How did the UN Security Council veto come about?

The veto was negotiated by the major Allied powers during 1944 and 1945. Its basic form was agreed at the Yalta conference in February 1945 and then defended against objections at the San Francisco conference that June. The great powers wanted a decisive role in the new organization, and smaller states accepted the arrangement as the price of getting a charter at all. [1] [2]

At Dumbarton Oaks in the fall of 1944, talks were held first among the United States, Britain and the Soviet Union, and then separately with China. The Soviet ambassador Andrei Gromyko rejected a compromise on September 13 and insisted on a veto with no abstention. The published proposals simply noted that voting procedure was still under consideration. [3]

The dispute was narrower than it is often remembered. According to the Georgetown paper, the powers differed over whether a permanent member that was a party to a dispute should abstain, not over having a veto at all. The Soviet Union demanded unanimity even in its own disputes. American leaders worried that smaller nations might withdraw their support if the council kept no such limit. In a December 1944 letter, Stalin personally rejected abstention. [3]

At Yalta, a February 6 US and UK proposal limited the abstention rule to votes on the peaceful settlement of disputes, and it no longer applied to the use or threat of force. Molotov expressed satisfaction on February 7. This is essentially the wording of Article 27 of the Charter, which requires nine votes including the concurring votes of the permanent members. Supporters saw the veto as a way to win buy-in from the great powers, since the League of Nations had failed to retain members. [3] [1]

At San Francisco, Australian Foreign Minister Herbert Evatt argued that the veto curtailed the power of smaller and mid-sized nations, and he proposed removing it. The Netherlands backed him, and Peru wanted the veto eliminated or a right to withdraw. The British ambassador, Lord Halifax, said the Big Five would not join without the veto, and Senator Tom Connally made a dramatic appeal in its defense. Evatt's amendment failed on June 13, with 20 against, 10 in favor, 15 abstentions and 5 absent. Hours later 30 nations approved the veto over peace enforcement decisions, and only two voted against. [1]

A popular belief holds that Stalin insisted on the veto. Edward Epstein, quoted in the Georgetown paper, argues the opposite: that it was mainly an American invention, driven by the need to assure the US Senate that the UN could not force American military action without Washington's approval. The paper's author finds the evidence does not support blaming one country and prefers the description of multiple parentage. It notes that the political leaders of all four powers at Dumbarton Oaks supported a veto in nearly all cases other than the abstention question. [3]

The first veto was cast by the Soviet Union on 16 February 1946. The Soviets cast most early vetoes, and the United States cast its first in 1970. [4]