Austrian diplomat and politician.
Born in St. Andra-Wordern, near Vienna, Austria. Educated at the University of Vienna.
He joined the Austrian diplomatic service in 1945. First Secretary of the Legation in Paris 1948-1951. Worked in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Vienna 1951-1955. Ambassador to Canada 1956-1960. From 1960 to 1964 he worked in the Austrian Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Waldheim was Permanent Representative of Austria to the United Nations from 1964 to 1968. From 1968 to 1970 he was Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs in Austria. In October 1970 he again became the Permanent Representative to the UN. He lost an election for Austrian president in 1971. He was elected Secretary-General of the UN in 1972, re-elected in 1976 despite some opposition but was blocked from a third term by a Chinese veto in 1981. President of Austria 1986-92 despite the revelations that he had been an officer in a German army unit that committed atrocities in Yugoslavia during WW II. An investigation cleared him of complicity, but his presidency was tainted and he did not run again in 1992.
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