Leslie Munro
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Sir Leslie Knox Munro KCMG KCVO (26 February 1901 – 13 February 1974) was a New Zealand lawyer, journalist, and politician of international standing.
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[edit] Law and media
Munro studied at Auckland Grammar School and the University of Auckland, where he graduated with a Master of Laws in 1923. He became dean of the law faculty at the University of Auckland in 1938, and taught and administrated at the university in a variety of roles until 1951. Munro was also president of the Auckland District Law Society from 1936 to 1938. Munro gave radio talks on world events for the New Zealand National Broadcasting Service (NBS), and wrote for the New Zealand Herald, where he was editor from 1942 to 1951.
[edit] United Nations
Munro was a founding member of the New Zealand National Party, and held significant executive positions in the party, helping it to victory in the 1949 general election. In 1952 the new Prime Minister, Sidney Holland, appointed Munro the New Zealand ambassador to the United States, and the permanent representative of New Zealand to the United Nations. In that capacity he was president of the Trusteeship Council from 1953 to 1954 and President of the United Nations General Assembly for its twelfth session (1957 - 1958). He was also three times president of the Security Council, and was serving in that position at the outbreak of Suez Crisis in 1956. At the UN he was an outspoken critic of the Soviet response to the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, and was appointed the special representative for the 'Hungarian question'.
Munro was knighted in 1955 with a KCMG, followed by a KCVO in 1957. Although he was removed from his position as permanent representative in 1958 by the second Labour government he remained a special representative until 1962, and was also secretary-general of the International Commission of Jurists from 1961. He wrote the widely-read United Nations:Hope for a divided world in 1960.
[edit] National politics
Munro returned to New Zealand and was elected a National Party Member of Parliament, first for Waipa in 1963 and then for Hamilton West in 1969. However, personal and professional antagonisms with two Prime Ministers Keith Holyoake then John Marshall prevented him from attaining high rank in those administrations, and he retired in 1972.
[edit] Private life
Munro was married twice, and had a daughter from each marriage. His first marriage, to Christine Priestley, lasted for two years, as it was cut short by her death in 1929 three days after the birth of their daughter. Munro's second marriage, to Muriel Sturt in 1931, was to last until his death in Hamilton in 1974.
[edit] References
- Reeves, Bernie (July 2003). Me and the Cold War. Metro Magazine. Retrieved on 2006-05-25.
- Sir Leslie Munro: 12th session. United Nations. Retrieved on 2006-05-25.
- Round, Derek (2000). "Munro, Leslie Knox 1901 - 1974", in Bill Oliver & Claudia Orange (eds.): Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, Vol. 5. Wellington: Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved on 2006-05-25.
| Preceded by Wan Waithayakon |
President of the United Nations General Assembly 1957 – 1958 |
Succeeded by Charles Habib Malik |
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