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Quaison-Sackey went through Ghana's Achimota College, then was sent on to study political science and economics at Oxford. There, he recalls, he learned what it was to be an African: "Imagine yourself, if you please, walking in the streets of Oxford after an absorbing tutorial and being confronted by an English lady who asks you, 'Which of our possessions do you come from?' I clearly remember that I did not answer that question, but it continued to haunt me." He must have felt less haunted as he presided over the General Assembly, thanking his fellow delegates for his election as "an honor which goes far beyond my humble person, for this is a tribute to Africa."
While Alex Quaison-Sackey spoke, U Thant had his troubles. The major powers appointed him informal mediator, hoping that his patience could somehow resolve the payment issue. But at week's end, the mediator was taken to a New York hospital suffering from a suspected peptic ulcer.