Stephen M. Schwebel was born on March 10, 1929 in New York City and while attending high school in New York City developed a strong interest in the United Nations Conference on International Organization being held in San Francisco. The U.N. Conference and the U.N. student organization that he was active in (and that was later affiliated with the United Nations Association of the United States of America), marked the start of a long focus on international relations and law. After entering Harvard University, he became active in the U.N. student movement and participated in founding The United Nations Council of Harvard.