John J. Metzler (jjmcolumn@earthlink.net) is a United Nations correspondent covering diplomatic and defense issues.
United Nations’ 80th anniversary
By John J. Metzler
Amid wars, global strife and mass refugee dislocation, the current state of global affairs is overwhelmed with crises spanning the Middle East to Ukraine and a dozen African conflicts which rarely make the news. The contemporary world situation in many ways resembles the end of the Second World War. There’s a strange sense of deja vu for a time in history most people do not know or would rather forget.
From the cauldron and chaos of World War II, a new world organization was created in San Francisco.
From April through June 1945, delegates from over 50 countries, led by the Big Four Allied nations — the U.S., U.K., Soviet Union and China — of the still-ongoing Second World War, assembled to form a new organization to maintain international peace and security, promote economic development and create the framework of international law. Given that the United Nations was following the moribund and tragically ill-fated League of Nations, this was a tall order.
The U.S. delegation to San Francisco included Secretary of State Edward R. Stettinius, Jr., former Secretary of State Cordell Hull and Senators Tom Connally and Arthur Vandenberg, as well as congressional and public representatives. The San Francisco Conference grew out of various wartime meetings and commitments made by the Allies for what would emerge as a world organization.
According to the State Department Office of the Historian, “The United States joined Britain in issuing a joint declaration that became known as the Atlantic Charter. This pronouncement outlined a vision for a postwar order supported, in part, by an effective international organization that would replace the struggling League of Nations.” President Franklin D. Roosevelt suggested the name: the United Nations.
The governments of the U.S., Soviet Union, the U.K. and China formalized the Atlantic Charter proposals in January 1942, shortly after the United States entered the war. Later, the Allied powers, along with 22 other countries, agreed to work against the Axis (Germany, Japan, and Italy) and create the United Nations after the war.
The May 1945 triumph over Nazi Germany hadn’t happened yet, and there was still Imperial Japan to defeat in the Pacific, as they woudn’t surrender until August that year.
Clearly the mood in San Francisco was upbeat and hopeful. There were 850 delegates at the conference and 3,500 attendees including advisors and conference staff. In addition, there were 2,500 media members; press, radio and newsreel production teams came to record the historic event.
Delegations and staff were spread throughout the City by the Bay. The iconic St. Francis Hotel hosted 27 delegations including Canada, France, Iran and Egypt, among others. The stately Fairmont on Nob Hill hosted delegations as well, and the charter was drafted in the hotel’s Garden Room. Meetings were held at the War Memorial Opera House, and the charter was signed in the adjoining Herbst Theatre.
The resulting U.N. Charter, the founding document of the United Nations, pledged to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war. The principal bodies were the General Assembly, representing the membership of the whole (then 51, now 193), and the powerful Security Council, with five founding members — the Big Four plus France — joined by 10 non-permanent members.
The Charter “remains the bedrock of international relations,” recalls current U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
The San Francisco Conference closed on June 26, 1945. In a show of support, President Harry Truman attended the final session for the signing of the charter, congratulating the delegates for creating a “solid structure upon which we can build a better world.” However, Truman still needed to secure Senate ratification of the document. He stressed, “I want to see the United States do it first.” Early bipartisan support for the U.N. was strong, however, and the U.N. Charter was approved in the Senate on July 28, 1945, by a vote of 89 to 2.
The United Nations officially came into existence on Oct. 24, 1945, after the United States, United Kingdom, China, France and Soviet Union had ratified the charter. The first members included Brazil, Canada, Chile, Iran, Lebanon, the Philippines and Turkey. Stalin, in a clever diplomatic twist, added the Soviet “republics” of Byelorussia and Ukraine as members.
The U.N.’s early years were dominated by crises in the Middle East, the subsequent creation and membership of Israel, conflict between India and Pakistan, and the 1950-53 Korean War, which led to collective U.N. military action. As a result, a host of humanitarian and refugee agencies were established to assist with economic development.
Today, 80 years later, how much has really changed?
John J. Metzler is a United Nations correspondent covering diplomatic and defense issues. He is the author of "Divided Dynamism: The Diplomacy of Separated Nations; Germany, Korea, China."