Senate Ratifies United Nations Charter, July 28, 1945
- Harry Truman looks on as Secretary of State Edward R. Stettinius signs the United Nations Security Charter for the U.S. AP Photo
On this day in 1945, as World War II drew to a close, the Senate ratified the United Nations Charter by 89-2. Its approval signaled a sea change in U.S. involvement in world affairs.
In 1919, following World War I, President Woodrow Wilson had sought Senate approval of the Covenant of the League of Nations, the charter that Wilson envisioned and largely fashioned. However, to Wilson’s disappointment, growing isolationism and partisan politics killed chances of U.S. participation in the league.
President Harry S. Truman voiced delight with the Senate’s U.N. vote. “The action of the Senate,” Truman said, “substantially advances the cause of world peace.”
Joseph Grew, acting secretary of state, also lauded the Senate’s action, noting that “millions of men, women and children have died because nations took to the naked sword instead of the conference table to settle their differences.”
Fifty of the original 51 U.N. member nations had signed the treaty at the San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center on June 26. Poland, the remaining original member, was not represented, a harbinger of the Cold War. (The Poles signed later.)
The treaty came into force on Oct. 24, 1945, after being ratified by the then five permanent members of the Security Council: Britain, the Republic of China, France, the Soviet Union and the United States.
In years to come, the United Nations would be the scene of memorable Cold War confrontations between Washington and Moscow and their respective allies. Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, during a 1960 speech at U.N. headquarters in New York, denounced purported Western imperialism — and pounded the table with one of his shoes to make his point.
Today, 192 countries are U.N. members.
SOURCE: BASIC FACTS ABOUT THE UNITED NATIONS (2000)