Act of creation : the founding of the United Nations : a story of superpowers, secret agents, wartime allies and enemies, and their quest for a peaceful world

Takeover -- League follies, Wilson and Roosevelt -- Unlikely pilgrimage of Leo Pasvolsky -- Yalta and aftermath, Roosevelt's last acts -- Truman and Stettinius, the awkward alliance -- Secret agents, big powers -- Americanizing the conference -- Bitter trade-off -- Full-court press -- Amendment marathon -- Rockefeller's bounty, the regional option -- Twenty-three questions -- Mission to Moscow -- Final battles -- Fall of Stettinius -- Ratification story.;In [this book, the author] tells a pivotal and little known story of how Secretary of State Edward Stettinius and the new American President, Harry Truman, picked up the pieces of the faltering campaign initiated by Franklin Roosevelt to create a "United Nations." Using secret agents, financial resources, and their unrivaled position of power, they overcame the intrigues of Stalin, the reservations of wartime allies like Winston Churchill, the discontent of smaller states, and a skeptical press corps to found the United Nations. The author reveals how the U.N. nearly collapsed several times during the conference over questions of which states should have power, who should be admitted, and how authority should be divided among its branches. By shedding new light on leading participants like John Foster Dulles, John F. Kennedy, Adlai Stevenson, Nelson Rockefeller, and E.B. White, [the book] provides a tale of twentieth-century history not to be missed.-Dust jacket.

In Act of Creation, Stephen C. Schlesinger tells a pivotal and little-known story of how Secretary of State Edward Stettinius and the new American President, Harry Truman, picked up the pieces of the faltering campaign initiated by Franklin Roosevelt to create a "United Nations." Using secret agents, financial resources, and their unrivaled position of power, they overcame the intrigues of Stalin, the reservations of wartime allies like Winston Churchill, the discontent of smaller states, and a skeptical press corps to found the United Nations. The author reveals how the UN nearly collapsed several times during the conference over questions of which states should have power, who should be admitted, and how authority should be divided among its branches. By shedding new light on leading participants like John Foster Dulles, John F. Kennedy, Adlai Stevenson, Nelson Rockefeller, and E. B White, Act of Creation provides a fascinating tale of twentieth-century history not to be missed.

"In Act of Creation, Stephen C. Schlesinger tells a pivotal and little known story of how Secretary of State Edward Stettinius and the new American President, Harry Truman, picked up the pieces of the faltering campaign initiated by Franklin Roosevelt to create a "United Nations." Using secret agents, financial resources, and their unrivaled position of power, they overcame the intrigues of Stalin, the reservations of wartime allies like Winston Churchill, the discontent of smaller states, and a skeptical press corps to found the United Nations. The author reveals how the U.N. nearly collapsed several times during the conference over questions of which states should have power, who should be admitted, and how authority should be divided among its branches. By shedding new light on leading participants like John Foster Dulles, John F. Kennedy, Adlai Stevenson, Nelson Rockefeller, and E.B. White, Act of Creation provides a tale of twentieth-century history not to be missed."--Jacket The dramatic unfolding of how, against seemingly hopeless odds at the end of World War II, the most important international organization in the world, the United Nations, came to be The president of the United States, Franklin Roosevelt, was seated in his living room on a leather chair near the fireplace at the Little White House in Warms Spring, Georgia.