Oral history interview with James O. C. Jonah, 2001

Early life: Born and raised in Sierra Leone; Suez Canal Crisis leads to interest in international politics Education: Trained in classics, Lincoln University, Joint M.A. International Relations Boston University and Harvard University; PhD Harvard University; Friedrich Fellow; Met George Padmore and Kwame Nkrumah, Career: Secretary General of Sierra Leone Independence Movement (SLIM), United Nations, Office of Research and Collection of Information; Office of Personnel, Office of the Secretary General, and Assignments in the Middle East and Somalia. Themes: World War II; decolonization; anti-colonialism; African and black experience in the United States; Sierra Leona independence; Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld; United Nations (UN) anti-intellectualism; African nationalism; internationalism; Soviet Union and United States (U.S.) relations; relationship of G-77 and the Economic Commission of Latin America (ECLA) to U.S.; U.S. opposition to the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD); U.S. relations with Middle East; New International Economic Order (NIEO); global negotiations; nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) relationship to UN; international civil service; UN conferences; Secretary-General U Thant; Secretary-General Pérez de Cuéllar; Secretary-General Boutros-Ghali; UN appointments; Kassebaum amendment; UN research; Nyere Commission; end of Communism; human rights; development and security; reminiscences of Somalia coup; and U.S. relationship to U.N.