What happened that day?

Carl Berendsen addressing the United Nations, 1946

Carl Berendsen addressing the United Nations, 1946

Carl August Berendsen addressing the United Nations Assembly in 1946.

On 16 March 1944 Berendsen had been appointed, somewhat to his surprise, as New Zealand minister in Washington.  In 1948 the legation was raised to an embassy and Berendsen became ambassador. Although appointed initially for three years, he had his term extended by a year in 1947; this became a yearly ritual until 31 January 1952.

In Washington Berendsen, who was made a KCMG in 1946, represented New Zealand at numerous conferences. He sat on the Far Eastern Commission, which somewhat ineffectually oversaw the occupation of Japan, visiting Japan with the commission in 1945 and serving as chairman of the steering committee until 1949. He and Prime Minister Peter Fraser were New Zealand's delegates to the San Francisco Conference in April-June 1945; both signed the United Nations Charter on behalf of New Zealand on 26 June. Disappointed with the outcome, Berendsen was henceforth an implacable opponent of the great-power veto in the Security Council.

Between 1946 and 1951 he led the New Zealand delegation at meetings of the General Assembly in New York. Mainly on his own advice, he was appointed New Zealand's permanent delegate at the United Nations on 20 May 1949. From 1947 Berendsen also represented New Zealand on the United Nations Trusteeship Council; he was elected its vice president that year. 

Alexander Turnbull Library,
Reference: PAColl-6001-10
Further information and copies of this image may be obtained from the Library through its 'Timeframes' website, http://timeframes.natlib.govt.nz
Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa must be obtained before any reuse of this image.

How to cite this page: 'Carl Berendsen addressing the United Nations, 1946', URL: /media/photo/carl-berendsen-united-nations, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 9-Dec-2007

Community contributions


There are currently no community contributions for this page - please fill out the form to the right if you would like to add your story

What do you know?

Can tell us more about the information on this page?
Perhaps you have a related experience you would like to share?

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.

Comments will be reviewed prior to posting. Not all comments posted. Tell me more...