165- U.S. Dept. of State. ence series. First Session of the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and DEPARTMENT OF STATE Publication 2821 Conference Series 97 JX .448 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AUG '47 Letter of Transmittal to the Secretary of State MY DEAR MR. SECRETARY: I transmit herewith the report of the United States Delegation to the First Session of the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, which was held in Paris from November 19 to December 10, 1946. I was privileged to serve as chairman of the Delegation. I am proud to have served with the men and women who composed it. They represented worthily the rich and. manifold interest of our people in the arts and sciences, in education, and in the media of mass communication. I share their opinion that the Conference as such was an outstanding success. UNESCO is off to a good start. It now has a program and a budget. Its program is ambitious, but its budget for this year is small-six million dollars. Only the foundations of UNESCO's work can be laid in the next twelve months. But this small beginning is a first step of vast potential significance. Mankind is groping its way toward unity and peace. The nations are experimenting with new ways of working together, new procedures, new institutions. UNESCO is one of those new institutions. It is the first systematic effort to advance the cause of peace through collaboration among governments in the fields of education, science, and the arts. The First Session of the General Conference placed in the forefront projects which touch directly on the ideas and welfare of common people. It might have adopted a more timid course. It might have concentrated merely on promoting intellectual cooperation among scholars. That would have been the easy road. The Conference charted the bolder course. Two thousand million people need better understanding of what they have in common as human beings, as well as understanding of their cultural divergences. UNESCO is going to help build that community of understanding. In so doing, it can no more escape controversy than can its parent body, the United Nations. Differences will not be concealed; they will be brought into the open. The proposed program of UNESCO is described in this report in quiet and unpretentious language. Yet there is much in it to stir the imagination. Here, for example, are outlined the first global efforts to bring basic knowledge to all men; to apply scientific knowledge to the advancement of human welfare; to diagnose the tensions which conduce to war; and to put schools and radio and films to work for peace. There is some work here to be done quickly, but most is work to be done through the years. There is work to be done by international collaboration, and work to be done by the people of each country at home. No work could be more worth undertaking. I am confident that the American people will do their part. Respectfully, WASHINGTON, D.C. WILLIAM BENTON Assistant Secretary of State Contents Education; Mass Communication; Libraries and Museums; Commission on Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Election and Organization of the Executive Board Election and Installation of the Director General Budgetary and Financial Arrangements Relationships With the United Nations, With Other |