Portrait of Boutros Boutros-Ghali

Birthday profile

Boutros Boutros-Ghali

Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Egyptian politician and diplomat, 6th Secretary General of the United Nations (died 2016)

Born
November 14, 1922
Died
February 16, 2016
Zodiac sign
Scorpio
Birth year
1922

About Boutros Boutros-Ghali

Boutros Boutros-Ghali (14 November 1922 – 16 February 2016) was an Egyptian politician and diplomat who served as the sixth secretary-general of the United Nations from 1992 to 1996. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Boutros-Ghali was the acting minister of foreign affairs of Egypt between 1977 and 1979. He oversaw the United Nations over a period coinciding with several world crises, including the breakup of Yugoslavia and the Rwandan genocide. Born to a Coptic Christian family in Cairo, Boutros-Ghali was an academic by training and taught international law and international relations at Cairo University from 1949 to 1979. His political career began during the presidency of Anwar Sadat, who appointed him acting foreign minister in 1977. In that capacity, he helped negotiate the Camp David Accords and the Egypt–Israel peace treaty between Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin. He was acting foreign minister until early 1991, when he served as deputy foreign minister for a few months. Boutros-Ghali was elected secretary-general by the United Nations General Assembly in 1991 and began his term in 1992, succeeding Javier Pérez de Cuéllar. His tenure was marked by controversy and crises, which included the Somali Civil War, the Rwandan Civil War, the continuing Angolan Civil War and the Yugoslav Wars. He received criticism over UN inaction in Angola and during the genocide in Rwanda, and the perceived ineffectiveness of the UN peacekeeping operation in Bosnia led to a NATO intervention. In 1996, Boutros-Ghali ran unopposed for a second term as secretary-general, but the United States, long dissatisfied with his leadership, denied his bid by exercising its Security Council veto. After leaving the UN, Boutros-Ghali served as the first Secretary-General of La Francophonie from 1997 to 2002. He then became chairman of the South Centre, an intergovernmental think tank for developing countries. He died in 2016, in Cairo at the age of 93. Boutros-Ghali tied Bernard Chidzero of Zimbabwe in the first two rounds of polling, edged ahead by one vote in round 3, and fell behind by one vote in round 4.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Boutros Boutros-Ghali timeline

  1. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Boutros-Ghali was the acting minister of foreign affairs of Egypt between 1977 and 1979.
  2. After leaving the UN, Boutros-Ghali served as the first Secretary-General of La Francophonie from 1997 to 2002.

The world when Boutros Boutros-Ghali was born

Boutros Boutros-Ghali was born in 1922. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1922

  • #1 song"Chicago" – Fred Fisher
  • Top movieNosferatu
  • Best-selling bookUlysses – James Joyce

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentGene Sarazen wins the U.S. Open at age 20
  • Top headlineMussolini marches on Rome and seizes power in Italy
  • Technology milestoneBBC begins radio broadcasts
  • Defining fadCrossword puzzles
  • Notable inventionWater skiing invented in Minnesota
  • World population1.90 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderWarren G. Harding
  • Sports championNew York Giants (World Series)
  • U.S. population110.0M

1922 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Boutros Boutros-Ghali's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19222026
Gas$0.25$3.45/gal
Average home$5,600$435,000
Average income$3,270$67,500
Movie ticket$0.15$11.95
Postage stamp$0.02$0.73
Population110.0M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Library of Congress, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.