Figure 1.--Presient Roosevelt was the first to use the term United Nations during World War II to describe the Allied war effort. At the time the United Nations did not yet exist. The name was also used in fund raising efforts for critically needed relief efforts. The children are on stage for what is described as a United Nations pagent to raise funds. Given the costumes it looks like an event aimed at Greek Americans. All of the captive nations had American ethnic communities interested in providing assistance for their war-torm fellow countrymen..

The League of Nations failed in the face of totalitarian Fascist and Soviet aggression. Its successor was the United Nations which began to organize during World under the agesis of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The name 'United Nations' was chosen by President Roosevelt to differentiate it from the League of Nations. The President was a Wilsonian Democrat who had supported President Wilson and the League after World War I. The League had engendered such controversy and ultimately failed that the President wanted a new name for its successor. The name was first used in the 'Declaration by United Nations' (January 1, 1942) a few weeks after the United States entered World War II. Representatives of 26 nations pledged their Governments to pursue the war against the Axis powers which launched the War in both Europe and Asia. (The Soviet Union had joined the NAZIs in launching the War, but never joined the Axis. They were forced to switch sides when the NAZIs invaded.) Mostly the United States used the term United Nations in dedescribing the Allied war effort. The term was also used in relief efforts, most prominately with the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA). Fund raising efforts also used the term United Nations. All of this occurred before the United Nations was actually founded. Representatives of 50 countries met in San Francisco at the end of the War. It was here at the United Nations Conference on International Organization that the United Nations Charter wasadopted and the United Nations actually came into existence (September 1945). The delegates deliberated on the basis of proposals worked out by the representatives of China, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States at Dumbarton Oaks, United States (August-October 1944). The Charter was signed by the representatives of the 50 countries (June 26, 1945). Poland was not represented at the Conference, but signed it later and became one of the original 51 Member States. The United Nations officially came into existence (October 24, 1945). This was when the Charter had been ratified by China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and by a majority of other signatories. The public face of the United Nations is the Secretary General who heads the organizatioon's Secretariat.

Created: 8:14 AM 7/28/2017
Last updated: 8:14 AM 7/28/2017