Act of Creation The Founding of the United Nations

by Schlesinger, Stephen C

• ISBN13: 9780813332758
• ISBN10: 0813332753
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-12-14
• Publisher: Basic Books

Summary

"In Act of Creation, Stephen C. Schlesinger tells a pivotal and little known story of how Secretary of State Edward Stettinius and the new American President, Harry Truman, picked up the pieces of the faltering campaign initiated by Franklin Roosevelt to create a "United Nations." Using secret agents, financial resources, and their unrivaled position of power, they overcame the intrigues of Stalin, the reservations of wartime allies like Winston Churchill, the discontent of smaller states, and a skeptical press corps to found the United Nations. The author reveals how the U.N. nearly collapsed several times during the conference over questions of which states should have power, who should be admitted, and how authority should be divided among its branches. By shedding new light on leading participants like John Foster Dulles, John F. Kennedy, Adlai Stevenson, Nelson Rockefeller, and E.B. White, Act of Creation provides a tale of twentieth-century history not to be missed."--BOOK JACKET.

Author Biography

Stephen Schlesinger is Director of the World Policy Institute at the New School University in New York City. In the mid-1990s, he worked at the United Nations, and also served as a speechwriter and foreign policy advisor to New York's Governor Mario Cuomo for twelve years. He is a frequent contributor to magazines and newspapers, including the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, The Nation, and the New York Observer. He lives in New York City.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction	xv
The Takeover	1	(16)
The League Follies: Wilson and Roosevelt	17	(16)
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Leo Pasvolsky	33	(20)
Yalta and Aftermath: Roosevelt's Last Acts	53	(20)
Truman and Stettinius: The Awkward Alliance	73	(20)
Secret Agents, Big Powers	93	(18)
Americanizing the Conference	111	(16)
The Bitter Trade-Off	127	(16)
Full-Court Press	143	(16)
The Amendment Marathon	159	(16)
Rockefeller's Bounty: The Regional Option	175	(18)
The Twenty-Three Questions	193	(16)
The Mission to Moscow	209	(18)
The Final Battles	227	(18)
The Fall of Stettinius	245	(18)
The Ratification Story	263	(18)
Epilogue	281	(8)
Text of President Truman's Address	289	(6)
Charter of the United Nations	295	(28)
Notes	323	(26)
Bibliography	349	(8)
Index	357