“Rome Wasn’t Built in a Day Either” (June 18, 1947)
by Harold I “Tom” Carlisle (1904-1993)
14 x 19 in., ink on board
Coppola Collection
Tom Carlisle grew up in Jefferson, IA, and graduated from the University of Iowa. He joined the Des Moines Register as an assistant to J.N. “Ding” Darling, the newspaper’s long-time editorial cartoonist. After Darling’s retirement in 1949, Carlisle served as the Register’s primary cartoonist until his retirement in 1953.
Several attempts were made to codify international law after WWI. The work that led to the International Law Commission was begun in the Resolution of the Assembly of the League of Nations in 1924, which established the Committee of Experts for the Progressive Codification of International Law, consisting of 17 members, for the purpose of making recommendations as to which issues required to be addressed in international law and the steps desirable to that end.
The name “United Nations,” coined by FDR, was first used in the Declaration by United Nations of January 1, 1942, months after the US entry into WWII, when representatives of 26 nations pledged their governments to continue fighting together against the Axis Powers.
In 1945, representatives of 50 countries met in San Francisco at the United Nations Conference on International Organization to draw up the United Nations Charter. Those delegates deliberated on the basis of proposals worked out by the representatives of China, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States at Dumbarton Oaks in August-October 1944. The Charter was signed on June 26, 1945, by the representatives of the 50 countries, and the final ratification was on October 24.
On December 11, 1946, The General Assembly passed Resolution 94, which called to establish a committee of legal experts to make recommendations to the UN Secretary-General on the ways the General Assembly could encourage the progressive development of international law and its codification. The committee of experts consisted of 17 members and convened from May 12 to June 17, 1947. It recommended to establish a permanent UN commission to promote these objectives.
On November 21, 1947, the UN General Assembly passed Resolution 174, which provided for the creation of an “International Law Commission” in order to fulfill the obligations of the Charter.