Eight decades later, the aspiration for peace, dignity, and equality still resonates as the UN celebrates its 80th anniversary in New York – a city now inseparable from the global identity of the Organization, even though it was not necessarily destined to host its headquarters.
Hunter College (now Lehman College), located in the Bronx in New York, was one of the first temporary seats of the United Nations and the location of the very first meeting of the UN Security Council on American soil on March 25, 1946.
The Hunter College basketball gymnasium was quickly converted into the Security Council chamber within three weeks. Journalists were accommodated in a converted swimming pool. One of the first issues addressed by the Council was regarding Iran.
Hunter College was not spacious enough to accommodate the necessary UN personnel for the organization’s operation – not to mention the delegates from the 51 member states at the time. Therefore, a new temporary seat was established in a World War II munitions factory in Lake Success, Long Island, in the New York suburbs.
In 1946, as today, the UN staff was multinational and multicultural. Press articles marveled at the unique character of this spectacle: women in saris mingled with men dressed in traditional thawb robes.
Radio broadcasts from Lake Success were recorded and broadcast internationally, marking an unprecedented moment in global broadcasting history.
The UN Radio was established in 1946, with one of its first guests being Eleanor Roosevelt, a driving force behind the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. World Radio Day is celebrated on February 13 each year, the day the UN Radio first aired 80 years ago this year.
The logistics of organizing such unprecedentedly large international meetings fell to UN Secretariat staff – the administrative and executive arm of the United Nations responsible for its operation.
Behind the scenes, hundreds of communication and public relations officials worked to ensure that issues discussed in the General Assembly and the Security Council reached the widest audience possible.
As the UN continued its work at Flushing Meadow, efforts intensified to find a permanent headquarters. The site clearing for the construction of the UN Headquarters commenced in 1947.
The construction of the UN Headquarters in Manhattan – spearheaded by an international team of renowned architects including Le Corbusier and Oscar Niemeyer – lasted about three years.
The relationship between the UN and New York City now spans 80 years, and historians assert that the UN is exactly where it should be.
The US, a founding member of the UN, played a vital role in shaping and realizing the physical establishment of the Organization.
Ambassador Warren R. Austin, head of the committee overseeing the development of the UN complex, stated that “the United Nations is based on principles that will endure long after the steel and stone of any material structure.”
The UN Headquarters, with the General Assembly building and the Secretariat tower, represents the unity of 148 member states flying flags in a row over 500 feet long in New York.
[Context: This article recounts the history of the United Nations in New York City, from its early beginnings to the construction of its permanent headquarters.] [Fact Check: The UN was established on October 24, 1945. Eleanor Roosevelt played a significant role in drafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. John D. Rockefeller Jr. made the donation for the UN Headquarters’ site. The building construction lasted from 1949 to 1952.]
