In his debut address to the United Nations General Assembly in 2021, freshly elected U.S. President Joe Biden declared a “new era of relentless diplomacy,” signaling a renewed embrace of international cooperation at the U.N. and a sharp break from the confrontational diplomatic style of Trumpism.
But Biden hasn’t always pursued that goal: He has never, for instance, granted an Oval Office audience to the U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres. More than three and a half years into his term, Biden has earned the curious distinction of being the first U.S. president since the U.N.’s founding in San Francisco in 1945 not to invite at least one sitting U.N. secretary-general to the White House.
Truman did it. Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Reagan, too. Nixon granted audiences to two U.N. leaders, U Thant, a Burmese diplomat that he deemed anti-American, and Kurt Waldheim, an Austrian politician and diplomat who would later be barred by Ronald Reagan from traveling to the U.S. because of his youthful links to the Nazis.
About the author
Colum Lynch
Colum Lynch is an award-winning reporter and Senior Global Reporter for Devex. He covers the intersection of development, diplomacy, and humanitarian relief at the United Nations and beyond. Prior to Devex, Colum reported on foreign policy and national security for Foreign Policy Magazine and the Washington Post. Colum was awarded the 2011 National Magazine Award for digital reporting for his blog Turtle Bay. He has also won an award for groundbreaking reporting on the U.N.’s failure to protect civilians in Darfur.
