UN Voices: The Struggle for Development and Social Justice

4 From 1945 through the 1950s: Hope Held High

From 1945 through the 1950s 145 4 From 1945 through the 1950s: Hope Held High • Establishment of the United Nations • The Universal Declaration of Human Rights • The Marshall Plan • The Cold War • McCarthyism • Decolonization and the Non-Aligned Movement • The UN Regional Commissions The San Francisco Conference on International Organization culminated on June 22,1945,with the signing of the UN Charter by fifty-one participating states. This historic moment occurred after the end of the war in Europe but prior to the end of the armed conflict in Asia. Preparations for the United Nations were already advanced by the early phases of World War II, stirred by deep revulsion over the horrors that were engulfing so much of the planet. The political failure of the League of Nations and the Treaty of Versailles that underlay its creation highlighted for everyone except the most myopic a sharp awareness of the risks of failing again. The Great Depression and the mass unemployment and poverty amid affluence in the 1930s had generated radically new ideas and approaches to economic and social policy. These were readily available to the postwar world. One of the extraordinary features of the UN’s creation,indeed,is how much of its foundations were laid during the early phases of World War II, some before the United States had even formally entered the war. In August 1941, American president Franklin D. Roosevelt and British prime minister Winston Churchill agreed on common principles for their postwar policies as part of the Atlantic Charter and referred to“the establishment of a wider and permanent system of general security.” Five months later, in January 1942, twenty-six governments—including China, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and a 145 146 Hope, Creativity, and Frustration number of Latin American states—signed a “Declaration of the United Nations ,” elaborating further these basic principles. By October 1943, the need to establish “a general international organization based on the sovereign principle of the equality of all peace-loving states” had been signed by the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union as part of the Declaration of Moscow. They were joined shortly afterward by China. The declaration emphasized action“at the earliest practicable date.” The experience of the Peace Treaty of Versailles had shown the risks and dangers of waiting until after a war was over, when postwar ambitions and alliances might form and prevent or water down agreement about international cooperation. Planning then began in earnest. The most significant meeting was at Dumbarton Oaks, then near (and now in) Washington, D.C., from August to October 1944, where the fundamental principles of the UN itself were hammered out in two parts (by the United States, the United Kingdom, and the USSR and then again by the United States, the United Kingdom, and China). The resulting proposals were put to the nations that assembled in San Francisco the following April.1 Meanwhile, a parallel process was under way to define postwar economic and financial institutions. Beginning in December 1940, British economist John Maynard Keynes, arguably the most important economist of the twentieth century, put forward initial sketches for postwar currency arrangements in his usually poignant manner:“The authors of the Peace Treaty of Versailles made the mistake of neglecting the economic reconstruction of Europe in their preoccupation with political frontiers and safeguards. Much misfortune to all of us has followed from this neglect.”2 His proposals became the subject of intense discussion among a small circle of economists and government officials in London and Washington. By late 1943, both the United States and the United Kingdom had draft proposals,each covering postwar international financial arrangements and a capital fund. This activity culminated in a major international gathering in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, in July and August 1944. Forty-four governments met to discuss ideas for an International Monetary Fund, an International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD, or the World Bank), and an International Trade Organization (ITO). There were other preparatory conferences for specialized institutions, part of a pattern of steady growth of specialized institutions since the middle of the nineteenth century.3 The United States, whose late president Roosevelt was the principal architect of the new postwar order, was perhaps the most active supporter of the new world organization. The United States was engaged in the world and crafted a new rights-based order out of the horrors of World War II. This [13.59.195.118] Project MUSE (2024...