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  4. Preliminaries to the establishment of an international organization for the maintenance of international peace and security

Preliminaries to the establishment of an international organization for the maintenance of international peace and security

[The development of United States postwar foreign policy within the Department of State, including plans for an international organization for the maintenance of international peace and security, is set forth in Department of State Publication No. 3580: Postwar Foreign Policy Preparation, 1939–1945 (Washington, 1949).

The steps leading to the adoption of a draft plan for such an organization, in which President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill indicated an active interest, are related in The Memoirs of Cordell Hull (New York, 1948), volume II, pages 1625–1655.

For an unofficial study of the origin of the United Nations organization based on an extensive use of Department of State records, see Ruth B. Russell, A History of the United Nations Charter: The Role of the United States, 1940–1945 (The Brookings Institution, Washington, 1958).

References to documentation on some of the developments leading up to the initiation of concentrated active negotiations regarding a postwar organization for the maintenance of peace follow:

1.
The Declaration by the United Nations, signed January 1, 1942. See Foreign Relations, 1942, volume I, pages 1–38. For text, see ibid., page 25.
2.
Expression of views on postwar organization by President Roosevelt to V. M. Molotov, Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Union, in conversations at Washington in 1942. Under this plan the major United Nations would act as policemen to impose peace. See reports of before-dinner conversation on May 29, Foreign Relations, 1942, volume III, pages 568–569, and of conversation on June 1, ibid., pages 580–581.
3.
Rejection by the United States in 1942 of invitations by the British Government to participate with the British and other Allied Governments in joint studies on the future status of the Permanent Court of International Justice. The reason given was that any consideration of the future of the Court prior to the formulation of views on the nature of the international postwar organization would be highly speculative. See Foreign Relations, 1942, volume I, pages 39 ff. (A draft entitled “Tentative Proposal for Revision of the Statute of the Permanent Court of International Justice”, dated [Page 1051] June 25, 1943, was prepared by a special subcommittee on legal problems of the Advisory Committee on Postwar Foreign Policy. For text, see Department of State, Postwar Foreign Policy Preparation, 1939–1945, page 485.)
4.
Expressions of British views on postwar organization in February 1943. On February 2, 1943, on the train returning from a conference with Turkish officials at Adana, Prime Minister Churchill prepared a memorandum entitled “Morning Thoughts: Note on Postwar Security.” A copy of this memorandum was sent to President Roosevelt who gave a copy to Secretary Hull. (Copy in Lot File 60D–224.) The section dealing with postwar organization is summarized in The Memoirs of Cordell Hull, volume II, pages 1640–1641 and in Churchill’s The Second World War, volume IV, The Hinge of Fate (Boston, 1950), pages 711–712, where the paragraph regarding international organization is quoted. The greater part of this memorandum dealt with relations with Turkey. On February 4, 1943, the British Ambassador presented to the Secretary of State a “Draft of Joint Declaration of Colonial Policy” (500.CC/2–443). This proposal provided for continued responsibility of the “parent” or “trustee” states for administration of their colonies, but in association with regional commissions. For an account of the origin of this draft declaration, see Sir Llewellyn Woodward, British Foreign Policy in the Second World War (Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, London, 1962), page 440, footnote 2. (A prototype for such a regional commission was the Anglo-American Caribbean Commission. See White House press release of March 8, 1942, Department of State Bulletin, March 14, 1942, page 229, and The Memoirs of Cordell Hull, volume II, pages 1236–1237.)
5.
Visit of British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Anthony Eden, to Washington, March 12–30, 1943. See Foreign Relations, 1943, volume III, pages 1 ff., especially memoranda of conversations on March 22, 27 and 29, pages 28, 36, and 40, respectively. At this time Secretary Hull gave to Mr. Eden a revised draft, “Declaration by the United Nations on National Independence,” prepared on March 9. For text, see Moscow Conference Document No. 44, ante, page 747.
6.
The Third Washington Conference, between President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill, with their advisers, May 11–25, 1943. Documentation on this conference is scheduled for publication in a subsequent volume of Foreign Relations. In The Hinge of Fate, pages 802–807, Mr. Churchill gives a detailed account of a luncheon meeting at the British Embassy on May 22 at which he discussed the structure of a postwar settlement with Vice President Wallace, Secretary of War Stimson, Secretary of the Interior Ickes, Under [Page 1052] Secretary of State Welles, and Senator Connally, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
7.
The First Quebec Conference between President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill, with their advisers, August 17–24, 1943. (The Joint Chiefs of Staff had been meeting at Quebec beginning August 11.) Secretary of State Hull and British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Eden attended this conference. For Mr. Hull’s account of the discussion at Quebec of drafts regarding dependent peoples and a four-power declaration on a general postwar international organization, and other political problems, see The Memoirs of Cordell Hull, volume II, pages 1237–1242. Documentation on this conference is scheduled for publication in a subsequent volume of Foreign Relations.
8.
Radio address by Secretary of State Hull, September 17, 1943, on “Our Foreign Policy in the Framework of our National Interests.” For text, see Department of State Bulletin, September 18, 1943, page 173.
9.
The Fulbright and Connally Resolutions. On September 21, 1943, the House of Representatives passed the Fulbright Resolution, House Concurrent Resolution 25, going on record in favor of participation by the United States in “appropriate international machinery with power adequate to establish and maintain a just and lasting peace.” See the Congressional Record, volume 89, part 6, page 7728. The Senate did not act on this resolution, but on November 5, 1943, it passed the Connally Resolution, Senate Resolution 192, including the declaration “that the Senate recognizes the necessity of there being established at the earliest practical date a general international organization based on the principle of the sovereignty of all peace-loving states, and open to membership by all such states, large and small, for the maintenance of international peace and security.” See the Congressional Record, volume 89, part 7, page 9222.
10.
The Tripartite Conference at Moscow, October 18–November 1, 1943. For documentation on this conference, see ante, pages 513 ff. The Declaration of Four Nations on General Security, signed at the Moscow Conference of Foreign Ministers on October 30, 1943 (ante, page 755), set in motion active negotiations for a postwar international organization. For references to the record of discussions of the Declaration at the Moscow Conference, with relevant documents, see index under heading “Tripartite Conference of Foreign Ministers: Four-Nation Declaration”.
11.
Proposal by United States Government that other governments be invited to adhere to point 4 of the Moscow Four Power Declaration calling for the formation of a general international organization. On November 18, 1943, the Secretary of State sent telegrams to [Page 1053] the Ambassadors in London, Chungking, and Moscow instructing them to ascertain from the British, Chinese, and Soviet Foreign Ministers, respectively, their attitude on the proposal that an announcement be made that such adherences would be welcome and should be sent to Washington (500.CC/26a). Favorable replies were received from the Chinese and Soviet Governments. The Embassy in London, however, in a telegram of December 2 quoted a communication from the Foreign Office stating that the British Government was inclined to the view that it would be premature to open this point of the Declaration to adherence by other governments until further progress had been made by the British, American, and Soviet Governments in their exchanges of views (500.CC/29).
12.
Discussion between President Roosevelt and Marshal Stalin regarding postwar organization at meetings on November 29 and December 1, 1943, during the Tehran Conference. For records of these meetings, see Foreign Relations, The Conferences at Cairo and Tehran, 1943, pages 529–533 and 594–596, respectively.
13.
Memorandum from the Secretary of State to President Roosevelt, dated December 29, 1943, transmitting “Plan for the Establishment of an International Organization for the Maintenance of International Peace and Security” and an additional attachment entitled “Principal Obligations of a Member State”. For texts of this memorandum and its attachments, see Department of State, Postwar Foreign Policy Preparation, 1939–1945, pages 576–581. (For earlier draft plans prepared in the Department of State, “Draft Constitution of International Organization”, July 14, 1943, and “The Charter of the United Nations”, August 14, 1943, see ibid., pages 472 and 526, respectively.)]