The Formation and Current State of the United Nations

By Jared La Porta

Jared La Porta, a 2015 graduate of Albany Law School, received his BA in History from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2011, with concentrations in both the United States and Europe. While in law school, Jared interned for the New York State Defenders Association and the Albany County Public Defender’s Office.
His paper was prepared for Professor Bonventre's International Law of War and Crime Seminar.

On October 24, 1945, representatives from fifty-one nations ratified the Charter creating what President Franklin Delano Roosevelt had previously designated the “United Nations.” United Nations Day, as it came to be known, marked the culmination of decades of international efforts to create a single multinational organization.

The organization’s primary purpose would be to maintain and promote peace and security throughout the world. A major feat, the UN was the result of not only long-standing warfare and international strife, but also a lengthy process of trial and error that began nearly a century before its founding.

Throughout this process, a multitude of organizations and peace conferences shaped and reshaped the notion of international cooperation to ensure peace and humanity on a global scale. It was this historical context that marked the beginnings of what would become the United Nations.

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