The UN CHARTER: A Question of Faith

“The substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

SAN FRANCISCO -- Our third and final episode of the podcast series “Act of Creation” is ready for your ears. It’s a fitting end to a great journey. Episode 1 looks at the years leading up to the famous San Francisco Conference of 1945, when the Charter was signed and the United Nations was born; the episode then moves up to the Conference’s opening day on April 24. Episode 2 dives into the Conference itself, showing the intense diplomatic maneuvering as well as the ambitious intentions that were needed to turn the Charter into a reality. Now, in Episode 3, we start on the day the Charter was signed and celebrated, June 26, 1945, and then take listeners decade by decade into the Charter’s future. 

In this episode, Stephen Schlesinger, the American historian and author of the book “Act of Creation: The Founding of the United Nations,” does a stellar job of telling that story, spinning through the decades. We see more examples of international drama and exceptional leadership as well as their opposite. You’ll hear the ideas and voices of such figures as Eleanor Roosevelt, Kofi Annan, Harry Truman and Dag Hammarskjold. They weave and bob in the large, deep mental space created by Schlesinger’s brilliant point of view, both wickedly intelligent and often surprisingly poignant.  Perhaps most movingly for me, and at first unexpected, is hearing the aural unfolding of humanity’s profoundest values. 

The story of the founding of the UN, besides being riveting, entertaining and filled with vivid personalities, parades these values at the only moment in time –arguably-- where the entire world was paying attention: the end of World War II.  These values and ideals may seem naïve to some listeners now, but when you hear them echoing loudly from the past, the words by St. Paul in our title may seem stubbornly wise and solidly reasonable. “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Our hope is that this final episode provides resonance to these words and demonstrates the persistent power of ideals not yet realized: a clarion call for all of us to get to work.

Many thanks to Schlesinger for sharing these tales with such good will and tremendous smarts, and to Dulcie Leimbach, a founder, with Barbara Crossette, of PassBlue and the executive producer of this series, for her insights, encouragement and patience! Two truth warriors fighting the fight every day, it’s been my honor and great pleasure to have been able to work alongside them for these last couple years. 

Thanks to all for listening. We look forward to your feedback: info@passblue.com. 

DAN BECKER, producer and composer

Act of Creation - A Question of Faith

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Audio credit: Dianne Penn, UN News
Audio duration: 5'40"

#unitednations

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Ms. Grandi was in the country in search of fair and lasting solutions for the refugees hosted in Rwanda and DR Congo. 

Audio credit: UN News/Radio Okapi, MONUSCO

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PassBlue is an independent, women-led digital publication offering in-depth journalism on the US-UN relationship and its effects on women’s issues, human rights, peacekeeping and other urgent global matters, as reported from our base in the UN press corps. Founded in 2011, PassBlue is not tied financially or otherwise to the UN.

Act of Creation - A Question of Faith

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