World Affairs
United Nations
1945

The Covenant of the League of Nations following World War I collapsed when the United States failed to ratify the Treaty of Versailles, of which the covenant was a part. Isolationism was still the mood of the times, until World War II. The seeds for creation of the United Nations (UN) were sown in the latter days of the war. During the Third Franklin Roosevelt Administration, Cordell Hull and Henry A. Wallace were key figures in the preparation to establish the UN. The first American representative to the UN was Edward R. Stettinius Jr., of the Harry S. Truman Administration.

The name "United Nations" was coined by United States president Franklin D. Roosevelt, and was first used in the Declaration by the United Nations of January 1, 1942, during the war, when representatives of 26 nations pledged their governments to continue fighting together against the Axis Powers.

Nations first established international organizations to cooperate on specific matters. The International Telegraph Union (now the International Telecommunications Union) was founded in 1865, and the Universal Postal Union was established in 1874. Both are now United Nations specialized agencies.

In 1899, the first International Peace Conference was held in The Hague to elaborate on instruments for settling crises peacefully, preventing wars and codifying rules of warfare. It adopted the Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes and established the Permanent Court of Arbitration, which began work in 1902.

The forerunner of the United Nations was the League of Nations, an organization conceived in similar circumstances during World War I. It was established in 1919 under the Treaty of Versailles "...to promote international cooperation and to achieve peace and security."

The International Labor Organization also was created under the treaty as an affiliated agency of the League. The League of Nations ceased its activities after failing to prevent the Second World War.

In 1945, representatives of 50 countries met in San Francisco at the United Nations Conference on International Organization, to draw up the United Nations Charter. Those delegates deliberated on the basis of proposals worked out by the representatives of China, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States, at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington D.C., during August through October 1944. The charter was signed on June 26, 1945, by the representatives of the 50 countries. Poland, which was not represented at the conference, signed it later and became one of the original 51 member states.

The United Nations officially came into existence on October 24, 1945, when the charter had been ratified by China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the United States, and a majority of other signatories. United Nations Day is celebrated on October 24 each year.

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