The Dawn of the United Nations

Signatories include the US and Russian Ministers, the President of the Security Council, and the Secretary General

 

Two documents showing the United Nations at its inception, signed by 8 men who would be Security Council Presidents and 4 who would serve as Presidents of the General Assembly

 

The first great UN crisis was the post-war Soviet Occupation of Iran; signed by Gromyko of USSR and Ali of Iran

 

Almost certainly compiled by an attendee at meetings at Hunter College and at Flushing Meadows in 1946

 

The creation of the United Nations came out of a desire for dialogue and order after the end of World War II.

 

As the United Nations notes in its official history:

“The Declaration by United Nations initially was signed by representatives of the United States, Britain, China, and the Soviet Union; over the course of the war, 21 other Allied nations joined this group. On April 25, 1945, as Allied victory drew close, representatives of the member states met in San Francisco to write a treaty for a postwar UN that could arbitrate international disputes without conflict and prevent another world cataclysm. President Truman said to the opening of the conference, “The world has experienced a revival of an old faith in the everlasting moral force of justice. At no time in history has there been a more important Conference, or a more necessary meeting, than this one in San Francisco, which you are opening today. On behalf of the American people, I extend to you a most hearty welcome.” Americans followed news of the proceedings in San Francisco with intense interest.

“On June 26, 50 nations signed the new United Nations Charter, the founding document of the largest international organization in world history. In a preamble and 19 chapters, the Charter lays out the rules and structure of the UN and describes how the body works for global peace, security, and human rights. President Truman closed the United Nations Conference on that day with hope for the promise and possibility of the new international organization: “Upon all of us, in all our countries, is now laid the duty of transforming into action these words which you have written. Upon our decisive action rests the hope of those who have fallen, those now living, those yet unborn — the hope for a world of free countries — with decent standards of living — which will work and cooperate in a friendly civilized community of nations. This new structure of peace is rising upon strong foundations. Let us not fail to grasp this supreme chance to establish a world-wide rule of reason — to create an enduring peace under the guidance of God.”

“On July 2, President Truman brought a copy of the Charter into the Senate and gave a plainspoken yet heartfelt address urging ratification. Truman – once a senator himself – reminded Congress that the people of the world were watching them. “For they look to this body of elected representatives of the people of the United States to take the lead in approving the Charter…and pointing the way for the rest of the world.” The stakes were high, Truman noted. Twice in the past 30 years, the world’s leaders had failed to avoid bloodshed. “This Charter points down the only road to enduring peace,” Truman proclaimed. “There is no other.” On August 8, after the Senate ratified the United Nations Charter, President Truman signed it and the United States becomes the first nation to complete the ratification process and join the new international organization. Other nations followed suit, and the Charter went into effect on October 24, 1945.

“Although the United Nations was founded in 1945, it took several years to select a site and build its headquarters in New York. In fact, the first meetings of the Security Council took place at Church House, in Westminster, London. Following that, the Security Council met in New York, but not on the current site of UNHQ, or even in the temporary headquarters at Lake Success on Long Island, New York. For five months, from March 25 to August 15 1946, Hunter College in the Bronx (currently Lehman College) was its home.”

The Iran crisis of 1946 was one of the first crises of the Cold War, sparked by the refusal of Joseph Stalin’s Soviet Union to relinquish occupied Iranian territory despite repeated assurances. The end of World War II should have resulted in the end of the Allied joint occupation of Iran. Instead, pro-Soviet Iranians proclaimed the separatist Azerbaijan People’s Government and the Kurdish separatist Republic of Mahabad. The United States pressure on the Soviet Union to withdraw is the earliest evidence of success with the new strategy of Truman Doctrine and containment.

This was the main but not the only subject of the first UN Security Council Session on US soil.

On March 25, the first ever US-based meeting of the Security Council met at Hunter College.

Document signed, March 25, 1946, bearing the signatures of the major attendees of the first Security Council meeting in its new home country. “On 25 March, 1946, the United Nations Security Council Met at Hunter College.” Here is a list of the signatories, a who’s who of the new post war international order and the history of the United Nations. No other similar compilation of signatures exists. It must have been assembled at the time of the meetings themselves. It includes the Secretary General and President of the Security Council.

It is the world of diplomacy, the post-World War II order, as it was designed by the main factors at the end of the war.

Andrei A. Gromyko – USSR, later President UN Security Council
Quo Tai Chi – President UN Security Council, China
Hafez Afifi Pasha – Egypt – Later President UN Security Council
James F. Byrne – United States, Secretary of State
Oskar Lange – Poland, later President UN Security Council
Alexander Cadogan – UK, later President UN Security Council
Eelco van Kleffens – Netherlands, future General Assembly President, later President UN Security Council
Trygve Lie – Norway – Secretary General
Pedro Leão Veloso – Brazil
Alexandre Parodi – France, Later President UN Security Council
Edward Stettinius Jr. – US Ambassador to the UN
Paul Hasluck – Australia
H. V. Evatt – Australia, future General Assembly President
Hussein Ala – Iran
Francisco Castillo Nájera – Mexico – former president of the Assembly of the League of Nations, later President UN Security Council
William Roy Hodgson – Australia

On October 23, 1946, the second session of the General Assembly, but the first one to be held in New York City, opened in Flushing Meadows, Queens. The United Nations was slightly more than one year old, and the location of the permanent Headquarters had yet to be decided. In the interim, the Organization needed a large space to accommodate the hundreds of attendees to the General Assembly. New York City offered the use of its former World’s Fair building in Queens. The 1939 New York World’s Fair saw more than 45 million visitors, many of whom entered this building to see the exhibits on the functions of the city. When it was over, the building was converted into a recreation centre with skating rinks until being offered to the United Nations in April 1946. The first General Assembly in New York had “One World” as its theme. To emphasize this fact, a large map of the world in blue and gold was installed behind the President of the General Assembly’s rostrum.

Outside, the flags of the then 51 Member States were put on the longest poles which could be procured and placed in a large circle. Approximately 120,000 flowers were planted in Flushing Meadows, close to the building’s location, as part of landscaping improvements.

Document signed, no date but October 1946, including of the principal figures in the United Nations, including Eleanor Roosevelt and several future leaders of the General assembly, compiled by an attendee at the time.

Eleanor Roosevelt – US
Oswaldo Aranha – Brazil, future President of the United Nations General Assembly during the vote on the Partition Plan for Palestine, in which he postponed the vote for three days to ensure its passage, later President UN Security Council
Lester Pearson – Canada, future President of the United Nations General Assembly
Paul-Henri Charles Spaak – Belgium, President of the United Nations General Assembly
Jan Garrigue Masaryk – Czechoslokia
Georges-Augustin Bidault – France
Hector McNeil – United Kingdom