FPA--WORLD AFFAIRS COUNCIL--IPR
Through many interlocking organizations, the Council on Foreign
Relations "educates" the public--and brings pressures upon Congress--to
support CFR policies. All organizations, in this incredible propaganda
web, work in their own way toward the objective of the Council on
Foreign Relations: to create a one-world socialist system and to make
America a part of it. All of the organizations have federal
tax-exemption as "educational" groups; and they are all financed, in
part, by tax-exempt foundations, the principal ones being Ford,
Rockefeller, and Carnegie. Most of them also have close working
relations with official agencies of the United States Government.
The CFR does not have formal affiliation--and can therefore disclaim
official connection with--its subsidiary propaganda agencies (except the
Committees on Foreign Relations, organized by the CFR in 30 cities
throughout the United States); but the real and effective interlock
between all these groups can be shown not only by their common objective
(one-world socialism) and a common source of income (the foundations),
but also by the overlapping of personnel: directors and officials of the
Council on Foreign Relations are also officials in the interlocking
organizations.
* * * * *
The Foreign Policy Association-World Affairs Center, 345 East 46th
Street, New York 17, New York, is probably the most influential of all
the agencies which can be shown as propaganda affiliates of the Council
on Foreign Relations in matters concerned primarily with American
foreign policy.
On April 29, 1960, the March-April Term Grand Jury of Fulton County,
Georgia, handed down a Presentment concerning subversive materials in
schools, which said:
"An extensive investigation has been made by the Jury into the
Foreign Policy Association of New York City and its 'Great
Decisions Program,' which it is sponsoring in our area....
"This matter was brought to our attention by the Americanism
Committee of the Waldo M. Slaton Post 140, American Legion, and
several other local patriotic groups. We were informed that the
Great Decisions Program was being taught in our public high schools
and by various well-meaning civic and religious groups, who were
not aware of the past records of the leaders of the Foreign Policy
Association, nor of the authors of the textbooks prescribed for
this Great Decisions program.
"Evidence was presented to us showing that some of these leaders
and authors had a long record, dating back many years, in which
they either belonged to, or actively supported left-wing or
subversive organizations.
"We further found that invitations to participate in these 'study
groups' were being mailed throughout our county under the name of
one of our local universities.... We learned that the prescribed
booklets were available upon request in our local public
libraries....
"The range of the activity by this organization has reached
alarming proportions in the schools and civic groups in certain
other areas in Georgia. Its spread is a matter of deep concern to
this Jury and we, therefore, call upon all school officials
throughout the state to be particularly alert to this insidious and
subversive material. We further recommend that all textbook
committee members--city, county and state--recognize the
undesirable features of this material and take action to remove it
from our schools.
"Finally, we urge that all Grand Juries throughout the State of
Georgia give matters of this nature their serious consideration."
On June 30, 1960, the May-June Term Grand Jury of Fulton County,
Georgia, handed down another Presentment, which said:
"It is our understanding that the Foreign Policy Association's
Great Decisions program, criticized by the March-April Grand Jury,
Fulton County, has been removed from the Atlanta and Fulton County
schools....
"Numerous letters from all over the United States have been
received by this grand jury, from individuals and associations,
commending the Presentment of the previous grand jury on the
Foreign Policy Association. Not a single letter has been received
by us criticizing these presentments."
In September, 1960, the Americanism Committee of Waldo M. Slaton Post
No. 140, The American Legion, 3905 Powers Ferry Road, N.W., Atlanta 5,
Georgia, published a 112-page mimeographed book entitled _The Truth
About the Foreign Policy Association_ (available directly from the Post
at $1.00 per copy). In the Foreword to this book, the Americanism
Committee says:
"How can we account for our apathetic acceptance of the presence of
this arch-murderer (Khrushchev, during his tour of the United
States at Eisenhower's invitation) in America? What has so dulled
our sense of moral values that we could look on without revulsion
while he was being wined and dined by our officials? How could we
dismiss with indifference the shameful spectacle of these officials
posing for pictures with this grinning Russian assassin--pictures
which we knew he would use to prove to communism's enslaved
populations that the Americans are no longer their friends, but the
friends of Khrushchev?
"There is only one explanation for this lapse from the Americanism
of former days: we are being brainwashed into the belief that we
can safely do business with communism--brainwashed by an
interlocked group of so-called 'educational' organizations offering
'do-it-yourself' courses which pretend to instruct the public in
the intricacies of foreign policy, but which actually mask clever
propaganda operations designed to sell 'co-existence' to Americans.
There are many of these propaganda outfits working to undermine
Americans' faith in America, but none, in our opinion, is as slick
or as smooth or as dangerous as the Foreign Policy Association of
Russian-born Vera Micheles Dean....
"This documented handbook has been prepared in response to numerous
requests for duplicates of the file which formed the basis of the
case (before the Fulton County Grand Juries) against the Foreign
Policy Association. We hope that it will assist patriots everywhere
in resisting the un-American propaganda of the Red China appeasers,
the pro-Soviet apologists, the relativists, and other dangerous
propagandists who are weakening Americans' sense of honor and their
will to survive."
_The Truth About The Foreign Policy Association_ sets out the communist
front record of Vera Micheles Dean (who was Research Director of the FPA
until shortly after the Legion Post made this exposure, when she
resigned amidst almost-tearful words of praise and farewell on the part
of FPA-WAC officials). The Legion Post booklet sets out the communist
front records of various other persons connected with the FPA; it
presents and analyzes several publications of the FPA, including
materials used in the Great Decisions program; it reveals that FPA
establishes respectability and public acceptance for itself by
publicizing "endorsements" of prominent Americans; it shows that many of
the FPA's claims of endorsements are false; it shows the interlocking
connections and close working relationships between the Foreign Policy
Association and other organizations, particularly the National Council
of Churches; and it presents a great deal of general documentation on
FPA's activities, operations, and connections.
The Foreign Policy Association was organized in 1918 and incorporated
under the laws of New York in 1928 (the Council on Foreign Relations was
organized in 1919 and incorporated in 1921). Rockefeller and Carnegie
money was responsible for both FPA and CFR becoming powerful
organizations.
The late U. S. Congressman Louis T. McFadden (Pennsylvania), as early as
1934, said that the Foreign Policy Association, working in close
conjunction with a comparable British group, was formed, largely under
the aegis of Felix Frankfurter and Paul Warburg, to promote a "planned"
or socialist economy in the United States, and to integrate the American
system into a worldwide socialist system. Warburg and Frankfurter (early
CFR members) were among the many influential persons who worked closely
with Colonel Edward M. House, father of the Council on Foreign
Relations.
* * * * *
From its early days, the Foreign Policy Association had interlocking
personnel, and worked in close co-operation with the Institute of
Pacific Relations, which was formed in 1925 as a tax-exempt educational
organization, and which was financed by the great foundations--and by
the same groups of businessmen and corporations which have always
financed the CFR and the FPA.
The IPR played a more important role than any other American
organization in shaping public opinion and influencing official
American policy with regard to Asia.
For more than twenty years, the IPR influenced directly or indirectly
the selection of Far Eastern scholars for important teaching posts in
colleges and universities--and the selection of officials for posts
concerning Asia in the State Department. The IPR publications were
standard materials in most American colleges, in thirteen hundred public
school systems, and in the armed forces; and millions of IPR
publications were distributed to all these institutions.
Along toward the end of World War II, there were rumblings that the
powerful IPR might be a communist front, despite its respectable
façade--despite the fact that a great majority of its members were
Americans whose patriotism and integrity were beyond question.
* * * * *
In 1951, the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee, under the
chairmanship of the late Pat McCarran (Democrat, Nevada) began an
investigation which lasted many months and became the most important,
careful, and productive investigation ever conducted by a committee of
Congress.
The McCarran investigation of the IPR was predicated on the assumption
that United States diplomacy had never suffered a more disastrous defeat
than in its failure to avert the communist conquest of China.
The communist conquest of China led to the Korean war; and the tragic
mishandling of this war on the part of Washington and United Nations
officialdom destroyed American prestige throughout Asia, and built
Chinese communist military power into a menacing colossus.
The Senate investigation revealed that the American policy decisions
which produced these disastrous consequences were made by IPR officials
who were traitors, or under the influence of traitors, whose allegiance
lay in Moscow.
Owen Lattimore, guiding light of the IPR during its most important years
(and also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations), was termed a
conscious articulate instrument of the Soviet international conspiracy.
Alger Hiss (a CFR member who was later identified as a Soviet spy) was
closely tied in with the IPR during his long and influential career in
government service. Hiss became a trustee of the IPR after his
resignation from the State Department. The secret information which Hiss
delivered to a Soviet spy ring in the 1930's kept the Soviets apprised
of American activity in the Far East.
Lauchlin Currie (also a member of the CFR) was an administrative
assistant to President Roosevelt. Harry Dexter White virtually ran the
Treasury Department under both Roosevelt and Truman. Both Currie and
White had strong connections with the IPR; and both were Soviet
spies--who not only channeled important American secrets to Soviet
military intelligence, but also influenced and formulated American
policies to suit the Soviets.
By the time the McCarran investigation ended, the whole nation knew that
the IPR was, as the McCarran committee had characterized it, a
transmission belt for Soviet propaganda in the United States.
The IPR, thoroughly discredited, had lost its power and influence; but
its work was carried on, without any perceptible decline in
effectiveness, by the Foreign Policy Association.
* * * * *
The FPA did this job through its Councils on World Affairs, which had
been set up in key cities throughout the United States.
These councils are all "anti-communist." They include among their
members the business, financial, social, cultural, and educational
leaders of the community. Their announced purpose is to help citizens
become better informed on international affairs and foreign policy. To
this end, they arrange public discussion groups, forums, seminars in
connection with local schools and colleges, radio-television programs,
and lecture series. They distribute a mammoth quantity of expensively
produced material--to schools, civic clubs, discussion groups, and so
on, at little or no cost.
The Councils bring world-renowned speakers to their community. Hence,
Council events generally make headlines and get wide coverage on radio
and television. The Foreign Policy Associations' Councils on World
Affairs, through the parent organization, through the Council on Foreign
Relations, and through a multitude of other channels, have close working
relationships with the State Department.
Hence, many of the distinguished speakers whom the Councils present are
handpicked by the State Department; and they travel (sometimes from
distant foreign lands) at United States taxpayers' expense.
To avert criticism (or to provide themselves with ammunition against
criticism when it arises) that they are nothing but internationalist
propaganda agencies, the Councils on World Affairs distribute a little
literature which, and present a few speakers who, give the general
appearance of being against the internationalist program of one-world
socialism. But their anti-internationalism presentations are generally
milk-and-water middle-of-the-roadism which is virtually meaningless.
Most Councils-on-World-Affairs presentations give persuasive
internationalist propaganda.
Thus, the Foreign Policy Association, through its Councils on World
Affairs--and another affiliated activity, the Great Decisions
program--has managed to enroll some "conservative" community leadership
into an effective propaganda effort for one-world socialism.
The World Affairs Center was set up with national headquarters at 345
East 46th Street in New York City, as a formal affiliate of the Foreign
Policy Association, to handle the important job of directing the various
"independent" Councils on World Affairs, located in major cities
throughout the nation. In March, 1960, the FPA merged with the World
Affairs Center to form one organization: the Foreign Policy
Association-World Affairs Center.
* * * * *
The FPA-WAC describes its Great Decisions program as an annual
nation-wide review, by local groups under local sponsorship, of problems
affecting United States Foreign Policy. FPA-WAC provides Fact Sheet
Kits, which contain reading material for these local discussion groups.
These kits present what FPA calls a "common fund of information" for all
participants. They also provide an "opinion" ballot which permits each
participant, at the end of the Great Decisions discussion program, to
register his viewpoint and send it to officials in Washington.
The old IPR line (fostering American policies which helped communists
take over China) was that the Chinese communists were not communists at
all but democratic "agrarian reformers" whom the Chinese people loved
and respected, and whom the Chinese people were going to install as the
rulers of new China, regardless of what America did; and that,
therefore, it was in our best interest to be friendly with these
"agrarian reformers" so that China would remain a friendly power once
the "reformers" took over.
A major objective of the FPA-WAC--since it fell heir to the work of the
IPR--is to foster American diplomatic recognition of red China.
The FPA-WAC, and its subordinate Councils on World Affairs, do this
propaganda job most cleverly. Most FPA spokesmen (except a few like
Cyrus Eaton, who is a darling of the FPA and occasionally writes for its
publications) are "anti-communists" who admit that the Chinese
communists are real communists. They admit that it is not pleasant (in
the wake of our memories of Korea) to think of extending diplomatic
recognition to red China; and they do not always openly advocate such a
move; but their literature and Great Decisions operations and other
activities all subtly inculcate the idea that, however much we may
dislike the Chinese communists, it is highly probable that we can best
promote American interests by "eventually" recognizing red China.
In this connection, the FPA-WAC Great Decisions program for 1957 was
especially interesting. One question posed that year was "Should U. S.
Deal With Red China?" Discussion of this topic was divided into four
corollary questions: _Why Two Chinas? What are Red China's goals? Does
Red China threaten 'uncommitted' Asia? Red China's record--what U. S.
Policy?_
The FPA-WAC Fact Sheet Kit, which sets out background information for
the "study" and "voting" on the red China question, contains nothing
that would remind Americans of Chinese communist atrocities against our
men in Korea or in any way make Americans really angry at the
communists. In the discussion of the "two Chinas," the communists sound
somewhat more attractive than the nationalists. In the discussion of red
China's "goals," there is nothing about the communist goal of enslaving
all Asia; there are simply statistics showing how much more progress red
China has made than "democratic" India--with less outside help than
"democratic" India has received from the United States.
In the discussion of whether red China threatens the rest of Asia, the
FPA-WAC material makes no inference that the reds are an evil,
aggressive power--but it does let the reader know that the reds in China
are a mighty military power that we must reckon with, in realistic
terms. Nothing is said in the FPA-WAC Fact Sheet Kit about the
communist rape of Tibet. Rather, one gets the impression that Tibet is
a normal, traditional province of China which has now returned to the
homeland.
After studying the problems of communist China from this FPA-WAC "Fact
Sheet," Great Decisions participants were given an opportunity to cast
an "Opinion Ballot" on the four specific questions posed. The "Opinions"
were already written out on the FPA-WAC ballot. The voter had only to
select the opinion he liked best, and mark it. Here are the five choices
of opinions given voters on the Foreign Policy Association's Great
Decisions 1957 Opinion Ballot, concerning U. S. diplomatic recognition
of red China.
"a. Recognize Peiping now, because we can deal with Far East
political and other problems more easily if we have diplomatic
relations with Peiping.
"b. Go slow on recognizing them but agree to further talks and, if
progress is made, be willing to grant recognition at some future
date.
"c. Refuse to recognize them under any circumstances.
"d. Acknowledge that the Peiping government is the effective
government of China (recognition _de facto_) and deal with it as
much as seems useful, on this basis, but avoid full diplomatic
relations for the present.
"e. Other."
* * * * *
General purposes of the Foreign Policy Association-World Affairs Center
are rather well indicated in a fund-raising letter, mailed to American
businessmen all over the nation, on February 23, 1961. The letter was on
the letterhead of Consolidated Foods Corporation, 135 South La Salle
Street, Chicago 3, Illinois, and was signed by Nathan Cummings, Chairman
of the Board. Here is a part of Mr. Cummings' appeal to other
businessmen to contribute money to the FPA-WAC:
"In his inaugural address which I had the privilege of personally
hearing in Washington, President Kennedy summoned the American
people to responsibility in foreign policy: ...
"This call for individual initiative by the President characterizes
the kind of citizen responsibility in world affairs which the
Foreign Policy Association-World Affairs Center has been
energetically trying to build since its founding in 1918....
"The FPA-WAC's national program for informing the American public
of the urgent matters of foreign policy such as those mentioned by
the President--'the survival and the success of liberty,'
'inspection and control of arms,' the forging of 'a grand and
global alliance' to 'assure a more fruitful life for all
mankind'--is making remarkable progress.
"The enclosed 'Memorandum: 1960-61' describes the program and past
achievement of this 42-year-old organization. Particularly worthy
of mention is their annual 'Great Decisions' program which last
year engaged more than a quarter of a million Americans in eight
weeks of discussion of U. S. foreign policy and reached hundreds of
thousands of others with related radio, television and newspaper
background programs and articles on these important topics.
"Of the basic budget for 1960-61 of $1,140,700, nearly one-third
must be raised from individual and corporate sources to meet
minimal operating needs. The fact that over 400 major corporations,
some of whom contribute as much as $5,000, already support FPA-WAC
is evidence of the effectiveness and vitality of its educational
program....
"I hope that you and your company will join ours in generously
supporting this work."
Erwin D. Canham, editor of _The Christian Science Monitor_, has
caustically denounced the American Legion Post in Atlanta for its
"attack" on the FPA.
Mr. Canham, in a letter dated April 25, 1961, accused the American
Legion Post of making a "completely false" statement when the Post
contended that Mr. Canham and the _Monitor_ advocated the seating of red
China in the UN. Mr. Canham said:
"This newspaper's editorial policy has never espoused any such
position."
I have in my file a letter which Mr. Canham wrote, April 29, 1960, as
editor of _The Christian Science Monitor_, on the _Monitor's_
letterhead. In this letter, Mr. Canham says:
"I believe that the United States should open diplomatic relations
with communist China."
The interesting thing here is the coincidence of Mr. Canham's policy
with regard to red China, and the policy of the Foreign Policy
Association-World Affairs Center.
The Great Decisions program for 1957 (discussed above) was obviously
intended to lead Americans to acceptance of U. S. diplomatic recognition
of red China. The same material, however, made it clear that the
invisible government was not yet advocating the seating of red China in
the UN! Do these backstairs formulators and managers of United States
opinion and governmental policies have more respect for the UN than they
have for the US? Or, do they fear that bringing red China into the UN
(before U. S. recognition) would finish discrediting that already
discredited organization and cause the American people to demand
American withdrawal?
Christian Scientists (through Mr. Canham and the _Monitor_), Protestants
(through the National Council of Churches), Quakers (through the
American Friends Service Committee), and Jews (through the American
Jewish Committee, The Anti-Defamation League, and other organizations)
are among the religious groups which have publicly supported activities
of the Foreign Policy Association. Powerful Catholic personalities and
publications have endorsed FPA work, too.
On December 9, 1959, The Right Rev. Timothy F. O'Leary, Superintendent
of Catholic Schools for the Archdiocese of Boston, wrote to all Catholic
schools in the district, telling them that he was making plans for their
participation with the World Affairs Council and the Foreign Policy
Association in the Great Decisions 1960 Program.
On November 27, 1960, _Our Sunday Visitor_ (largest and perhaps most
influential Catholic newspaper in America) featured an article by Frank
Folsom, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of
the Radio Corporation of America, and a leading Catholic layman. Mr.
Folsom was effusive in his praise of the FPA-WAC Great Decisions
program.
* * * * *
The interlock between the Council on Foreign Relations and the Foreign
Policy Association-World Affairs Center can be seen in the list of
officers and directors of the FPA-WAC:
Eustace Seligman, Chairman of the FPA-WAC, is a partner in Sullivan
and Cromwell, the law firm of the late John Foster Dulles, a
leading CFR member.
John W. Nason, President of FPA-WAC, is a member of the Council on
Foreign Relations.
Walter H. Wheeler, Jr., President of Pitney-Bowes, Inc., is Vice
Chairman of FPA-WAC, and also a member of the CFR.
Gerald F. Beal, of the J. Henry Schroeder Banking Corporation of
New York, is Treasurer of FPA-WAC, and also a member of the Council
on Foreign Relations.
Mrs. Andrew G. Carey is Secretary of FPA-WAC. Her husband is a
member of the CFR.
Emile E. Soubry, Executive Vice President and Director of the
Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, is Chairman of the Executive
Committee of FPA-WAC, and also a member of the CFR.
Benjamin J. Buttenwieser, of Kuhn, Loeb, and Company, in New York,
is a member of the Executive Committee of FPA-WAC, and also a
member of the CFR.
Joseph E. Johnson (old friend of Alger Hiss, who succeeded Hiss as
President of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace) is a
member of the Executive Committee of the FPA-WAC, and also a member
of the CFR.
Harold F. Linder, Vice Chairman of the General American Investors
Company, is a member of the Executive Committee of FPA-WAC, and
also a member of the CFR.
A. William Loos, Executive Director of the Church Peace Union, is a
member of the Executive Committee of the FPA-WAC. Mr. Loos attended
the CFR meeting with high communist party officials in the Soviet
Union in May, 1961.
Henry Siegbert, formerly a partner in the investment banking firm
of Adolph Lewisohn & Sons, is a member of the Executive Committee
of the FPA-WAC, and also a member of the CFR.