Founding the United Nations

From a Wartime Coalition to a Permanent Organization

The United Nations began as the name of a wartime coalition before it became an international organization. In January 1942, twenty-six governments pledged to use their resources against the Axis powers and not make a separate peace. The Atlantic Charter had already set out British and American principles for the peace to follow. As the Second World War continued, the allies sought institutions that could preserve cooperation after victory and address disputes before they produced another general war. [1] [2]

Representatives of the United States, Britain, the Soviet Union, and the Republic of China developed proposals at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington in 1944. A general assembly would give every member a place, while a smaller security council would carry particular responsibility for peace. The arrangement joined a principle of sovereign equality to recognition of unequal military power. Agreement at Yalta in early 1945 advanced the bargaining over voting and the privileges of the permanent council members. [1]

Negotiating the Charter

Fifty countries sent representatives to San Francisco to complete the charter between April and June 1945. Delegates worked through commissions and technical committees on membership, peaceful settlement, trusteeship, voting, and the organization’s powers. [1] [3]

In a private American delegation meeting on 14 June, Secretary of State Edward Stettinius reported his discussion with Mexican foreign minister Ezequiel Padilla about votes on charter amendments. Stettinius insisted that the United States could not join without a veto over the amendment process. Senators expressed competing hopes: that the great powers might restrain their use of the veto and that the charter could change with circumstances. [3]

What the Founders Established

The charter signed on 26 June required peaceful settlement of disputes and restricted the threat or use of force. It also made human rights, social and economic cooperation, and the equal rights of men and women part of the organization’s purposes. The General Assembly, Security Council, International Court of Justice, Secretariat, and other organs received responsibility for this work. The five permanent Security Council seats belonged to China, France, the Soviet Union, Britain, and the United States; at the founding, China was represented by the Republic of China. [2]

The United States Senate approved the charter on 28 July by 89 votes to two, and it entered into force on 24 October 1945. American participation marked a different outcome from the rejection of the League of Nations after the Paris Peace Conference. [1] [2]

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