The Foreign Policy Association, with offices in New York City, is a nationwide, non-partisan educational agency designed to stimulate interest in international relations, develop greater understanding of foreign issues, and encourage citizen participation in discussion of world affairs. Through the years, although the organization's programs have changed, these purposes have remained constant.
In April 1918, a group of 141 leading Americans formed the League of Free Nations, which was reorganized in 1923 as the Foreign Policy Association. Early on, they made the decision to place emphasis on education and research rather than on action. In order to disseminate information, the organization began its distribution of the News Bulletin, later published every two weeks as the Foreign Policy Bulletin, and Foreign Policy Reports. An editorial information service in the form of the Headline Series, consisting of pamphlets written by experts, was started. As more information on foreign affairs became available to the American public the first two of these publications were discontinued--the Reports in 1951 and the Bulletin in 1961. Intercom, a world affairs handbook published six times a year, was another FPA publication.
For many years the FPA held regular luncheon meetings in New York to discuss divergent points of view concerning world problems. The luncheon meetings served to stimulate similar discussion meetings in communities all over the country, and in 1925 a Speakers Bureau was established to provide programs for community groups, educational institutions, national organizations, and government agencies. In the mid-1960s, the luncheon meetings were replaced by several large fundraising dinners each year. The Off-the-Record lecture series, begun in 1938 by a group of nineteen women, offers New York City area participants an opportunity to engage with speakers on foreign policy issues.
“Branches” of the Foreign Policy Association sprang up throughout the country, but FPA discontinued legal ties to them in the early 1950s. Most of them have changed their names to “world affairs councils,” and the Association continues to make counsel and services available to them. Through these, the FPA has been able to increase the effectiveness of its community-level programs through adult education. One of its most successful projects has been sponsorship of the program “Great Decisions,” begun in Oregon in 1955 and originally known as “Decisions.” Each year several hundred thousand adults and students meet in small groups to discuss problems of U.S. foreign policy. FPA supplies the background information, with national and local organizations, and the mass media publicizes the program and provides supplementary information on the topics discussed.
Sources:
- A Brief History of the Foreign Policy Association - World Affairs Center. October 12, 1961. Typewritten.
-
Encyclopedia of American Associations.
- Twenty-five Years of the Foreign Policy Association, 1918-1943. (Pamphlet)
- Foreign Policy Association website.
