UN was born in San Francisco

Sixty five years ago, on April 25th, 1945, the founding conference of the United Nations began in San Francisco.

First, a brief excursion into history. April 1945. The bloodiest war that claimed tens of thousands of lives is drawing to an end. Two weeks before Nazi Germany signs an act on unconditional surrender, delegates from 50 countries gather in San Francisco to agree upon the founding principles of a future international body. Its key priorities are supposed to be preventing new wars and armed conflicts, promoting peaceful solutions to disputes and encouraging peaceful cooperation between nations. Two months later, 51 countries sign the organization’s charter. That happened on June 26th. The United Nations officially came into existence on October 24th, 1945, after being ratified by the majority of signatories. The crucial part in the process was played by the anti-Hitler coalition of Russia, the United States and Britain.

The decision to establish the UN headquarters in New York left many wondering – why not in Russia, for it carried the main burden of the war and sustained the heaviest losses? It was that latter circumstance that settled the issue. The postwar Russia lay in ruins. The country desperately needed money to restore its war-devastated economy, its cities and villages. And it was desperately short of money, while the United States, its territory spared by warfare, was in a much better situation.

Today, the United Nations has more than 190 members-states and spans almost the entire world. Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev, in his speech at the 64th session of the UN General Assembly, praised the global significance of the United Nations: “The creation of the UN became one of the main achievements of the world community in the 20th century. There is no and cannot be an alternative to this organization and its fruitful activity. And we must preserve and strengthen this shared wealth of the peoples of the world.”