<P> In 1964, Young was named executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), becoming, in that capacity, one of King's principal lieutenants . As a colleague and friend of Martin Luther King Jr., he was a strategist and negotiator during the Civil Rights Campaigns in Birmingham (1963), St. Augustine (1964), Selma (1965), and Atlanta (1966). He was jailed for his participation in civil rights demonstrations, both in Selma, Alabama, and in St. Augustine, Florida . The movement gained congressional passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 . Young was with King in Memphis, Tennessee, when King was assassinated in 1968 . </P> <P> In 1970, Young ran as a Democrat for Congress from Georgia, but was unsuccessful . After his defeat, Rev. Fred C. Bennette Jr. introduced him to Murray M. Silver, an Atlanta attorney, who served as his campaign finance chairman . Young ran again in 1972 and won . He later was re-elected in 1974 and in 1976 . During his four - plus years in Congress, he was a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, and was involved in several debates regarding foreign relations, including the decision to stop supporting the Portuguese attempts to hold on to their colonies in southern Africa . Young also sat on the powerful Rules Committee and the Banking and Urban Development Committee . Young opposed the Vietnam War, helped enact legislation that established the U.S. Institute for Peace, established the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area and negotiated federal funds for MARTA and the Atlanta Highways . </P> <P> In 1977, President Jimmy Carter appointed Young to serve as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations . Young was the first African - American to hold the position . Atlanta city councilman Wyche Fowler won the special election to fill Young's seat in Congress . </P> <P> Although the US and the UN enacted an arms embargo against South Africa, as President Carter's UN ambassador, Andrew Young vetoed economic sanctions . </P>

The first african american to serve as us ambassador to the united nations was
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