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A difficult birth: after five years of the most destructive war in history there was a deep hunger in the world for peace.

Article Excerpt
Even before the tide of World War II (1939-45) turned against Nazi Germany and Japan, the eventual victors started to plan for what would follow the hostilities. The U.S. Secretary of State, Cordell Hull, pushed the idea of creating an international organization, open to all peace-loving nations, to work for world peace and security. By 1943, the notion was being taken seriously in China, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States. These were the countries doing the lion's share of the fighting in the war, so they nominated themselves as the architects of the post-war world.

In August 1944, senior people from what at the time was called The Big Four met in the American capital, Washington, D.C. The site for the meeting was a 19th century mansion called Dumbarton Oaks in the upscale suburb of Georgetown. Coming just after the successful D-Day invasion of Normandy in France, the mood of the allies was optimistic. The Soviet representative, Andrei Gromyko, spoke of an international organization that would "guarantee for the peoples peace, security, and prosperity in the future."

The Big Four discussed the issue for six weeks, digested their thoughts for a while, and then met again. By early October 1944, they were ready to let the rest of the world in on what they had agreed to. France, now liberated from Nazi occupation, had joined the talks at Dumbarton Oaks.

The organization, still unnamed, was to have a general assembly in which each member...

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