For Us, the Living

The delegates of 51 nations gathered last week for the first UNO General Assembly. They met on a great battlefield of the war--London. That battle, as much as Stalingrad or Midway, had been a turning point in the war. Though the delegates inevitably brought lesser interests along, they gathered also with a sense of dedication. Around the globe, the living shared it.

Even the vanquished depended on UNO for their eventual hope. With all its faults--and the first few days made them evident--UNO had a chance to make the world's ideal of a just and durable peace come true. And if UNO failed, late or soon, there would be a yet more terrible war.

A plain man had plain words for it. Earnest, uneloquent Clement Attlee had fought in the trenches of the first World War, helped fight the second. Said he:

"The preamble to the Charter of the United Nations admirably sets out the ideals for which men and women laid down their lives during the war. But the affirmation of principles is easy; the translation into action and the making of a working reality out of an ideal is very difficult. ... It is for us today, bearing in mind the great sacrifices that have been made, to prove ourselves no less courageous in approaching our great task, no less patient, no less self-sacrificing. We must and will succeed."

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