The Spiritual Memoirs of Andrew Young: Civil Rights Activist, Minister & Statesman (1994)
Andrew Jackson Young (born
March 12, 1932) is an
American politician, diplomat, activist and pastor from
Georgia. He has served as a Congressman from
Georgia's 5th congressional district, the
United States Ambassador to the
United Nations, and
Mayor of Atlanta. He served as
President of the National Council of
Churches USA, was a member of the
Southern Christian Leadership Conference (
SCLC) during the
1960s Civil Rights Movement, and was a supporter and friend of
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Since leaving political office in
1989,
Young has founded or served in a large number of organizations founded on public policy, political lobbying and international relations, with a special focus on
Africa.
In
1977,
President Jimmy Carter appointed Young to serve as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations. Young resigned from
Congress, and his seat was taken by
Wyche Fowler after a special election.
Although the US and the UN enacted an arms embargo against
South Africa, as
President Carter's
UN ambassador,
Andrew Young vetoed economic sanctions.[5]
Young caused controversy when, during a July 1978 interview with
French newspaper
Le Matin de Paris, while discussing the
Soviet Union and its treatment of political dissidents, he said, "We still have hundreds of people that I would categorize as political prisoners in our prisons," in reference to jailed civil-rights and anti-war protestors. In response,
U.S. Representative Larry McDonald (
D-GA) sponsored a resolution to impeach Young, but the measure failed 293 to 82.
Carter referred to it in a press conference as an "unfortunate statement".[1]
In
1979, Young played a leading role in advancing a settlement in
Rhodesia with
Robert Mugabe and
Joshua Nkomo, who had been two of the military leaders in the
Rhodesian Bush War, which had ended in 1979. The settlement paved the way for
Mugabe to take power as
Prime Minister of the newly formed
Republic of Zimbabwe. There had been a general election in 1979, bringing
Bishop Abel Muzorewa to power as leader of the
United African National Council leading to the short-lived country of
Zimbabwe Rhodesia. Young refused to accept the election's results, and described the election as "neofascist", a sentiment echoed by
United Nations Security Council Resolution 445 and 448. The situation was resolved the next year with the
Lancaster House Agreement and the establishment of
Zimbabwe.[1]
Young's favoring of Mugabe and Nkomo over
Muzorewa and his predecessor and ally,
Ian Smith, was, and remains, controversial. Many African-American activists, including
Jesse Jackson and
Coretta Scott King, supported the anti-colonialism represented by Mugabe and Nkomo.[1] However, it was opposed by others, including civil-rights leader
Bayard Rustin, who argued that the
1979 election had been "free and fair",[6] as well as senators
Harry F. Byrd, Jr. (I-VA) and
Jesse Helms (
R-NC). It was later criticized in
2005 by
Gabriel Shumba, executive director of the anti-Mugabe
Zimbabwe Exiles Forum.[7]
In July 1979, Young discovered that an upcoming report by the United Nations
Division for Palestinian Rights called for the creation of a
Palestinian State. Young wanted to delay the report because the
Carter Administration was dealing with too many other issues at the time. He met with the UN representatives of several
Arab countries to try to convince them the report should be delayed; they agreed in principle, but insisted that the
Palestine Liberation Organization also had to agree. As a result, on July 20, Young met with
Zehdi Terzi, the UN representative of the
PLO, at the apartment of the UN
Ambassador from
Kuwait. On August 10, news of this meeting became public when
Mossad leaked its illegally-acquired transcript of the meeting first to Prime Minister
Menachem Begin, and then through his office to Newsweek.[8] The meeting was highly controversial, since the
United States had already promised
Israel that it would not meet directly with the PLO until the PLO recognized
Israel's right to exist.[1]
Young's UN ambassadorship ended on August
14.[1][9][10]
Jimmy Carter denied any complicity in what was called the "
Andy Young Affair", and asked Young to resign. Asked about the incident by
Time soon afterward, Young stated, "It is very difficult to do the things that I think are in the interest of the country and maintain the standards of protocol and diplomacy
... I really don't feel a bit sorry for anything that I have done."[11]
Soon afterward, on the television show
Meet the Press, he stated that Israel was "stubborn and intransigent."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Young