again that some formula has to be 
     worked out here to recognize this behemoth.''
       April 27, 1994.--Apartheid ends in South Africa. U.N. 
     monitors peaceful elections.
       Two world maps hanging in the hall at the United Nations 
     graphically illustrate how the United Nations has enabled 
     people in over forty-five countries to participate in free 
     and fair elections. It has provided electoral advice, 
     assistance and monitoring of results.
       December 15, 1994.--The island of Palau, in the Pacific 
     Ocean, is the latest member nation to be admitted. Once a 
     colony of Japan, it is the last of U.N. territories to 
     achieve independence.
       ``Today, less than two million people live under colonial 
     rule,'' the ambassador said. ``Decolonization has got to have 
     been the high mark of the world organization. I maintain it 
     is the mark of success--there has been an explosion from 
     fifty-one members to one hundred and eighty-five. The very 
     first step an infant nation takes to achieve sovereignty is 
     to apply for membership in the United Nations.''
       Ambassador Joseph Verner Reed understands public diplomacy. 
     His world is a world of protocol and motorcades, 
     representing, as he does, Boutros Boutros-Ghali at state 
     funerals, inauguration ceremonies and commonwealth 
     conferences.
       Being a participant in the ``House''--whether it be in the 
     ``super dome of the world diplomacy'' as he refers to the 
     General Assembly Hall, or striding its corridors with fleet-
     foot compassion--enables him to foster harmony through 
     understanding. He believes this is the principal mission of 
     the United Nations. And he points to the number of treaties 
     that have effectively prevented the spread of nuclear weapons 
     around the world.
       The circular study in his home at Denbigh Farm reflects a 
     career peppered with pomp and majesty. Numerous pictures of 
     him with 

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     world dignitaries cover the wall. He was in this manor born and he has 
     furnished the room with a needlepoint carpet made by his 
     mother; bronze American eagles; flags from the U.S. services; 
     ``and that one over there is George Washington's flag, isn't 
     that great?'' There are boxes of memorabilia and copies of 
     speeches and letters--a note from Barbara Bush. ``Know you 
     were a large part of the happy times''; a plaque of wood that 
     President Truman stood on at the dedication of the United 
     Nations and on which he later wrote, ``It was quite a day! 
     Harry S. Truman.''
       The continued financial support of member countries is of 
     great concern to Ambassador Joseph Verner Reed. He terms the 
     situation ``donor fatigue'' and views the new Republican 
     Congress's push to lower contributions from the United States 
     to the regular U.N. budget as a cause for alarm.
       Yet he is confident and tireless in his dedication to 
     seeing to it that the job is well done. The job at hand right 
     now is the golden jubilee and its theme is particularly 
     poignant: ``We the people--United for a better world.''

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