The Cube

Because we benefit from the union of the United Nations provided
each day, it is easy to forget where it started. In this series, we will
share the key moments that led to the formation of the United
Nations and how we experience it today.
When we think of United Nations gatherings, we frequently think of the UN Headquarters
in New York City or Geneva. It is often in those places that important decisions are made
today. What is often forgotten is that the United Nations was born on the shores of the
Pacific Ocean, in the city of San Francisco, USA. It was in San Francisco that during the
final weeks of the Second World War, delegates from fifty nations gathered to create
the UN Charter and the International Court of Justice. Remembering this important
episode in UN history is relevant given the threat of a new global conflict today.
Formally known as the United Nations Conference on International Organization, the San
Francisco Conference lasted roughly two months from May to June of 1945. It remains
today the largest gathering that the United Nations has ever seen. Four sponsoring
nations, the United States, the United Kingdom, China, and the Soviet Union, sponsored
the UN conference to create an international organization capable of preventing a
future global war. The conference as well as the term “United Nations” were an initiative
of American president Franklin D. Roosevelt. The reasons that motivated Roosevelt were
obvious: the League of Nations created by his predecessor had failed to prevent the war.
Unfortunately, Roosevelt never saw his vision for the United Nations materialized, as the
war drew to an end, his health deteriorated and he died in April 1945, days before the
conference was set to begin.
The choice of San Francisco was not a casual one. The city was chosen because it
provided a fairly equal travel time for all the delegates of the represented nations. Not all
nations were invited to the conference. While the conference was being held, the fighting
continued to rage in Europe and the Pacific. Only those nations that had declared war on
the Axis powers prior to the conference were invited. Later, once freedom was restored
in war-torn countries, all nations would be invited to join the UN. In total 850 delegates
arrived in San Francisco, and counting additional staff members, there were around
3500 representatives for the conference. The conference was held at the San Francisco
War Memorial Opera. For the next two months, these representatives would debate and
approve the UN charter. Back then, as it is today, the question of the Security Council
composition and the veto power was a hotly debated topic. At the end, the smaller
nations were not able to overcome the insistence of the sponsoring powers, and the
veto of the permanent members of the Security Council remained. Nevertheless, most
sources agree that the atmosphere at the conference was optimistic and constructive,
and the charter was approved unanimously. Within two years the UN Headquarters in
New York City was completed.
It was in San Francisco that the delegates of the represented nations established
their purpose in the UN charter, the prevention of global conflicts: “We The Peoples
of the United Nations determined to save succeeding generations from the
scourge of war…”. The goal of preventing war was straightforward for nations
that had for years seen destruction and death. Today, with the memory of a
global conflict far in the past, it is important for us to remember that it was peace
that motivated all delegates to create the United Nations. Today the UN Plaza in
the San Francisco Civic Center is a memorial to this crucial episode in history.
In a separate ceremony, the delegates of all the represented nations to the Conference
held a memorial to Franklin D. Roosevelt at the Muir Redwood National Forest, in the
coastal hills north of the San Francisco Bay, where they left a plaque among the thousand
year-old redwoods that continue to stand today.
Part II in the next edition of The Cube
The Cube | 33