(UN Photo) Ralph Bunche, the veteran UN official, diplomat and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. (1 September 1950)
By Gary Raynaldo – DIPLOMATIC TIMES
UNITED NATIONS – NEW YORK – The legacy of Dr. Ralph J. Bunche, one of the greatest peacemakers in contemporary history, is sadly forgotten. As an African American, Bunche’s accomplishments in the world of peace are mind boggling. In 1950, Bunche was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating the 1949 Armistice Agreements between Israel and four Arab states. He was the first African American and person of color to receive the award, long before Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dismally, Bunche’s rich legacy is almost a distant memory as he has not been given the honor he truly deserves, particularly at the UN where he served faithfully for a quarter of a century. But luckily, author Kal Raustiala and the current release of his new book: The Absolutely Indispensable Man: Ralph Bunche, the United Nations, and the Fight to End Empire restores Bunche to his rightful place in history. Raustiala is the Promise Institute Distinguished Professor of Comparative and International Law at UCLA Law School, Professor at the UCLA International Institute, and Director of the UCLA Ronald W. Burkle Center for International Relations. Raustiala was in New York City Wednesday at the United Nations to discuss his new book on Bunche. Raustiala’s book tells the story of Bunche’s dramatic life, from his early years in prewar Los Angeles to UCLA, Harvard, the State Department, and the heights of global diplomacy at the United Nations.
“I think If anyone is the father of peacekeeping, it’s Ralph Bunche. The creation of peacekeeping is something that Ralph Bunche had his hand in every step of the way.”
-Kal Raustiala
(Photo by Gary Raynado ©Diplomatic Times) Author Kal Raustiala (right) at the United Nations BookShop located in UN world headquarters in New York discussing his new book: The Absolutely Indispensable Man: Ralph Bunche, the United Nations, and the Fight to End Empire Dec. 07, 2022. Left, moderator, Maher Nasser, Director of the Outreach Division in the UN Department of Global Communications.
According to Raustiala, writing for Just Security,
“while no one person can claim the mantle of the creator of UN peacekeeping, a strong case can be made that one man did more than any other to develop and implement the concept. That man, the late American diplomat and Nobel laureate Ralph Bunche, became a legend in the 1950s for his mediation skills in hotspots around the globe.”
DIPLOMATIC TIMES VIDEO / Author Kal Raustiala at the United Nations BookShop in New York discussing his new book: The Absolutely Indispensable Man: Ralph Bunche, the United Nations, and the Fight to End Empire Dec. 07, 2022.
In 1956, Bunche supervised the deployment of 6,000 UN peacekeeping troops around the Suez Canal to defuse the crisis initiated by the attack of Israel, France, and Britain upon Egypt. In the 1960s, he led U.N. peacekeeping missions in the Congo and Cyprus.
(Photo by Gary Raynado ©Diplomatic Times) Author Kal Raustiala at the United Nations BookShop in New York discussing his new book: The Absolutely Indispensable Man: Ralph Bunche, the United Nations, and the Fight to End Empire Dec. 07, 2022.
“The empire that he (Ralph Bunche) was most concerned with was traditional empire. The empire of the French, of the British, of the Belgians, of the Netherlands.”
-Kal Raustiala
DIPLOMATIC TIMES VIDEO / Author Kal Raustiala at the United Nations BookShop in New York discussing his new book: The Absolutely Indispensable Man: Ralph Bunche, the United Nations, and the Fight to End Empire Dec. 07, 2022.
(Photo by Gary Raynado ©Diplomatic Times) Author Kal Raustiala (right) at the United Nations BookShop in New York discussing his new book: The Absolutely Indispensable Man: Ralph Bunche, the United Nations, and the Fight to End Empire Dec. 07, 2022. The book event was moderated by Maher Nasser, (left) Director of the Outreach Division in the UN Department of Global Communications.
Bunche Was Active in U.S. Civil Rights Movement But Black Leaders Considered him part of Establishment
Credit: UN Photo / /Yutaka Nagata / American civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his wife Coretta are greeted by Ralph J. Bunche, (right) United Nations Under-Secretary, at the United Nations, New York City, New York, Dec. 04, 1964. One of Dr. King’s mentors was Ralph Bunche, a professor at Howard University and diplomat who served at the US State Department and United Nations.
Ralph Bunche Troubled by Lack of Racial Equality in U.S.
DIPLOMATIC TIMES VIDEO / Author Kal Raustiala at the United Nations BookShop in New York discussing his new book: The Absolutely Indispensable Man: Ralph Bunche, the United Nations, and the Fight to End Empire Dec. 07, 2022.
“Toward the end of his life, I think he had a lot of satisfaction with the progress of decolonization. Racial equality in the United States was more troubling to him. I think he expected to see similar progress. So everyday he would walk the halls of this building and see a place where there’s a diverse array of people from the staff, from the various member states. So that was real progress. But at the same time there were incredible tensions in America like the assassination of Martin Luther King. Various violent uprisings in different (US) cities. And so, he’s very troubled by all of that. He really grabbled with that in his personal life.”
-Kal Raustiala
DIPLOMATIC TIMES VIDEO / Author Kal Raustiala at the United Nations BookShop in New York discussing his new book: The Absolutely Indispensable Man: Ralph Bunche, the United Nations, and the Fight to End Empire Dec. 07, 2022.
DIPLOMATIC TIMES VIDEO / Author Kal Raustiala at the United Nations BookShop in New York discussing his new book: The Absolutely Indispensable Man: Ralph Bunche, the United Nations, and the Fight to End Empire Dec. 07, 2022.
The Absolutely Indispensable Man: Ralph Bunche, the United Nations, and the Fight to End Empire, written by Kal Raustiala.
