Global political history

Global political history from 3000 BC to the 21st century – political leaders, elections, and more.

United Nations

United Nations Secretariat

Secretary-General of the United Nations
Trygve Halvdan Lie

Date of birth/date of death: b. July 16 1896; d. December 30 1968.

Norway

1946 – 1952

Dag Hjalmar Agne Carl Hammarskjöld

Date of birth/date of death: b. July 29 1905; d. September 18 1961.

Sweden

1953 – 1961

U Thant

Date of birth/date of death: b. January 22 1909; d. November 25 1974.

Burma

1961 – 1971

Kurt Josef Waldheim

Date of birth/date of death: b. December 21 1918; d. June 14 2007.

Austria

1972 – 1981

Javier Felipe Ricardo Pérez de Cuéllar de la Guerra

Date of birth/date of death: b. January 19 1920; d. March 4 2020.

Peru

1982 – 1991

Boutros Boutros-Ghali (*acting)

Date of birth/date of death: b. November 14 1922; d. February 16 2013.

Egypt

1992 – 1996

Kofi Atta Annan

Date of birth/date of death: b. April 8 1938; d. August 18 2018.

Ghana

1997 – 2006

Ban Ki-moon

Date of birth/date of death: b. June 13 1944.

Republic of Korea

2007 – 2016

António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres

Date of birth/date of death: b. April 30 1949.

Portugal

2017 – present


United Nations Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator
Valerie Ann Amos, Baroness Amos

Date of birth/date of death: b. March 13 1954.

United Kingdom

2010 – 2015


United Nations Undersecretary General for Peacekeeping Operations
Kofi Atta Annan

Date of birth/date of death: b. April 8 1938; d. August 18 2018.

Ghana

1993 – 1996


United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Louise Arbour

Date of birth/date of death: b. February 10 1947.

Canada

2004 – 2008


United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres

Date of birth/date of death: b. April 30 1949.

Portugal

2005 – 2015


United Nations Security Council

President of the United Nations Security Council
Louis Yves Fortier

Date of birth/date of death: b. September 11 1935.

Canada

1989


United Nations General Assembly

President of the United Nations General Assembly
Paul-Henri Charles Spaak

Date of birth/date of death: b. January 25 1899; d. July 31 1972.

Belgium

1946 – 1947

Lester Bowles Pearson

Date of birth/date of death: b. April 23 1897; d. December 27 1972

Canada

1952 – 1953

Han Seung-soo

Date of birth/date of death: b. December 28 1936.

Republic of Korea

2001 – 2002


United Nations Agencies

Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund
Jacques de Larosière de Champfeu

Date of birth/date of death: b. November 12 1929.

1978 – 1987

Michel Camdessus

Date of birth/date of death: b. May 1 1933.

1987 – 2000

Horst Köhler

Date of birth/date of death: b. February 22 1943; d. February 1 2025.

2000 – 2004

Anne Osborn Krueger (*acting)

Date of birth/date of death: b. February 12 1934.

2004

Rodrigo de Rato y Figaredo

Date of birth/date of death: b. March 18 1949.

2004 – 2007

Dominique Gaston André Strauss-Kahn

Date of birth/date of death: b. April 25 1949.

2007 – 2011

Christine Madeleine Odette Lagarde

Date of birth/date of death: b. January 1 1956.

2011 – 2019


President of the World Bank Group
John Jay McCloy

Date of birth/date of death: b. March 31 1895; d. March 11 1989.

1947 – 1949

Robert Strange McNamara

Date of birth/date of death: b. June 9 1916; d. July 6 2009.

1968 – 1981

Barber Benjamin Conable, Jr.

Date of birth/date of death: b. November 2 1922; d. November 30 2003.

1986 – 1991

Paul Dundes Wolfowitz

Date of birth/date of death: b. December 22 1943.

2005 – 2007

Jim Yong Kim

Date of birth/date of death: b. December 8 1959.

2012 – 2019

David Robert Malpass

Date of birth/date of death: b. March 8 1956.

2019 – 2023


Chief Economist of the World Bank
Anne Osborn Krueger

Date of birth/date of death: b. February 12 1934.

1982 – 1986

Stanley Fischer

Date of birth/date of death: b. October 15 1943; d. May 31 2025.

1988 – 1990


Director-General of the World Health Organization
Gro Brundtland

Date of birth/date of death: b. April 20 1939.

1998 – 2003

Margaret Chan Fung Fu-chun

Date of birth/date of death: b. August 21 1947.

2006 – 2017

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

Date of birth/date of death: b. March 3 1965.

2017 – present


Supreme Commander, United Nations Command
General Matthew Bunker Ridgway

Date of birth/date of death: b. March 3 1895; d. July 26 1993.

1951 – 1952

General Mark Wayne Clark

Date of birth/date of death: b. May 1 1896; d. April 17 1984

Military ranks: Promoted to Brigadier General, 1941. Promoted to Major General, 1942. Promoted to Lieutenant General, 1942. Promoted to General, 1945.

1952 – 1953