Thomas P. Melady Quotes
Only external authority—the United Nations—can bring about the necessary arrangements to prevent both communities from killing one another.
Discussing the inter tribal killings in Burundi:
Thomas P. Melady, U. S. Ambassador to Burundi, New York Times, September 1, 1988
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
This is one of the earliest instances in which formal American foreign policy called for aggressively preventing other nations from war. This speech was audio recorded -- quite unusual for the time -- and can be heard to this day.
She was instrumental in forming the United Nations, but one of its weaknesses was and has been since that it was very difficult and cumbersome for the UN to mount a military force to defend a country or region against aggression. The situation has not improved much on that score since 1948. Israel had just been created by the United Nations, but over a dozen Arab State armies attacked the fledgling Jewish nation. The Israelis, against all odds, not only defended their territory but were able to seize key Arab military and strategic areas. Mrs. Roosevelt, and most of the world, assumed that under the circumstances, the Arabs would negotiate a peace treaty with Israel to regain their land. However, the Arab nations would not recognize the State of Israel and would not even negotiate with the Israelis. ER and most of the world was wrong. Instead, the Arab nations’ strategy was to have a cease fire and build their military strength to attack later in greater force. When that also failed and Israel won the subsequent wars, the Arabs then turned to Terrorism. 60 years later, the Israelis and the Arabs were further apart in many ways than in 1948.
The General’s plan was not accepted by the UN and the participating governments. The genocide was not abated.
The Russians were breaking diplomatic relations with Israel.
Thomas Patrick Melady was an American diplomat and author. From 2002 until his death he served as the Senior Diplomat in residence at The Institute of World Politics in Washington, DC.
