San Francisco, 1945: The UN Charter // WMHSMUN 30
San Francisco, 1945: The UN Charter
Delegates,
Welcome to the fifteenth annual William & Mary High School
Model United Nations conference and the San Francisco, 1945: The
UN Charter committee! I cannot wait to see how each one of you
brings a unique perspective and ideas to this important historical
conference.
My name is Penina Cohen. I am a freshman this year, therefore this
will be my first time as a Director at WMHSMUN and I could not be
more thrilled. I was born in San Antonio, TX, but, as the child of an
Air Force officer, I have lived all over the country. During my high
school career, I was a member of two Model UN teams. This first
high school I attended, Loveless Academic Magnet Program High
School, holds its own high school level MUN conference, which
I was chosen to chair my Junior year. Unfortunately, I moved that
summer and was unable to do so for obvious reasons. That is why I
am so excited to be your Director for this conference!
San Francisco, 1945: The UN Charter // WMHSMUN 30
When I am not busy fulfilling my directorial duties, I am most likely
doing copious amounts of reading or binge watching Netflix. On
occasion you might even catch me outside, possibly walking to
class or the dining hall.
In April of 1945, 50 allied nations met in San Francisco to draft a
charter and change the world. As you step into the shoes of those
countries, you will be taking on this responsibility. Remember, this
will be your chance to remake history and write the United Nations
Charter in the way that you choose. I cannot wait to see what
creative ways you all solve the world’s issues this time around.
I look forward to meeting all of you this November at WMHSMUN
30 and reading your position papers (which are mandatory by the
way). Feel free to shoot me an email if you have any questions
during the prepping process or check out this link for help
with your position paper: https://wmhsmun.org/media/doc/
Requirements_for_Position_Papers.pdf
Penina Cohen
Director, San Francisco, 1945: The UN Charter
[email protected]
San Francisco, 1945: The UN Charter // WMHSMUN 30
I
would like to
make one thing
clear: the goal of
Introduction this committee
is not to retrace
the events that
occurred 71 years
ago. Although you may find it helpful to
acquaint yourselves with the proceedings
of the convention, you are encouraged to
be creative and diverge from that path.
This is your chance to rewrite history, so
be inventive and think outside of the box!
Model United Nations is about coming
up with your own creative solutions and
collaborating with fellow delegates to
solve problems. Knowing your country
and the events of the time period are
important, but it will be delegations
with fresh approaches that stand out
and end up on top. However, I am not
admonishing research. This is a historical
committee, which means knowledge
about events prior to April 25, 1945 are
paramount to your success. Remember,
your idea is only as good as its practicality
in context.
Having just endured the deadliest war
in human history, the world is in shock.
In the wake of such an event, there
is a need for a system through which
countries can collaborate and a set of
rules for what nations can and cannot
not do. However, compiling a set of
guidelines that 50 nations can agree upon
despite their disparate interests, policies,
and cultures is no easy task. Additionally,
trying to do so in such a short amount of
time will not make it easier. In order to be
successful, each delegation must come
up with its own goals and be prepared to
debate others on the details of this new
international organization.
This guide will be broken up into three
sections: one on each of our main topics.
The order in which these topics appear
in this guide will be the same as the
order in which we will discuss them in
committee. During the first session on
Friday night we will attempt to cover both
The Post War Climate and Reflecting on
the Dumbarton Oaks Conference. This
way we will be able to spend a majority
of committee time drafting the charter.
As far as this section of committee goes,
there will be no resolutions writing of
any kind. The purpose of these topics
is to open dialogue between countries
and talk about the failures that you
should attempt to learn from. During
the rest of the conference we will focus
on Drafting the Charter. Since the goal
of this committee is to end up with one
San Francisco, 1945: The UN Charter // WMHSMUN 30
succinct document, delegates will be
able to pass Articles that deal with one
central idea and no two documents with
the same or similar main ideas will be
passed, although delegates will have the
ability to amend or combine articles. All
articles must fall under one of the UN’s
main objectives: maintaining international
peace and security, promoting
human rights, fostering social and
economic development, protecting the
environment, and providing humanitarian
aid in cases of famine, natural disaster,
and armed conflict. No pre-writing or
writing outside of committee will be
permitted.
From the ashes of the old world
order emerges a new bipolar system.
World War II decimated the old great
powers, simultaneously creating two
superpowers: The United States and the
Soviet Union. Along with them, the other
major Axis Powers rose to the top of the
world order. The United States, Soviet
Union, and France became known as the
Big Three and along with the Republic of
China, the Four Policemen.
With this shift in power arises a need for
a newer, better system for international
cooperation. The League of Nations was
weak.
F
or six years
World War II
divided the planet
Topic I:
between the Allied
Post War
Climate
and Axis powers.
It was the most
extensive war the
world has ever seen and its aftermath
is ubiquitous. Vast sections of Europe
and Asia were reduced to rubble. 690
million soldiers whose lives were ended
or forever changed. Nearly 72 million total
dead, an unbelievable 3.5% of the world’s
population. Allied forces now occupy
Germany, Japan, and most of their former
territory.1
1 Harden, Seth. “World War II
Statistics.” Statistic Brain. April 2, 2015.
Accessed September 22, 2016. http://
www.statisticbrain.com/world-war-ii-
It failed to prevent the Axis Powers from
invading and annexing other countries,
essentially allowing the outbreak of World
War II despite its purpose being to foster
peace amongst nations. Without its own
armed force, it relied on the Great Powers
to enforce its decisions, something
they were usually hesitant in doing. The
statistics/.
San Francisco, 1945: The UN Charter // WMHSMUN 30
League’s most severe independent
consequence was economic sanctions,
which were easily circumvented through
trade with non-league countries.
Exacerbating these flaws was the
League’s major members’ reluctance to
use either of the most powerful weapons
of its disposal. Equally as important
to these problems was the League of
Nations lack of members, especially
more influential countries. Germany
and the Soviet Union were blacklisted
during the League’s conception for their
communist views. Towards the its end
in the 1930s, major nations like Japan,
Italy, and Germany (which was eventually
allowed to join in 1926) withdrew due
to disagreements and a general lack
of incentive to stay.2 The United States
never even joined due to its post-World
War I policy of isolationism. All of which
culminated in an organization that lacked
the power to carry out its mission.
Now that the world’s agent for
international cooperation is gone,
rebuilding must begin. It is up to you to
form this new organization and learn from
your predecessors’ mistakes in creating
the League of Nations.
Questions to
Consider:
1. What role will the
new Great Powers
play in the UN?
2. The League of
Nations failed due
to several major
flaws. How will you solve these problems
when creating this new organization?
3. After being failed by the League of
Nations, what can you institute to ensure
the world the UN will be better?
T
he Dumbarton
Oaks
Topic II:
Conference was
Reflecting on
undoubtedly
Dumbarton Oaks
a significant
Conference
step towards
international
cooperation. Paragraph four of the
Moscow Declaration acknowledged the
need for an international organization that
would succeed the League of Nations
after World War II and Dumbarton Oaks
was the first attempt at fulfilling this
requirement, where representatives of
the United States, Soviet Union, Republic
of China, and the United Kingdom.3
Unfortunately, the “Proposals for
2 “League of Nations.” New World
Encyclopedia. July 26, 2014. Accessed
September 22, 2016. http://www.
newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/
League_of_Nations.
3 Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica.
“Dumbarton Oaks Conference.”
Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Accessed
September 22, 2016. https://www.
britannica.com/event/Dumbarton-OaksConference.
San Francisco, 1945: The UN Charter // WMHSMUN 30
Establishment of a General International
Organization” that emerged from the
Dumbarton Oaks Conference were far
from comprehensive. These proposals
failed to cover several critical issues,
like the membership provisions for the
constituent republics of the Soviet Union
and a voting system for the Security
Council. The Soviet Union insisted that
it have 16 votes to represent each of its
republics. It asserted that the United
States would control a voting block
through their power over Latin America
and Great Britain through virtue of
the Commonwealth. An even greater
problem was working out the details
of the Security Council. Since it would
be the core of the United Nations and
control immense power, it became a
great source of contention. None of the
countries involved wanted to endow
the body with much power, fearing that
power might one day be turned on them.
They failed to agree upon whether the
UN should have peacekeeping troops
and disarmament powers. The most
contentious point they discussed though
was giving permanent Security Council
members veto powers.4 This issue
sparked a disagreement between Stalin
and Roosevelt that ultimately led to the
Dumbarton Oaks Conference falling short
4 Robert C. Hilderbrand. “Dumbarton
Oaks: The Origins of the United Nations
and the Search for Postwar Security.”
Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina
Press, 1990.
of fully outlining the UN.
Many of those unresolved issues were
subsequently addressed at the Yalta
Conference. In February of 1945 Franklin
D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and
Joseph Stalin met in Crimea to discuss
the end of World War II and beyond. It
was here that the three world leaders
scheduled the official conference to
create the UN in San Francisco later that
year.
Questions to
Consider:
1. How will you
approach the
issues that tore
Dumbarton Oaks
apart?
2. How will you
balance the power between the Great
Powers?
3. How will you balance the power
between such a variety of nations?
San Francisco, 1945: The UN Charter // WMHSMUN 30
W
e have now
come to
the reason we are
Topic III:
Drafting the all here: drafting
the charter. When
Charter
deciding what
to include in this
charter I encourage you to focus on the
past mistakes outlined in the previous
sections of this guide. I would also remind
you that it is not your objective to recreate
the original United Nations Charter, but to
use your knowledge about the status of
international relations in 1945 to come up
with logical and effective articles.
When considering what rules and
restrictions to include in this charter
you need to keep in mind that you are
asking countries to give up their part of
sovereignty. It will be easy to expect that
because a country is participating in this
conference they are willing to cede some
of their power in the name of cooperation,
but that assumption is inherently
flawed. Approach this conference as an
opportunity to come up with a charter
that will convince countries to relinquish
some of their power in order to reap the
benefits it offers. The League of Nations
failed in no small part because it lacked
membership. Powerful players left the
league because it did not have the ability
to enact any serious consequences and
rarely used those at its disposal anyway.
Your job is to find the delicate balance
between asking countries to put certain
decisions in the hands of United Nations
and convincing countries they will not be
weakened by joining the UN.
The United Nations is intended to be a
supranational powerhouse in charge of
monitoring the entire world. That is no
short order. The Big Three attempted
to lay out plans for a Security Council to
maintain international peace and security
during the Dumbarton Oaks Conference,
but it is up to you whether you will bring
this idea to fruition or handle peace and
security in another method. Tackling
this and all the UN’s other objectives
(promoting human rights, fostering social
and economic development, protecting
the environment, and providing
humanitarian aid in cases of famine,
natural disaster, and armed conflict) is
your goal, but how you go about it is up to
you.
San Francisco, 1945: The UN Charter // WMHSMUN 30
Questions to
Consider:
1. How will you
address the UN’s
main objectives?
2. How will you
incentivize nations
to join the UN
without taking away too much of their
power?
3. What lessons can you learn from the
League of Nations and Dumbarton Oaks?
San Francisco, 1945: The UN Charter // WMHSMUN 30
Dukes, Paul. “The Rise and Fall of the Big Three.” History Today.
September 2005. Accessed September 22, 2016. http://www.
historytoday.com/paul-dukes/rise-and-fall-big-three.
Works Cited
Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. “Dumbarton Oaks
Conference.” Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Accessed
September 22, 2016. https://www.britannica.com/event/
Dumbarton-Oaks-Conference.
Gye, Hugo. “German-made Camera Used to Take Iconic Times Square Kiss Picture
at the End of World War Two Goes up for Auction.” Mail Online. April 23,
2013. Accessed September 22, 2016. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/
article-2313418/German-camera-took-iconic-picture-Times-Squarekiss-end-WW2-set-fetch-20-000-auction.html.
Harden, Seth. “World War II Statistics.” Statistic Brain. April 2, 2015. Accessed
September 22, 2016. http://www.statisticbrain.com/world-war-iistatistics/.
“League of Nations.” New World Encyclopedia. July 26, 2014. Accessed September 22,
2016. http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/League_of_Nations.
Robert C. Hildebrand. “Dumbarton Oaks: The Origins of the United Nations and the
Search for Postwar Security.” Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina
Press, 1990.