Ralph Johnson Bunche was an American educator, political scientist, and United Nations mediator.
Education
He was educated at the University of California in Los Angeles and at Harvard and in 1928 became a member of the faculty of Howard University, Washington, D.C., where he eventually established and headed the department of political science. Bunche assisted Gunnar Myrdal in the study of the black in America titled An American Dilemma (1944).
Career
During World War II, Bunche served with the office of Strategic Services as chief of the Africa section and in 1944 joined the State Department, where he held various positions. He participated in several conferences and committees that prepared for the establishment of the United Nations. In 1946 he joined the UN Secretariat.
After the assassination of Count Folke Bernadotte, the UN mediator in Palestine, in September 1948, the Security Council appointed Bunche to succeed him. In this capacity Bunche successfully directed, from January through July 1949, the negotiations that finally resulted in the armistice agreements between Israel and the Arab states.
He then returned to the United Nations to resume his duties as principal director of the Trusteeship Division. For his achievements as UN mediator, Bunche was named winner of the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize, becoming the first black to win the award. In that year he was appointed to the faculty of Harvard University, but resigned after two successive annual leaves of absence so that he might continue with the United Nations. In January 1955 Bunche was appointed an undersecretary of the United Nations. In 1957 he became undersecretary for special political affairs and worked directly under the secretary general.
In 1956 Bunche was appointed civilian supervisor of the UN forces that kept peace in the Suez area following a joint British, French, and Israeli invasion of Egypt. In 1960 he was sent with the UN peacekeeping force to the strifetorn Congo to interpret for the UN military commanders the directives of the United Nations. In 1964 Bunche was sent with a UN peacekeeping force to Cyprus, where he helped mediate the differences between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots, Bunche received many honors during his lifetime, including the highest U.S. civilian award, the Medal of Freedom, which he was awarded in 1963. He died in New York City on Dec. 9, 1971.