Council on Foreign Relations

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The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American foreign policy think tank based in New York City. It describes itself as being "dedicated to increasing America's understanding of the world and contributing ideas to U.S. foreign policy," and accomplishes this mainly by promoting constructive, closed debates and discussions, clarifying world issues through research and analysis, and publishing the noted journal Foreign Affairs and related content online.

History

The Council on Foreign Relations, as well as the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London, came about as a result of a meeting on May 30 1919, at the Hotel Majestic in Paris. Some of the fifty participants were Edward M. House, Harold Temperley, Lionel Curtis, Lord Eustace Percy, Herbert Hoover, Christian Herter, Paul Warburg, and American academic historians James Thomson Shotwell of Columbia University, Archibald Coolidge of Harvard and Charles Seymour of Yale.

Formally established in 1921, it is one of the most powerful private organizations with influence on U.S. foreign policy. It has about 4,000 members, including former national security officers, professors, former CIA members, elected politicians, and media figures. The CFR is not a formal institution within U.S. policy making.

In 1944, Harold I. Pratt's widow donated the family's four-storey mansion on the corner of 68th Street and Park Avenue and this became the CFR's new headquarters, Harold Pratt House, where it has remained to the present.

Elite foreign policy think tank

Fostering elite consent for the invasion of Iraq

People

Board of Directors and Membership

OFFICE NAME
Chairman Peter G. Peterson
Vice Chairman Carla A. Hills
Vice Chairman Robert E. Rubin
President Richard N. Haass
Board Member Peter Ackerman
Board Member Fouad Ajami
Board Member Madeleine K. Albright
Board Member Charlene Barshefsky
Board Member Jeffrey Bewkes
Board Member Henry S. Bienen
Board Member Stephen W. Bosworth
Board Member Tom Brokaw
Board Member Lee Cullum
Board Member Kenneth M. Duberstein
Board Member Martin S. Feldstein
Board Member Richard N. Foster
Board Member Helene D. Gayle
Board Member Maurice R. Greenberg
Board Member Richard C. Holbrooke
Board Member Karen Elliott House
Board Member Joseph S. Nye, Jr.
Board Member Ronald L. Olson
Board Member Thomas R. Pickering
Board Member David M. Rubenstein
Board Member Richard E. Salomon
Board Member Anne-Marie Slaughter
Board Member Joan E. Spero
Board Member Laura D'Andrea Tyson
Board Member Vin Weber
Board Member Fareed Zakaria

The Board of Directors of the Council on Foreign Relations is composed of thirty-six members.

There are two types of membership - term membership (which lasts for 5 years and is available to those between 30 and 36) and regular membership. Only US citizens (native born or naturalised) and permanent residents who have applied for U.S. citizenship are eligible for membership. Proposed members must be nominated by current members. A candidate for life membership must be nominated in writing by one Council member and seconded by a minimum of three others.[1]

Corporate membership (250 in total) is divided into "Basic", "Premium" ($25,000+) and "President's Circle" ($50,000+). All corporate executive members have opportunities to hear distinguished speakers, such as overseas presidents and prime ministers, chairmen and CEOs of multinational corporations, and U.S. officials and Congressmen. President and premium members are also entitled to other benefits, including attendance at small, private dinners or receptions with senior American officials and world leaders.[2]

Peter G. Peterson and David Rockefeller are Directors Emeriti (Chairman Emeritus and Honorary Chairman, respectively). It also has an International Advisory Board consisting of thirty-five distinguished individuals from across the world.[3]

Board member biographies

Weber served in the United States House of Representatives from 1981 to 1993 and according to his biography,

'Vin is one of the most prominent and successful strategists in the Republican Party and enjoys strong bipartisan relationships across the Legislative and Executive branches of government. He serves as a trusted advisor to senior officials in the Administration and on Capitol Hill, and has counseled numerous Presidential campaigns'.

Weber previously co-chaired a major 'independent' task force on U.S. Policy Toward Reform in the Arab World with former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. Prior to 1994, Vin was president and co-director of Empower America a public policy advocacy group alongside other co-directors Jack Kemp, Jeane Kirkpatrick and Bill Bennett. He was a member of the Appropriations Committee and an elected member of the House Republican Leadership and prior to this was campaign manager and chief Minnesota aide to Senator Rudy Boschwitz (1978-1980)

Weber is a contributing columnist to The Hill newspaper and was the publisher of The Murray County Herald from 1976-1978. He has featured in numerous national publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, the Associated Press, National Journal and The New Republic. He has also appeared on NBC’s Nightly News, The News Hour with Jim Lehrer on PBS, ABC’s This Week, the CBS Early Show, Fox News Channel, CNN and MSNBC.

Corporate Members

Notable current council members

Notable historical members

Source: The Council on Foreign Relations from 1921 to 1996:Historical Roster of Directors and Officers[12]

List of chairmen and chairwomen

List of presidents

Source: The Council on Foreign Relations from 1921 to 1996: Historical Roster of Directors and Officers[13]

Resources

Further reading

  • de Villemarest, Pierre, Facts & Chronicles Denied to the Public, Vol. 1, Aquilion, 2004, ISBN 1-904997-00-7
  • Grose, Peter, Continuing the Inquiry: The Council on Foreign Relations from 1921 to 1996, New York, N.Y.: Council on Foreign Relations: 1996. ISBN 0-87609-192-3
  • Perloff, James, The Shadows of Power: The Council on Foreign Relations and the American Decline, Western Islands, 1988. ISBN 0-88279-134-6
  • Schulzinger, Robert D., The Wise Men of Foreign Affairs, New York: Columbia University Press, 1984. ISBN 0-231-05528-5
  • Shoup, Laurence H., and William Minter, Imperial Brain Trust: The Council on Foreign Relations and United States Foreign Policy, New York: Authors Choice Press, Reprint, 2004.
  • Laurence H. Shoup Bush, Kerry, and The Council on Foreign Relations Z Magazine, October 2004
  • Laurence H. Shoup Behind the Bipartisan Drive Toward War: The Council on Foreign Relations and the U.S. Invasion of Iraq Z Magazine, March 2003
  • Wala, Michael, The Council on Foreign Relations and American Foreign Policy in the Early Cold War, Providence, R.I.: Berghann Books: 1994. ISBN 1-57181-003-X

External links

Criticism

Research

Finding Aid: Council on Foreign Relations Meetings Records, 1920-1995.

References

  1. "Membership".
  2. "Corporate Program".
  3. "Leadership and Staff". Accessed February 24, 2007.
  4. Coca Cola Company James D Robinson Accessed 21st January 2008
  5. Eli Lilly and Company Martin S Feldstein Accessed 31st January 2008
  6. Clark & Weinstock Vin Weber Accessed 20th March 2008
  7. Corporate Membership.
  8. Erin Burnett.  CNBC TV Profiles. CNBC, Inc.
  9. Special Olympics: Timothy Shriver.  Special Olympics.  Retrieved 2009-03-25.
  10. Schudel, Matt. "Pentagon Spokesman Became an Advocate for Refugees", The Washington Post, August 16, 2009. Accessed August 17, 2009.
  11. John Bowyer Bell The Daily Telegraph 14 October 2003, accessed 2008-02-12
  12. http://www.cfr.org/about/history/cfr/appendix.html Continuing the Inquiry: Historical Roster of Directors and Officers
  13. CFR Continuing the Inquiry: Historical Roster of Directors and Officers, accessed 9 September 2009