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The United Nations: Constitutional Developments, Growth, and Possibilities (The Oliver Wendel Holms Lectures, 1961)
The United Nations Constitutional Developments Growth and Possibilities - The Oliver Wendel Holms Lectures, 1961 Author:Benjamin V. Cohen The American Constitution established a government with power to act; the United Nations Charter set up an instrument for international cooperation. "Both," Mr. Cohen says, "created an organism capable of life and growth…depending not simply on the written injunctions of the founding fathers but on the vision and wisdom of succeeding gener... more »ations." These Oliver Wendell Holmes Lectures, given at Harvard University in 1961, are written in a spare, firm style, excluding trivialities and expressing the author’s remarkable acumen. The first lecture–Charter Power: The Competence of United Nations Organs under the Charter–describes the setting in broad perspective. The second–Responsibilities of Member States Under the Charter–deals with major problems. The third lecture envisions the future with restraint and wisdom. Benjamin V. Cohen, a Washington lawyer who helped draft the Securities Exchange Act and other important New Deal legislation for President Roosevelt, watched the United Nations grow. Among other appointments, he was Counselor to the State Department 1945-1957; U.S. Representative in the U.N. General Assembly, 1948-1952; and U.S. Representative before the International Court of Justice at the Hague, 1950, and in the U.N. Disarmament Commission, 1952.« less