Art Is Me

# | | Secretary-General | Dates in office | Country of origin | UN Regional Group | Reason of withdrawal | |
– | | Gladwyn Jebb | 24 October 1945 –
1 February 1946 |  United Kingdom | Western European & Others | Served as Acting Secretary-General until Lie's election | |
| | After World War II, he served as Executive Secretary of the Preparatory Commission of the United Nations in August 1945, being appointed Acting United Nations Secretary-General from October 1945 to February 1946 until the appointment of the first Secretary-General Trygve Lie. | |
1 | | Trygve Lie | 1 February 1946 –
10 November 1952 |  Norway | Western European & Others | Resigned | |
| | Lie, a foreign minister and former labour leader, was recommended by the Soviet Union to fill the post. After the UN involvement in the Korean War, the Soviet Union vetoed Lie's reappointment in 1951. The US circumvented the Soviet Union's veto and recommended reappointment directly to the General Assembly. Lie was reappointed by a vote of forty-six to five, with eight abstentions. The Soviet Union remained hostile to Lie, and he resigned in 1952.[10] | |
2 | | Dag Hammarskjöld | 10 April 1953 –
18 September 1961 |  Sweden | Western European & Others | Died in a plane crash in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia), while on a peacekeeping mission to the Congo | |
| | After a series of candidates were vetoed, Hammarskjöld emerged as an option that was acceptable to the Security Council. Hammarskjöld was re-elected unanimously to a second term in 1957. The Soviet Union was angered by Hammarskjöld's leadership of the UN during the Congo Crisis, and suggested that the position of Secretary-General be replaced by a troika, or three-man executive. Facing great opposition from the Western nations, the Soviet Union gave up on its suggestion. Hammarskjöld was killed in a plane crash in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) in 1961.[10] US President John F. Kennedy called Hammarskjöld "the...