The Black Hills -- United Nations Capital
Richard R. Chenoweth
South Dakota History, volume 5 number 2 (1975)
South Dakota History is the quarterly journal published by the South Dakota State Historical Society. Membership in the South Dakota State Historical Society includes a subscription to the journal. Members support the Society's important mission of interpreting, preserving and transmitting the unique heritage of South Dakota. Learn more here: https://history.sd.gov/Membership.aspx. Download PDFs of articles from the first 43 years and obtain recent issues of South Dakota History at sdhspress.com/journal.
At least three times the Black Hills and Rapid City have been offered to national and international organizations as permanent locations. Some of these suggestions were "tongue-in-cheek" but others were serious. The first came in 1922 when the Rapid City Chamber of Commerce invited, with no response, the pope to move the Vatican to the Black Hills. A similar offer, to move the nation's capital, was made to the United States government in 1950.
A far more serious effort began on 1 November 1944. At that time Paul E. Bellamy, a Rapid City businessman who was especially interested in peace because he had lost a son in World War II, submitted a resolution to the Rapid City Chamber of Commerce. The resolution, noting that the United States would occupy a conspicuous position in any international organization formed at the conclusion of the European war, offered Rapid City and the Black Hills as a location for the proposed headquarters of the United Nations. It further stated "that the splendid year-around climate, living conditions, health record, recreation facilities, water supply and other factors needed and desired by the headquarters of the United Nations be specifically and in detail offered to the proper authorities of the United Nations organization."
By March 1945 the sponsors of the resolution had enlisted the help of Francis Case, their Second District congressman. Case wrote a letter to President Franklin Roosevelt offering the Black Hills as a site for the United Nations headquarters. The president, five days before his death, thanked Case for the suggestion and assured him that it would receive "full consideration whenever the question of the location of the permanent seat of the proposed organization is under discussion." Supporters of the resolution believed that the reply to Case's letter during a time of great strain and decreased working capacity indicated serious consideration of the Black Hills location.
Roosevelt's interest may have been genuine. Clarence Streit, author and internationalist, reported to Case that the president had privately remarked, "I believe the Black Hills of South Dakota is the best place. The climate is ideal and a city could be erected to serve the purpose." The conversation was never made public because Streit felt that it would be unethical "to repeat casual table conversation at a private dinner in which the President of the United States was quoted."
Several prominent people took up the crusade. First District Congressman Karl Mundt wrote letters to Congressman Sol Bloom and Senator Arthur Vandenberg, representatives to the United Nations charter meeting in San Francisco. The governor of South Dakota. M.Q. Sharpe, actively participated in the formation of the Black Hills World Capital Committee on 9 May 1945. Governor Sharpe was named the general chairman and together with Congressmen Case and Mundt comprised the executive committee for controlling and directing the work. The All-Black Hills Committee, headed by Jarvis Davenport of Sturgis, consisted of representatives from as many communities as possible in the Black Hills. A large General Support Committee of fourteen distinguished persons including most of the former congressmen served as window dressing. In addition, the governors of Nebraska and Wyoming, Dwight Griswold and Lester Hunt, authorized the use of their names. Governors Fred Aandahl of North Dakota and Edward Thye of Minnesota declined Governor Sharpe's request to use their names. Governor Thye preferred to remain neutral while Governor Aandahi expressed hope that the International Peace Gardens of North Dakota and Manitoba, Canada, might be chosen. The latter indicated, however, that if the Peace Gardens did not gather effective support, he might endorse the South Dakota location. A formal invitation to house the permanent organization in the Black Hills, signed by the governors of South Dakota, Nebraska, and Wyoming was sent to the United Nations on 25 May 1945.
Following the formal invitation, the organs of publicity began to grind. Literature extolling the merits of the proposed location attempted to answer several questions. A widely distributed map showed the Black Hills to be equally convenient to all parts of the world. It indicated that no world capital was more than twenty-four hours from the Black Hills by plane at the speed of 300 miles an hour. Much was made of the fact that in 1927 President Calvin Coolidge had come to visit the Black Hills for three weeks and had stayed for three months. During that period he had been able to carry on national affairs at a time when air travel was less developed than in 1945. To counter anticipated questions concerning the climate and the cold winters, the literature stressed the variety of climates and the absence of humidity, fog, and factory smoke. The varieties of natural phenomena were also indicated, from the plains to the mountains, from the forests to the rolling countryside; all within an area of fifty by one hundred miles.
Literature, maps, and speakers all dwelled on the fact that the Black Hills offered "a place free from local influences which might distract from the importance and the effective work of the world capital." No large cities would absorb the identity or the individuality of the organization. No national legislature could try to influence the decisions of the world legislators. It was also suggested that should the United Nations desire sovereignty over the site, the South Dakota legislature and the United States Congress would give favorable consideration to such a request,'
Advocates of the Black Hills location pointed out that historically few of the great movements or developments in human progress had originated from the great cities. Religiously, Buddha had sought the seclusion of the countryside when he assembled his eight-fold path to righteousness; Mohammed had retired to a small cave in the foothills to contemplate, and Jesus had frequented the lonely areas by the Sea of Galilee to be free from the distractions and the turmoil of the world. The Treaty of Westphalia, which ended the long and devastating Thirty Years' War, had been formulated in two small towns; and the Council of Trent had met in mountain country to accomplish the main work of the Catholic Reformation. The United States had even passed up locating its capital in established cities and selected an isolated site for its permanent capital, and Australia had followed the same pattern.
Members of the Executive Committee of the Black Hills World Capital Committee and friends of the movement realistically appraised the chances of locating the United Nations in the Black Hills. Leland Case, brother of Congressman Case and editor of the Rotarian. formed his opinion after observing the formation of the United Nations in San Francisco, In a letter to his brother on 23 May 1945 he noted, as others had, that no site would be chosen that was not agreeable to both the United States and the Soviet Union. He went on to state that "the two big political magnets tend to establish lines of equilibrium somewhere in Europe and somewhere in the Pacific. " Since the only choice offered in the Pacific was Hawaii, which was too far from Europe, it would not be seriously considered.
In Europe, a deadlock was predicted. The old League of Nations crowd favored Geneva, home of the first world organization. Since the league had expelled the Soviet Union, the Russians would not accept that suggestion. Furthermore, Switzerland had not recognized the Soviet Union. In addition, locating the new organization at Geneva would mean working in the halls of the old failures. News commentator James Marlow noted that the old league did not prevent another war, but the new league was supposed to do just that. The second choice of the old league people was The Hague, but the Soviet Union would object because of the city's proximity to Great Britain. The Soviet Union, on the other hand, could offer Vienna or Prague, but these cities would be vetoed by the United States-Great Britain bloc because they were dominated by the Russians. Climatic conditions would also limit the field of choice. The site could not be too hot, which excluded some of the Latin American countries, nor could it be too cold, which excluded the northern extremities. The field of choice seemed to be limited to the northern temperate zone.
In the United States, Philadelphia and San Francisco seemed to have preliminary advantages. San Francisco had an ideal climate and it had the psychological advantage of being the site of the first United Nations Conference. Leland Case, however, felt that the Soviet delegate Vyacheslav Molotov would oppose that site. Because Molotov had been greatly impressed by a tour that Henry Kaiser had given him of San Francisco Bay industry, the Russians would not be enthusiastic about locating the United Nations in the heart of the industrial-military strength of the United States. The bay area, reflective of the power of the United States, might exert a subtle influence on the delegates. Philadelphia's main advantage over other cities was its role in American history as the birthplace of independence. The city, according to its literature, was a symbol. However, the former supporters of the league, who did not favor the United States at all according to Leland Case, would oppose Philadelphia because it was too close to Washington and United States senators would be "too close at hand to make oratory about the waste in paper clips or more important matters.
Thus, it was felt that the Black Hills might become the second choice for the old League of Nations crowd. The Black Hills might also prove less objectionable than San Francisco because of its air accessibility over the great circle routes and its isolation in terms of western industrial and eastern political-industrial influences. Isolationists within the United States, who believed that it might be easier to control the United Nations in the center of the United States, were viewed as potential supporters for the Black Hills location, although no direct attempt was made to gain their support during the early stages.
The United Nations Conference on International Organization meeting in San Francisco established an Interim Commission to "make studies and prepare recommendations concerning the location of the permanent headquarters of the Organization. The Interim Commission met in London on 16 August 1945 and divided into ten smaller committees. The Committee on General Questions had the job of recommending a permanent location.
The future of the Black Hills location brightened when the Interim Commission, on 27 October 1945, recommended that the permanent headquarters of the United Nations be located in the United States of America. This decision was reconsidered and debated during the next two months. Staff correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor reported that the European bloc planned to advance the following argument against a United States location after the various American delegations had had their say; "one part of the United States cannot be selected without offending many others." Therefore, it was best not to offend public opinion by locating the site in America.
The anti-United States sentiment spurred congressional action on a House concurrent resolution previously introduced by Congressman Francis Case, but not acted upon. The resolution simply invited the United Nations to locate its seat in the United States, but no site was recommended. Senator Chan Gurney of South Dakota introduced the resolution in the Senate. The general effect was that the British cabinet, formerly pro-Europe, now became concerned about the "effect on public opinion in the United States if the invitation from Congress was turned down." Subsequently, the Preparatory Commission voted thirty to fifteen to select the United States as the permanent site of the United Nations.
During this time various cities in the United States lobbied for the honor. In London on 1 December 1945 Paul Bellamy officially presented the Black Hills proposal to the United Nations subcommittee for selection. He competed with delegations from such cities as Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, and San Francisco. Bellamy's description of three-inch thick steaks "visibly affected" gaunt Yugoslavian Stoyan Gavrilovic, chairman of the subcommittee. More importantly, Bellamy stressed that the Black Hills were of no military value and that the other major cities were within easy reach of atomic bombing.
Karl Mundt provided unofficial assistance by traveling in Europe, the Soviet Union, and the Near East as a member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. While in Europe he lobbied for the Black Hills location with such British officials as Clement Attlee, prime minister; Ernest Beven, minister of Foreign Affairs; Nevile Butler, an old friend and undersecretary of Foreign Affairs; and Benjamin Gerig, a member of the American delegation to the conference.
On 22 December 1945, the subcommittee of the Preparatory Commission voted to locate the headquarters in the eastern United States. This decision greatly dimmed the chances of the Black Hills even though the "eastern United States" was east of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. The Missouri River starts in Montana so technically the Black Hills were still in the eastern United States.
The Black Hills were, however, ruled out for all practical purposes, when the Inspection Committee informed Governor Sharpe that it would not visit the area. The Executive Committee of the Black Hills World Capital Committee made one last effort. Governor Sharpe and Congressmen Case and Mundt presented their story to the chairman of the Inspection Commission, Stoyan Gavrilovic, on 30 January 1946. The New York Herald Tribune indicated that the committee had failed when the paper announced that the Connecticut Westchester area had been recommended as the permanent site with New York City as an interim home for a five-year period until permanent buildings could be erected.
The failure of the Black Hills committee to obtain its objective can be attributed to several factors. The first and most important had nothing to do with the Black Hills; it was the attractiveness of a known location. Following the great effort and expense of World War II, few people were inclined to build a new city. It was much easier to go to a metropolis where the housing, education, and transportation facilities were already established. In addition, an east coast location seemed much closer to home for European nations.
Many persons in South Dakota simply failed to take themselves seriously; few felt that the project could actually succeed. The Greater South Dakota Association undertook to raise S10.000 for publicity of the Black Hills, but could only raise $3,450. The Executive Committee of the Black Hills World Capital Committee believed in the possibility, but the members were not yet prominent figures in national or international politics. Governor Sharpe's influence was limited to South Dakota. Both Congressmen Case and Mundt were really "freshmen" on the scene; a decade later their names might have carried more weight. The other half of the South Dakota congressional delegation did practically nothing for the project. Senator Harlan Bushtleld and Chan Gurney limited their efforts to a few letters. South Dakota's official one-man London delegation was small, both in size and stature, in comparison to the multi-membered delegations sent by Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Denver. Boston, for example, sent the governor of Massachusetts and the president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The entire organization appears to have been too small to grasp such an international prize.
Although the efforts of the committee to bring the United Nations to the Black Hills failed- the effort brought rewards. For more than a year both national and international news media mentioned South Dakota, the Black Hills, and Mount Rushmore as serious candidates for the United Nations capital. South Dakota's present-day tourist industry owes much to this campaign.
South Dakota History is the quarterly journal published by the South Dakota State Historical Society. Membership in the South Dakota State Historical Society includes a subscription to the journal. Members support the Society's important mission of interpreting, preserving and transmitting the unique heritage of South Dakota. Learn more here: https://history.sd.gov/Membership.aspx. Download PDFs of articles from the first 43 years and obtain recent issues of South Dakota History at sdhspress.com/journal.
