United Nations General Assembly

23 October 1946: the 34th plenary meeting

The General Assembly's 34th plenary meeting opened at Flushing Meadows on 23 October 1946, resuming the second part of its first session.

This was the Assembly's first meeting in New York, not its first meeting anywhere: the inaugural part of the session had opened in London on 10 January.

Representatives of the 51 member states returned to continue the work begun there.

A skating hall with a 60-foot map

The venue was the former New York City Building from the 1939–40 World's Fair, converted from a skating facility into a temporary Assembly chamber holding 2,400 delegates, staff, reporters and public.

A blue-and-gold world map measuring 60 by 35 feet filled the wall behind the president's rostrum, and approximately 120,000 flowers had been planted around the site.

Three speeches, and no permanent home yet

The meeting was devoted to speeches by General Assembly president Paul-Henri Spaak, Acting Mayor of New York Vincent R. Impellitteri and President Harry S. Truman.

Truman welcomed the delegates on behalf of the United States and presented the meeting as evidence that the country had abandoned its earlier isolation from collective international organization.

The plenary was ceremonial; agenda processing followed on later days, and the resumed session continued at Flushing Meadows until 15 December 1946.