The UN Charter Turns 70 Years Old. Here is How it Came to Life

The UN Charter turns 70 years old on June 26. This is the founding treaty that created the United Nations and in this episode you will learn the fascinating and legitimately entertaining history of that document and of the 1945 San Francisco conference that produced it.

Ban Ki Moon and a number of international dignitaries are visiting San Francisco this week to commemorate the occasion. So I caught up with the the writer Stephen Schlesinger, author of the book Act of Creation: The Founding of the United Nations who tells some great stories about the ideas, inspirations and personalities that created the document we now know as the United Nations Charter.

This conversation is in part a historiography of the UN Charter and a history of the San Francisco Conference. I think you will love it. You’ll learn the odd reason why San Francisco was picked to host the conference; the curious etymology of “The United Nations”; and hear the drama that unfolded in San Francisco. At one point, you’ll even picture Winston Churchill in the buff.

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