1945-1949

1945-1949


26 June 1945






1945: SAN FRANCISCO CONFERENCE



26 June 1945 The city of San Francisco hosts the United Nations Conference on International Organization. Delegates, members of the press and conference staff converge on the city. Representatives of 50 countries meet in San Francisco to draw up the United Nations Charter. Those delegates deliberate 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, in August-October 1944. The Charter is signed on 26 June 1945 by the representatives of the 50 countries. Poland, which was not represented at the Conference, signs it later and becomes one of the original 51 member states.


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24 October 1945






1946: FIRST SESSION OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY



24 October 1945 The United Nations officially comes into existence on 24 October 1945, when the Charter is ratified by China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and a majority of other signatories. United Nations Day will then be celebrated on 24 October each year.


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Selecting the site








1949: PERMANENT HEADQUARTERS



Following selection of the United States, a special United Nations site committee looks over possible locations during the latter half of 1946 in such places as Philadelphia, Boston and San Francisco. While consideration had been given in the first place to areas north of New York City, crowded Manhattan is not seriously studied. But a last-minute offer of $8.5 million for the purchase of the present site, by John D. Rockefeller, Jr., is accepted by a large majority of the General Assembly on 14 December 1946. New York City completes the site parcel by additional gifts of property. Architects: Wallace K. Harrison of the United States is appointed chief architect, with the title of Director of Planning. To assist him, a 10-member Board of Design Consultants was selected, composed of architects nominated by Governments. The Members of the Board are Nikolai D. Bassov (Soviet Union), Gaston Brunfaut (Belgium), Ernest Cormier (Canada), Charles E. Le Corbusier (France), Liang Seu-Cheng (China), Sven Markelius (Sweden), Oscar Niemayer (Brazil), Howard Robertson (United Kingdom), G. A. Soilleux (Australia) and Julio Vilamajo (Uruguay).


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