The United Nations was created in large part by U.S. efforts; the U.S. is its largest individual national funder by far. Yet so often the body’s General Assembly adopts anti-U.S. positions. We spoke to the veteran diplomat Richard Schifter about the origins of this paradox — and what we can do to change the culture within the U.N.

The United Nations presents something of a paradox. An organization founded under the auspices of a U.S. rising toward becoming an unprecedented global power, the main body of the U.N., its General Assembly, has for decades adopted resolutions and hosted rhetoric that …