75th Anniversary of the Ratification of the United Nations Charter on October 24, 1945

STAFF PICK: 75th Anniversary of the Ratification of the United Nations Charter on October 24, 1945
STAFF PERSON: Martha G. Elmore
COLLECTIONS:
Frank R. Bartimo Papers 
Harris-Redditt Family Papers

Many events and conferences took place before the United Nations Charter was deemed ready for ratification on October 24, 1945, thus founding the United Nations. The main events were the Declaration of St. James Palace (June 1941), Atlantic Charter (August 1941), Declaration by United Nations (January 1, 1942), Moscow Declaration (October 1943) and Tehran Conference (December 1943), Dumbarton Oaks and Yalta Conference (1944-1945), and the San Francisco Conference (1945). A Conference of United Nations started meeting in San Francisco on April 25, 1945, to prepare the final charter. Fifty nations were represented at the conference.

There is a June 24, 1945, letter in the Frank R. Bartimo Papers from a man named Bill writing on stationery for the Bureau of Aeronautics in the Navy Department in Washington, D.C. He was writing to Frank and Kay Bartimo and on pages four (as seen below) and five of his letter he gives his gloomy outlook on the ability of the Charter to bring lasting peace because “[i]ts success is entirely dependent on the unanimity & good faith of the Big 5 or 3. . .” and he comments on the Dumbarton Oaks, Yalta, and San Francisco conferences.

June 24, 1945, Letter from the Frank R. Bartimo Papers

Once the United Nations was founded, it was soon challenged by the Korean War.  The United Nations Command was established in 1950 to support South Korea (known then as the Republic of Korea) against the attacks of North Korea (known then as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea).  Unable to bring the conflict to a peaceful conclusion, the parties involved signed the Korean Armistice Agreement on July 27, 1953, and agreed to the establishment of the Military Armistice Commission to manage the enforcement of the Armistice.

Nina Belle Redditt (born in Lenoir County, N.C., and raised in Greenville, N.C.) served for thirty-one years in the U.S. Navy attaining the rank of Chief Petty Officer. Photographs of the 1953 signing of the Armistice, reports and minutes of meetings between the United Nations Command and the Korean People’s Army/Chinese People’s Volunteers and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea for the years 1954 through 1963 documenting violations and the returning of prisoners, and a publication describing the United Nations Command component of the Military Armistice Commission are found in the Harris-Redditt Family Papers.  Perhaps they belonged to Nina Belle Redditt.  Below is a link to the Military Armistice Commission publication.  This undated but believed to be ca. 1960 document was apparently prepared as an orientation document.  The foreword summarizes the situation in Korea and starts with the following statement: “The unnatural division of Korea into a northern and southern sector is a part and parcel of the Communist master plan to engulf the whole of Asia.”

From Harris-Redditt Family Papers, United Nations Command Military Armistice Commission Publication ca.1960

Sources:

Accessed on 10/6/2020.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Command

Accessed on 10/6/2020.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Command,_Military_Armistice_Commission,_Korea.

Accessed on 10/6/2020.    https://www.un.org/en/model-united-nations/history-united-nations