United States and the United Nations facts for kids
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| United Nations membership | |
|---|---|
| Membership | Full member |
| Since | October 24, 1945 |
| UNSC seat | Permanent |
| Permanent Representative | Linda Thomas-Greenfield |
The United States is a charter member of the United Nations and one of five permanent members of the UN Security Council.
The United States boasts the headquarters of the United Nations, which includes the usual meeting place of the General Assembly in New York City, in the north east coast of the country. The United States is the largest provider of financial contributions to the United Nations, providing 27.89 percent of the UN assessed peacekeeping budget of $6.38 billion for fiscal year 2020 (China and Japan contributed 15.2 percent and 8.5 percent, respectively). The assessed peacekeeping budget is separate from voluntary contributions and the assessed regular budget. The assessed regular budget of the UN for fiscal year 2022 in $3.12 billion. From July 2016 to June 2017, 28.6 percent of the budget used for peacekeeping operations was provided by the United States. The United States had a pivotal role in establishing the UN.
Role in establishing the UN
The UN is an outgrowth of the Atlantic Charter. It appeared in the Declaration by United Nations on January 1, 1942, in which 26 nations pledged to continue fighting the Axis powers.
Their main inspiration was the League of Nations; however, their goals were to rectify the League's imperfections in order to create an organization that would be “the primary vehicle for maintaining peace and stability.” Roosevelt's main role was to convince the different allies, especially Winston Churchill of the United Kingdom and Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union, to join the new organization. The negotiations mainly took place during the Dumbarton Oaks Conference and the Yalta Conference, where the three world leaders tried to reach a consensus concerning the United Nations' structure, purposes and principles. “Roosevelt saw the United Nations as the crowning achievement of his political career.” Roosevelt's envoy Wendell Willkie played a key role in promoting the idea of the United States joining the new organization, publishing One World (book) in April 1943. In September 1943, 81 percent of Americans - up from 63 percent in February - supported joining a "union of nations" after the war.
In 1945, representatives from 50 countries met in San Francisco for the United Nations Conference on International Organization. They deliberated on proposals that had been drafted by representatives of the Republic of China, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States at the Dumbarton Oaks Conference between August and October 1944. Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin reviewed the Dumbarton Oaks proposal during the Yalta Conference in February 1945. The purpose of the conference was to discuss post-war settlements and to reach a final agreement concerning “the UN’s structure and membership and set the date of the San Francisco organizing conference.” The world leaders eventually agreed on Roosevelt's proposal to give certain members a veto power so “that the Organization could take no important action without their joint consent.” Though the veto power question created a lot of disagreement among the different signatories, its inclusion in the charter was never a matter of negotiation for Roosevelt and his allies. Finally, during the Yalta conference, Stalin agreed to make the USSR a member of the United Nations.
An important American contribution, prior to the formation of the United Nations, was made at the Bretton Woods Conference. This conference took place in 1944 and its goal was “to create a new international monetary and trade regime that was stable and predictable.” Over subsequent decades, this new system opened world markets and promoted a liberal economy. It was implemented through different institutions, such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, which went on to work with the United Nations but remained independent from it.
The United Nations officially came into existence on October 24, 1945, when the Charter was ratified by the Republic of China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the United States as well as a majority of other signatories.
The United Nations was the first international governmental organization to receive significant support from the United States. Its forerunner, the League of Nations, had been championed by Woodrow Wilson after World War I to prevent future conflicts. While it was supported by most nations of Europe, it was never ratified by the United States Congress due to the inability to reach a compromise regarding the Lodge Reservations or the Hitchcock Reservations.
Shortly after the establishment of the United Nations, the United States came into conflict with another member of the Security Council. Since the Soviet Union was a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, it had the power to veto any binding UN resolution. In fact, Soviet foreign minister and UN ambassador Vyacheslav Molotov used veto power twice as often as any other permanent member, earning him the title "Mr. Veto".
Relations between the United States and the Soviet Union (later Russia) within the UN have evolved in step with the larger geopolitical situation between the two powers. While the Soviet Union was boycotting the Security Council and China's seat was represented by U.S.-friendly Republic of China (instead of the communist People's Republic of China which would replace the ROC in the UN in 1971), the U.S. and UN jointly condemned the invasion of South Korea by North Korean troops, leading to the UN sanctioned Korean War. Later, the U.S. persuaded all permanent members of the Security Council to authorize force against Iraq after it invaded Kuwait in 1991. This was a major step toward U.S. and Russian reconciliation after the end of the Cold War.
