On the heels of this year's Nelson Mandela International Day, marked annually on 18 July, we are taking you back in time to an epic moment at the United Nations in the 1990s when the anti-apartheid hero and icon made a historic debut in the UN General Assembly Hall as the first democratically elected President of South Africa.

When Mr. Mandela addressed the Assembly in October 1994, he received a hero's welcome. History was unfolding as he took his place on the dais in the white leather chair reserved for Heads of State and Government. Cheers erupted as he approached the podium. A collective standing ovation rose across the Assembly Hall.