Video: 'United Nations Open Conference As San Francisco (1945)'

(Wednesday, April 25, 1945, 7:35 p.m. EWT; during World War II) — Delegates from some 50 countries gathered in San Francisco today to organize the United Nations.

U.S. President Harry Truman set the tone during a short address by telephone from the White House to the delegates in the Opera House, which was rebroadcast to the world.

Truman appealed to the world representatives to “rise above personal interests” and create a world security organization which would enforce justice and redeem the terrible sacrifices of the war.