Oct. 10, 1954 - Dr. Eelco Nicolas van Kleffens, President of the ninth regular session...

Oct. 10, 1954 - Dr. Eelco Nicolas van Kleffens, President of the ninth regular session of the United Nations General Assembly. Dr. Van Kleffens who was born on 17 November 1894 in Haerenveen, in the northern Netherlands province of Friesland, has more than 35 years of continous experience in the field of international relations. Almost immediately after he received his Doctor of Law Degree from the University of Leydon, in 1918 he obtained an appointment to the Secretariat of the League of Nations, where he remained until 1921. He entered the Netherlands Foreign Office in 1922, and held several posts of responsibility, culminating in his appointment as Minister for Foreign Affairs, in 1939. He served in this capacity through the war years, when his Government was in exile in London. He presided over his country's delegation to the San Francisco Conference, and it was he who signed the Charter on behalf of the Netherlands. Dr. Van Kleffens was appointed Ambassador to the United States in 1947, a post he held through 1950, when he requested to be transferred to Lisbon. Since then, he has represented his country as Ambassador to Portugal a post he still holds today