By John J. MetzlerAmid wars, global strife and massive refugee dislocations, the current global scene is overwhelmed with crises ranging from the Middle East to Ukraine and a dozen African conflicts which rarely make the news.
The contemporary world situation in many ways resembles 1945 and the end of the Second World War. There’s a strange deja vu of a history most people do not know or would rather forget.
From the cauldron and chaos of WWII, a new world organization was created in San Francisco.
In April through June 1945, delegates from over 50 countries, led by the Big Five Allies 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 UN was following the moribund and tragically ill-starred League of Nations, this was indeed a tall order.
The U.S. delegation to San Francisco included Secretary of State Edward R. Stettinius, former Secretary of State Cordell Hull, and Senators Tom Connally (D-Texas) and Arthur Vandenberg (R-Michigan), 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.
The State Department Historian advised: “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 United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and Nationalist China formalized the Atlantic Charter proposals in January 1942, shortly after the U.S. entered the war. Later the Allied powers, along with 22 other countries, agreed to work against the Axis (Germany, Japan, Italy), and to the creation of the United Nations after the war.
Victory in Europe, VE Day, the triumph over Nazi Germany on May 8 just happened, but there was still a challenge in the Pacific to defeat Imperial Japan, that victory VJ Day, coming in August.
Clearly the mood in San Francisco was upbeat as it was hopeful. There were 850 delegates at the Conference; Indeed with staff and conference secretariat, it comprised 3,500 people. In addition, there were 2,500 media; press, radio and newsreel production teams 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, Egypt among others. The stately Fairmount on Nob Hill hosted delegations and the drafting of the U.N. Charter in the hotel’s Garden Room. Meetings were held at the War Memorial Opera House; The Charter was signed in the adjoining Herbst Theatre.
The resulting UN Charter, the founding document of the United Nations, pledged “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.”
The principal bodies of the General Assembly, the membership of the whole, (then 51 now 193!), and the powerful Security Council with the founding members, the U.S. Britain, France, Nationalist China and the Soviet Union along with another ten non-permanent members.
The Charter “remains the bedrock of international relations,” recalls Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
The San Francisco Conference closed on June 26.
Showing his support, President Harry Truman attended the final session for the signing of the United Nations 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. President Truman stressed, “I want to see the United States do it first.”
Early bi-partisan support for the UN was strong: The UN 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, the United Kingdom, China, France and the Soviet Union had ratified the Charter. Among the first members were Brazil, Canada, Chile, Iran, Lebanon, Philippines and Turkey.
Stalin in a clever diplomatic twist added the Soviet “Republics” of Belorussia and Ukraine as members!
The UN’s early years were dominated by crises in the Middle East, the subsequent creation and membership of the State of Israel, conflict between India and Pakistan, and the Korean War in June 1950 which led to collective military action.
Equally a host of humanitarian and refugee agencies were established to assist 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 (2014).
Free Press International
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