In 1849 it took the clipper ship flying cloud 89 days to reach San Franciscos golden date harbor from new york. In the spring of 1945, no point on earth was more than 40 flying hours away from San Francisco. In those 100 years, San Francisco grew larger as the world grew smaller. It developed into a vigorous and cosmopolitan center. A center of commerce and culture and of industry and shipping for the war in the pacific. And for nine weeks in the spring of 1945 San Francisco was the center of mens hopes for lasting peace. Delegates representing 46 nations came to San Francisco on april 25, 1945. Representing almost 2,000 Million People, more than 80 of humanity. All at war when the conference was begun, they came with hope born of common struggle. They came to design together machinery to end war. A curse which in 30 years killed 40 million human beings. Maimed countless millions more, both armed and unarmed. When the conference convened, Franklin Roosevelt was missing. The man who helped weld the United Nations together as a fighting team and who worked to keep them united in the peace to come had died before he could see his dream come true. But his words were in every mind and heart. 25 years ago American Fighting men looked to the statesmen of the world to furnish the work of peace for which they fought and suffered. We failed them. With failed them, then, we cannot fail them again and expect the world to survive again. President truman, roosevelts friend and successor, opened the conference by radio from washington. Delegates to the United Nations conference on international organization. It is not the purpose of this conference to draft a treaty of peace in the old sense of that term. This conference will devote its energies and its labors exclusively to the single problem of setting up the essential organization to keep the peace. You are to write the fundamental charter. [ applause ] as the delegates broke up that first night, the task before them was clear. To chart the course toward realistic International Cooperation to preserve peace. This was the responsibility vested in them by a warweary world. It was for this they had gathered at the invitation of the governments of china, great britain, the ussr, and the united states. This was the step made possible by dunkirk and stalingrad and normandy and the burma road and midway. Planned for at casablanca, cairo, moscow, tehran, dumbarton oaks, and yalta. Delegates from 46 and later 50 nations were there. But there in spirit too were the victims of warsaw, coventry, shanghai, lieditze. The hopes of the living and the dead were concentrated in the hands of the representatives meeting at San Francisco. Together they organized the huge problem ahead of them. The discussion and amendment of the proposals prepared at dumbarton oaks. Each nation was represented on all four large commissions, set out to work out the general provisions of the united charter and the actual structure of the General Assembly, Security Council and judicial organization. These committees were divided into smaller working groups. 12 in all. Chinese, english, russian, french, and spanish were the standard means of exchange among many languages spoken. And in nine weeks the charter was ready to go before the participating governments for ratification. In the General Assembly of the United Nations organization, each member will have one vote. Any matters within the scope of the charter will be discussed here. Recommendations will be made to the Security Council. The Security Council will have five permanent members, and six others elected by the General Assembly for two years. It is to be the enforcement arm of the organization. An International Court of justice in permanent session will decide legal aspects of international disputes. The economic and social council will have 18 members elected by the General Assembly. Special agencies like the food and Agriculture Organization will be affiliated with it. The Trusteeship Council for the advancement of territories held in trust, will be part of the General Assembly. It will be equally divided between those nations which administer trust territories and knows which do not. There will be a secretariat to do the administrative work of the organization. These provisions were not easily arrived at. They were hammered out of debate, stretched and contracted by compromise. The result is a constitution which is at the same time an expression of high ideals and of practical measures. To be effective the charter needs the active cooperation of people everywhere. The same efforts and understanding that went into the writing of the charter will be needed to make it a working instrument. To fulfill the mutual responsibilities of nations as set forth in the charter, to bring about free world trade and the full employment of mans productive resources, men and women of good will everywhere must come to know and understand one another. In this charter, humanity has declared its united purpose to work toward those economic goals. The social and Economic Council of the United Nations organization gives the peoples of the world an instrument with which to promote a higher standard of living everywhere. Through their delegates at spris San Francisco, the member United Nations pledge to use that instrument. They pledge, too, to stimulate the exchange of culture among peoples, and in the words of the charter to practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbors. At San Francisco 50 United Nations reaffirm their faith in the dignity and worth of the human person without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion. The representatives of 2,000 Million People pledge to promote freedom from fear, and freedom from expression. Freedom from want and freedom of worship. The second week of the conference brought the news of germanys surrender. Proof of the common good against a common enemy. But in their wake the germans left horror and devastation. A specter of fascism and the price of total war, which would haunt civilization for decades to come. Strong and effective machinery must guarantee that succeeding generations shall be spared such destruction. Therefore, at San Francisco the delegates of the United Nations took concrete steps to settle their disputes by peaceful means to prevent threats to the peace, to suppress aggression, and pledged to place their armed forces at the disposal of the international organization. For speedy combined action, air forces will be held immediately available. Final responsibility is vested in the powerful Security Council authorized to work swiftly and effectively with the aid of its military staff committee. This machinery was not designed without disagreement and dispute, but the final blueprint had the unanimous approval of the participating delegates. And it is now my duty, my honor and my privilege in the chair to call for a vote on the approval of the charter of the United Nations, including the statute of the International Law and also of the agreement on interim arrangements. If i have your pleasure, may i invite the leaders of delegations who are in favor of the approval of the charter and the statute, and the agreement on interim arrangements to rise in their places and be good enough to remain standing while theyre counted . [ applause ] this was a peoples conference, responsible to the conscience of the world. Here in the midst of war, the worlds people collaborated in the drafting of a workable international constitution. It was a conference to write a peoples charter, opening with the words we the people of the United Nations, determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind. It was a peoples conference and a soldiers conference. Meeting under the eyes of veterans of two wars. And the generation that must suffer if the constitution fails. Common people and their governments alike were aware of the stakes. There were many who doubted that an agreement could be reached by these 50 countries, differing so much in race, religion, language, and culture. But these differences were all forgotten in one unshakeable unity of determination, to find a way to end war. [ applause ] this charter points the way. But whether the world is to move in that direction will depend finally on the vigilance and the sovereign will of the peoples of the world. Weeknights this month, were featuring American History tv programs as a preview of whats available every weekend on cspan 3. And tonight we look at president john f. Kennedys assassination. A week after his death, president Linden Johnson appointed supreme Court Justice earl warren to investigate. We go to the original warren Conference Room on capitol hill. To discuss key artifacts and lingering controversies surrounding the report. Watch beginning at 8 00 p. M. Eastern and enjoy American History tv every weekend on cspan3. Next on American History tv, stephanie jonesrogers details her research into southern white women slave owners, who she calculates comprised 40 of slave owners in some regions. Shes the author of they were her property, white women as slave owners in the american south. This event was host bid the National Archives in 2019. Questioning assumptions about history gives us a fresh understanding of our past, digging into primary sources helps us uncover and listen to the voices of those who havent usually been heard. Todays guest author, stephanie jonesrogers, has done this in her new book, they were her property. Jonesrogers uses an impressive
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