 belongs to 122 nations, which are the members of the United Nations. The building you came in this afternoon is a general assembly building. The building behind it is a conference building, and this building houses three council chambers, such as security council and trusteeship council and economic and social council. The tourist building, which is often referred to as a glass house or even as a matchback, is a place where all the United Nations staff members work. And on the 38th floor, there are offices for the Secretary-General Wu Tan. As we go along, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to staff me and ask me. To the United Nations, directly across the street from U.N. headquarters in New York. It is in effect an American embassy on American soil. For the last two and a half years, the chief of the mission has been Ambassador Arthur J. Goldberg, who resigned from the Supreme Court to come here after the death of Adelaide Stevenson. His title, U.S. Representative to the United Nations. The only American ambassador with cabinet rank. An indication of the importance the U.S. government attaches to this post. A different viewpoint. So I asked Max to prepare a proposed recommendation. The mission chief commands a professional staff led by five senior officers, all with the rank of ambassador. Seymour Maxwell Finger, a career foreign service officer who has held embassy posts from Germany to Laos. He has been with the U.S. mission for over 10 years and is the principal advisor on U.N. peacekeeping operations. A contribution from the Soviets and French, and we're likely to get unless we make some sort of offer. What do you think, Richard? I think if we sit still and do nothing, they will probably make a contribution. Richard F. Pedersen, another career officer who has served as advisor to four different chiefs of mission and now is Deputy U.S. Representative in the Security Council. Mrs. Eugenie Anderson, who was America's first woman ambassador representing us to Denmark and then to Bulgaria and now is U.S. Representative in the trusteeship council. I think then they'd be forced to. William B. Buffam, the number two man at the mission, a veteran of 18 years in the Foreign Service and as a State Department expert on United Nations affairs. Arthur Goldschmidt held high posts in the United Nations technical assistance programs for 16 years. He is now U.S. Representative in the Economic and Social Council. Yes, in addition to that, I would like to make a suggestion since this is intended to be a definitive recommendation. The U.S. mission does not devote its attention solely to international crises. A great part of its job is dealing with the conditions from which these crises are likely to develop. Among them is the rapid growth of the community of nations as the colonial age has passed. 55 of the United Nations present 122 members have reached independence since the UN was founded. Ambassador Eugenie Anderson is keenly aware of this great movement for self-determination and independence and that it is still going on, particularly in the southern portion of Africa. She is the person chiefly concerned with such matters at the U.S. mission. Today, she is going to the United Nations to talk with three African ambassadors about a resolution on Southwest Africa. Well, I think I would like to ask, what is the view of the Western group? What is their reaction to the African speeches as I have said, the speech of the ambassador and the speech of Chifadebo? You know, we're just starting to have our group meetings now. In formal discussion, off the record conversation, it is as important as the formal diplomacy of resolutions and speechmaking because here adjustments can be made and common ground explored. Much of the real work of the United Nations is done in gatherings such as this. And I understand that Japan is meeting with us and also with the Afro-Asian group, so we have a bridge between us. The recommendations of the U.S. mission are a major influence on the foreign policy decisions made in Washington. Deputy Representative Buffum has just received a call from the State Department about an important policy development now under consideration. The President wants to know what the reaction is at the United Nations and has asked the mission to consult with key delegates from other countries and the Secretary General. Then, he wants a recommendation from the mission for action. When they have decided how to proceed, Ambassador Buffum leaves the mission to obtain the views of other Western representatives. One of the unique advantages of the United Nations is the ease with which we can talk to representatives of nearly every other nation in the world, often only a few doors away. None of the delegations to the United Nations have their offices in the U.N. buildings, and many are located in other buildings surrounding U.N. plaza. If necessary, they can be in contact with their own governments anywhere in the world in a matter of minutes. Meanwhile, Ambassador Goldberg goes to see Secretary General Ootant and the Under Secretary, Ralph Bunch. The Secretary General is a unique figure in the world of diplomacy. He represents no nation as no army, professes no ideology, and belongs to no block. Yet as the U.N.'s chief servant, he has many opportunities to work for peace. The Under Secretary, Ralph Bunch, is the senior American on the United Nations staff. But like all U.N. staff members, his first duty is to the organization. He won the Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating the Palestine Armistice Agreements in 1949, and has had a hand in virtually every big U.N. crisis since then. The U.S. mission represents us not only to the other nations of the United Nations, but to the U.N. itself. It is important to establish close working relations with these men, because in times of international crisis, the Secretary General and his staff may provide a channel of communication or mediation, or even set up the necessary peacekeeping machinery to prevent or stop violence. The U.S. mission wives also have a role to play in United Nations diplomacy. The first Thursday of every month, Mrs. Goldberg and the other mission wives have invited the wives of newly arrived foreign delegates to the Goldberg residence at the Waldorf Astoria. We generally talk a little bit about the art that is here, and I must express our indebtedness, too. The Museum of Modern Art, Metropolitan Museum, and Hickney because the art here is unknown from their art in embassy program. The wives and families of delegates to the U.N. will form a permanent impression of the United States from what they experience here. This is an extraordinary opportunity to put our best foot forward. But New York is a big and strange place to many of them. A friendly helping hand is often welcome when it comes to choosing a place to live, learning where to buy, finding friends, and in some cases, learning to speak a new language. The U.S. mission wives try to help them solve the many problems everyone faces when they arrive in a foreign country. At the same time, they try to give them a true picture of American life, of American culture and art, and most important of all, of the American people. At the north end of U.N. Plaza, in a building whose twin spires house many other missions to the United Nations, the U.N. has leased office space for the United Nations Development Program, one of the key U.N. programs designed to make war on the causes of war. Ambassador Tex Goldschmidt and his colleague Bob Kitchen have gone there to see the director of the program, a famous American who once headed the Marshall Plan, Paul Hoffman. We're striking out the causes of tensions in the world and tensions breed more, and there's no question and the figures are here to prove it, that where you have reasonable prosperity, you don't have tensions. Bob and I are going to be at the meeting of the governing council in Geneva this summer, and we're interested to know what the size of the program that you will present to that council will be. We will present to our council some 56 new projects, a calling for total expenditures of something over $125 million. This is very important, of which the recipient countries, countries receiving the help, will contribute $75 million, and the United Nations Development Program will contribute $50 million. As our representative in the Economic and Social Council, Tex Goldschmidt is concerned with UN agencies dealing with everything from regulating air travel and atomic energy to food production and malaria control. Many of these functions are combined in the UN Development Program, now carrying on over 3,400 projects in the developing nations. Paul Hoffman argues, this costs the taxpayers of the world less than 3% of the money they spend maintaining their military establishments. He calls his work peace building. Now, if we ever want to get away from the high cost of peace keeping, we better put a little more money in the peace building. One of the most exciting events at UN Plaza is the convening of a new session of the General Assembly. Delegates arrive from all over the world, frequently wearing their national dress in honor of the occasion. There is an air of expectation, a feeling of exhilaration and a simple fact that the nations of the world in all their diversity have once again come together to narrow their differences, pursue common interests and work toward the goals of the United Nations Charter. Here in the General Assembly, the significance of the UN Charter is evident every day in the speeches of the delegates who constantly invoke its ideals, its principles, its procedures. For the UN Charter provides a basic rule book for nations to live by, a statement binding all members to strive for peace and human well-being and setting up orderly procedures by which their debates can be conducted and their differences reconcile. Orderly procedures, a necessity for every civilized community. In our own country, legal and parliamentary procedures allow for vigorous disagreement without violence. They are equally important to the development of civilized conduct in international relations. The work of the U.S. mission is not confined to New York. The travels of Ambassador Goldberg and his colleagues have taken them as far away as Geneva and Saigon and include cities and towns across the United States. In this instance, Ambassador Goldberg was invited by the Chicago World Affairs Council to address a foreign policy conference being held there in conjunction with the State Department and, specifically, to report on the status of the issues before the assembly. Now, since I represent our country in you, at the United Nations, perhaps you are wondering as you have a right to wonder what the UN can do to solve the great world problems which confront us. I would not be candid if I did not report the progress that the UN on many international questions is painfully slow and uncertain. There are international disputes that have been with the UN almost since its founding. And sometimes we manage to move forward one difficult step at a time. Or, as I said at the time of my appointment, because I was none, I harbored no illusions about this, inch by agonizing inch. Ambassador Goldberg and his colleagues consider this contact with their fellow citizens to be as important as anything else they do. They know the United Nations is an imperfect institution that often does not produce results quickly. They know that many Americans tend to become impatient with them. Many students and adult groups come to the mission nearly every day for briefings about the UN and issues before it. Last summer, Ambassador Goldberg took a group of high school students on a tour of the United Nations grounds, accompanied by a UN guide. But one at a time, we're going to have a democratic dialogue. So raise your hand, and I will, and those who ask questions, give the other fellow or girl a chance to. All right? One student wanted to know what we would do if the UN of South Africa refuses to give Southwest Africa its independence. Well, we said in the General Assembly when we debated Resolution 2145 that if South Africa did not acknowledge its international responsibilities in the territories, all nations, including our own, would have to reconsider our relations with South Africa. Another asked about U.S. policy toward the Portuguese-African colony of Angola. Well, our friend here is the Portuguese origin, which accounts for his identity. And that's quite natural. Now, we are very friendly to Portugal. Portugal is a member of NATO, and we have a very close alliance. But friends don't always agree with each other, as you know from your own relations. We do not agree with Portugal's attitude about Angola and Mozambique. We don't think it's in the interest of Portugal to have that attitude. We believe that the people of those territories, like the people of Southwest Africa, should have the right to determine freely what they want their future to be. A girl asked how the United Nations guides are recruited. Would you like to say a word about how the guides are recruited? How many countries are involved? We are 116 altogether at this moment, and we come from various countries. We have to apply for the jobs locally in New York. During every session of the General Assembly, the U.S. mission holds a reception for the delegates of the other member nations. Last year, Ambassador Goldberg and his colleagues decided to hold a reception on a boat touring the Isle of Manhattan. Their guest of honor was the president of the General Assembly. An event such as this offers hard-pressed delegates relief from the daily tensions of negotiations and debates at the U.N. To be sure, there is always shop talk, and much useful diplomatic business is conducted. But its main value is to provide yet another occasion for the delegates to know each other as human beings. Even though a spokesman for their governments, they may be locked in bitter disagreement on some issues. The tough and sometimes angry debates at the United Nations seem far away in this setting. Even when the buildings of the U.N. come into view on the shore of the East River. Before the United Nations came to New York, U.N. plaza was a region of tenements, slaughterhouses, and breweries. Today, it has become a symbol of man's hopes for world peace, reflected in the buildings and monuments erected all around it. Doc Hommishold Plaza, just off U.N. Plaza, named in memory of the great secretary general who died serving the cause of world peace. Bordering it, the International Center of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, which houses the new reception center of the United Nations Association, a nationwide alliance of more than a hundred voluntary organizations that support the U.N. A block away, the IBM World Trade Corporation, where the motto is, world peace through world trade. And the Institute for International Education, which contributes greatly to international understanding through the exchange of students and knowledge. The Holy Family Church, where Pope Paul met with leaders of all faiths after delivering his historic appeal for peace to the General Assembly. The World Church Center for the United Nations, constructed on U.N. Plaza to give Protestant expression to the hope for peace. On the U.N. grounds, the theme of peace is everywhere expressed in gifts from many nations, such as this statue of victorious peace donated by Yugoslavia. And the Japanese Peace Bell, made of coins from 60 different countries, and bearing the inscription, long live absolute world peace. Then, of course, across First Avenue from the Secretary of Building, there is the world famous wall inscription from the book of Isaiah, a biblical prophecy of the day when men will beat their swords into plowshares and not learn war anymore. And, not least of all, there is the U.S. Mission Building itself, erected here in 1960 as an affirmation of our continuing national commitment to the organization we did so much to create. Ambassador Dick Pedersen has devoted most of his adult life to this belief in the United Nations. He has been with the U.S. Mission for 15 years, and now is Deputy U.S. Representative in the Security Council. Working with him is a small staff of highly trained political officers, some of the many specialists who backstop our principal representatives. All of them are experts in the parliamentary diplomacy of the U.N. Each man has given special assignments, a particular geographic or functional area on which he must remain fully informed, such as African affairs or the Arab-Israeli dispute or Kashmir. In times of crisis, he will be called upon to make sure that other delegations understand the American position and that our man in the spotlight has the best information and support when he represents us before the world community. The United States strongly supported the request by Canada and Denmark last evening for an immediate meeting of the Security Council. It is no secret that my country has been during the last week or more subjected to a fierce and consistent campaign aimed at misrepresenting and distorting the true facts of the situation. The unfound charge of alleged Israel through concentration is a keystone of the Egyptian case for moving its forces against Israel. A supreme effort is now required of us to save the situation. Nothing at the United Nations can match the drama of an emergency Security Council session. When war broke out again in the Near East in 1967, millions of Americans spent every free moment before their television sets, watching the tense proceedings, listening to the angry words of the antagonists and the statements of the great powers, wondering how this seemingly irreconcilable conflict could be ended and whether it might explode into a worldwide conflagration. Dick Pedersen was there. His job was to make sure that Ambassador Goldberg received all the support he needed to carry on during days that seemed to have no end. At the time, some complained that these meetings merely provided a platform for angry exchanges and the monotonous repetition of well-known positions. But then the familiar combination of public statements and private negotiations produced a unanimous ceasefire resolution. If members of the Council agree, I would suggest that we proceed to the vote on this resolution without debate. Thank you. The draft resolution has been adopted unanimously. I shall ask the Secretary-General to transmit the resolution to the party's concerns and to report to the Council as soon as possible. I'm confident that I express the unanimous wish of the members of the Council when I most urgently appeal to the parties to comply immediately with the provisions of this resolution. The resolution itself, as all members of the Council know, is the result of intensive political efforts here at the United Nations during the past 36 hours under the leadership of our president and by various governments and their distinguished representatives here. It reflects a successful harmonizing of our respective points of view toward a single goal to quench the flames of war in the Near East and to begin to move towards peace in the area. The meeting adjourns. Soon UN observers will be on the spot, working to enforce the ceasefire resolution. The delegates who assembled here during the days of crisis know that this is not the first time the Near East has brought the UN into action, and it will not be the last. Ambassador Goldberg has said that the UN is like a great hospital. It only gets the worst cases. But if permanent solutions are hard to find, at least here the violence and bloodshed can sometimes be stopped. This is where all hopes for peace must begin. The day's work is done, but the quest for a lasting solution must go on. This is the world at UN Plaza, sometimes colorful and exhilarating, sometimes tense and very dangerous. A center for worldwide projects to relieve the conditions of poverty and prejudice from which conflict springs. To give knowledge to the illiterate, food to the starving, health to the sick, hope to those in despair, and yet a place where men are acutely aware that this great effort is only just beginning. The place where the nations have united to put an end to warfare in such explosive disputes as Kashmir and the Congo. And where the search still goes on for new openings for peace in the Near East and Vietnam. A place where most of the nations of the world join together in a common parliament of man, pledged to harmonize their actions for the sake of peace, justice, and a better life. And where governments learn to persevere when conflicts like those in Southern Africa prove stubborn and progress slow. The place where the U.S. reached agreement with the Soviet Union on a treaty banning nuclear weapons in outer space. And where the struggle to abolish the threat of nuclear war still goes on. The United Nations is the hopes, the aspirations, the labor of the people who work there. With men and women around the world who share the great goals of the United Nations Charter. Fundamental human rights and equality, social and economic progress, and a just peace among nations through the rule of law. We in the United States have long known that our security and well-being depend not on arms alone, but on peacemaking and peace-building. Day and night, year after year, there are lights at UN Plaza that never go out. Because this labor of peacemaking and peace-building is never finished.