United Nations Day was established by Presidential Proclamation to commemorate the establishment of the United Nations in 1945.

   It is celebrated very generally in all states and American possessions, and by all eighty-one countries, which are members of the United Nations for the purpose of informing the people of the world as to the aims, purposes, and achievements of the UN.  The day is part of the United Nations Week, October 20-26.
   The name "United Nations" was devised by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt and was first used in the "Declaration by United Nations" of January 1, 1942, during the Second World War, when representatives of 26 nations pledged their governments to continue fighting together against the Axis Powers.   
   The representatives of 50 countries at the United Nations Conference drew up the United Nations Charter on International Organization, which met at San Francisco from April 25 to June 26, 1945.  Those delegates deliberated on the basis of proposals worked out by the representatives of China, the Soviet Union, and United Kingdom in the United States at Dumbarton Oaks from August to October of 1944. The representatives of the 50 countries signed the Charter on June 26, 1945.  Poland, which was not represented at the Conference, signed it later and became one the original 51 Member States.
   The United Nations officially came into existence on October 24, 1945, when the Charter had been ratified by China, France, The Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, United States and by a majority of other signatories.  United Nations Day is celebrated on October 24 each year.
   On April 25, 1945, delegates from fifty countries drove through the rain to meet for the United Nations Conference on international Organization at the Flag-bedecked War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco. Although the delegates came from nations, "small, weak, and strong, and in different stages of political and social development," these earnest individuals were "determined to set up an organization which would preserve peace, advance justice, and constitute a permanent structure for international cooperation."
    For nine weeks (from April 26 to June 26) the conference worked on the Charter.  Its preamble is considered by many to be one of the finest expressions of purpose ever set forth in any language.  By October 24, 1945, the majority of the signatory nations had ratified the charter, and had sent formal notes to the State Department in Washington, D.C. These signers included China, France, the U.S.S.R., the United Kingdom, the United States, and many others.  Therefore, on October 24, 1945, with flags of fifty nations flying together, the United Nations came into being.
   In order to stress the charter's importance, in 1947 the General Assembly of the U.N. passed a resolution:
that October 24 shall hereafter be officially called United Nations  Day, and shall be devoted to making known to the people of the world  the aims and achievements of the United Nations, and to gaining their  support for the work of the United Nations.
 
   It was apparent, and also quite important, that the general public should be informed about the content and purposes of the United Nations; therefore an entire week-United Nations Week-was set aside in October, with its chief observance on United Nations Day, October 24.
   By 1956, the American committee for the United Nations promoted the celebration of United Nations week.  The official American Association for the United Nations sent out information and suggestions for programs with this advice:
   This is United Nations Week.  The success of the United Nations in  building world peace depends on all of us-on our won understanding  and support; know how it works, and what it is doing.  Help the United Nations help all of us to a peaceful future.

  In some towns there is a public rally, perhaps at the City Hall, with the Stars and Stripes displayed with the flag of the United Nations.   Speakers stress the accomplishments of the organization.  Some shop windows feature products and dress of other lands.  A town may put on an "International Festival" with songs and dances.  During the week there are forums and panel discussions.  An enjoy blending for United Nations Day is a banquet with foreign dishes. 
    An important part of the week's observance is the setting up of information centers, where literature on the work of the United Nations may be obtained.   For example: In 1945 the cost per American for World War II was the sum of $633.57, while the cost to each American for maintaining the United Nations per year is about 67 cents.
   In 1960, the U.N. had been in existence for fifteen years, one newspaper stated:
While the great debate at U.N. headquarters in New York makes the  headlines, workers of the various agencies like UNICEF (International  Children's Emergency Fund), UNESCO (U.N. Educational, Scientific and  Cultural Organization) and WHO (World Health Organization) continue  their efforts to aid backward and underprivileged areas unheralded.   Famine, disease, malnutrition, and subsistence living standards have  already been markedly improved by teams of workers from the U.N.. They render not only direct assistance, but train teams of natives to  teach their own people.