(1) Eleanor Roosevelt as she appeared before a committee investigating civilian defense, Washington DC, 1942. She is the assistant director of the Office of Civilian Defense.
(2) National Security Council member Madeleine Albright holds up a copy of the United Nations Charter as she testifies before the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations during her confirmation hearing (to become US Ambassador to the United Nations), Washington DC, January 23, 1993.
In a stunning break from decades of bipartisan American foreign policy, the U.S. voted at the UN General Assembly yesterday in favor of Russia, standing with Vladimir Putin’s regime to oppose a resolution condemning Russia’s brutal war against Ukraine.
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It was an act of diplomatic disgrace, a betrayal of America’s historic role in defending democracy and human rights on the world stage. By siding with an authoritarian aggressor, the U.S. disgraced itself on the world stage, shaming the proud tradition of American diplomacy at the United Nations.
This one was personal for me. I spent several years working with the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and became an unwavering advocate for the UN. Some people have said to me over the years that the UN is toothless. But it’s not. Besides climate change, the UN works for human rights, disaster recovery, as a peacekeeper during war, and so many other initiatives around the world that their work is often forgotten about.
The majestic UN Headquarters in midtown Manhattan stands as a bulwark for peace. The beauty and symbolism of the building are awe-inspiring and daunting because the work of the UN has such a regal history, particularly as it pertains to the United States.
It is worth remembering that the United Nations was born from American leadership. Emerging from the ashes of World War II, the UN was established in 1945 to promote democracy, human rights, and peace. It stood as a vision crafted in no small part by the United States.
Former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt was appointed by President Harry Truman as a UN Delegate. She helped draft the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a cornerstone of modern international law. The U.S. has long stood at the forefront of the UN’s most consequential moments, from the Marshall Plan’s reconstruction of Europe to leading sanctions against apartheid in South Africa.
Madeleine Albright, President Bill Clinton’s UN ambassador choice, who went on to be secretary of state said before passing in 2022, “Russia is alone. And it's never been clearer than it will be this time because President Biden has just come from some remarkable meetings — the G-7, NATO and the EU. And we have allies, and Putin is alone.”
Not anymore.
The vote in support of Russia’s illegal war of conquest is not just another instance of Trumpism’s admiration for Putin; it is a fundamental repudiation of America’s role in the world. For decades, the U.S. has worked tirelessly, through both Republican and Democratic administrations alike, to uphold international norms and stand against authoritarian aggression.
It was Ronald Reagan who called the Soviet Union an “evil empire.” It was John McCain who declared that “we are all Ukrainians” in the face of Russian aggression. Even Trump’s own administration nominally backed Ukraine in its fight for sovereignty. But that was all thrown away by a single vote.
The vote disgraces the memory of those American diplomats who fought to uphold international law and defend human rights. What would Eleanor Roosevelt think of the U.S.’s complicity in enabling war crimes? What would Madeleine Albright, who fled both Nazi and Soviet persecution, say about America siding with a dictator? What would the generations of U.S. service members who have defended democracy in Europe make of this betrayal?
The horrific vote was not just a policy misstep, It was a moral failure. By aligning the United States with Russia’s war machine, it signaled to the world that America no longer stands for democracy or the rule of law. The vote undermined our allies, emboldened our enemies, and tarnished the credibility of the very institution the United States helped create.
The United Nations has long been an imperfect body, but it remains one of the world’s most important mechanisms for diplomacy and collective security. But that influence has been hijacked in service of a dictator’s ambitions.
History will remember this moment. In one fell swoop, the U.S. cemented itself as a willing accomplice to tyranny, a puppet of one of the most extreme dictators on Earth, Putin. That one vote humiliated the United States on the global stage.
America was once the guiding light of the international order, a nation that helped build and sustain a system designed to prevent war and protect the vulnerable. That beacon has dimmed. Will the U.S. ever recover from this endorsement of tyranny? That will be up to history to decide.
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