Letter from President Harry S. Truman to Edward Stettinius

85-A Preparating Commission Independence, Missouri. June 27, 1945. Dear Ed: On the day after the death of President Roosevelt, you submitted to me your resignation as Secretary of State. I asked you to continue at your post and to carry out the vitally im- portant assignment for which you were then completing the last preparations --- to act as Chairman of the United States delegation at the United Nations Conference. You accepted that responsibility. It was a very grave responsibility. Upon the success of the San Francisco Conference depended, first of all, the hope that from this war the United Nations could build a lasting peace. The San Francisco Conference has now fulfilled its purpose. The Charter of a permanent United Nations has been written. You have every reason to be proud of your part in this achievement from the beginning. At the request of Mr. Hull after the Moseow Conference in 1943 you, as Under Secretary of State, organized and directed the preparations for Dumbarton Oaks. You were the representative of the United States and acted as the Chairman of the Dumbarton Oaks Conference, where the Proposals were written that became the basis of the Charter. You were at President Hoosevelt's right hand at Yalta, where further decisions on the world organization were made and agreement to hold the United Nations Conference was reached. All the preparations for the San Francisco Conference were under your direction. During its deliberations you served not only as Chairman of the United States delegation but as President of the Conference charged with the conduct of its business. The task of guiding the work of this Conference of fifty different nations toward unanimous agreement upon the HARRY STATE MATIONAL AND TRUBAN Charter was a difficult one. You accomplished it with skill, unfaltering courage, and success. Copies filed 20.