The UN, the WHO, and the Future of U.S. Diplomacy

By

R. Joseph Parrott

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Public health officials from almost 200 nations met in Geneva in May 2011.

The World Health Assembly

Public health officials from almost 200 nations met in Geneva in May 2011 at the annual gathering for member states of the World Health Organization (WHO). The former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius led the U.S. delegation to the assembly.

A poster created to commemorate the preamble of the United Nations Charter.

United Nations Charter

A poster created to commemorate the preamble of the United Nations Charter which was signed June 26, 1945.

A 1943 sketch by Franklin D. Roosevelt.

United Nations Sketch

A 1943 sketch by Franklin D. Roosevelt reveals his vision of how the three branches of the United Nations would work: The Four Policemen, an executive branch, and an international assembly of forty UN member states.

UNICEF workers unload and distribute humanitarian supplies.

UNICEF

UNICEF workers unload and distribute humanitarian supplies at hospital number 4 in Donetsk, Ukraine, 2015.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry signs the Paris Agreement on behalf of the United States.

The Paris Agreement

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, with his two-year-old granddaughter, Isabelle Dobbs-Higginson on his lap, signs the Paris Agreement on behalf of the United States during a ceremony on Earth Day, April 22, 2016.

President Donald J. Trump addresses the United Nations General Assembly.

Trump at the UN

President Donald J. Trump addresses the United Nations General Assembly on September 24, 2019, at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City.

The United Nations Charter Conference.

United Nations Charter Conference

The United Nations Charter Conference in San Francisco, California, 1945.

Vice President Mike Pence listens as President Donald J. Trump addresses the UN General Assembly.

The United States at the United Nations

Vice President Mike Pence, seated with U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Chief of Staff Gen. John Kelly, listens as President Donald J. Trump addresses the UN General Assembly, 2018.

This is a 1941 poster from the United States Office of War Information.

Wartime Alliance

This 1941 poster from the United States Office of War Information depicts the flags of the wartime United Nations. The flags of the "big four," the United States, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and China are in the top row, while the other allies are listed in alphabetical order below.

This is a 1943 poster depicts the United Nations as a wartime alliance.

United

This 1943 poster depicts the United Nations as a wartime alliance following the Declaration of the United Nations of 1942.

Eleanor Roosevelt holding a poster of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Eleanor Roosevelt and Human Rights

Eleanor Roosevelt holding a poster of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights shortly after its passage by the United Nations, 1949.

World map showing a traditional definition of the North–South divide.

Global South

World map showing a traditional definition of the North–South divide where red countries are grouped as "Global South", and blue countries as "Global North."

Three former directors of the Global Smallpox Eradication Program.

Smallpox Eradication Program

Three former directors of the Global Smallpox Eradication Program read the news that smallpox had been globally eradicated, 1980.

This 1919 political cartoon from The Evening Star shows Henry Cabot Lodge escorting a battered figure on crutches.

American Isolation

This 1919 political cartoon from The Evening Star shows Henry Cabot Lodge, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, escorting a battered figure on crutches labeled "Peace Treaty" out of a room. Conservative senators, like Lodge, had concerns over the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles, which provided for the establishment of the League of Nations.

Vietnamese people watch an explosion during the Vietnam War.

Vietnam War

Vietnamese people watch an explosion during the Vietnam War, 1972. Photo by Raymond Depardon.

This is a map of the current UN member states.

UN Member States

This map of the current UN member states shows their years of admission and the rapid growth the body experienced during and after decolonization. Light Blue: 1945, Teal: 1946–1959, Light Green: 1960–1989, Dark Green: 1990–present, Yellow: non-member observer states.

Pictured are delegates at a session of the first Conference in Geneva.

UNCTAD

Pictured are delegates at a session of the first Conference, otherwise known as UNCTAD I, in Geneva, Switzerland, March-June, 1964.

The Board of Governors for the International Monetary Fund.

International Monetary Fund

The Board of Governors for the International Monetary Fund (IMF), pictured here 1999.

President-elect Joe Biden speaking to attendees of the Presidential Gun Sense Forum.

President-elect Joe Biden

President-elect Joe Biden speaking to attendees of the Presidential Gun Sense Forum at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines, Iowa, 2019.

This chart shows the percentage of the world population that lives in extreme poverty.

Global Poverty Rates

This chart shows the percentage of the world population that lives in extreme poverty. The trend slopes downward especially after the 1960s.

This 2011 chart shows how foreign aid from the United States and China was allocated in Africa.

U.S. Foreign Aid to Africa

This 2011 chart, from Senator Chris Coons, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs, shows how foreign aid from the United States and China was allocated in Africa. Foreign aid programs, like these, came under attack in the 1970s.

President George W. Bush signs the Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde United States Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Reauthorization Act of 2008.

PEPFAR

President George W. Bush signs the Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde United States Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Reauthorization Act of 2008. This act dramatically increased funding to PEPFAR and reauthorized the 2003 act.

Pictured is USAID’s partner, the Luke Commission, providing an outdoor COVID-19 station in Sidvokodvo, Eswatini.

COVID-19 Station

Pictured is USAID’s partner, the Luke Commission, providing an outdoor COVID-19 station in Sidvokodvo, Eswatini, May 2020. The current pandemic has proven how necessary international cooperation is when confronted with a global crisis.

Huang Hua, Permanent Representative of China to the UN, is greeted by George H. Bush, Permanent Representative of the United States.

China Admitted to Security Council

Huang Hua, Permanent Representative of China to the UN, is greeted by George H. Bush, Permanent Representative of the United States,upon China’s admission to the Security Council in 1971. UN Photo/ Teddy Chen. Published with permission.

Pictured here is the opening day for the Annual Conference of the Department of Public Information of the United Nations for Non-Governmental Organizations in 1984.

NGO Conference

Pictured here is the opening day for the Annual Conference of the Department of Public Information of the United Nations for Non-Governmental Organizations in 1984. UN Photo/Saw Lwin. Published with Permission.

Pictured are members of the Security Council discussing a proposal.

Latin America and the UN

Pictured are members of the Security Council discussing a proposal urging measures against attempts to “coerce” Latin American Countries. Panama City, 1973. UN Photo/Yutaka Nagata. Published with permission.

Pictured here are Dr. Paul Stercke of Belgium, the Minister of Health, and two members of a WHO visiting team.

WHO Visiting Rwanda and Burundi

Pictured here are Dr. Paul Stercke of Belgium, examining the arm of a young patient. Looking on are the Minister of Health, Mr. Francois Xavier Ncogoabahizi (right, background) and two members of a WHO visiting team, Drs. David Yarom and Victor Zammit-Tabona, Chief of WHO's Office of Program Coordination, who was carrying out a four-week survey of health conditions in Rwanda and in Burundi, 1962. UN Photo/BZ. Published with permission.

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