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From 1944 to 1946, as the world pivoted from the Second World War to an unsteady peace, Americans in more than two hundred cities and towns mobilized to chase an implausible dream. The newly-created United Nations needed a meeting place, a central place for global diplomacy—a Capital of the World. But what would it look like, and where would it be? Without invitation, civic boosters in every region of the United States leapt at the prospect of transforming their hometowns into the Capital of the World. The idea stirred in big cities—Chicago, San Francisco, St. Louis, New Orleans, Denver, and more. It fired imaginations in the Black Hills of South Dakota and in small towns from coast to coast. Meanwhile, within the United Nations the search for a headquarters site became a debacle that threatened to undermine the organization in its earliest days. At times it seemed the world’s diplomats could agree on only one thing: under no circumstances did they want the United Nations to be based in New York. And for its part, New York worked mightily just to stay in the race it would eventually win. With a sweeping view of the United States’ place in the world at the end of World War II, Capital of the World tells the dramatic, surprising, and at times comic story of hometown promoters in pursuit of an extraordinary prize and the diplomats who struggled with the balance of power at a pivotal moment in history.

HISTORY / United States / General. --- United Nations --- UNO --- Naciones Unidas --- Nations Unies --- ONU --- Organisation des Nations Unies --- Organizat︠s︡ii︠a︡ Obʺedinennykh Nat︠s︡iĭ --- OON --- Vereinigte Nationen --- Umot ha-meʼuḥadot --- Organizacja Narodów Zjednoczonych --- ONZ --- Forente nasjoner --- Forenede nationer --- FN --- Förenta nationerna --- Gaertʻianebuli erebi --- Organização das Nações Unidas --- PBB --- Perserikatan Bangsa-Bangsa --- Kokusai Rengō --- Kokuren --- ENSZ --- Egyesült Nemzetek Szövetsége --- Birleșmiș Milletler Teșkilâtı --- Birlăşmiş Millătăr Tăşkilatı --- Birlashgan Millatlar Tashkiloti --- BMT --- YK --- Yhdistyneet kansakunnat --- OUN --- Organizacija Ujedinjenih Nacija --- UN --- NU --- Nazioni Unite --- OSN --- Organizace spojených národů --- Sāzmān-i Milal-i Muttafiq --- Bangsa² Bersatu --- Organización de las Naciones Unidas --- Ühinenud Rahvaste Organisatsioon --- ÜRO --- Organismos tōn Hēnōmenōn Ethnōn --- Umoja wa Mataifa --- Vereinten Nationen --- Vereinte Nationen --- Hayʼat al-Umam al-Muttaḥidah --- Verenigde Naties --- VN --- Organizația Națiunilor Unite --- Um --- Lien ho kuo --- OKB --- Organizata e Kombeve të Bashkuara --- Lian he guo --- U.N. --- Umam al-Muttaḥidah --- OĒE --- Hēnōmena Ethnē --- Organizácia Spojených Národov --- Sahaprachāchāt --- Națiunile Unite --- Organizat︠s︡ii︠a︡ na obedinenite nat︠s︡ii --- Organismos Hēnōmenōn Ethnōn --- Manẓūmat al-Umam al-Muttaḥidah --- AAN --- Arhanizatsyi︠a︡ Ab'i︠a︡dnanykh Natsyĭ --- Nações Unidas --- Orhanizat︠s︡ii︠a︡ Ob'i︠e︡dnanykh Nat︠s︡iĭ --- O.Ē.E. --- ʻOngkān Sahaprachāchāt --- Sjuninejal Konob'laq --- Sāzmān-i Milal-i Muttaḥid --- Milal-i Muttaḥid --- Nėgdsėn U̇ndėstniĭ Baĭguullaga --- NUB --- Rāshṭrasaṃgha --- או״מ --- أمم المتحدة --- الأمم المتحدة --- سازمان ملل متحد --- 国際連合 --- 联合囯 --- 聯合國 --- United Nations Organization --- Liên Hiệp Quó̂c --- Liên Hợp Quó̂c --- LHQ --- Kula Samagga --- YūʼAṅʻnʻ --- 联合国 --- Организация на обединените нации --- Организация Объединённых Наций --- Headquarters. --- New York (N.Y.) --- Buildings, structures, etc.