When the United Nations was founded in 1945, Stalin wanted all of the fifteen Soviet republics to be represented as separate countries. Truman replied that in that case, each of the (at the time) forty-eight U.S. states should be represented as separate countries as well. In the end, a compromise was reached in which two Soviet republics (Ukraine and Belarus) were represented as separate countries. The Ukrainian and Belarusian representatives always voted with the Soviet Union, so this effectively gave the U.S.S.R. three seats at the U.N. This arrangement lasted until the breakup of the U.S.S.R. in 1991.