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Time to tell you about another one of my #heroes:
Ralph Bunche
His whole life was incredible, but I'll focus on how this person became the first-ever to mediate a #peace agreement in @UN history. Get ready for an amazing story...1/
Ralph Bunche
His whole life was incredible, but I'll focus on how this person became the first-ever to mediate a #peace agreement in @UN history. Get ready for an amazing story...1/
2/Ralph Johnson Bunche was born in 1904 in Michigan. His parents were of ill health, and they moved to New Mexico before both passed away. Ralph was orphaned at 10 years old.
He moved to the tough neighborhood of #Watts in LA (think LA riots) to live with his grandmother.
He moved to the tough neighborhood of #Watts in LA (think LA riots) to live with his grandmother.
3/His grandmother raised him to be resolute & thoughtful.
In Bunche's own words: "She instilled in us a sense of personal pride strong enough to sustain all external shocks, but she also taught us understanding and tolerance. Be honest and frank with yourself and...
In Bunche's own words: "She instilled in us a sense of personal pride strong enough to sustain all external shocks, but she also taught us understanding and tolerance. Be honest and frank with yourself and...
4/...the world at all times, she said. Never compromise what you know to be the right. Never pick a fight, but never run from one if your principles are at stake."
Those are the principles that served as the foundation of Bunche's moral character, evidenced throughout his life.
Those are the principles that served as the foundation of Bunche's moral character, evidenced throughout his life.
5/Bunche was a gifted student and graduated as the valedictorian of his high school.
He worked as a janitor to put himself through UCLA, where he was both a star athlete and, once again, his class valedictorian with a major in International Relations.
He worked as a janitor to put himself through UCLA, where he was both a star athlete and, once again, his class valedictorian with a major in International Relations.
6/The local African-American community rallied around Bunche to raise enough money to send him across the country to Harvard.
There, he completed his graduate education, becoming the first black man in America to earn a Ph.D. in Political Science.
There, he completed his graduate education, becoming the first black man in America to earn a Ph.D. in Political Science.
7/Bunche's academic research focused on the Middle East & Africa, so during #WWII, Bunche served in the #OSS (the wartime predecessor of the CIA) supporting North African Operations.
He later transitioned to the State Department to employ his skills for diplomacy.
He later transitioned to the State Department to employ his skills for diplomacy.
8/His move to the State Dept is what eventually set the stage for him joining the effort to establish the United Nations.
He was part of the team that helped negotiate the UN's creation, and at the first-ever UN General Assembly meeting, Bunche was part of the US delegation.
He was part of the team that helped negotiate the UN's creation, and at the first-ever UN General Assembly meeting, Bunche was part of the US delegation.
9/In 1948, the UN faced its first diplomatic crisis. The UN-sponsored plan to divide Palestine into separate Arab & Jewish states failed. Israel declared independence & Egypt invaded.
The UN Security Council passed a cease-fire resolution & sent a mediator to the region.
The UN Security Council passed a cease-fire resolution & sent a mediator to the region.
10/The mediator was Swedish Count Folke Bernadotte, a skilled & experienced negotiator in his own right. But he soon met frustration.
In his own words: "I have striven ceaselessly to find a common basis upon which peace negotiations between the two parties might be undertaken...
In his own words: "I have striven ceaselessly to find a common basis upon which peace negotiations between the two parties might be undertaken...
11/...I have tried to bring them together...I have studied carefully their respective positions, claims & contentions. I have employed abundantly both reason & persuasion, but to date neither agreement between the parties nor a basis for agreement has been found."
12/The situation was indeed perilous, so much so that radicals assassinated Bernadotte by shooting him point blank with a Tommy gun at a vehicle checkpoint.
The UN had to find someone to step in for this seemingly impossible mediation task.
They asked Ralph Bunche & he accepted
The UN had to find someone to step in for this seemingly impossible mediation task.
They asked Ralph Bunche & he accepted
13/Before departing, his UN bosses made it clear that his success or failure not only weighed heavy on the prospects for the Middle East, but on the future of the #UN.
After all, the resulting opinion would be if the fledgling UN could not succeed here, how much use could it be?
After all, the resulting opinion would be if the fledgling UN could not succeed here, how much use could it be?
14/Bunche established neutral territory in which to conduct the negotiations.
His team arranged for all sides to be housed in the same hotel on different floors--close enough but separate enough.
In his resolute & thoughtful manner, he laid out the principles for the talks.
His team arranged for all sides to be housed in the same hotel on different floors--close enough but separate enough.
In his resolute & thoughtful manner, he laid out the principles for the talks.
15/At first, neither the Egyptians nor the Israelis would meet face-to-face; rather, they would pass messages through Bunche.
He soon had enough and told both sides that he wasn't "a high class messenger boy."
He soon had enough and told both sides that he wasn't "a high class messenger boy."
16/He approached each side and asked them, “Can you give a single example in history of a peace that has been concluded without the two parties meeting?"
He backed his question with a calm & deliberate explanation of the consequences of failure in this negotiation.
He backed his question with a calm & deliberate explanation of the consequences of failure in this negotiation.
17/Bunche was active in his mediation role, crafting strategies & proposals to move the parties toward resolution.
He also brought the parties together at another table: they played billiards at night. He knew that humanizing the other side was an important step in the process.
He also brought the parties together at another table: they played billiards at night. He knew that humanizing the other side was an important step in the process.
18/In just 45 days, the parties signed a peace agreement.
Israel's lead negotiator said this about it:
"It was an atmosphere as different as one could imagine from that of the first day in the corridor, with its averted heads. In the course of the 6 weeks we spent together...
Israel's lead negotiator said this about it:
"It was an atmosphere as different as one could imagine from that of the first day in the corridor, with its averted heads. In the course of the 6 weeks we spent together...
19/...at the Hotel des Roses, we became quite friendly with the Egyptians...We felt that night...that we had not only brought the fighting phase to a formal end, but had laid the foundations, if not of love and affection, at least of normal relations between our two countries."
20/But let me tell you one of my favorite parts of this story.
Keep in mind that Bunche took over for someone who was assassinated and that he successfully mediated a peace settlement that almost no one thought was possible...
Keep in mind that Bunche took over for someone who was assassinated and that he successfully mediated a peace settlement that almost no one thought was possible...
21/...well, the Nobel Committee selected Bunche for the Peace Prize.
Bunche's response? He refused it, saying, "You don't work in the [UN] to win prizes."
It wasn't until the UN Sec-Gen suggested that Bunche accept it on behalf of the United Nations that he agreed to receive it
Bunche's response? He refused it, saying, "You don't work in the [UN] to win prizes."
It wasn't until the UN Sec-Gen suggested that Bunche accept it on behalf of the United Nations that he agreed to receive it
22/Of course we can all admire his intelligence and record of achievements, but his example in peace mediation is one that I think about every day in my current position.
I'll end with his thoughts on what mediators for peace should be: "They should be biased against war...
I'll end with his thoughts on what mediators for peace should be: "They should be biased against war...
23/...and for peace. They should have a bias which would lead them to believe in the essential goodness of their fellow man and that no problem of human relations is insoluble. They should be biased against suspicion, intolerance, hate, religious & racial bigotry."
- Ralph Bunche
- Ralph Bunche
