A Man for All Nations: Sidney Dell (1918–1990)

Upon retiring from the United Nations after close to forty years of service, Sidney Dell set out to write a history of the economic work of the Organization. All agreed that he was uniquely qualified for this formidable task. But was he? Dell’s account would surely have contained a flaw — namely, total silence on his own role. And a fatal one at that, since Dell was no less than the economic analyst and strategist of the most enduring importance in the UN. To do justice to his thought and action is therefore also a formidable undertaking — certainly well beyond the author’s reach. What follows will therefore be only a rough sketch of his professional life, drawn from the remembrances of those who knew him and from his writings.1