The United Nations Conference opened in San Francisco on April 25, 1945 whereupon delegates from fifty countries attempted to draft a Charter for the new United Nations organization. After lengthy, and at times, heated debate between the smaller nations and the "Big Five" nations of Britain, France, the United States, the Soviet Union, and China, a United Nations Charter was finally signed on June 26, 1945. By October 24, 1945, the required number of nations and the "Big Five" had ratified the Charter.
