CAMBRIDGE AS HISTORY: SAN FRANCISCO CONFERENCE 1945 AND THE CHARTER. Presentation suitable for Year 12 History students.

1. HISTORY CAMBRIDGE AS - PAPER 1
MODULE 1919-1945
PRESENTATION 1

2. Forty-six nations, including the four sponsors, were originally invited
to the San Francisco Conference: nations which had declared war on
Germany and Japan and had subscribed to the United Nations
Declaration.
UNITED NATIONS

3. POLAND
One of these nations - Poland - did not send a representative because the
composition of its new government was not announced until too late for
the conference.
Therefore, a space was left for the signature of Poland, one of the original
signatories of the United Nations Declaration.
At the time of the conference there was no generally recognized Polish
Government, but on June 28, such a government was announced and on
October 15, 1945 Poland signed the Charter, thus becoming one of the
original Members.

4. The San Francisco Conference: Egypt signs the UN Charter.
A facsimile copy of the Charter is superimposed on the photo.

5. 50 NATIONS, SOON TO BE UNITED
The conference itself invited four other states - the Byelorussian Soviet
Socialist Republic, the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, newly-liberated
Denmark and Argentina.
Thus delegates of fifty nations in all, gathered at the City of the Golden
Gate, representatives of over eighty per cent of the world's population,
people of every race, religion and continent; all determined to set up an
organization which would preserve peace and help build a better world.
They had before them the Dumbarton Oaks proposals as the agenda for
the conference and, working on this basis, they had to produce a Charter
acceptable to all the countries.

6. 850 DELEGATES
There were 850 delegates, and their advisers and staff together with the
conference secretariat brought the total to 3,500.
In addition, there were more than 2,500 press, radio and newsreel
representatives and observers from many societies and organizations.
In all, the San Francisco Conference was not only one of the most
important in history but, perhaps, the largest international gathering ever
to take place. The heads of the delegations of the sponsoring countries
took turns as chairman of the plenary meetings: Anthony Eden, of Britain,
Edward Stettinius, of the United States, T. V. Soong, of China, and
Vyacheslav Molotov, of the Soviet Union. At the later meetings, Lord
Halifax deputized for Mr. Eden, V. K. Wellington Koo for T. V. Soong, and
Mr Gromyko for Mr. Molotov.

7. TWO MONTHS OF WORK
Plenary meetings are, however, only the final stages at such conferences.
A great deal of work has to be done in preparatory committees before a
proposition reaches the full gathering in the form in which it should be
voted upon.
And the voting procedure at San Francisco was important.
Every part of the Charter had to be and was passed by a two-thirds
majority.
This is the way in which the San Francisco Conference got through its
monumental work in exactly two months.

8. STEERING COMMITTEE
The conference formed a "Steering Committee," composed of the heads
of all the delegations. This committee decided all matters of major
principle and policy. But, even at one member per state, the committee
was 50 strong, too large for detailed work; therefore an Executive
Committee of fourteen heads of delegations was chosen to prepare
recommendations for the Steering Committee.
Then the proposed Charter was divided into four sections, each of which
was considered by a "Commission." Commission one dealt with the
general purposes of the organization, its principles, membership, the
secretariat and the subject of amendments to the Charter. Commission
two considered the powers and responsibilities of the General Assembly,
while Commission three took up the Security Council.

9. ONE CHARTER, FOUR SECTIONS
Commission four worked on a draft for the Statute of the International
Court of Justice.
This draft had been prepared by a 44-nation Committee of Jurists which
had met in Washington in April 1945.
All this sounds over-elaborate — especially when the four Commissions
subdivided into twelve technical committees — but actually, it was the
speediest way of ensuring the fullest discussion and securing the last
ounce of agreement possible.

10. REGIONAL ORGANISATIONS
There was the question, for example, of the status of "regional
organisations." Many countries had their own arrangements for regional
defence and mutual assistance.
There was the Inter-American System, for example, and the Arab League.
How were such arrangements to be related to the world organization?
The conference decided to give them part in peaceful settlement and
also, in certain circumstances, in enforcement measures, provided that
the aims and acts of these groups accorded with the aims and purposes
of the United Nations.
The League of Nations had provided machinery for the revision of treaties
between members. Should the United Nations make similar provisions?

12. TREATIES
The conference finally agreed that treaties made after the formation of
the United Nations should be registered with the Secretariat and
published by it.
As to revision, no specific mention was made although such revision may
be recommended by the General Assembly in the course of investigation
of any situation requiring peaceful adjustment.

13. TRUSTEESHIP
The conference added a whole new chapter on the subject not covered
by the Dumbarton Oaks proposals: proposals creating a system for
territories placed under United Nations trusteeship.
On this matter there was much debate. Should the aim of trusteeship be
defined as "independence" or "self-government" for the peoples of these
areas? If independence, what about areas too small ever to stand on
their own legs for defence?
It was finally recommended that the promotion of the progressive
development of the peoples of trust territories should be directed toward
"independence or self-government."

14. DEBATES
There was also considerable debate on the jurisdiction of the
International Court of Justice and the conference decided that member
nations would not be compelled to accept the Court's jurisdiction but
might voluntarily declare their acceptance of compulsory jurisdiction.
Likewise the question of future amendments to the Charter received
much attention and finally resulted in an agreed solution.

15. VETOES
Above all, the right of each of the "Big Five" to exercise a "veto" on action
by the powerful Security Council provoked long and heated debate. At
one stage the conflict of opinion on this question threatened to break up
the conference. The smaller powers feared that when one of the "Big
Five" menaced the peace, the Security Council would be powerless to act,
while in the event of a clash between two powers not permanent
members of the Security Council, the "Big Five" could act arbitrarily. They
strove therefore to have the power of the "veto" reduced. But the great
powers unanimously insisted on this provision as vital, and emphasized
that the main responsibility for maintaining world peace would fall most
heavily on them. Eventually the smaller powers conceded the point in the
interest of setting up the world organization. This and other vital issues
were resolved only because every nation was determined to set up, if not
the perfect international organization, the best that could be made.

16. THE LAST MEETING
Thus it was that in the Opera House at San Francisco on June 25, the
delegates met in full session for the last meeting. Lord Halifax presided
and put the final draft of the Charter to the meeting. "This issue upon
which we are about to vote," he said, "is as important as any we shall
ever vote in our lifetime."
In view of the world importance of the occasion, he suggested that it
would be appropriate to depart from the customary method of voting by
a show of hands. Then, as the issue was put, every delegate rose and
remained standing. So did everyone present, the staffs, the press and
some 3000 visitors, and the hall resounded to a mighty ovation as the
Chairman announced that the Charter had been passed unanimously.

17. THE CHARTER IS SIGNED
The next day, in the auditorium of the Veterans' Memorial Hall, the
delegates filed up one by one to a huge round table on which lay the two
historic volumes, the Charter and the Statute of the International Court of
Justice.
Behind each delegate stood the other members of the delegation against
a colourful semi-circle of the flags of fifty nations. In the dazzling
brilliance of powerful spotlights, each delegate affixed his signature.
To China, first victim of aggression by an Axis power, fell the honour of
signing first.

18. PRESIDENT TRUMAN
"The Charter of the United Nations which you have just signed," said
President Truman in addressing the final session, "is a solid structure
upon which we can build a better world. History will honour you for it.
Between the victory in Europe and the final victory, in this most
destructive of all wars, you have won a victory against war itself. . . . With
this Charter the world can begin to look forward to the time when all
worthy human beings may be permitted to live decently as free people.“
Then the President pointed out that the Charter would work only if the
peoples of the world were determined to make it work. "If we fail to use
it," he concluded, "we shall betray all those who have died so that we
might meet here in freedom and safety to create it. If we seek to use it
selfishly - for the advantage of any one nation or any small group of
nations — we shall be equally guilty of that betrayal. "

20. THE CHARTER IS APPROVED
The United Nations did not come into existence at the signing of the
Charter. In many countries the Charter had to be approved by their
congresses or parliaments. It had therefore been provided that the
Charter would come into force when the Governments of China, France,
Great Britain, the Soviet Union and the United States and a majority of
the other signatory states had ratified it and deposited notification to this
effect with the State Department of the United States.
On October 24, 1945, this condition was fulfilled and the United Nations
came into existence. Four years of planning and the hope of many years
had materialized in an international organization designed to end war
and promote peace, justice and better living for all mankind.