U.S. Government Printing Office

Early in 1945, the State Department requested that GPO provide the printing for the United Nations Conference in San Francisco. At that time, GPO’s wartime San Francisco Warehouse had only five employees, so several additions were made to the staff and an emergency call went out to Washington for three key GPO central office employees. Until the Conference ended, this group carried out an incredible amount of rush work on an almost 24-hour a day schedule. Perhaps their most important job was the creation of the Charter establishing the United Nations.
The last days of the conference saw the GPO unit racing against time and the oddities of Chinese and Russian typefaces to complete and deliver one of the Office’s most momentous jobs.

So ended one of the most harrowing jobs ever undertaken by GPO. A handful of employees had planned and coordinated one of the most complex jobs ever to challenge the Office. Their only reward was a paycheck and the knowledge that they had contributed in a small way to international peace and understanding.

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