third session of the United Nations General Assembly

The session was taking place but three years after the conclusion of World War II, a conflict so vast and impactful that it had convinced the United States and other nations to give collective security another try after the failures of the interwar period, and people were hopeful this time it would work.{{cite book | author-first=F. Lee | author-last=Benns | title=Europe Since 1914: In Its World Setting | edition=Eighth | location=New York | publisher=Appleton-Century-Crofts | year=1954 | pages=593–596, 607, 650}} By 1948, the tensions of the early Cold War period were already becoming apparent.

On Sunday, 19 September, two days prior to the opening of the session, church bells were rung and special services held in congregations of various faiths, praying for the success of the General Assembly meetings.{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1948/09/20/archives/church-bells-ring-for-paris-session-congregations-of-all-faiths-ask.html | title=Church Bells Ring for Paris Session | newspaper=The New York Times | date=20 September 1948 | page=22 | access-date=26 February 2022 | archive-date=26 February 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220226182749/https://www.nytimes.com/1948/09/20/archives/church-bells-ring-for-paris-session-congregations-of-all-faiths-ask.html?searchResultPosition=1 | url-status=live }} Such events were held in cities and towns across the United States and in parts of Canada.{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/96405935/ | title=Editorials: Prayers for Peace | newspaper=The Evening Citizen | location=Ottawa | date=18 September 1948 | page=48 | via=Newspapers.com | access-date=26 February 2022 | archive-date=28 February 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220228055618/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/96405935/the-ottawa-citizen/ | url-status=live }} Similar ceremonies were also held in both Western and Eastern Europe, including in Belgium, France, Czechoslovakia, and Poland, as well as other parts of the world.{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/96481732/ | title=Church Bells Ring | author-first=J. Shenton | author-last=Lodge | newspaper=Daily Press | location=Newport News, Virginia | date=22 September 1948 | page=4 | via=Newspapers.com | access-date=26 February 2022 | archive-date=28 February 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220228055625/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/96481732/daily-press/ | url-status=live }}

In many of the services, one particular prayer, written anonymously, was said, part of which read:

Especially do we pray for the Assembly of the United Nations, opening in Paris. Give to men and women gathered there a sense of Thy providence and a knowledge that the good of all people must come before the good of any single person, race, or nation. Amen.

Image:Eleanor Roosevelt, E. Gross and P.C. Jessup at United Nations in Paris - NARA - 195960.jpg, with American delegates Ernest A. Gross and Philip Jessup, during the second day of the assembly session]]

Representatives met in Paris from 21 September to 12 December 1948 in Paris, France to convene the third session.{{cite book | url=https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1948v01p1/d38 | title=Foreign Relations of the United States, 1948, General; the United Nations, Volume I, Part 1 | publisher=U.S. State Department | year= | page=86n1 | access-date=26 February 2022 | archive-date=26 February 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220226182952/https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1948v01p1/d38 | url-status=live }} It was hosted at the Palais de Chaillot in the 16th arrondissement of Paris.{{Cite web |title=Palais de Chaillot. Chaillot museums. |url=https://www.parisdigest.com/monument/palais-de-chaillot.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211207071532/https://www.parisdigest.com/monument/palais-de-chaillot.htm |archive-date=7 December 2021 |access-date=15 September 2018 |publisher=Paris Digest}}

In all there were 618 different meetings of the assembly and various committees at the Paris session. Initially there were negotiations over whether the Eastern Bloc would have adequate representation on the United Nations General Committee and other such UN bodies. The most important achievements of the Paris session were the ratifications of two foundational and essential documents, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. The general assembly vote on the first was 48–0 with 8 absentions, and the vote on the second was 50–0 with 0 abstentions.{{cite journal |date=1950 |title=United Nations and Human Rights |journal=The American Jewish Year Book |volume=51 |pages=433–442 |jstor=23603803 |author-first=Geraldine |author-last=Rosenfield}} Otherwise the Paris session was marked by disagreements between the West and the Eastern Bloc, with Andrey Vyshinsky, the head of the delegation from the Soviet Union, criticizing John Foster Dulles, the acting chair of the United States delegation. In the end, the Soviet Union expressed frustration that none of its own proposals had passed.{{cite news | url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1948/12/13/issue.html | title=U.N. Assembly Ends Its Paris Meeting; Backs South Korea | author-first=Thomas J. | author-last=Hamilton | newspaper=The New York Times | date=13 December 1948 | pages=1, 3 | access-date=26 February 2022 | archive-date=28 February 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220228055634/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1948/12/13/issue.html | url-status=live }} The Paris session also addressed the situation on the Korean peninsula by declaring, via a 48–6 margin, the Republic of Korea to be the only legitimate government there.

The second part of the third session took place in New York City, United States, from 5 April to 18 May 1949.{{cite book | url=https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1949v05/d336 | title=Foreign Relations of the United States, 1949, Eastern Europe; The Soviet Union, Volume V | publisher=U.S. Department of State | year= | page=585n6 | access-date=26 February 2022 | archive-date=26 February 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220226182819/https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1949v05/d336 | url-status=live }} It was held at the New York City Building within Flushing Meadows Park in the borough of Queens.{{cite web |title=Building History |url=http://www.queensmuseum.org/building-history |publisher=Queens Museum of Art |access-date=2 May 2015 |archive-date=26 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150426055704/http://www.queensmuseum.org/building-history |url-status=live }} Many of the committee sessions were held just outside the city in the village of Lake Success.{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1949/04/06/archives/parley-is-subdued-session-at-flushing-is-advised-against-weak-or.html | title=Evatt, Opening U.N. Assembly, Warns Pacts Are Subordinate to Charter | author-first=Thomas J. | author-last=Hamilton | newspaper=The New York Times | date=6 April 1949 | pages=1, 6 | access-date=26 February 2022 | archive-date=26 February 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220226184249/https://www.nytimes.com/1949/04/06/archives/parley-is-subdued-session-at-flushing-is-advised-against-weak-or.html?searchResultPosition=1 | url-status=live }} As a result, the naming of this part of the session is often referred to be both at Flushing Meadows Park and Lake Success.

The most significant action of this part of the session was United Nations General Assembly Resolution 273, allowing the admission of the State of Israel into the United Nations. The general assembly voted 37–12 with 9 abstentions.{{cite web | url=https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/671023?ln=en | title=Admission of Israel to membership in the United Nations : resolution / adopted by the General Assembly | date=11 May 1949 | publisher=United Nations | access-date=18 March 2022}} Otherwise the overall session ended on an inconclusive note, with several questions regarding the disposition of Italian colonies left for the next session.{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/96486280/ | title=UN Delays Action On Colonies | author-first=John G. | author-last=Rogers | agency=The New York Herald Tribune | newspaper=Journal Herald | location=Dayton, Ohio | date=19 May 1949 | page=1 | via=Newspapers.com | access-date=26 February 2022 | archive-date=28 February 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220228055626/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/96486280/the-journal-herald/ | url-status=live }}

{{reflist}}

• Report of third session: [http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/NL4/907/88/PDF/NL490788.pdf?OpenElement Annual report of the Secretary-General on the work of the organization, 1 July 1948 -30 June 1949]{{Dead link|date=December 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}. 7 July 1949, General Assembly official records

{{United Nations General Assembly Sessions|state=expanded}}

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Category:1948 in the United Nations

Category:1949 in the United Nations

Category:1948 in Paris

Category:1949 in New York City