1968 WAS AN ANNIVERSARY YEAR FOR HUMAN RIGHTS. FEW PEOPLE NOTICED.
In hindsight: In 2018, we can see the fruits of a failed 1968 initiative.
In 1968 the United Nations and the United States commemorated the 20th anniversary of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Events around the world aimed to broaden awareness of the human rights enshrined in the declaration and ensure their greater observance in the years that followed. But by the end of the anniversary year, the New York Times argued the year should be characterized as one of “disappointment and frustration” in the United States. The hopes and aspirations for the anniversary celebration did not materialize.
A key American goal in 1968 — and an explicit aim from the United Nations — was the ratification of more human rights conventions. “American ratification of these conventions is long overdue,” said President Lyndon B. Johnson in fall 1967, as he designated 1968 as Human Rights Year: “The principles they embody are part of our own national heritage. The rights and freedoms they proclaim are those which America has defended — and fights to defend — around the world.”
In his January 30, 1968, remarks launching the President’s Commission for the Observance of Human Rights Year, Johnson reiterated that aspiration. “It is my earnest hope,” he said, “that the Senate will complete the tasks before it by ratifying the remaining Human Rights Conventions.”
But U.S. efforts to mark the anniversary year suffered from ideological barriers and competing priorities. Since the 1950s, Senate approval of United Nations and other international human rights treaties had been stymied by fears that committing to international treaties threatened U.S. national sovereignty. Despite Johnson’s stated commitment to their passage, there is no evidence that his White House considered spending political capital to press for the treaties’ ratification. The United States did not sign the two key international covenants on human rights until the 1970s and continues to lag behind many of its allies in ratification of human rights treaties.
In 1968 the United Nations and the United States commemorated the 20th anniversary of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. But the hopes and aspirations for the anniversary celebration did not materialize.
Beyond encouraging ratification, the United Nations sought to use the 1968 anniversary as a means to promote global awareness of the 1948 declaration. The commission issued publications, including nearly 400,000 copies of two human rights pamphlets. For Free Men in a Free World: A Survey of Human Rights was the most significant, outlining each article of the declaration and assessing the record of the United States in securing those rights. The work of many authors, For Free Men in a Free World was frank about the continuing challenges the United States faced, particularly surrounding racial discrimination. In a signal that Americans at the time did not focus only on the political and civil rights enshrined in the declaration, For Free Men in a Free World also addressed the extent to which Americans had access to employment, an adequate standard of living, and education. The pamphlet highlighted deep connections between U.S. rights and values and United Nations commitments; it also demonstrated how much work remained to be done domestically.
There is little evidence to suggest that dissemination of these materials increased awareness or observance of human rights commitments. But those within the United Nations who pushed for the year believed it presented an opportunity for considerable progress.
Speaking at the White House to mark the anniversary year, Whitney M. Young, Jr., the executive director of the National Urban League, declared, “I am both embarrassed and challenged by this occasion because on this the twentieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights our country has not ratified most of the human rights conventions.” Young explained that the U.S. maintained a dubious record on domestic protections for human rights in addition to support for repressive regimes abroad. “It is understandable that we have a reluctance as a nation to do this,” he said, “for we are in fact truly vulnerable.”
The ineffectiveness of the anniversary year helped to shift American advocacy for human rights. Today, popular support for human rights today is high among the American public and is an institutionalized aspect of U.S. foreign policy.
The profound ineffectiveness of the anniversary year in the United States helped to shift American advocacy, coupled with frustrations with the United Nations as a forum for protecting human rights and increased opportunities for engagement in U.S. policy. In the 50 years since, Americans’ engagement with human rights has evolved significantly. Beyond the United Nations, Americans have become part of a broader transnational movement combating human rights violations. Popular support for human rights today is high among the American public, non-governmental advocacy for human rights is robust, and human rights has been institutionalized in U.S. foreign policy.
The International Year for Human Rights had minimal influence in the United States. But fifty years later, it helps us to see what has been achieved and the considerable work that remains. Some scholars still see a human rights movement in crisis. Those lamenting an unfulfilled agenda, however, risk minimizing what has been accomplished since 1948 and more significantly since 1968. In 2018, we can see the fruits of the failed 1968 initiative.
Sarah B. Snyder is Associate Professor in the School of International Service at American University. She has recently published an article on the United States’ celebration of the 1968 International Year for Human Rights.
