Robert Leh is a former president of the McLean Chapter of the UNA-USA. He talks about how he became involved in the UNA-USA and his memories of Buffie Ives, the sister of Adali Stevenson and an instrumental person in forming the local chapter.
Q: How did you become a member of the McLean County Chapter of the UNA?
A: I was inspired back in my undergraduate career to become active in political science after I learned that law was the wrong field for me. Back in those days I had a professor by the name of Dr. Chase who worked on the UN Charter with Roosevelt and Churchill. I was in his international organizations class back in 1951. I got an extensive background in Euro-politics. I’ve been a political scientist for forty years so it just seemed natural to lead this group.
When I taught at Williams Port, Pennsylvania, I led a Model UN group. Each year we had a UN dinner. I was in charge of getting the food and the speaker for the event. So, I was prominent in UN civil services for three years. But, I stopped because I was overworked—between that and my other classes. But when I taught at Gettysburg College, I split a course and taught the information [during two courses]! I concentrated on international law [in one], and then international organizations [during the other].
Later on, I headed the intercollegiate conference on government. It was a mock political nomination convention. I served as the regional director and practical politics advisor.
Then I got into this travel course where I could take the students to see the UN. But, I did do Model UN work as a student, then I became a leader when I taught at Gettysburg College.
A year before I came to teach at [Illinois] Wesleyan [University], Buffie opened up the chapter. Stevenson and [President] Kennedy decided it would be a good idea to rally people at a grassroots level. When Buffie opened the chapter it was the fourth in the nation. The first president was Dr. Walter Kahn. He taught at ISU and was a Model UN advisor. Unfortunately he died about a year ago [2000].
When Adlai died, Buffie wanted to keep the organization going as a memorial to her brother, so she continued to push for membership in McLean County. But, she always did it from behind the curtain; she was never out in the open about things.
I was chosen as the third president of the UNA McLean County Chapter by Dr. Lloyd Berthoff. I was chosen when I got back from a UN trip in January of 1967. Since I was only an assistant professor at the time, I felt honored! I felt like I was put up on a pedestal. …
Attendance is our biggest problem with the UNA these days. In the future I’d like to see more young people in the organization.