In 1941 United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, meeting secretly, issued the Atlantic Charter (See Atlantic Charter). The charter looked forward to the "abandonment of the use of force" and a "permanent system of general security."  United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt devised the name "United Nations"

In 1942, representatives of 26 countries, calling themselves the United Nations, signed a pledge in Washington, D.C., to defeat the Axis and to uphold the principles of the Atlantic Charter.

In 1944, representatives of the Big Four (China, Britain, the Soviet Union, and the United States) drew up plans for a world organization when they met at Dumbarton Oaks, a private mansion in Washington, D.C.

In February 1945, at Yalta, the Big Three (Britain, the Soviet Union, and the United States) agreed on voting procedure (the veto in the Security Council) and called for a conference to draw up a charter.

On April 25, 1945, the United Nations Conference on International Organization opened in San Francisco. Delegates of 50 nations discussed and modified the original Dumbarton Oaks proposals. On June 26 the United Nations Charter was completed and signed. On July 28, 1945, the United States Senate voted 89 to 2 to ratify the charter.

Poland was not represented at the Conference, but signed it later and became one of the original 51 Member States.

By Oct. 24, 1945, the required number of nations had ratified the charter and the United Nations came officially into existence. October 24 has been celebrated as United Nations Day since 1948. Some countries set aside seven days--United Nations Week--for educational and social programs.
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The General Assembly decided in February 1946 to locate the permanent headquarters of the United Nations in the United States. The Secretariat set up temporary quarters first at Hunter College in New York City, then at Lake Success, Long Island. The General Assembly met at Flushing Meadow, N. Y.

Various sites were proposed for a permanent home. The question was dramatically settled in December 1946 when John D. Rockefeller, Jr., offered a six-block tract in midtown New York City as an $8,500,000 gift. New York City contributed additional land along the East River and rights to the water front. The 18-acre site extends from the river to First Avenue and from East 48th Street to East 42d Street.

Construction was financed by an interest-free loan of 65 million dollars from the United States. The cornerstone was laid Oct. 24, 1949. The Secretariat was completed in 1951. In 1952 the General Assembly and the Conference Building were completed.

The buildings were designed by a group of international architects headed by Wallace K. Harrison of the United States. Built of glass, marble, steel, and aluminum, they are functional and modern, with dramatic contrasts of form and mass.

The General Assembly is long and low, with concave sides and a sloping roof surmounted by a dome. The public entrance, at the north, leads to a large lobby. The south front is a great window looking out on the Delegates' Garden and the Circular Fountain. The vast hall, under the domed ceiling, is decorated with murals by Fernand Leger, a French artist.

The long, low Conference Building, on the riverside, built of metal and glass, has chambers for the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, and the Trusteeship Council. This building connects the General Assembly with the 39-story Secretariat.

A new library was dedicated in 1961. It was named after Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold, who was killed in a plane crash earlier that year.

The United Nations has its own post office and issues its own stamps. The stamps are designed to acquaint people with the work of the United Nations.

All but a few meetings are open to the public. Visitors may obtain tickets by telephoning in advance or by writing to United Nations, New York 10017.
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The General Assembly opened its first session in London, Jan. 10, 1946. Trygve Lie, foreign minister of Norway, was elected the first secretary-general.

The Security Council in 1946 set up the committee and asked it to draw up plans. Russia blocked agreement in the Committee. The Council was so divided that it did not even discuss the Committee's problems.

The Council faced its first test when Iran demanded that Russia withdraw the troops it had stationed there during World War II. The Russian delegate walked out of the Council. Nevertheless Russian troops did leave Iran before the year ended.
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In December 1946 Greece complained that Communist states on its borders were supporting the guerrillas that had plunged Greece into civil war (See Greece).  The United States called on the Council to end the strife, if necessary by "enforcement action." Russia's veto again made the Council powerless.

One of the earliest political disputes considered by the Assembly was the problem of Korea. In 1947 it called for elections in the divided nation and sent a commission to observe them. North Korea, which was under Russian domination, refused to admit the commission. Elections were held in South Korea, and a national government was set up.

The Assembly also sent an investigating committee to Greece after Russia vetoed the continuance of the Security Council's committee.
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To promote and encourage respect for "human rights and fundamental freedoms," the General Assembly issued as a proclamation the 'Universal Declaration of Human Rights' (Dec. 10, 1948). In 1950 it proclaimed December 10 Human Rights Day.

A convention to prevent and punish genocide was submitted to member governments for ratification in 1948. Genocide was defined as an attempt to destroy "a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group."

In 1953 President Eisenhower proposed to the General Assembly that it should set up an agency to further the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. In 1954, delegates from 81 countries, including Russia, approved the statute of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The purpose of the agency is to exchange scientific information and pool materials.

On May 14, 1948, the Jews proclaimed their state of Israel. The Arab states at once launched a war against Israel to block partition. The United Nations mediator, Count Folke Bernadotte, was assassinated in Jerusalem. Ralph Bunche, as acting mediator, persuaded both sides to sign armistice agreements in 1949; but there was no real peace. The Arab states refused to recognize Israel, and fighting continued. (See also Bunche, Israel, Palestine.)
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Shortly after World War II fighting broke out in the Netherlands Indies. The Security Council called on the Dutch and Indonesians to cease hostilities, but the war continued until 1949. The United Nations helped to achieve the settlement that made Indonesia an independent republic (See Indonesia).

United Nations mediation brought about a cease-fire in Kashmir between India and Pakistan in 1949. India would not allow a plebiscite to be held to determine whether the people of Kashmir wanted to join India or Pakistan (See Jammu and Kashmir).

The charter named the Republic of China one of the five permanent members of the Security Council. In 1949 Chinese Communists completed their conquest of the Chinese mainland, and the Nationalist Chinese government retreated to Formosa. The Soviet Union demanded the immediate expulsion of the Nationalist delegate and the seating of the delegate from the new People's Republic. The United States was opposed. In protest the Soviet Union boycotted all United Nations bodies in which Nationalist China was represented.

The Security Council was called into emergency session on Sunday, June 25, 1950, after North Korea invaded the Republic of Korea. The Council called on the North Koreans to withdraw, and it also authorized member states of the United Nations to furnish military aid to South Korea. (See also Korean War.)

Secretary-General Trygve Lie resigned in 1952. Dag Hammarskjold, Sweden's minister of state, was elected to succeed him. He was reelected in 1957.
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These powers were used in the Middle East after Egypt's nationalization of the Suez Canal in 1956. The Assembly set up the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF). UNEF's first task was to supervise the withdrawal from Egypt of the Israeli, French, and British forces. (See also Egypt, Suez Canal.)

The Soviet Union and several other nations refused to help pay the cost of the UNEF operation. They claimed that the Assembly could not legally authorize or impose assessments for peace-
keeping forces.

A revolt against the government of Hungary in October 1956 was followed by Soviet armed intervention. The Soviet Union vetoed a Security Council resolution calling upon it to withdraw. The General Assembly  then requested that United Nations observers be permitted to visit Hungary. The request was ignored. (See also Hungary.)

In 1959 Red China crushed a Tibetan revolt. The Assembly called for "respect for the fundamental human rights of the Tibetan people." China ignored the .resolution. (See also Tibet.)

The United Nations attempts to raise funds included approval of a 200-million-dollar bond issue late in 1961. The next year the Inte