Foreign Policy Association, excerpt from Who Rules America

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Similar in purpose to the Council on Foreign Relations is the Foreign Policy Association. While the CFR is concerned with communication and opinion-formation within the highest levels of American society, the FPA includes judges, schoolteachers, mayors, and other lesser community leaders among its members; its role is to educate a broader audience on problems of foreign policy. The leading educational efforts of the FPA are its Councils on World Affairs, which bring speakers to many communities, and its Great Decisions Programs, which are 'an annual nationwide review, by local groups under local sponsorship, of problems affecting United States foreign policy.' Groups are formed for Great Decisions Programs by five to 15 interested persons who meet once a week for eight weeks to discuss the topics chosen for the year. 'You need no 'teacher' or 'trained discussion leader,'' explains an FPA pamphlet. 'The only material required is the nonpartisan Fact Sheet Kit. . . .' In the mid-I960's the discussions could be supplemented by eight weekly half-hour television shows on National Educational Television.'4 However, even though the function and membership of the FPA differ from those of the CFR, its leadership is equally upper class.

OFFICERS OF THE FOREIGN POLICY ASSOCIATION

  • Eustace Seligman (SR, NY), the chairman, is a partner in Sullivan & Cromwell, the same firm that contributed John Foster Dulles.
  • John W. Nason, FPA president, is a member of the CFR, a Social Register listee, and a trustee of the Danforth Foundation.
  • Walter H. Wheeler, Jr., vice-chairman, is a member of the CFR and an affiliate of the J. Henry Schroeder Banking Corporation of New York.
  • Mrs. Andrew G. Carey (SR, NY), is secretary. Her husband is a member of the CFR.
  • Emile B. Soubry, chairman of the executive committee, is a director of Standard Oil of New Jersey and a member of the CFR.
  • Benjamin Buttenweiser, member of the executive committee, is a Jewish member of the upper class, married to Helen Lehman, and a partner in Kuhn, Loeb. A CFR member.
  • Harold F. Linder, member of the executive committee and one of the biggest donors to the Democratic Party, is a former associate of Carl M. Loeb, Rhoades, & Co. (1933-1938) and American Investors (1948-1955), and is now chairman of the Export-Import Bank in Washington. Also a CFR member.
  • Henry Siegbert, member of the executive committee, is a member of the CFR and a partner in the investment banking firm of Adolph Lewisohn & Sons.
  • Joseph E. Johnson, member of the executive committee, succeeded Alger Hiss as president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a position he still holds. He is a member of the CFR.
  • A. William Loos, member of the executive committee, is executive director of the Church Peace Union. Not a member of the upper class or power elite.
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