ucla library: a centenary celebration of ralph j. bunche

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Selected slides from the Centenary Celebration of Ralph J. Bunche exhibit that was on display in UCLA Library Special Collections in March of 2004.

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Selected slides from the Centenary Celebration of Ralph J. Bunche exhibit that was on display in UCLA Library Special Collections in March of 2004.

Ralph Bunche’s mother, Olive Johnson, met his father, Fred Bunche, in Michigan City, Indiana. When the Johnson family moved to Detroit, Fred went along. There Fred and Olive were married, and on August 7, 1903, Ralph was born.

Ralph J. Bunche, portrait at around age 6 – c. 1910

The extended family moved to Albuquerque in 1914-15 in the hope of improving the health of Olive and her brother Charlie, both of whom were suffering from tuberculosis. Fred left in October 1916, ostensibly to find work, but he did not return. Bunche never saw him again, although his father briefly got in touch with the family once, in 1928, and Bunche tried unsuccessfully to reach him through his second wife many years later. For the rest of his life, Bunche kept a tiepin his father had given him among his most treasured belongings. Less than six months after his father left, his mother died; she was only thirty-five years old, Ralph was thirteen, and his younger sister, Grace, was eight. Three months later, his uncle Charlie, depressed about his own health, committed suicide.

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“Best Advice I Ever Had” For Reader’s Digest, March 1955By Ralph J. Bunche

Olive and Ralph Bunche in Albuquerque, c. 1913

Stricken with grief and with no reason to remain in Albuquerque, Bunche’s grandmother moved her diminished family to Los Angeles in 1917. To signal the start of a new life for Ralph and Grace, she added an “e” to their last name, which from then on was spelled “Bunche.”

Ralph J. Bunche and Grace Bunche on steps, Spring 1914

Born in 1855 in Sedalia, Missouri, Lucy Taylor was the daughter of a slave and an Irish landowner. She met her husband-to-be, Thomas Johnson, at a night school in Illinois, and when he died of malaria, she raised their five surviving children alone by working at a variety of jobs.

Ralph Bunche recalled his grandmother, whom everyone called “Nana,” in this essay for the second volume of This I Believe, based on Edward R. Murrow’s radio program of the same title: “In worldly matters, she believed that every person, without regard to race or religion, has a virtually sacred right to dignity and respect; that all men are brothers and are entitled to be treated as equals and to enjoy equality of opportunity; that principle, integrity, and self-respect are never to be worn as loose garments. For each of us in that family these beliefs, almost automatically, came to be part of our very being.” Nana died in 1928.

Nana, Ralph Bunche's maternal grandmother, portrait, 1890s (?)

Ralph J. Bunche’s junior high class, c. 1915

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Letter from Cecilia R. IrvineJune 10, 1959

Ralph Bunche’s letter to Irvine, one of his high-school teachers, upon her retirement indicates the value he placed on his early education as well as the thoughtfulness that friends and acquaintances noted about him throughout his life. Her reply gives a glimpse of him as a young man, although one might consider whether her recollections were influenced by all he had achieved by that date, including the Nobel Peace Prize.

Ethel Johnson, Ralph J. Bunche, Alma Dreyfus Johnson – c. 1920

Bunche had been enrolled in vocational classes in ninth grade, as blacks almost always were at that time, since they were not expected to go to college. When Nana found out, she insisted that the principal enroll him in classes that would prepare him for college.

Although he was the only black student in his high-school class, Bunche did not recall any overt racism, with one major exception:

. . . in my senior year in high school, my race and not my grades had kept me out of the city-wide high school honour society . . . . The names of prospective honourees were read off at a meeting of the Senior Class . . . . Since my grades were the highest in the class, I had expected to be included. When my name was omitted, I instinctively assumed it was because of my race, and so did some of my classmates and at least one of my teachers, who immediately expressed to me their indignation that my colour should have been held against me. I was humiliated and deeply wounded, and on angry impulse decided to leave school, abandon graduation and never return. But after a while I . . . subdued my emotions, decided that I could get along without the honour society, and finally found myself delivering the commencement address at graduation. I assumed that the latter was a ‘consolation prize’ for me.

Ralph J. Bunche and Jefferson High School classmates – January 11, 1922

Ralph Bunche enrolled at UCLA in 1927, then known as the Southern Branch of the University of California and located on Vermont Avenue. The recipient of an academic scholarship, he played on the football team until a leg injury football forced him to switch to basketball. He became a defensive specialist on a team that won three consecutive Southern Conference championships, and the three miniature golden basketballs he earned for this accomplishment remained treasured possessions for the rest of his life. Although Bunche acknowledged that he was not a natural athlete, his competitive instinct and his dedication to team play would serve him well throughout his life.

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“That Man May Dwell in Peace”

In this speech for the Southern Branch Debating Society, Ralph Bunche anticipated his later efforts with the United Nations: “The proposal which I would present as an antidote for world ‘war-poisoning’ is centered about two basic principles, essential, believe, to any rational peace plan. These are International Organization, involving every nation of the world; and the fulldevelopment of the ‘International Mind or Will.’”

Ralph J. Bunche playing basketball, UCLA, 1927

A white teammate from Louisiana initially complained to the coach that his parents wouldn’t allow him to play with a black man; the coach’s response was to suggest that the Louisiana student turn in his uniform. He stayed and joined Bunche in the backcourt, and the two became friends.

Ralph J. Bunche holding basketball, c. 1926-1927

In addition to his athletic endeavors, Ralph Bunche excelled academically at UCLA and considered pursuing the study of law, a common professional route for blacks at that time. He was actively involved with oratory and debate on campus; when the official debating society refused to accept him as a member, he and his friends formed the Southern Branch Debating Society, and he served as president.

During his senior year Bunche worked at the school newspaper and as sports editor of the yearbook. And as the top student in his graduating class, he was named valedictorian and delivered the commencement address.

Ralph J. Bunche, UCLA portrait - June 1927

Ralph Bunche graduated summa cum laude with a degree in political science. In his 1966 letter to the editor of the Daily Bruin, he recalled the role C.H. Rieber, dean of the College of Liberal Arts, played in his selecting the topic of the speech:

Dean Rieber could always be counted on for sage advice. When, therefore, I was given the assignment of making a commencement speech in June 1927, I went immediately to consult with him as to a suitable topic for the speech. . . . So he handed me a volume of poetry by Edna St. Vincent Millay and advised me to go down to the beach, lie on the sand, read the poems and reflect, and he was sure that I would find a suitable subject.

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“The Fourth Dimension of Personality”Delivered June 1927

In the speech, Bunche focused on the need to develop a spiritual, visionary, philosophical component in order to fully realize one’s personality. His comments also foreshadowed his later efforts with the United Nations.

In the speech he focused on the need to develop a spiritual, visionary, philosophical component in order to fully realize one’s personality. His comments also foreshadowed his later efforts with the United Nations:

Man professes strict moral codes; promulgates them through great educational systems; and solidifies them in is law. But invariably his subsequent deeds belie and pervert his original intent. He conjures up bitter prejudices, petty jealousies and hatreds against his fellow-men. The world is periodically scourged and scarred by fiendish wars. Man learns and knows but he does not do as well as he knows. This is his weakness. The future peach and harmony of the world are contingent upon the ability – yours and mine – to effect a remedy.

Long after his years at UCLA, Ralph Bunche kept in touch with Rieber, professor of philosophy and dean of the College of Liberal Arts at UCLA, who was both an advisor and a mentor to him. In this letter, sent during his first fall at Harvard University, Bunche commented on the weather, his professors, his major, and his first love, sports: “Harvard must be content to boast of its intellectual achievements this year for the football team is pathetic.” On a more serious note, he declared his determination to become a scholar:

I have definitely decided to cast my lot in the realm of the scholarly rather than the purely legal, and from now on will bend every effort toward the attainment of the Ph.D. The conversations which I was fortunate enough to have during my trip this summer, with some of the leaders of my race, influenced me considerably in making the decision. That trip was an education in itself to me and it has revealed to me the tremendous amount of work there is for each of us to do during our short stay on earth.

Ralph Bunche earned a fellowship from Harvard University to pursue graduate study; although most blacks attending college at that time were planning careers in law, medicine, or the ministry, he decided to study political science. His decision to become an academic was a brave one, as he had had no black professors at UCLA or Harvard to serve as role models, and the ranks of leading black universities were then limited to Atlanta, Fisk, and Howard.

Ralph J. Bunche, Harvard portrait –c. 1928

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“The Negro in Chicago Politics”1928

Written while he was still working on his master’s degree at Harvard University, Ralph Bunche’s first published article appeared in the National Municipal Review in the May 1928 issue. In a handwritten note on the back of the final page, Bunche wrote, “This is the ‘copy’ of my article as marked by the editor of the magazine & sent to the printer. Just a simple article –mere exposition, but I had to go very careful at first & be sure of my ground before making more ‘weighty’ assertions. If I can find time I’ll get out another soon. This helped me pass away ‘spare’ moments last semester.”

Founded in 1867, Howard University initially served students of all nationalities, races, and classes. But with the rise of Jim Crow, by the turn of the century nearly all of its students were black. At the time Ralph Bunche was hired to establish the political science department in 1928, the university had its first black president, Mordecai W. Johnson, who was actively engaged in hiring young black faculty.

Bunche taught courses in constitutional law and was extremely popular with his students. He was considered a tough but fair grader and was almost always available to answer questions or write letters of recommendation.

Participants of a conference at Howard University – April 1932

Ralph J. Bunche at Howard University commencement - June 10, 1932

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“Academic Freedom”November 22, 1935

In this speech at the Capitol City Forum, an organization described as having socialist leanings, Ralph Bunche emphasized the subject as it related to the student rather than the researcher.

During his first term at Howard, Bunche also met his future wife, Ruth Ethel Harris. They married on June 23, 1930. Their first child, Joan, was born in December 1931; their second child, Jane, arrived in May 1933; and their son, Ralph Jr., was born in September 1943.

Ruth Bunche, portrait – 1930s

Ruth Ethel Harris met Ralph Bunche when a colleague brought him to her house in October 1928. At the time she was teaching school and taking night classes at Howard University to complete the requirements for her bachelor’s degree. After they met, she took one of his political science courses; she received a B and challenged him on the grade, but he did not change it.

Although Ralph Bunche had declined a fellowship in 1928 to remain at Harvard University and pursue a doctorate, in 1929 he took leave from Howard University to return to Harvard. He completed his coursework and passed his general examinations, then a $400 scholarship enabled him to begin research on his dissertation.

The initial topic he chose was the League of Nations and the suppression of slavery. He switched it to a comparison of mixed-race assimilation in Brazil with segregation in the United States, but when he feared that the Rosenwald Fund would not support his proposed research in Brazil, he settled on comparing the colonial administrations of Dahomey and Togoland. He spent nine months in Europe and three months in Africa conducting research during 1932-33, then returned to Cambridge, England, for three more months of work in summer 1933. His four-hundred-plus-page dissertation was accepted by his committee in February 1934. Although it was not published, he drew from it for an article on French educational policy in Togoland and Dahomey, which appeared the following year in the Journal of Negro Education.

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A World View of Race1936

In this ninety-eight-page booklet Ralph Bunche argued that race was an arbitrary rather than a scientific construct and that conflict frequently identified as racial was in reality based on social, political, and economic causes.

Ralph J. Bunche and daughters – c. 1937

Bunche proposed a project to study the impact on colonial rule and Western culture on Africans to the Social Sciences Research Council, and he earned a two-year grant. Seeking to broaden his approach beyond the constraints of political science, he incorporated into the grant proposal training for himself in field methods of cultural anthropology. He returned to Africa in 1937-38 to conduct further research, then returned to Howard University intending to write books on South Africa and East Africa. However, another project intervened.

Ralph J. Bunche en route to the Congo “Nyabongo, his boy, Abidiah & me en route to Katwe & the Congo” –1937

Ralph Bunche’s focus on issues related to race returned to the domestic sphere when in 1939 he began to work with Swedish sociologist Gunnar Myrdal on a project to survey the conditions of blacks in America, sponsored by the Carnegie Corporation. He spent two years on the project, which resulted in the landmark work An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy.Ralph Bunche took three trips through the South under the auspices of the study, the first with Gunnar Myrdal himself and the second two with three field assistants, who conducted the majority of the interviews.

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Report on the Needs of the Negro (for the Republican Program Committee)By Ralph J. Bunche, Ph.D. Professor of Political Science, Howard UniversityJune 10, 1939

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The Carnegie-Myrdal study questionnaireStudy of the Negro in America1939

Ralph J. Bunche with Bernie in St. Louis – September 1939

Ralph J. Bunche and family at the zoo – c. 1940

In July 1941, the Office of the Coordinator of Information (later the Office of Strategic Services) was created to both gather and disseminate information in connection with preparation for what looked like an inevitable war, and in September 1941 Ralph Bunche was hired as an expert on Africa, and he also advised on general issues related to blacks in the military.

In 1944, he joined the U.S. State Department’s postwar planning unit and participated in the planning for the conference at Dumbarton Oaks to discuss a world organization. He was part of the U.S. delegation to the San Francisco conference in 1945 at which the United Nations charter was drafted, to the U.N. Preparatory Commission in London later that year, and to the first session of the U.N. General Assembly held in London in 1946.

In April 1946, Bunche was loaned to the U.N. as acting director of the trusteeship division for an initial period of six weeks. The loan was extended again and again at the request of the assistant secretary-general for trusteeship until the secretary-general asked the U.S. government to release him to assume the position of director of the trusteeship division.

Ralph Bunche had joined the United Nations in 1946 as head of the trusteeship department, and the following year he was appointed to the U.N. Special Committee on Palestine, for which he drafted both the majority and minority reports.

Ralph J. Bunche at the First Session, General Assembly, United Nations, London – January 1946

In April 1947 the British government requested a special session of the U.N. General Assembly to discuss Palestine, over which it had been assigned a mandate by the League of Nations in 1917. Per the terms of that mandate, increasing numbers of Jews had settled in Palestine, and conflicts between them and Arabs had escalated. The General Assembly created a Special Committee on Palestine to investigate the situation and Secretary-General Trygve Lie appointed Ralph Bunche as assistant to his representative on the committee. Bunche worked with the committee throughout the summer, drafted its majority and minority reports, then returned to his responsibilities in the trusteeship division.

A contentious General Assembly vote on November 29, 1947, approved the establishment of separate Arab and Jewish states following the withdrawal of British troops and created a commission to manage the transition, to which Bunche was appointed. However, after the last British soldiers left on May 14, 1948, tensions escalated further, and troops from Arab countries moved in. That same day the General Assembly created the position of mediator, to which the Security Council appointed Count Folke Bernadotte; Lie named Bunche to assist Bernadotte and to serve as the secretary-general’s representative in Palestine. The U.N. representatives arrived in the Middle East on May 27 and managed to secure a ceasefire on June 11.

When war broke out between the Arabs and Israelis in May 1948, U.N. Secretary-General Trygve Lie appointed Bunche to assist mediator Count Folke Bernadotte and to serve as the secretary-general’s representative in Palestine. Negotiations continued throughout the summer.

Countess Estelle Bernadotte, Count Folke Bernadotte and Ralph J. Bunche at Parkway Village, New York –August 1948

Bernadotte was assassinated in September 1948 by members of a Jewish underground group opposed to the partition.

Following Bernadotte’s assassination, Bunche became acting mediator.

Acting U.N. Mediator, Ralph J. Bunche, in Palestine, 1948

After six more months of delicate, demanding negotiations led by Bunche, armistice agreements were signed by Israel and Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria.

Egyptian-Israeli Armistice Agreement signed, February 24, 1949

Ralph J. Bunche, along with Eleanor Roosevelt, was considered instrumental in the creation and adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Ralph J. Bunche with Eleanor Roosevelt at award dinner at the Waldorf Astoria – May 9, 1949

Ralph J. Bunche with Henry Moon, Roy Wilkins, and Will Rogers, Jr. at the 1949 NAACP Convention in Los Angeles, Calif – July 1949

Ralph Bunche Day declared in Los Angeles - 1949

Bunche announced the completion of his mission in July 1949.

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Statement by Dr. Ralph Bunche, UN Acting Mediator on Palestine, before the Security Council on 4 August, 1949

UCLA invited its distinguished alumnus to deliver the commencement address in 1950 and awarded him a honorary degree. Ralph Bunche began his speech in a light tone, sharing an anecdote from his own graduation about the academic gown he had borrowed for the occasion from a female student at USC and noting his close identification with his alma mater – “I am a Bruin. I have always been proud of that distinction . . . .”

Ralph J. Bunche delivering address to the class, UCLA commencement held at the Hollywood Bowl - June 18, 1950

He then moved on to more serious topics, including countering “reckless charges and insinuations” against those in the government, rebutting criticisms of the United Nations, and warning of the dangers of the Cold War –

I think it unfortunate that the existing differences between West and East, sharp as they may be, have come to be described as the ‘cold war’. In an atomic age, in the interest of humanity, even slogans should be chosen with care. Human differences can be settled, but a war, cold or hot, has to be fought, won or lost.

Near the end, he observed with characteristic pragmatism:

The peoples of the world are today confronted with the greatest challenge in human history. The challenge can be met only by constructive action. Negativism, recrimination, self-righteousness, serve no worthy purpose. In the world of today, there are motes of many kinds in many eyes.

““

In 1950, Bunche was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace for his successful mediation of armistice agreements between Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria.

It was the first (and so far the only) time that all parties in the Middle East conflict signed armistice agreements with Israel.

In addition to Bunche, the candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1950 were Jawaharlal Nehru, prime minister of India; Winston Churchill, former prime minister of Great Britain; George Marshall, U.S. secretary of defense; and Harry Truman, U.S. president.

Bunche was in the United Nations Delegates dining room in September 1950 when his secretary gave him the news; his first impulse was to give the award back, reasoning “peace-making at the U.N. was not done for prizes.” However, the secretary-general persuaded him to accept the award on behalf of the entire organization.

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Statement by Dr. Ralph Bunche on receiving news of award of Nobel Prize for PeaceSeptember 22, 1950

In September 1950, Bunche received a cable informing him that he had won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts.

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“Ralph Bunche”: Address delivered by Governor Gunnar Jahn at the presentation of the Nobel Peace PrizeDecember 10, 1950

Gunnar Jahn, Chairman of the Nobel Committee, and Ralph J. Bunche at the 1950 Nobel Prize presentation ceremony – December 10, 1950

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Some Reflections on peace in our Time: Nobel Lecture, delivered at Oslo, December 11, 1950By Ralph J. BuncheStockholm 1951

I am but one of many cogs in the United Nations, the greatest peace organization ever dedicated to the salvation of mankind’s future on earth. It is, indeed, itself an honor to enabled to practice the arts of peace

“-- Nobel Peace Prize acceptance, December 10, 1950

May there be, in our time, at long last, a world at peace in which we, the people, may for once begin to make full use of the great good that is in us.“

-- Nobel Peace Prize acceptance, December 10, 1950

Congratulatory certificate from Ralph Bunche, Jr. to his father, Ralph J. Bunche - 1950

Ralph Bunche returned to his trusteeship duties following his mission in Palestine. In 1952, Secretary-General TrygveLie announced that he was stepping down; his replacement, Dag Hammarskjöld, undertook a reorganization of the Secretariat that resulted in Bunche’s appointment as an undersecretary general for special political affairs. In the ensuing years he coordinated and administered peacekeeping efforts in the Sinai in 1956, Congo in 1960, Cyprus in 1962, Yemen in 1963, and between India and Pakistan in 1965.

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Telegram, 1957 January 8, New York, NY to the Reverends Martin Luther King, G.K. Steele and Erle Shuttlesworth, Atlanta, GA

United Nations Under-Secretary Bunche comes to Gaza - 1957

Ambassador Alex Quaison-Sackey, Prime Minister Nnamdi Azikiwe, Ambassador Diallo Telli and Ralph Bunche at the International House – July 19, 1959

Ralph J. Bunche gardening – October 19, 1959

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Press Conference on the Republic of Congo by Dr. Ralph Bunche at the UN Headquarters on Thursday, 1 September 1960

Ralph J. Bunche at the United Nations – c. 1960

Ralph J. Bunche and Josephine Baker – c. 1960

On the flight depicted in the next slide, Bunche was escorting Cyrille Adoula, prime minister of Congo, to talks organized by the United Nations and the United States between Adoula and Moise Tshombe, president of the province of Katanga, which had seceded from the country. The agreement reached at these talks began the process of reconciling all the seceding provinces with the central government, although problems continued to plague the country even after reconciliation.

En route to talks at Kitona Base (Congo) – December 19, 1961

In 1963, Bunche visited Yemen because of a conflict between Yemen, supported by Egypt and recognized by the United States, and South Yemen, supported by Saudi Arabia and Jordan. The United Nations Yemen Observer Mission was then sent in to supervise the withdrawal of both Egyptian and Saudi forces; when that proved ineffective, the U.N. sent a mediator, although Egyptian forces were not withdrawn until after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

Ralph J. Bunche and family disembarking KLM flight – 1963

Ralph J. Bunche arriving in Yemen – 1963

The next slide was taken when President Kennedy came to address the U.N. General Assembly. During his campaign Kennedy had asked Bunche to serve as an advisor, and he had also been asked several times to become a part of the administration; although he declined all these invitations, Bunche admired Kennedy a great deal and was deeply saddened by his assassination.

President John F. Kennedy, greeted by Secretary General Thant and Under-Secretary for Special Political Arrairs Bunche, upon his arrival at the United Nations – September 20, 1963

President John F. Kennedy had selected Bunche as a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which is the highest honor a civilian can receive from the U.S. government. Bunche was informed in October, and the presentation ceremony went ahead as planned on December 6, 1963, following Kennedy’s assassination, with President Johnson awarding the medals. Bunche was the first UCLA alum to receive this honor.

President Johnson awarding the Medal of Freedom to Ralph J. Bunche – 1963

Ralph J. Bunche confers with President Makarios – April 8, 1964

In 1964, Bunche led a United Nations peacekeeping force to Cyprus, which was being torn by conflict between the Greek Cypriot majority and the Turkish Cypriot minority. He visited various areas of the island and saw the devastation of the conflict firsthand, including homeless families and destroyed dwellings.

Letter, 1964 May 5, Nicosia, Cyprus, to Mr. Ralph Bunche, United Nations Under-Secretary for Political Affairs, New York, NY

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Bunche was an active supporter of the Civil Rights movement. He participated in the 1963 March on Washington.

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Ralph Bunche on civil rights: interview with Mr. Woody Klein, New York World-Telegram

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King visit United Nations Headquarters – 1964

Ralph J. Bunche visits Cyprus – April 10, 1964

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Statement by Dr. Ralph J. Bunche, Under-Secretary of the United Nations, on the rioting in Los Angeles17 August, 1965

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On April 15, 1966, Hosie sent Ralph Bunche a letter inviting him to submit an article about UCLA for publication in a special edition. Bunche was unable to meet the deadline but instead shared a few personal recollections of his years on the old Vermont Avenue campus and his relationships with his classmates and professors.

Letter to Ronald W. Hosie, editor of the UCLA Daily BruinApril 21, 1966

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Personal Statement by Dr. Ralph J. Bunche on the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.April 5, 1968

Ralph Bunche’s final visit to UCLA came about a year and a half before his death, when the social sciences building was dedicated in his honor. In his remarks he credited the central role UCLA played in shaping him: “. . . UCLA is where it all began for me, where in a sense I began. College for me was the genesis and the catalyst.”

He went on to discuss hot-button topics then current on campus, including the war in Vietnam. Although cautious about commenting on foreign policy as a United Nations official, he noted that his son was in the service and hoped for the withdrawal of American troops. He acknowledged the danger of such a move but judged it worth trying:

Peace, like war, can usually be won only by bold and courageous initiatives and by taking some deliberate, calculated risks.“

Ralph J. Bunche delivering a speech at the Bunche Hall dedication ceremony, UCLA –May 1969

UCLA was where it all began for me, where in a sense I began. College for me was the genesis and the catalyst.“

-- Remarks at the dedication of Ralph Bunche Hall on May 23, 1969

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Ralph J. Bunche and Charles E. Young in front of Bunche Hall, UCLA - 1969

Ralph J. Bunche and Charles E. Young in front of Bunche Hall, UCLA - 1969

Ruth Bunche, Ralph J. Bunche, and Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) in front of Bunche Hall, UCLA - 1969

Bunche resigned from his position at the UN due to ill health. He died on December 9, 1971, at age 68. He is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, New York.

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The Ideal Scrap Book: Scrapbook of Ralph J. Bunche ephemera1920-1950s