Francis O. Wilcox

I. The Introductory Course in Government

Introductory Comments . How and what to teach has been one of the most engaging topics of conversation in political science circles for many years. Yet it is a remarkable fact that not a single department of political science in the United States, so far as the writer is aware, offers its graduate students a seminar on teaching problems. Seemingly we have been content with the old formula for teaching success: “If you would be a good teacher, saturate yourself with your subject-matter and teach like hell.” Unfortunately, some of our teachers have done just that. If we needed to reevaluate our teaching before the war, it is imperative now that a little individual and collective soul-searching be done. The tremendous changes ushered in by the war and the uncertainties of the future emphasize more than ever the importance of our work. The world is entering a new era in which democracy will be put to real test as it continues to meet the challenge of more militant ideologies. It will be an era of bewildering social change accompanied by an increasing awareness of political power on the part of individuals and organized groups. The ideological conflict will be characterized by tension between management and labor at home and the old familiar pattern of power politics—with new forms of nationalism and militarism—in our relations abroad. Students will be bombarded with propaganda from every quarter.

The First Meeting of the General Assembly of the United Nations

The First Part of the First General Assembly of the United Nations was in session in London from January 10 to February 14, 1946. Meeting intermittently during this period also were the Security Council and the Economic and Social Council. It is the purpose of this article to outline the general scope of the meeting and to indicate in broad terms the principal issues with which it was preoccupied. No attempt is made to summarize all of the Assemblys work, since this will be done in the official documentation of the United Nations. The issues selected for consideration here are those which seem to hold a special significance in relation to the inauguration of the work of the United Nations or for the future development of the Organization. The activities of the Security Council and the Economic and Social Council are referred to only where essential to understanding the action of the General Assembly. The first meeting of the Assembly in a very real sense concluded the organizational phase of the United Nations. Following the San Francisco Conference the Preparatory Commission, first through its Executive Committee and then sitting as the full Commission, prepared a series of recommendations for bringing the Organization into active operation. These recommendations I became the principal subject of the agenda for the first meeting of the Assembly. Following a brief summary of the organization of the Assembly and of its electoral functions, the work of the Assembly is discussed below in terms of the activities of the six main committees. This has been done because the bulk of the Assemblys work in fact took place in these committees and it was here that the principal issues were most thoroughly debated.