World leader, Kurt Waldheim, dies at 88

VIENNA, Austria - Former U.N. chief Kurt Waldheim, who was barred from the United States for two decades after revelations he belonged to a German army unit that committed World War II atrocities, died Thursday. He was 88.

Although it was never proved that Waldheim personally committed war crimes, he left public life beneath a cloud of disgrace and died with his name still on a watch list prohibiting foreigners considered undesirables from visiting the U.S.

State broadcaster ORF said he died Thursday afternoon of heart failure at his home in Vienna, with family members at his bedside. He had been hospitalized late last month with an infection and a high fever.

Waldheim's legacy as U.N. secretary-general from 1972-81 - and his later tenure as Austrian president from 1986-92 - was tarnished by his secretive wartime past in the Balkans.

The details did not become common knowledge until five years after he left the world body. But the revelations led to a bruising controversy at home - one that ultimately damaged Austria's reputation abroad.

During Waldheim's six-year term as president, the country was largely shunned by foreign leaders, and he never honored his pledge to be a strong leader.

His backers saw him as an innocent victim of a smear campaign, while opponents clamored for his resignation.

Although Waldheim traveled to many crisis areas, including the Middle East, he never gained the reputation of peacemaker enjoyed by other U.N. chiefs.

Waldheim is survived by his wife, Elisabeth, whom he married in 1944, and their three children.