THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
TOAST TO DINNER IN HONOUR OF DAVID, LAURANCE AND HAPPY ROCKEFELLER
New York. 7 June 2000
Nane and I are delighted and honoured that you could join us this evening. We have come together to celebrate what you might call a family tradition: for what could be more solid than the links between the United Nations family and the Rockefeller family?
We owe the very soil on which UN headquarters stands to John D. Rockefeller Junior. Had it not been for the godsend of that former slaughterhouse site, the United Nations would not be based in New York City today. The way things looked at the time, we were more likely to end up in Flushing Meadow or Philadelphia. Unlike W.C. Fields, I have nothing against Philadelphia. But I think the UN is much more at home in New York.
Nelson Rockefeller, who advised his father on the acquisition of the land, did much to shape our contribution to the skyline too. He brought in Wallace Harrison to work with the international architects' committee that designed the Secretariat. And he persuaded Le Corbusier to design the General Assembly building. Thanks to Nelson Rockefeller's architectural legacy, no twenty-first century Trump Tower — however tall — could ever trump our profile in the neighbourhood.
The Rockefellers' contributions have continued throughout the history of the United Nations. Laurance Rockefeller has been a staunch supporter of our work on the environment. Laurance, your generosity is legendary and I am deeply grateful that you were able to join us this evening.
Happy Rockefeller, of course, is well known at the UN. Her two terms as a US delegate are remembered with great affection. And we owe her a very special debt of gratitude for the Guernica tapestry that hangs on the wall outside the Security Council — an almost full- size version of Picasso's historic painting. How lucky we are, Happy, that you offered it on indefinite loan to one of my predecessors when he had dinner at the executive mansion in Albany, where it was hanging at the tune.
As for you, David, you have greatly enhanced the aesthetic environment of my own office with the loan of the famous Okada painting that hangs in the visitors' waiting area on the 38th floor. On a practical level, you have also made life easier for many of our staff by helping to arrange for Chase to operate a branch in the UNITAR building, and by resisting several attempts to have it closed down. David, since you have a certain birthday coming up in a few days' time, I hope you will let us treat this evening as an extra family celebration. And so it goes on. The Rockefellers' contributions were not only generous at the tune - - they go on giving pleasure and enjoyment year after year. Only last weekend, I was able to hold a very successful and enjoyable retreat at Pocantico with members of the Security Council — one of many occasions when you have generously offered the UN free use of your magnificent country estate. And I am delighted that in the same spirit of continuity, we have with us tonight the fourth generation of the Rockefellers, represented by Nelson Junior.
And so allow me to raise my glass, on behalf of Nane, myself and all the United Nations: to many more family celebrations to come. To a great American family - and to what they have done for their friends, their city, their country, and the world.