- In full:
- Ralph Johnson Bunche
- Born:
- Aug. 7, 1904, Detroit, Mich., U.S.
- Died:
- Dec. 9, 1971, New York, N.Y. (aged 67)
- Awards And Honors:
- Nobel Prize (1950)
Ralph Bunche
-
Who was Ralph Bunche?
Ralph Bunche (1904-1971) was an American diplomat and key member of the United Nations for over two decades. He won the 1950 Nobel Prize for Peace for successfully negotiating an Arab-Israeli truce in Palestine in 1949. Bunche set up a political science department at Howard University in 1928, and he served in the U.S. War Department, the Office of Strategic Services, and the State Department during World War II. He was also active in the preliminary planning for the UN at the San Francisco Conference of 1945 and joined the permanent UN Secretariat in 1947 as director of the new Trusteeship Department. He also participated in the 1965 civil rights marches in Selma and Montgomery, Alabama.
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What did Ralph Bunche do as a diplomat?
Ralph Bunche was a U.S. diplomat who played a pivotal role in the United Nations for over two decades. He is most known for negotiating an Arab-Israeli truce in Palestine in 1949, for which he won the Nobel Prize for Peace.
Bunche joined the UN Secretariat in 1947 as director of the Trusteeship Department. After the assassination of chief mediator Count Folke Bernadotte in 1948, Bunche took the lead in negotiating armistices between the warring Palestinian Arabs and Jews from February to May 1949. He later became chief troubleshooter for Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld, supervising the deployment of a neutral force in the Suez Canal area in 1956 and directing neutral troops in Cyprus in 1964.
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What important international organizations did Ralph Bunche work for?
Ralph Bunche was a key member of the United Nations for over two decades. He joined the UN Secretariat in New York in 1947 as director of the new Trusteeship Department. Later, in 1955, he rose to undersecretary, and in 1957, to undersecretary for special political affairs, becoming chief troubleshooter for Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld. Bunche also aided a UN special committee to negotiate a settlement between Palestinian Arabs and Jews, and supervised the deployment of a UN neutral force in the Suez Canal area in 1956.
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What was Ralph Bunche’s role in the United Nations?
Ralph Bunche, an American diplomat, played a pivotal role in the United Nations. He was a key member of the UN for over two decades. In 1947, he joined the UN Secretariat as director of the Trusteeship Department. He was asked to aid a UN committee to negotiate a settlement between Palestinian Arabs and Jews. After the assassination of the chief mediator, Folke Bernadotte, in 1948, Bunche negotiated armistices in 1949. In 1950, he received the Nobel Prize for Peace for his success in Palestine. In 1955, Bunche became undersecretary, and in 1957, undersecretary for special political affairs, becoming chief troubleshooter for Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld. He also supervised the deployment of a neutral force in the Suez Canal area in 1956 and directed neutral troops in Cyprus in 1964.
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Why did Ralph Bunche receive the Nobel Peace Prize?
Ralph Bunche, an American diplomat and key member of the United Nations for over two decades, won the 1950 Nobel Prize for Peace for his successful negotiation of an Arab-Israeli truce in Palestine in 1949. In 1948, he unexpectedly took the lead in mediating the conflict between Palestinian Arabs and Jews after the chief mediator was assassinated. From February to May 1949, Bunche successfully negotiated armistices between the involved parties.
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How did Ralph Bunche’s achievements impact civil rights and international diplomacy?
Ralph Bunche, a U.S. diplomat and key member of the United Nations (UN), significantly impacted civil rights and international diplomacy. He won the 1950 Nobel Prize for Peace for negotiating an Arab-Israeli truce in Palestine.
Bunche served in the U.S. War Department, the Office of Strategic Services, and the State Department during World War II. He was also active in planning the UN at the San Francisco Conference of 1945 and later became the director of the new Trusteeship Department in the UN Secretariat.
Despite attracting criticism, Bunche eventually spoke out against U.S. racial discrimination and participated in the 1965 civil rights marches in Selma and Montgomery, Alabama. He also served as a board member for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People for 22 years.
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Ralph Bunche (born Aug. 7, 1904, Detroit, Mich., U.S.—died Dec. 9, 1971, New York, N.Y.) was a U.S. diplomat, a key member of the United Nations for more than two decades, and winner of the 1950 Nobel Prize for Peace for his successful negotiation of an Arab-Israeli truce in Palestine the previous year.
Bunche worked his way through the University of California at Los Angeles and graduated in 1927. He also earned graduate degrees in government and international relations at Harvard University (1928, 1934) and studied in England and South Africa. In 1928 he joined the faculty of Howard University, Washington, D.C., where he set up a department of political science. Meanwhile, he traveled through French West Africa on a Rosenwald field fellowship, studying the administration of French Togoland, a mandated area, and Dahomey, a colony. He later did postdoctoral research at Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill., and at the London School of Economics before returning to Africa for further studies in colonial policy. Between 1938 and 1940 he collaborated with Gunnar Myrdal, the Swedish sociologist, in the monumental study of U.S. race relations, published as An American Dilemma in 1944.
During World War II Bunche served in the U.S. War Department, the Office of Strategic Services, and the State Department. He was active in the preliminary planning for the United Nations at the San Francisco Conference of 1945 and in 1947 joined the permanent UN Secretariat in New York as director of the new Trusteeship Department.
Asked by Secretary General Trygve Lie to aid a UN special committee appointed to negotiate a settlement between warring Palestinian Arabs and Jews, he was thrust unexpectedly into the principal role when the chief mediator, Count Folke Bernadotte, was assassinated in 1948. Bunche finally negotiated armistices between February and May 1949.
Elevated in 1955 to the post of undersecretary and two years later to undersecretary for special political affairs, Bunche became chief troubleshooter for Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld. One task he undertook was the UN program concerning peaceful uses of atomic energy. In 1956 he supervised the deployment of a 6,000-man UN neutral force in the area of the Suez Canal following the invasion of that area by British, French, and Israeli troops. In 1960 he again found himself in charge of UN peacekeeping machinery—this time in the Congo region. Finally, in 1964 he went to Cyprus to direct the 6,000 neutral troops that intervened between hostile Greek Cypriots and Turks.
Attracting some criticism for seeming to neglect the Civil Rights Movement at home during the 1950s and ’60s, Bunche began to speak out more directly on U.S. racial discrimination. In addition, though not in the best of health, he participated in the 1965 civil rights marches in both Selma and Montgomery, Ala., and also served as a board member for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People for 22 years. Ralph J. Bunche: Selected Speeches and Writings was published in 1995.