United Nations Postcards, Part 2

Cont'd from Part 1:

The Soviet representative waited for translation, then responded:

Zorin: This is not a court of law, I do not need to provide a yes or no answer...

Stevenson: You can answer yes or no. You have denied they exist. I want to know if I understood you correctly. I am prepared to wait for my answer until hell freezes over, if that's your decision. And I am also prepared to present the evidence in this room.

US Ambassador Adlai Stevenson addresses the UN Security Council and his Soviet counterpart Valerian Zorin on 25 October 1962.

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I am more proficient at buying postcards than I am at fluently interpreting their subjects. The Stevenson-Zorin exchange is just a dramatic example of a single UN Security Council discussion which has been popularized in movies and history documentaries. 

I watched with interest, on 24 September 2024, the statement by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Security Council regarding the ongoing war with Russia - as well as the statements made by other members.

Included at the end is some concise detail on the original intentions behind the organization of the United Nations and its agencies - eight decades ago.

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from: The Modern Era; Richards & Cruickshank; 1955; Longman's Canada.

from: The Modern Era; Richards & Cruickshank; 1955; Longman's Canada.

United Nations Postcards, Part 1

'All right, sir, let me ask you one simple question: Do you, Ambassador Zorin, deny that the U.S.S.R. has placed and is placing medium- and intermediate-range missiles and sites in Cuba? Yes or no—don't wait for the translation—yes or no?'

US Ambassador Adlai Stevenson, 25 October 1962, Speaking in the United Nations Security Council.

The interesting assortment of rare birds: 

• Call sign: [Country Name] 1
• Call sign: [Country] Air Force ###

... flocking to John F Kennedy International Airport tells us that the annual meeting of the UN General Assembly is about to begin.

Some have called the UN a 'talking shop for dictators'. Others decry the structure of the Security Council and the power which only five Permanent Members have to veto a proposed action. 

Some others have said that when the 'big powers' get themselves into trouble, they have often been quite glad to use the United Nations to begin the process of cooling things down. 

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To add to your pleasure of watching all the proceedings clips of the General Assembly, here are a few postcards showing some of the facilities of the United Nations, probably circa 1960. Just like historic religious and government buildings, the architectural intent was probably to inspire awe and reverence for the organization's mission.

Back in 1960, the Second World War and the first atomic bombs were as recent as the year 2009 is to us today in 2024. 

Barack Obama was sworn in on January 20 ... the first Boeing 787 flew on December 15 ... in 2009.

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A very short (deliberately historical) overview of the United Nations and the General Assembly follows the postcards.

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from: The Modern Age; Richards & Cruickshank; 1955; Longmans Canada.

(If you are curious, 2. The United Nations was preceded in the book by 1. World War 2.)

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from: 100 Years in Pictures; DC Somervell; 1950; Odhams Press, London.