SAN FRANCISCO — My acquaintance with Stephen Schlesinger’s book “Act of Creation: The Founding of the United Nations,” occurred almost precisely at the same time as the March 2020 Covid lockdown.

And now I introduce you to the first episode of a three-part podcast series of the same name, “Act of Creation,” which uses the book as a springboard to a fascinating conversation with Schlesinger, setting the scene when the UN Charter was born 78 years ago; how the negotiations for it ensued from April 25 to June 26, 1945; and taking stock of this singular moment and its enduring relevance today about lessons about leadership, about isolationism and about the power of an educated public.

As a San Francisco educator and composer, I had only recently jumped into the UN orbit in 2020. I remember meeting with the president of the local chapter of the United Nations Association (a worldwide group whose mission is to educate the public about the UN), in the lobby of the San Francisco War Memorial Veterans Building. I knew this building well. It was home to the Herbst Theater, one of the city’s most prominent concert halls and a space I had been to, off and on the stage, at least a hundred times. Why meet here, I wondered?

The punch line, of course, is that I immediately learned that this very same Herbst Theater was where the UN Charter was signed on June 26, 1945. Neither I nor any of my colleagues in the arts world in the Bay Area knew this. (What does that say?) But it was at that moment — during that strange intersection — that I understood where my work for the next several years was to be focused.

That year, 2020, was also the 75th anniversary of the UN, which created the context in which I discovered Schlesinger’s 2003 book and solidified all my personal intuitions. For the first time, I began to truly understand the guts — the mind, body and spirit — of this massive organization. (And it wasn’t for lack of trying before that.) Every page was rich with history, drama and amazingly relevant lessons for our own time.

It was only when the war in Ukraine fully broke out, in February 2022, that I truly became a crusader for Schlesinger’s book. I was sure that everyone at the upper levels of the UN must “of course!” be well versed with all the lessons that scream out from every page, lessons filled with inspiration, wisdom and plenty of political savvy. But I was wrong. I believe the UN’s failure to act during the buildup to Russia’s invasion on that cold February day is the greatest betrayal of the UN Charter in my lifetime.

If I could have afforded to buy thousands of “Act of Creation” and pass them around to UN members, I would have. But it hit me that the next best thing might be to make a podcast series, and happily Schlesinger agreed to be interviewed for two long but lively afternoons in September 2022, coincidentally as the UN General Assembly was holding its big annual meeting across town in Manhattan. Much of the tone and spirit of Schlesinger’s book emerges from his own retelling of this amazing story. His personal voice, both figuratively and literally, creates a riveting 35 minutes — (in the first episode) — that anyone associated with or interested in the UN should listen to. Right before they buy his book.

It was my pleasure to produce this podcast, for which I hosted, edited and composed the music. The series is done in collaboration with PassBlue and co-sponsored by UNA-San Francisco. — DAN BECKER

PassBlue receives major support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Open Society Foundations as well as from smaller foundations and, most important, from thousands of readers across the globe.

Dan Becker

Dan Becker is a composer, educator and board member of the UNA-San Francisco chapter. He received his doctorate of musical arts, master of music and master of musical arts from Yale University and has taught composition at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He has received awards and grants from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and Meet the Composer, among many others.