Andrew Cordier As 1 Re?nember Him                19

insurmountable odds of lack of funds, personal worries and ill
health he persevered in the pursuit of his objective to the end,
never admitting defeat, never giving up.

Following his death in 1975 I remained at Columbia for a few
months to complete my work on his papers and long enough to see
the beginning of their transfer to the Rare Book and Manuscript
Library. When I finally departed for Canada it was with a feeling
of a mis,sion uncompleted and with profound sadness that he had
died before he was able to accomplish what lie had so bravely set
out to do.

Andrew Cordier was not alone in his conviction that he should
make this contribution to history. Former United Nations col¬
leagues had been urging him along these same lines—it was impor¬
tant they felt that he recount his own story of the early years of
the organization. After his death they expressed the hope that a
book might still be written that would in some sense fulfill the pur¬
poses he had in mind. Perhaps the resource materials which he has
left behind will enable some future historian to write about the
life and times of this unique personality who became Columbia's
15th President and who entered the world of history so dramati¬
cally in the later years of his life.