Honoring Cordell Hull, United Nations
The Tennessee State Museum will commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the founding of the United Nations by recognizing Tennessee-native Cordell Hull, whom President Franklin Delano Roosevelt called “The Father of the United Nations,” with a special temporary display from Oct. 13-25.
Titled Cordell Hull: Tennessee’s Father of the United Nations, the display will include the rare exhibition of Hull’s 1945 Nobel Peace Prize medal, on loan from the Friends of Cordell Hull, Pickett County.
Born near present-day Byrdstown, Hull was awarded the medal in 1945 in recognition of his work creating the United Nations. It will be displayed along with several other items on loan from the Friends of Cordell Hull, Picket County, including Hull’s Nobel Peace Prize certificate and a bound first charter of the United Nations signed by Hull and others.
A portrait of Hull by Casimir Gregory Stapko painted about 1945 from the State Museum’s collection will also be on exhibit.
“This is a unique opportunity for Tennesseans to get a glimpse of a truly rare artifact that acknowledges an even rarer achievement,” says Dan Pomeroy, Tennessee State Museum chief curator and director of collections.
“What Hull accomplished in the founding of the United Nations has had a lasting impact on the generations of global citizens that followed. And his story started here, in Tennessee. We’re thrilled to partner with the Friends of Cordell Hull, Pickett County to share this story with our visitors.”
The United Nations formally came into existence seventy-five years ago, on October 24, 1945, when a sufficient number of nations adopted its charter. The creation of that charter and the UN itself was largely due to the untiring efforts of Cordell Hull, the U.S. Secretary of State from 1933 to 1944. In 1945 Hull received the Nobel Peace Prize, in recognition of his work in creating the United Nations.
Hull served as Secretary of State during a tumultuous time, as world-wide economic depression created uncertainty and escalating militarism erupted in the violence of World War II.