Three Men: Synopsis

T H R E E   M E N

　Synopsis　

As the United Nations approaches its 20th anniversary, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has prepared for the Intertel series a special report on the office of the Secretary-General and the three men who have occupied it – Trygve Lie, Dag Hammarskjold and the present incumbent, U Thant. This one-hour program is entitled Three Men.

As the program shows, each of the three men appointed Secretary-General has displayed unique qualities and each has been totally dissimilar in personality – Lie, the affable, optimistic Norwegian; Hammarskjold the remote, mystical Swede; Thant the bland, serene Burmese. All have had in common a singular devotion to the highest principles of the UN charter.

As well as focusing on the Secretaries-General, Three Men also glimpses the hundreds of important people who have figured in whe [sic] world body since its inception; people such as Anthony Eden, John Foster Dulles, Herbert Evatt, Mackenzie King, Harry Truman, Nikita. Khrushchev, Harold MacMillan, Lester Pearson, Jan Christian Smuts, Franklin D, Roosevelt and Paul Henri-Spaak.

Three Men was written by James Eayrs, associate professor of political science at the University of Toronto and co-editor of the International Journal. The program was researched by Jack Rutherford and produced by Vincent Tovell, who was for several years a writer and broadcaster at United Nations’ headquarters in New York. Music for Three Men was composed by William McCauley.

Appearing on the program is Andrew Cordier, now Dean of Columbia Graduate School of International Affair s and formerly (from 1946 to 1962) Chief Assistant to the Secretary-General. In this role he served all three Secretaries-General.