Letter Proposing Candidates for the First U.N. Assembly

Anna Eleanor Roosevelt dedicated her public life to serving others, championing the rights not only of citizens of her own country but also those throughout the world. As First Lady during Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration, Eleanor Roosevelt maintained a political and social identity apart from her husband’s and occupied a unique position as spokesperson for numerous causes, including community service, civil rights, and international cooperation. In her expressed compassion for the underdog and her ability to win the support of her husband, an enormously popular President, Eleanor Roosevelt was able to influence official policy for her causes.

In addition to performing traditional duties as White House hostess-in-residence, she published, lectured, and traveled in support of New Deal social welfare legislation for the benefit of the politically disenfranchised and the economically disadvantaged. During World War II, she exerted herself in defense of U.S. policy. Throughout her public life, Eleanor Roosevelt served as a highly visible and effective role model for women, displaying such qualities as industry, self-sufficiency, and free thinking at a time when more and more women were working outside the home for the first time. Always candid, she was continually in the forefront of the major issues of the day and shattered the myth of the politically unsophisticated woman. Therefore, when her husband died, many citizens clamored for her to carry out his vision of establishing a viable international peacekeeping force by participating in the upcoming San Francisco conference.

As early as 1942, leaders of the Allied countries had agreed to act as a united front against the aggression of the Axis powers. Later, at the Dumbarton Oaks Conference in August 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt coined the term "united nations," which eventually became the name of the international organization envisioned by the "Big Three" Allied leaders to keep world peace. When Stalin, Churchill, and Roosevelt met at Yalta in February 1945, they agreed to meet with other friendly nations in San Francisco at the end of April to draft a charter for the new organization. Unfortunately, Roosevelt died less than two months after initial agreements were made for the San Francisco conference and a mere two weeks before the conference convened. Vice President Harry Truman, largely inexperienced in international diplomacy, assumed the Presidency held so long by his predecessor and led the Nation through the diplomatic and political uncertainties that followed the end of World War II.

The transition from Roosevelt to Truman proved difficult for everyone. Roosevelt had occupied the Oval Office for more than 12 years-from the depths of the Great Depression through the perils of war. He had recently been reelected to an unprecedented fourth term as President. A relative unknown to most Americans, Harry Truman assumed the President’s role at a most crucial period in the global war. In the anxious days following Roosevelt’s death, much of the nation naturally looked to his widow, Eleanor Roosevelt, for direction. For four days, Eleanor Roosevelt ceased publication of her widely read newspaper column, "My Day," interrupting for the first time her frank and intimate commentary on current events to the American public.

In her bereavement, Eleanor Roosevelt possessed no political aspirations or designs. She said as much in "My Day" on April 19, 1945, quelling rampant Washington rumors that she intended to run for elected office. Arriving in New York City after her final night at the White House,Eleanor Roosevelt told expectant reporters, "The story’s over." She reiterated that she had no plans to participate in the drafting of the U.N. Charter in San Francisco.

As the featured document illustrates, however, the story was far from over. Many people-men and women alike-thought she would be an outstanding representative to the first meeting of the United Nations Assembly to be held in London in January 1946. Women, especially those who had assumed increasingly more demanding roles both at home and in the military, were particularly insistent that female candidates be seriously considered as delegates to the new United Nations. Many contended that women were predisposed by nature to seek peaceful means of resolving conflict. The featured document, selected from many similar documents in the Records of the Department of State, Record Group 59, identifies Eleanor Roosevelt as one of several women proposed to represent the United States in this international forum.

ELEANOR ROOSEVELT AS U.N. DELEGATE

Learning lessons from the failure of the League of Nations, President Truman realized the importance of bipartisan representation among delegates to the United Nations. He was very concerned, however, about his strength and image within the Democratic Party. Less than a year into his Presidency, Truman advised Secretary of State James Byrnes to invite, indeed to implore, Eleanor Roosevelt to serve as delegate to the first assembly of the United Nations. Her influence among women and black voters, Truman argued, would ensure him much-needed support at home. She was the living legacy of the powerful and enduring Roosevelt Presidency. Byrnes placed her name at the top of the list of proposed delegates. On December 29, 1945, The Nation, an influential, liberal-leaning magazine, applauded the nomination, proclaiming, "To millions of Americans she is a friend who can be relied upon to voice their deepest aspirations for a better world .... To millions in other lands she is the symbol of the most generous aspects of our nation."

Initially, Eleanor Roosevelt was reluctant to accept the appointment because she felt she had little diplomatic experience. She eventually recognized that she would bring compensating strengths to the position: a sincere desire to understand world problems, a long-standing record of expressed international good will, and an unrivaled ability to build a sense of trust and friendship. Her personal affairs now in order and her celebrated energy recharged, Eleanor Roosevelt ultimately agreed to represent the country. Others chosen as U.S. delegates included Secretary of State James E Byrnes, former Secretary of State Edward R. Stettinius, Jr., Democratic Senator Tom Connally, and staunch Republican Senator Arthur H. Vandenbergall men with considerable experience in foreign affairs. On the voyage to London, the party spent long hours in tedious preparation for the upcoming assembly.

In London, Eleanor Roosevelt was dismayed to find so few women representatives, a mere 18 delegates, alternates, or advisers. She met with them and in "My Day" reported their recommendations for increased participation of women in the international assembly. Her frustrations mounted when, without consultation, the other U.S. delegates assigned her to Committee Three, which dealt with humanitarian, educational, and cultural questions. In her autobiography, On My Own, she noted her suspicions that "the gentlemen of the delegation" had assigned her to what they assumed would be a noncontroversial committee where they believed she could do little harm. Increasingly, Eleanor Roosevelt began to construe her appointment to the American delegation as political tokenism.

Despite her qualms, Eleanor Roosevelt was able to prove her diplomatic competence in her position on Committee Three. When the incendiary issue of refugee relocation was debated in this committee, Eleanor Roosevelt convincingly persuaded the other committee members to vote against a Russian proposal to repatriate refugees to the Soviet sphere. She later extemporaneously, but eloquently, debated the Russian delegate Andrei Vishinsky, who, frustrated by his defeat in committee, introduced the topic in the GeneralAssembly meeting. She began humbly, prefacing her statement with apologies for being "just a woman," but she conveyed a dignified and unquestionable concern for oppressed peoples everywhere. When her impassioned remarks were concluded, Republican Senator Vandenberg quipped to fellow delegates, "There goes a great lady, and I take back everything I said against her, which was plenty." The entire international body was similarly impressed by this unpretentious yet masterful display of understanding and moral leadership.

Eleanor Roosevelt carried this image throughout her tenure as a U.N. delegate, which ended in 1952. Chosen as chair of the important Commission on Human Rights in 1947, her vision and spirit guided the Commission’s creation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. After lengthy debate and months of drafting and revisions, relieved Commission members believed they had written a great document. Ever the realist, Eleanor Roosevelt reminded members that their work was not done until they had each written a second document for the common people of their respective nations. As she had demonstrated time and time again, she never lost sight of the needs of individual human beings in the political jumble of international diplomacy.

Eleanor Roosevelt’s astonishing accomplishments for worldwide human rights earned for her the title "First Lady of the World," bestowed by President Truman. At the end of her illustrious diplomatic career, no title seemed more appropriate.

TEACHING ACTIVITIES

1. Give a copy of the first document to each student to read. Ask students the following questions:

a. What date was this document written?
b. When was it received?
c. To whom was this document addressed?
d. According to the author, why should a woman delegate represent the United States at the first United Nations Assembly?
e. Why might the author have proposed numerous candidates?
f. Why do you suppose some candidates are presented in greater detail than others?
g. Which of these individuals would you choose, and why?

2. Share the background information with your students; then distribute the second document. Ask students to speculate on Thunan’s reasons for selecting each delegate named in the document. Lead a discussion comparing Truman’s selection with recent Presidential appointments. On the chalkboard, list the criteria Presidents use in making political appointments.

3. Divide the students into five groups, and assign each group to research one of the other prominent women presented in the first document. Ask students to present the information they gather in a flyer or poster promoting the selection of their candidate.

4. Ask students to develop a chart listing Eleanor Roosevelt’s accomplishments as First Lady and her accomplishments after she left the White House. Assign students to research achievements of other First Ladies. Discuss with your students the changing role of the First Lady through time.

5. Ask students to read the preambles of the Constitution of the United States and the Charter of the United Nations Organization. Draw students’ attention to attempts to include gender-neutral vocabulary in the latter document. Assign students to compare and contrast these two preambles in a short essay.

6. For further research, ask students to find additional information on one of the following topics and write a report for a class booklet on the origins of the United Nations: isolationism and the League of Nations, the Dumbarton Oaks Conference, the decisions at Yalta, the San Francisco Conference, the United Nations Charter, U.S. delegates to the first United Nations Assembly meeting, and accomplishments and problems of the new United Nations.

Click the image to view a larger version

Click the image to view a larger version

Note to the teacher: Additional educational materials on the United Nations, updated yearly, are available from the United Nations Association of the United States of America, 485 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10017-6104.