Editing Stanley Bruce (section)

==Food and Agriculture Organization, 1946–1951==
[[File:Pius XII and the World Food Council 1950.jpg|thumb|[[Pope Pius XII]] with chairman Bruce and members of the World Food Council in Rome, 1950]]
By the war's end in 1945, Bruce had become tired of the High Commission posting and hinted to Curtin's successor [[Ben Chifley]] that he would not object to being replaced in the position.{{sfn|Lee|p=162}} In the last years of the war he had envisaged a post-war order based on a continuing alliance of the four powers{{spaced ndash}} the United States, the British Empire, the Soviet Union and [[Republic of China (1912–49)|China]]{{spaced ndash}} that could evolve into a new international body with a similar function as the League of Nations, but with a stronger role and authority in international matters.{{sfn|Lee|pp=166–168}} Bruce had rejoined Frank McDougall and John Boyd Orr in these years in reviving their proposals for international co-operation on nutrition and agriculture. He wrote and made representations at all levels on the subject, and became a leading voice once more advocating the creation of an international body to examine social and economic questions, much as he had done during his years with the League of Nations.{{sfn|Stirling|pp=280–283}} The efforts of McDougall, Bruce and Orr finally paid off when their work came to the attention of [[Eleanor Roosevelt]], and subsequently the American government, and their proposals would find expression at the Food and Agriculture Conference that [[Franklin Roosevelt]] convened in [[Hot Springs, Virginia]], in May 1943. This conference agreed to the establishment of the [[Food and Agriculture Organization]] (FAO), which became an associated institution with the United Nations when it was established formally in October 1945.{{sfn|Lee|pp=170–171}}

As the war in Europe drew to a close and the [[United Nations Charter]] was promulgated in June 1945, Bruce's name was among those being considered to become the first [[Secretary-General of the United Nations]], with American Secretary of State [[Dean Acheson]] and [[British Foreign Secretary]] Anthony Eden actively supporting his candidacy.{{sfn|Lee|pp=171–172}} Bruce, however, was now 62 and indicated that he felt himself too old for the position, instead preferring a less demanding role considering economic and social questions.{{sfn|Hasluck|p=246}} In 1946 he assumed the chairmanship of the FAO Preparatory Commission on World Food Proposals, which had the mission of establishing a "world food board" to coordinate international policy on nutrition and develop a system to eliminate global agricultural shortages.{{sfn|Cumpston|p=250}} He proposed many international schemes as part of this work, particularly a [[Food bank|world food reserve]] and special pricing mechanisms to reallocate and release food to where it was most needed in times of need.{{sfn|Cumpston|p=250}} Bruce's Commission also placed a high emphasis on agricultural modernisation, [[International aid|international development aid]], commodity agreements and price stability to help starving developing nations in its findings presented in 1947.<ref>{{Cite report |author=Food and Agriculture Organization |date=January 1947 |title=PR.54}}</ref> The proposals were never adopted, as the costs and challenges to national sovereignty proved too difficult to overcome politically.{{sfn|Lee|pp=176–177}}

Undeterred, Bruce was elected Chairman of the newly formed FAO Council in November 1947, working once more with John Boyd Orr, now Secretary-General of the FAO. Acute shortages of cereals and livestock were rampant following severe droughts in Europe, and the international food supply system was under serious strain after the devastation of the war. Bruce and the council worked in these years to distribute [[fertiliser]] and [[agricultural machinery]], as well as improve nutrition, especially in less developed nations.{{sfn|Cumpston|p = 252}} More than two-thirds of the world was undernourished in 1949<ref>{{Cite report |author=Food and Agriculture Organization |date=13–24 June 1949 |title=FAO Council Report}}</ref> and Bruce felt it imperative for the council to bring these stark facts to the developed nations.<ref>{{Cite report |author=Food and Agriculture Organization |date=5–17 April 1948 |title=FAO Council Report}}</ref> A landmark agreement on technical aid between the FAO and the United Nations was reached in November 1949, and the FAO received the funding and logistical capacity to act on the food shortage crisis and the problems of poor nutrition in the developing world. Bruce and the FAO were successful in these years in supporting the recovery of world agricultural output. By 1951 this had exceeded pre-war levels, and general levels of nutrition were rising internationally, but by the time Bruce stepped down in that year neither had improved fast enough to keep pace with the [[Post-World War II baby boom|post-war population boom]].<ref>{{Cite report |author=Food and Agriculture Organization |date=12–15 November 1951 |title=FAO Council Report}}</ref> The Council faced major obstacles in supporting the improvement of conditions in the developing world as governments there began diverting resources to arms programs as independence, post-colonial and [[Cold War]] conflicts multiplied.{{sfn|Cumpston|p = 253}} Frustrated by continuing world conflict and the lack of commitment from the developed world to support the lofty but very difficult aims of the FAO, both Bruce and Orr resigned from the FAO disappointed by its modest gains and insufficient powers to alleviate world food problems.{{sfn|Edwards|pp = 422–423}}