March 12, 1945 archives

Excerpted from "No Easy Road"

Hosts and Guests.
On behalf of Russia, Britain and China, the U.S. invited 39 other "United Nations" to San Francisco on April 24. Still huffed by its cavalier treatment at Yalta and after, France agreed to attend the Conference but not to sponsor it.

The list of guests showed that, at best, Europe's representation will be weak. All of its Governments are provisional or exiled. Only Norway will represent Scandinavia. Last week's invitations skipped Poland entirely. It will be represented at San Francisco only if the compromise Government agreed on at Yalta is formed in time.

Invitations went last week to three countries—Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia—which scurried under the wire by March 1, the deadline for war declarations set at Yalta. Syria and Lebanon also beat the deadline, but were not invited (they are still juridically French mandates). Korea's Provisional Government in Chungking tried to get a place by declaring war on Japan, but did not yet rate membership in the United Nations.