Dr. Janez Stanovnik attended the gymnasium in Ljubljana, where he became activist of the Christian Socialist association “Zarja” (Dawn) and acquainted with the Christian left intellectuals. After the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia, Stanovnik became active in the Liberation front of the Slovenian People and joined the partisan resistance in the Province of Ljubljana in 1942. In February 1944, he joined the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, and in period April 1944–May 1945 Stanovnik was an organiser of the partisan resistance in the Slovenian Littoral and a member of the regional national liberation committee. After the Second World War, Stanovnik graduated from the University of Belgrade’s Law School. He became the personal secretary of Edvard Kardelj in 1946 and, later, was a member of the Yugoslav mission at the United Nations (1952–1956). Dr. Stanovnik was a researcher at the Institute of Social Sciences in Belgrade, and professor at the University of Ljubljana. He served as an advisor to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (1965–1966) and worked in the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (1968–1983), where he was Executive Secretary of the Commission (1968–1982). In 1988, Dr. Janez Stanovnik was appointed as President of the Socialist Republic of Slovenia.