The United Nations (UN) is an international organization developed in 1945 to increase political and economic cooperation among member countries. The organization was created to maintain peace not only by preventing and resolving military conflict, but also by promoting economic and social progress and development, improving human rights and also reducing global conflicts (Investopedia 1999). Nearly190 member nations were virtually included in this organization. On 25th of April 1945, the principles of United Nations Charter were first formulated at San Fransisco Conference. President Franklin Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin were conducted the formulation of the principles, and it was attended by representatives of 50 nations, including 9 continental European states, 21 North, Central, and South American republics, 7 Middle Eastern states, 5 British Commonwealth nations, 2 Soviet republics (in addition to the USSR itself), 2 East Asian nations, and 3 African states. The conference laid out a structure for a new international organization that was to 'save succeeding generations from the scourge of war,to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights,to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, and to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom.' ( The United Nation Is Born 2009).
Two other significant aim described in the Charter were respecting the policy of equal rights and self-determination of all peoples which means originally directed at smaller nations now vulnerable to being swallowed up by the Communist behemoths emerging from the war and international cooperation in solving economic, social, cultural, and humanitarian problems around the world. Negotiating and maintaining the peace was the practical responsibility of the new United Nations after the World War 2. United States, Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union, and China were included in the Security Council. Each member nation would have veto power over the other. Winston Churchill called for the United Nations to employ its charter in the service of creating a new, united Europe-united in its opposition to communist expansion-East and West.
The driving force behind the organization was the Secretary ' Generals of the United Nations. Trygve Lie who was born in Oslo, Norway in the year 1896 was the first Secretary-General of United Nations. He started his professional career as a lawyer and entered the Norwegian parliament and served in it from 1935 to 1946. He was in exile in Britain and served as Norway's Foreign Minister during the world war. Trygve Lie was appointed as the Secretary-General in 1946. Lie was known to be an internationalist and this was in his favour when the UN came to appointing its first Secretary-General. Lie was an advocate of Communist China joining the UN in preference to the Republic of China (Taiwan). However, in this he was unsuccessful.
In 1950, Lie presented to the UN his plan for twenty years of peace in the world. Within weeks, the Korean war broke out which involved a major UN commitment. Russia accused Lie of being too hasty in gathering together a military force to remove North Korea from the South. As Russia was one of the 'Big Five' in the Security Council, this was a major blow to Lie and without Russia's support as Secretary-General, he resigned from his position in 1953.
After leaving the UN, Lie returned to Norwegian politics.
Dag Hammerskj''ld was the second Secretary-General of the United Nations. He was born in Sweden and became a Professor of Economics at Stockholm University between 1933 and 1936. After this he entered politics and became Deputy Foreign Minister for Sweden in 1951. In April 1953, he succeeded Trygve Lie as Secretary-General of the United Nations. Hammerskj''ld was re-elected to this position in 1957. He had to take the UN through such problems as the Suez Crisis when two major UN powers (France and Britain) invaded the Suez thus breaking international law. It was not the UN that resolved the issue but American pressure.
The Congo crisis resulted in the UN being accused of taking sides and using force to impose its authority. The leadership of Hammerskj''ld angered Russia led by Nikita Khrushchev; in fact, Khrushchev called on Hammerskj''ld to be removed from office.
In an effort to bring long term peace to the Congo, Hammerskj''ld went to Africa to meet the leading protagonists. He was killed in a plane crash near Ndola on the borders of Zambia. Hammerskj''ld was posthumously awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1961.
U Thant was the UN's third Secretary-General. He started his professional career as a teacher and became a head teacher. In 1948, he entered the Burmese diplomatic service and joined the UN in 1957. When Hammerskj''ld was killed in 1961, U Thant replaced him as acting Secretary-General. He was appointed full Secretary-General in November 1962. One of his first tasks was to deal with the Congo crisis and to influence the course of the Cuban Missile Crisis. U Thant introduced a UN peace keeping force for Cyprus in 1964 and he also had to assert some influence in the Middle East Crisis after the Six Days War of 1967. U Thant resigned in 1971 and was succeeded by Kurt Waldheim.