On 26 June 1945, official representatives of 50 countries, meeting in San Francisco, United States, signed the Charter of the United Nations, forming the world’s premier international organization, dedicated to “saving succeeding generations from the scourge of war”. Eight decades after that day, the United Nations counts 193 Member States and works through a broad system of related agencies, funds and programmes to achieve, for all peoples, “peace, dignity and equality on a healthy planet”.
On 24 June 1947, in time for the second anniversary of the Charter, the United Nations Weekly Bulletin, which eventually became today’s UN Chronicle, published an article setting out the major events and historical context of the formation of the United Nations and the signing of its founding document. The article offers the truly unique and hopeful perspective of the Organization in its earliest days, setting out its purpose and promise, which remain remarkably relevant today.
ON JUNE 26, 1945, the peoples of the United Nations, through their representatives assembled in San Francisco, established a new world organization to advance the ideals for which they had fought the most tragic war in history.
In taking this momentous step, the freedom-loving peoples of the world affirmed that the spirit of co-operation and unity of purpose which alone had made the military victory possible must be maintained to meet the challenge of the peace.
This realization that the nations must remain united was the result neither of chance nor of sudden decision. Two world wars in one generation—wars which had enveloped every corner of the globe and involved every segment of mankind—had driven home one inescapable conclusion: that the peace and security for which men had vainly longed for centuries could be attained only through the continued partnership, and vigilance, of all the peoples of the world. With every year, weapons of destruction have been assuming terrifying potentiality, and a third world war would wipe out the basis of civilization. Behind the signing of the United Nations Charter is the story of mankind's age-old attempts to take common action so that peace and security may be achieved. Some of the world's most illustrious poets and philosophers have outlined plans for a workable federation of nations. In 1313 Dante advocated a European union under a single benevolent ruler. In 1713 the Abbé St. Pierre argued on behalf of a perpetual alliance of European states and the use of compulsory arbitration to settle disputes. Jeremy Bentham advocated the reduction of armaments and the establishment of a "common legislature," while Immanuel Kant favored a general federation of states that should be universal in scope and that should embrace all the peoples of the world.
This article was authored and first published by the United Nations in the United Nations Weekly Bulletin, predecessor of the UN Chronicle, on 24 June 1947 (Volume II, No. 24).
