Photogallery: United Nations

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Late in 1967, President Johnson appointed Dr. Garcia as an Alternate Ambassador to the United Nations. He was the first American with a Spanish surname to be named U.S. delegate. At the UN, Garcia criticized a committee dealing with stereotypical thinking about South Africa. Speaking about the South African apartheid government, Garcia said, "The administrating powers are linked together in a malevolent alliance to frustrate all popular striving for self-determination."

Dr. Garcia's primary purpose at the UN was to promote better U.S. relations with Latin America. On October 26, 1967, he made history. Speaking in Spanish he makes the first speech before the UN by an American in a language other than English. He is seen here delivering the speech, which stated the position of the United States on nuclear weapons in Latin America.