Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-13T00:57:50.078Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Nationalism in America's UN Policy, 1944–1945

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 May 2009

Thomas M. Campbell
Thomas M. Campbell
Affiliation:
Thomas M.Campbell is an associate professor of history atFlorida State University, Tallahassee.
Get access

Extract

This article presents an interpretation of the conflicts between universalism and nationalism as they affected United States policy toward the creation of the United Nations. Drawing on heretofore unavailable sources, the author stresses the rising influence of nationalism in the evolution of decisions on the veto power, trusteeships, and regionalism. His focus is on the decision–making process during Roosevelt's last year and the initial months of the Truman administration. He contends that Cordell Hull's universalist UN blueprint, which Roosevelt supported, was inexorably eroded by critics within the American government, especially military spokesmen. These leaders took advantage of the apprehension about the Soviet Union's future policy to further their own ambitions for a strong post–war military posture. Truman was sympathetic to the voices of nationalism, and when he became president the shift away from a strong UN became more pronounced.

Type
Articles
Information
International Organization , Volume 27 , Issue 1 , Winter 1973 , pp. 25 - 44
Copyright
Copyright © The IO Foundation 1973

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Kolko, Gabriel, The Politics of War and United States Foreign Policy, 1943–1945 (New York: Random House, 1968), pp. 242, 246Google Scholar, argues that economic factors were most influential.

2 Notably Senators Joseph R. Ball (R–Minn.), Harold H. Burton (R–Ohio), Carl A. Hatch (D–N.M.), and Lister Hill (D–Ala.).

3 Major ones included: Americans United for World Organization, the United Nations Association, Commission to Study the Organization of Peace, and the Non–Partisan Council to Win the Peace.

4 Russell, Ruth, A History of the United Nations Charter, the Role of the United States (Washington: Brookings, 1958), 446Google Scholar, puts forward a different view, but conference documents do not support it. Dumbarton Oaks, Joint Steering Committee, minutes, August 28, 1944, The Edward R. Stettinius Papers. University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville. American Group, Informal minutes, September 7, 1944, Stettinius Papers.

5 Divine, Robert A., Second Chance, the Triumph of Internationalism in America during World War II (New York: Atheneum, 1967)Google Scholar, Chapters 5 and 6; Kolko, , Politics of War, 243–244, 348–350Google Scholar; Divine, Robert A., Roosevelt and World War II (Baltimore, Johns Hopkins, 1969), pp. 65–66.Google Scholar

6 Smith, Percy M., The Air Force Plans for Peace, 1943–1945 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 1970), 39, 44–45, 50–51.Google Scholar

7 James Forrestal to Averell Harriman, Oct. 3, 1944; Forrestal to Robert Matter, Nov. 29, 1944; Forrestal to Bernard Baruch, Dec. 31, 1944; Forrestal to James B. Carey, Jan. 12, 1945, The James Forrestal Papers. Firestone Library, Princeton; Davie, Vincent, Postwar Defense Policy and the U.S. Navy, 1943–1945 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, 1966), pp. 106 and 158Google Scholar; Stimson, Henry L. and Bundy, McGeorge, On Active Service in Peace and War (New York: Harper and Row, 1948), pp. 606–608.Google Scholar

8 Stettinius to Roosevelt, memorandum with enclosed “Observations from the Midwest,” Dec. 21, 1944; Dept. of State, Fortnightly Surveys of American Opinion on International Affairs: Dec., Last Half, No. 18 Jan. 6, 1945; Stettinius, calendar notes, Dec. 30, 1944, Stettinius Papers.

9 Russell, , UN Charter, pp. 992–993Google Scholar; Divine, , Second Chance, pp. 197–199Google Scholar; Hull, Cordell, The Memoirs of Cordell Hull, 2 vols. (New York: Macmillan, 1948), 2, pp. 1653, 1162–1663Google Scholar; US Department of State, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1944, I, General, pp. 738–743, 784–786.Google Scholar

10 Foreign Relations, 1945, I, General (Washington: US Government Printing Office, 1967), pp. 805–806.Google Scholar

11 Hull, , Memoirs, 2, 1701.Google Scholar

12 Record of the American Group, September 14, 1944, The Edward R. Stettinius, Jr. Papers. University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville.

13 Draft memorandum by the Long–military group, September 18, 1944, Stettinius Papers.

14 Memorandum of Points in Favor of the Compromise Proposal, Sept. 18, 1944, Stettinius Papers.

15 Stettinius calendar notes, Sept. 18, 1944, Stettinius Papers.

16 Informal Record of Special Meeting of Members of the American Delegation, Sept 19, 1944, Stettinius Papers.

17 Sherwood, Robert E., Roosevelt and Hopkins: An Intimate History (New York: Harper and Row, 1948), p. 573.Google Scholar

18 US Department of State, Postwar Foreign Policy Preparation, 1939–1945 (Washington: US Government Printing Office, 1950), pp. 108–113, 470–472Google Scholar; Russell, , History of the UN Charter, pp. 88–89Google ScholarHull, , Memoirs, 2, pp. 1305, 1638Google Scholar; Foreign Relations, Conferences at Washington and Quebec, (Washington: US Government Printing Office, 1970), pp. 717–727.Google Scholar

19 Leahy to Hull, Mar. 11, 1944, The Cordell Hull Papers. Library on Congress, Washington.

20 Foreign Relations, 1944, I, General, pp. 699–703.Google Scholar

21 Vice Admiral A. S. Carpender to James Forrestal, April 18, 1945, Forrestal Papers; Department of State, Division of Public Liaison, “Latest Opinion Trends in the U.S.A.,” 04 20, 1945 and 05 31, 1945Google Scholar, Stettinius Papers.

22 Congressional Record, 78th Cong., 2d ses., pp. 7344–7345.

23 Stettinius–Hull, transcript of phone conversation, Aug. 20, 1944; Stettinius calendar notes, Aug. 21, 1944, Stettinius Papers.

24 Stettinius–Forrestal, transcript of phone conversation, Dec. 5, 1944, Stettinius Papers.

25 Snell, John, The Wartime Origins of the East–West Dilemma Over Germany (New Orleans: Hauser Press, 1959), pp. 94–96.Google Scholar

26 Foreign Relations, 1944, III, The British Commonwealth (Washington: US Government Printing Office, 1965), pp. 910–911Google Scholar; Foreign Relations, 1944, IV, Europe (Washington: US Government Printing Office, 1966), pp. 924, 993–994, 997Google Scholar; Walter, Millis, ed., The Forrestal Diaries (New York: Viking Press, 1951), p. 14.Google Scholar

27 Averell Harriman Interview, Dulles Oral History Project, The John Foster Dulles Papers. Dulles Library, Princeton.

28 Henry L. Stimson Diary, Sept. 16 and 17, Dec. 19, 1944, The Henry L. Stimson Papers. Sterling Library, New Haven.

29 Stimson Diary, Dec. 27, 1944, Stimson Papers.

30 Stimson Diary, Jan. 21, 1945, Stimson Papers.

31 Stettinius, Edward R. Jr, Roosevelt and the Russians (New York: Macmillan, 1949), pp. 33–34.Google Scholar

32 Stimson Diary, Jan. 22, 1945, Stimson Papers.

33 Russell, , UN Charter, pp. 573, 576–577.Google Scholar

34 Committee of Three, Minutes, Feb. 20, 1945, Stettinius Papers.

35 Secretary's Staff Committee, Document No. 79, Mar. 17, 1945 and Document No. 102, Apr. 17, 1945; Co–ordinating Committee, Minutes, Mar. 29 and 30, 1945, Stettinius Papers.

36 Stimson Diary, Mar. 29, Apr. 3 and 6, 1945, Stimson Papers; Foreign Relations, 1945, I, General, the United Nations, (Washington: US Government Printing Office, 1967), pp. 141, 198–199, 205, 210Google Scholar; Millis, , Forrestal Diaries, p. 38.Google Scholar

37 Foreign Relations, 1945, I, General, UN, p. 351Google Scholar; Dept. of State, Postwar Foreign Policy, pp. 432–433.Google Scholar

38 Department of State, Report of the Delegation of the United States of America to the Inter–American Conference on Problems of War and Peace (Washington, 1945), 74–75, 185–187Google Scholar; Green, David, The Containment of Latin America (Chicago, 1971), 169–172.Google Scholar

39 Stimson Diary, May 2, 1945, Stimson Papers.

40 Charles Yost to … Reams, telegram, May 2, 1945, Stettinius Papers.

41 Stimson, , On Active Service, p. 606Google Scholar; Stimson to Grew, Memorandum, May 21, 1945, US Dept. of Defense, The Entry of the Soviet Union into the War against Japan: Military Plans, 1941–1945 (Mimeographed release, 1955), p. 70.Google Scholar

42 ibid., p. 71; Stimson, , On Active Service, pp. 594–595.Google Scholar

43 Instructions for the Guidance of United States Military Advisers at the San Francisco Conference, Memorandum, n.d., and John J. McCloy to Stettinius, May 3, 1945, Stettinius Papers; Foreign Relations, 1945, I, General, UN, p. 547.Google Scholar

44 Vandenberg to Stettinius, May 5, 1945, Stettinius Papers.

45 Foreign Relations, 1945, I, General, UN, pp. 620–625, 633.Google Scholar

46 The committee members were: Dunn, Rockefeller, McCloy, Pasvolsky, and Dulles, ibid., p. 626.

47 Stimson–McCloy, Memorandum of phone conversation, May 8, 1945, Stettinius Papers. A lengthy excerpt from this conversation is in Kolko, , Politics of War, pp. 470–473.Google Scholar

48 Stimson Diary, May 10, 1945, Stimson Papers.

49 Idem.

50 Herring, George C. Jr, “Lend–Lease to Russia and the Origins of the Cold War, 1944–1945,” The Journal of American History, 06 1969 (56), 105–106CrossRefGoogle Scholar; the Truman administration was also exploiting Russia's request for postwar aid as a means of pressure, Thomas G. Paterson, “The Abortive American Loan to Russia and the Origins of the Cold War, 1943–1946,” Ibid., 77, 91–92.

51 Stettinius, San Francisco Diary, May 12, 1945, Stettinius Papers; Foreign Relations, 1945, I, General, UN, pp. 693–703.Google Scholar

52 Claude, Inis, “The OAS, the UN, and the United States,” International Conciliation, 03., 1964, (No. 547), 10–14.Google Scholar