Ralph Bunche: An American Life.

• Author: Fruchtbaum, Harold

Ralph Johnson Bunche served as UN Under-Secretary-General for Special Political Affairs from 1954 until his death in December 1971 at the age of 68. Sir Brian Urquhart, renowned in his own right for a long and distinguished career at the UN - he was the second staff member hired for the Secretariat - was Mr. Bunche's chief assistant through those 17 years, as well as his successor. Sir Brian, of the United Kingdom, has written an honest and inspiring biography of this extraordinary American who, by character, education and historical circumstance, became a citizen of the world.

As will be clear from this book", Sir Brian writes, "I had the greatest respect and affection for him, and my feelings are, of course, reflected in what I have written." His close association with Mr. Bunche and more than 40 years of experience in the Secretariat make this biography especially valuable as a source for UN history. It complements the Urquhart study, Hammarskjold (1972), and his autobiography, A Life in Peace and War (1987).

Mr. Bunche - the first black to win the Nobel Peace Prize - was involved with the UN before it was established. Beginning in January 1944, he was a member of the group in the United States Department of State responsible for the research and analysis needed in planning the proposed world organization. He also participated in the Dumbarton Oaks Conversations, the San Francisco Conference, and the Preparatory Commission of the United Nations. in short, Ralph Bunche assisted at the birth of the UN.

The academic life

Prior to his UN career, there was life as a university professor and political scientist. Even before receiving his doctorate from Harvard University, Mr. Bunche had been called to Howard University to establish a department of government. His doctoral dissertation, French Administration in Togoland and Dahomey (1934), scholarly articles on minorities, his book, A World View of Race (1936), and several thousand pages of monographs researched and written for the use of Swedish social economist Gunnar Myrdal in preparing the now classic An American Dilemma, underscored Mr. Bunche's formidable intellectual and academic qualifications.

From the beginning, Mr. Bunche was deeply involved in the shaping of the Organization. As the first Director of the Trusteeship Division, he was influential in the development Palestine crisis of 1948-1949 as...