The international organization UNESCO promotes collaboration among nations ineducation, science, culture, and communications. Among its key work areas areexpanding educational opportunities, protecting world heritage sites, developing reliableworld scientific standards and statistics, and promoting freedom of expression and humanrights. With these goals in mind, it is important to realize the role the U.S. plays in thedecisions and actions taken by UNESCO.UNESCO was created in London in 1945 and currently has 188 member states. In1985, the United States announced its withdrawal from UNESCO due to various reasonsand remained out until 2002. The thesis discusses the controversy that surrounds theinternational organization UNESCO and its missions as well as why UNESCO issignificant to the United States. Specificallyt the thesis will explore the membership ofthe United States and its reasons for withdrawal from UNESCO from 1985 - 2002 andwhy the duration of withdrawal was longer than that of other member nations. I willanalyze the arguments made by previous historians and present some overlooked reasonsfor the long duration of U.S. withdrawal from UNESCO. It is important to understandwhat role the United States plays in international organizations and how its actionsinfluence other countries and world perceptions.