Statehood and global cooperation — Oklahoma joined the Union in 1907, UNESCO was founded in 1945, and the World Heritage Convention was adopted in 1972.
Next: Monday, November 16, 2026.
On November 16, 1907, President Theodore Roosevelt signed Presidential Proclamation 780 at 10:16 a.m., admitting Oklahoma as the 46th state. The proclamation combined Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory into a single state. The news was telegraphed to Guthrie, the first state capital, where Charles N. Haskell was inaugurated as the first governor that day. Oklahomans mark November 16 as Statehood Day.
At a conference in London from November 1 to 16, 1945, representatives of 44 governments drew up the Constitution of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, signed on November 16. Its preamble declares that "since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed." The constitution came into force on November 4, 1946, after 20 countries had ratified it, and UNESCO is based in Paris.
November 16 is the International Day for Tolerance. On this date in 1995, UNESCO's member states adopted the Declaration of Principles on Tolerance, closing the United Nations Year for Tolerance. In December 1996 the UN General Assembly invited member states to observe the day each year on November 16.
Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory were joined and admitted as Oklahoma, the 46th U.S. state. The name comes from the Choctaw words okla (people) and humma (red), suggested by Choctaw chief Allen Wright. Guthrie served as the first capital until it was moved to Oklahoma City in 1910.
Delegates at the United Nations conference in London signed the Constitution of UNESCO on November 16, 1945, the date the organization treats as its founding. A preparatory commission worked until the constitution entered into force on November 4, 1946. UNESCO went on to promote education, science and culture worldwide.
UNESCO's General Conference, meeting in Paris, adopted the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage on November 16, 1972. The treaty created the World Heritage List of places of "outstanding universal value." It came into force in December 1975, and by 2024 it had been ratified by 196 states, making it one of the most widely adopted international agreements.
The United States and the Soviet Union established formal diplomatic relations, 16 years after the Bolshevik Revolution. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Soviet People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Maxim Litvinov concluded the agreement in an exchange of letters. The two countries later became allies in World War II.