It’s a fair bet that most of my readers have no idea what the Connally Resolution was or did. At least, not by that name. On November 5 of 1943, the US Senate approved the Connally Resolution, sponsored by Tom Connally of Texas, a five-sentence document. The fourth sentence read as follows: “That the Senate recognizes the necessity of there being established at the earliest practicable date a general international organization, based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all peace-loving states, and open to membership by all such states, large and small, for the maintenance of international peace and security.”
The House of Representatives had already passed the Fulbright Resolution, which made a similar statement of support for an international organization. The international organization ultimately created, as the reader has guessed by now, was the United Nations.
Why the Connally Resolution Was a Departure
This desire to participate in an international organization in 1943 was an interesting contrast to choices made in the US after World War 1. Recall that the aftermath of World War 1 saw its own international organization come into being, the League of Nations, but that for various reasons too numerous to explain here, the US never joined the League. (This despite it being the brainchild of US president Woodrow Wilson.)
Most historians regard this as an unfortunate mistake. The emergence of the US as an international power was clear to everyone by 1918. For it to withdraw, at least partially, from international affairs after the war followed traditional foreign policy for the US. But traditionalists failed to understand that times had changed. Airplanes, and soon missiles, made the world a much smaller place, and after World War 2, the US government felt it had to be involved in world events, if for no other reason than to counterbalance the Soviet Union. (Although finding markets for US businesses to sell their good internationally was a major factor as well.)
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Importance of the Connally Resolution
That is why the Connally Resolution remains important. It signaled a major shift in the US approach to foreign policy that has held to the present. That, and the fact that today the United Nations is a major organization that undertakes all kinds of important projects in areas such as peacekeeping, diplomacy, and public health, even if those campaigns sometimes fall short of hopes.
One more thing about the United Nations I’d like to point out. In 1945, when the UN opened, there were 51 members. Today there are 193. (A few nations of the world didn’t join in 1945 for various reasons, just as a few today are not members. You can find the year each nation joined here.) Conspiracy theorists who believe the UN is the road to One World Government might take note that the number of countries in the world has roughly tripled since 1945, rather than declining.
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