Adrian PeltThe author, Adrian Pelt (1892-1981), a Dutch journalist, joined the Dutch Government in Exile in London during WWII, following the German invasion in May 1940. He was a member of the Dutch Delegation at the UN Formation Conference in San Francisco duing the Summer of 1945, and became one of the three direct reports to the first Secretary General of the UN, the Norwegian Trygve Lie in 1946. On 10 December 1949 Adrian Pelt was nominated High Commissioner for Libya and charged with crafting an independent nation-state from English-governed Cyrenaica and Tripolitania and French-governed Fezzan no later than 1 January, 1952. From his appointment until Libyan independence he was responsible for governing Libya and assisting with the drafting of the Libyan constitution. On 24 December, 1951, Adrian Pelt transferred his powers to King Idris. Upon the completion of his Libyan assignment, and until his retirement in 1957, he remained with the UN in New York and Geneva. Read More Read Less