In 1977, some of the economic issues being debated at the United Nations included a new international economic order that would be more inclusive to Third World countries as well as the growing pressure for economic sanctions on Rhodesia and South Africa. President Jimmy Carter was now in the White House and was paying special attention to human rights. He chose Andrew Young, who had been active in the Black civil rights movement, as his ambassador to the UN. Young, in turn, picked Melissa to represent the US on the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
Melissa and Andy had a warm relationship, and their sons Gregory and Bo got on very well. Andy included Gregory in the little swearing-in ceremony for her post at the USUN building across from the UN.
The work involved negotiations with many countries, not just in the UN building or in offices but also at receptions. The US diplomats, as with those of other countries, would approach the representatives of other countries at these receptions to see if they could agree to vote the same way or have one propose a motion that would be supported by the other. The US team had to divide up to reach other delegations. “There just isn’t enough time,” Melissa explained to Ann Miller Morin in her book, Her Excellency. “We knew there was this reception and that reception. So, we’d say, ‘Are you going to this one? What time are you going to be there? Okay. You’re going to that one next? All right. See you there. We’ll continue there. In the meantime, will you talk to [the Third World countries] on this one?’ But you also had to coordinate with key delegations and your opposite number: ‘We’re more or less on the same position. Would you sound out what his position is?’”
The frequent receptions and cocktails were a form of work. This meant that Melissa, who lived with her family walking distance from the UN headquarters, was often not at home in the evenings.
Her work was reported in the US press.
Read Washington Post on Melissa Wells at USUN, December 11, 1977
Read Los Angeles Times on Melissa Wells at USUN, October 20, 1977
Her greatest achievement at this job was getting assistance for schools in Palestine. It was a consensus achieved at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in 1978.
“To make a long story short,” she explained in the ADST Oral History website, “it eventually was brought to a vote, but we had negotiated with a number of delegations, to the point where when it was voted and we were soundly defeated, it was Israel, Malawi, and the US, and the rest of the world was all against us or abstaining or off to the bathroom or someplace. Actually, however, we had won. The delegations from other countries came up and congratulated us, because they knew that we might be able to develop the resolution into something for the UNDP governing council down the road. Then we started the process with the State Department in Washington to figure out where we’re going. Okay. [Then] negotiations with the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) took place.
“’We’ meaning, the US mission, but the negotiations with the PLO were done through Bradford Morse’s office, the administrator of UNDP, who dealt directly with them, of course. This was already at arm’s length. We came up with language which was then accepted at the governing council of the UNDP in the summer of 1979 in New York, and we were very proud. I wrote the statement when we came to this item, and we had alerted our colleagues from the Middle East earlier on that the U.S. could approve the resolution. The other delegations rewrote their statements. They didn’t expect a consensus.”
Through her contacts with Bradford Morse, she was invited to head the UN operations in Uganda in 1979.