Morris Dissertation

MIAMI UNIVERSITY The Graduate School Certificate for Approving the Dissertation We hereby approve the Dissertation of Jennifer M. Morris Candidate for the Degree: Doctor of Philosophy ______________________________ Judith P. Zinsser, Director ______________________________ Mary Frederickson, Reader _______________________________ David Fahey, Reader _______________________________ Laura Neack, Graduate School Representative ABSTRACT THE ORIGINS OF UNICEF, 1946-1953 by Jennifer M. Morris In December, 1946, the United Nations General Assembly voted to approve an International Children’s Emergency Fund that would provide relief assistance to children and their mothers whose lives had been disrupted by World War II in Europe and China. Begun as a temporary operation meant to last only until 1950, the organization, which later became the United Nations Children’s Fund, or UNICEF, went far beyond its original mandate and established programs throughout the world. Because it had become an indispensable provider of basic needs to disadvantaged children and mothers, it lobbied for and received approval from the General Assembly to become a permanent UN agency in 1953. The story of UNICEF’s founding and quest for permanent status reveals much about the postwar world. As a relief organization, it struggled with where, how, and to whom to provide aid. As an international body, it wrestled with the debates that ensued as a result of Cold War politics. Its status as an apolitical philanthropic organization provides a unique perspective from which to forge links between the political, economic and social histories of the postwar period. THE ORIGINS OF UNICEF, 1946-1953 A DISSERTATION Submitted to the Faculty of Miami University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of History by Jennifer M. Morris Miami University Oxford, Ohio 2004 Dissertation Director: Judith P. Zinnser Revised Version Accepted by the Graduate School September 2010 © Jennifer M. Morris 2004 Table of Contents Introduction 1 Chapter One 7 Chapter Two 19 Chapter Three 26 Chapter Four 34 Chapter Five 48 Chapter Six 64 Chapter Seven 81 Chapter Eight 92 Conclusion 99 Bibliography 103 iii For Emily and Elyse iv Acknowledgements This journey, begun almost twenty years ago, would not have been possible without the support and encouragement of many. Charlotte Goldy's constant belief in me opened all the necessary doors, and gave me access to a wonderful group of scholars who helped me hone my skills. Adhiratha Keefe, UNICEF's generous and gracious archivist, provided me with abundant resources and a quiet place to work in the midst of Manhattan. Mary Frederickson, David Fahey and Laura Neack made thoughtful commentary that not only made my work better, but pointed out new directions it might take in the future. Bradley Morris, my brother and fellow scholar, offered constant moral support and had an uncanny knack for knowing just what to say to make me keep going when it seemed as if the road had come to an end. My parents and grandparents often provided financial support in addition to their love and understanding, a boon to any graduate endeavor. My husband, Bryan, and my daughters, Emily and Elyse, gave me infinite love and encouragement—thank you all so very much; I could not have done it without you. Finally, to my mentor and friend, Judith P. Zinsser—words cannot express my gratitude for all the years you have spent with me in this project. You gave me the push I needed to fly. v Introduction Until very recently, historians in the U.S. have shown little interest in the United Nations. Only a few have chosen it as a topic for historical analysis, producing to date a handful of dissertations focusing primarily on international law proceedings and political policy. 1 This reticence to study the United Nations, an institution now almost sixty years old, is baffling. The UN has vast archival material, has been involved in most major world events since its creation in 1945, and can be an effective means to examine not only individual countries, but the world. For these reasons, I have undertaken the study of a particular UN organization, one that has been surrounded by controversy of late— UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund. Few charitable organizations have achieved the status of global recognition enjoyed by UNICEF. Whether through its trick- or-treat boxes, holiday cards, or appeals from its famous goodwill ambassadors, UNICEF embodies the international effort to provide for children the world over. UNICEF, like the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), was created because of its synchronicity with the UN's stated purpose—to maintain peace in the world—as well as its own proposals to focus on and resolve issues identified as both critical and ongoing at the end of the war. UNICEF launched its operations in 1946 under the guise of providing emergency relief, but relied on continuing issues of children, including famine and disease prevention, to remain a viable concern. Its founding, early operations and eventual restructuring, therefore, also reveal a great deal about the concurrent political and economic events which have to date been the focus of most histories of the period. UNICEF's programs also provide insight into ideas about the postwar family, its structure, and expectations regarding the behavior of its individual members. Placed in historiographical context, this analysis of UNICEF promises to expand our knowledge of political and economic issues in the postwar period and to break new ground regarding the social dilemmas faced by the organization as it began operations in individual nations. Studying UNICEF's role in the postwar period has not yet been undertaken. UN agencies have been almost entirely ignored by historians, and only two published histories of UNICEF exist, both the work of former UNICEF employee Maggie Black. Entitled The Children and the Nations: the Story of UNICEF and Children First: the Story of UNICEF, they provide information on UNICEF's later years and focus on yaws and tuberculosis treatment programs. They are not, however, analytical treatments of the organization. Rather, they read as laudatory biographies of the Executive Directors of UNICEF since 1965—the year both UNICEF's founder, Ludwik Rajchman, and first Executive Director, Maurice Pate, died. My analysis of UNICEF, then, constitutes original work on several levels. It elucidates the difficulties faced by neutral, international organizations as they negotiated the increasingly polarized terrain of the early years of the Cold War. UNICEF found 1 For example, in addition to two dissertations written during the early 1950s, the following dissertations on the United Nations have been completed: Benno Signitzer, “The Ordering of the Direct Broadcast Satellite: the International Legislative Process in the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space” (PhD dissertation, Bowling Green State University, 1975); Neba Denis Cheno , “The Legal Regime for the Management of the Area Under UNCLOS III” (PhD dissertation, University of Michigan, 1993); and Dmitri Hanna, “Perspectives on Decision Making: the Third United Nations Law of the Sea Conference, 1973-82” (PhD dissertation, George Mason University, 1995). 1 itself constantly in the direct line of fire between the Communist and Capitalist worlds, and had to develop a means to maneuver through the political quagmire in order to achieve its goals. Through this process, UNICEF gained permanent status as a UN agency; however, it lost the ability to provide aid wherever it was needed, as Communist nations rarely became UNICEF relief recipients. This study also examines how the roles of individual family members evolved on the institutional and individual level during this period, thereby broadening our all too narrow understanding of the Cold War era in general. In particular, social historians Siim, Jet Bussemaker and others have examined postwar definitions of citizenship in detail, and argue that despite declarations of equal rights for men and women, sex remained a critical factor in determining one's rights.2 UNICEF programs can help us better understand how ideas regarding equality and citizenship were at the same time upheld and challenged, since these programs often relied on one’s sex and age to determine eligibility for aid. Histories of the postwar period, in addition to their exclusion of the UN, have not addressed issues outside the realm of high politics. They focus largely on diplomatic and economic policy, for example the work of modern European historians Keith Middlemas, Arnold Offner, Theodore Wilson and John Young. All of these have, for the most part, examined the origins of the Cold War in an effort to place blame for the protracted state of tension that could have, at any minute, erupted into total war.3 Policies, as well as the individual policy makers, have remained the focus of these histories. More recent studies like those conducted by European historian Charles Maier have begun to examine the ways in which the threat of a danger of total destruction and the buildup of nuclear arsenals played a role in determining the strategic dimensions of the Cold War.4 European historian William Hitchcock's work, which revises commonly accepted themes of European Cold War history, takes a different direction; he posits that France, despite the economic and material influences of the US, asserted a great deal

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