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The Founding of the United Nations: From the Atlantic Charter to 1945

How the UN was founded: the 1941 declarations, Moscow, Dumbarton Oaks, the Yalta veto deal, San Francisco and the Charter in force on 24 October 1945.

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Key takeaways

  • The UN dates its Charter's origins to the Declaration of St James's Palace (12 June 1941) and the Atlantic Charter of August 1941.
  • The 'Declaration by United Nations' of 1 January 1942, signed by 26 states, contained the first official use of the name, which the UN says Roosevelt coined.
  • Fifty countries signed the Charter in San Francisco on 26 June 1945; Poland signed later, making 51 original members.
  • The UN officially came into existence on 24 October 1945, after ratification by China, France, the Soviet Union, the UK, the US and a majority of other signatories.
  • Wikipedia says the Security Council veto was agreed at Yalta in February 1945 after Stalin insisted on it.

The United Nations was founded in 1945, but it was designed during the war. Its Charter was signed in San Francisco on 26 June 1945 by representatives of 50 countries, and the organisation officially came into existence on 24 October 1945, once enough governments had ratified it. The UN's own history traces the idea back four years earlier, to a declaration signed in bomb-damaged London in June 1941 and a statement of war aims agreed by Roosevelt and Churchill that August.

This page follows the founding step by step, using the UN's account and Wikipedia's, and notes where they differ.

The League's failure and the wartime starting point

The UN had a predecessor. Wikipedia records that the League of Nations was established in 1919 under the Treaty of Versailles "to promote international cooperation and to achieve peace and security," and that Roosevelt, taking up Woodrow Wilson's mantle, made a replacement his highest postwar priority. The League's helplessness in the 1930s is part of the causes of World War II, and its birth part of the settlement after the First World War.

The UN dates the first step to 12 June 1941. In London, then home to nine exiled governments, representatives of Britain, the dominions, the exiled governments of occupied Europe and General de Gaulle signed the Declaration of St James's Palace, which stated that "the only true basis of enduring peace is the willing co-operation of free peoples."

The Atlantic Charter and the first use of the name, 1941–1942

The UN calls the Atlantic Charter the origin of the Charter of the United Nations. Here the sources give slightly different dates: the UN says it was signed on 14 August 1941, while Wikipedia dates the Atlantic Conference to 9–12 August 1941. Either way, Roosevelt and Churchill set out common principles for a better postwar world, and the document's eighth paragraph referred to "a wider and permanent system of general security."

On 1 January 1942, twenty-six states at war with the Axis — including the United States, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and China — signed the Declaration by United Nations in Washington. The UN says it contained the first official use of the term "United Nations," a name coined by Roosevelt. Twenty-one more states adhered later, from Mexico and the Philippines to Syria and Lebanon, bringing the total to 26 + 21 = 47.

From Moscow to Dumbarton Oaks, 1943–1944

The idea of a permanent peacekeeping organisation first appeared expressly in an official document at the Moscow Conference of 18 October to 1 November 1943, where the US, UK, USSR and China recognised "the necessity of establishing at the earliest practicable date a general international organization, based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all peace-loving States." Wikipedia dates the Moscow Declarations themselves to 30 October 1943. At Tehran, from 28 November to 1 December 1943, Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin pledged to "work together in war and in the peace that will follow."

The draft came out of Dumbarton Oaks in Washington. From 21 August to 7 October 1944, the UN records, the US and UK met the Soviet Union (21 August–28 September) and then China (29 September–7 October) — in two separate rounds. Wikipedia's account gives the Big Four's meetings as running from 21 September to 7 October, a month later than the UN's start date; this page follows the UN's dates. The resulting "Proposals for the Establishment of a General International Organization," issued on 9 October 1944, became the working document for San Francisco.

Yalta and the veto, February 1945

The Dumbarton Oaks proposals left one important gap, the UN notes: the voting procedure in the Security Council. That was settled at Yalta, from 4 to 11 February 1945. Wikipedia says Stalin insisted on a veto and Roosevelt agreed — avoiding what Wikipedia calls the fatal weakness of the League, which could in theory order members to act against their own parliaments. Yalta also summoned the San Francisco conference for 25 April 1945. Invitations went out on 5 March to states that had declared war on Germany and Japan and signed the 1942 Declaration; Wikipedia notes that some, such as Brazil and Syria, qualified by declarations of war in the first months of 1945.

Roosevelt died on 12 April 1945. The UN records fears that the conference might be postponed, but President Truman kept to the arrangements.

San Francisco and the ratification arithmetic

The United Nations Conference on International Organization met in San Francisco from 25 April to 26 June 1945. On the final day, representatives of 50 countries signed the Charter; Poland, not represented, signed later, making 51 original members. Wikipedia adds that France was made a permanent member of the Security Council at Churchill's insistence.

The Charter set its own threshold for coming into force, and the numbers are worth working through. It required ratification by the five permanent members — China, France, the USSR, Britain and the United States — and, as Wikipedia puts it, by a majority of the other 46 signatories. A majority of 46 is 24, so at least 5 + 24 = 29 ratifications were needed. That point was reached on 24 October 1945, 120 days after the signing, which the UN describes as "four months after the San Francisco Conference ended."

What happened next

The General Assembly first met in Westminster Central Hall, London, on 10 January 1946, and the Security Council a week later, Wikipedia records; the League of Nations formally dissolved itself on 18 April 1946. How many new states emerged after 1945 is traced in how decolonisation happened. Reading the UN's own institutional history alongside an independent account is a small lesson in primary and secondary sources: an institution's account of its own founding is valuable for dates and documents, and worth checking against an outside one.

World History Timeline Sim, our app, lets you browse events from 1941 to 1945 by year and region to see how the conferences interleave with the fighting. Its what-if mode simulates alternatives and is not a historical record, and the app is a companion to coursework. More history is under education and brain training.

Good to know

Frequently asked questions

When was the United Nations founded?
The Charter was signed in San Francisco on 26 June 1945, and the UN officially came into existence on 24 October 1945, once the Charter had been ratified by China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and a majority of the other signatories.
Who first used the name United Nations?
The UN's own history says the name was coined by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and first used officially in the Declaration by United Nations of 1 January 1942, in which 26 states at war with the Axis, including the US, UK, USSR and China, pledged themselves to the principles of the Atlantic Charter.
How many countries founded the United Nations?
Fifty-one. The UN says representatives of 50 countries signed the Charter at the San Francisco conference on 26 June 1945, and Poland, which was not represented there, signed it later and became one of the original 51 member states.
Where did the veto in the Security Council come from?
From the bargaining among the wartime Big Three. The UN notes that the Dumbarton Oaks proposals of 1944 left Security Council voting unresolved and that this gap was filled at Yalta in February 1945. Wikipedia says Stalin insisted on a veto and Roosevelt agreed, and that France was added as a permanent member at Churchill's insistence.

Sources

  1. Preparatory Years: UN Charter History (opens in a new tab)United Nations — accessed
  2. History of the United Nations (opens in a new tab)United Nations — accessed
  3. History of the United Nations (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia — accessed

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