page_title: V. K. Krishna Menon
section_title: India's representative to the United Nations
hierarchical_section_title: V. K. Krishna Menon / Roles in post-independent India / India's representative to the United Nations
caption_attribution_description: English: Jawaharlal Nehru and V.K. Krishna Menon, United Nations, New York, 21 December 1956
context_page_description: Vengalil Krishnan Krishna Menon was an Indian politician, non-career diplomat and a nationalist who has been described by some as the second most powerful man in India, after his ally, the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru. He wrote the first draft of Preamble to the Constitution of India, initiated the idea of Constituent Assembly of India and is considered the architect and coined the term Non-Aligned Movement.
  He represented India at the United Nations General Assembly, and Chairman of the Delegation to Eighteen Nation Committee on Disarmament and Delegation of India at the U.N. General Assembly from 1953 to 1962 and at successive sessions of the United Nations Trusteeship Council as leader of the delegation of India from 1953 to 1956. He was a member of Indian National Congress and also formely a member of the British Labour Party.
  Noted for his eloquence, brilliance and forceful and highly-abrasive personality, Menon inspired widespread adulation and fervent detraction in both India and the West. To his supporters, he was an unapologetic champion of India in the face of Western imperialism, who famously "taught the white man his place".
context_section_description: In 1949, Menon accepted the command of the Indian delegation to the United Nations, a position he would hold until 1962. He earned a reputation for brilliance in the UN, frequently engineering elegant solutions to complex international political issues, including a peace plan for Korea, a ceasefire in Indo-China, the deadlocked disarmament talks, and the French withdrawal from the UN over Algeria.
caption: 1st Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru with V. K. Krishna Menon (age 60) in United Nations in December 1956.
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