Council on Foreign Relations

Towards the end of World War I , a group of about 150 scholars was assembled, including a close adviser and long-time friend of President Woodrow Wilson, “Colonel” Edward M. House , and Walter Lippman , entitled “The Inquiry,” to inform Wilson about options for the post-war world after the defeat of Germany ^[3] . The team has prepared more than 2,000 documents detailing and analyzing political, economic and social facts around the world that would be useful to the US president in peace talks. Their reports formed the basis of the Fourteen Points that outlined Wilson's strategy for peace after the war. These scientists were then sent to the 1919 Paris Peace Conference ^[4] .

As a result of the discussions at the Peace Conference, a small group of British and American diplomats and scholars met on May 30, 1919 at the Majestic Hotel in Paris and decided to create an Anglo-American organization called the Institute of International Affairs, which would have offices in London and New York ^{[ 3]} . Due to the isolationist views prevalent in American society at the time, scientists had difficulty implementing their plan, and instead focused on a series of cautious meetings that took place since June 1918 in New York, entitled "The Council in international relations. Meetings led by corporate lawyer Elihu Root , who served as secretary of state under President Theodore Roosevelt , and were attended by 108 "senior banking, manufacturing, trade and finance companies, . akzhe many lawyers' council members were in favor of internationalism Wilson, but they were particularly concerned about "the influence of the war and the peace treaty after the war business ^[4] There they saw an opportunity to create an organization that will bring together diplomats, senior government officials and scientists together with lawyers, bankers and industrialists in order to develop public policy.On July 29, 1921 they filed a certificate of registration, formally forming the Council on Foreign Relations ^[4] . In 1922, Edwin F. Gay , former dean of the Harvard Business School and director of the Navigation Council during the war, led the council’s efforts to begin publishing a journal that would be an “authoritative” foreign policy source. He raised $ 125,000 from affluent council members and sent letters asking for funds from the "Thousand Richest Americans." With these funds, in September 1922, the first issue of the journal Foreign Affairs , dealing with international relations, was published ^[3] .

In the late 1930s, the Ford Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation began to contribute large sums of money to the Council. In 1938, they set up various foreign affairs committees throughout the country, funded by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation. Influential people had to be selected in a number of cities, and then come together to discuss in their own communities, as well as to participate in the annual conference in New York. These local committees served to influence local leaders and build public opinion to support Council policies, and also acted as “helpful listening points” through which the Council and the US government could “feel the mood of the country” ^[3] .

Beginning in 1939 and continuing for five years, the Council achieved much greater fame in the government and the Department of State by establishing Secret Studies of War and Peace , fully funded by the Rockefeller Foundation ^[4] . The secrecy surrounding this group was such that members of the Council who did not participate in its discussions were completely unaware of the existence of the research group ^[4] . It was divided into four thematic groups: economics and finance, security and weapons, territorial and political. The Security and Arms Group was led by Allen Welch Dulles , who later became a key figure in the CIA's predecessor, the Office of Strategic Services . Ultimately, the QS prepared 682 memoranda for the Department of State , which were classified and distributed to the relevant government departments ^[4] .

A critical study showed that of the 502 government officials surveyed from 1945 to 1972, more than half were members of the Council ^[4] . During the Eisenhower administration , 40% of senior US foreign policy officials were members of the CMO (Eisenhower himself was a member of the Council); under Truman, 42% of the top posts were filled by members of the Council. During the Kennedy administration , this number rose to 51%, and peaked at 57% under the Johnson administration ^[3] .

In an anonymous article entitled "Sources of Soviet Behavior", which appeared in Foreign Affairs in 1947, a member of the CMO research group, George Kennan, coined the term " containment ." The essay will prove to be very influential in US foreign policy for the seven upcoming presidential administrations. Forty years later, Kennan explained that he had never suspected the Russians of wanting to attack America; he thought it was obvious enough, and he did not need to explain it in his essay. William Bundy attributed to the QS research groups assistance in creating the thinking framework that led to the Marshall Plan and NATO . Due to the new interest in the Council, membership has grown to 1000 people ^[4] .

Dwight Eisenhower led the QS research group while he was president of Columbia University . One member later said: “Everything that General Eisenhower knows about economics, he learned at the meetings of the research group ^[4] . The CMO research group developed an expanded research group called“ Americans for Eisenhower ”to increase its chances of presidency. Later, Eisenhower drew many members of the Cabinet of Ministers of the series SMO and he became a member of the CFR. His main appointment as CMO was Secretary of State John Foster Dulles . Dulles gave a public speech in the home of Harold Pratt in New York In which he announced a new direction of foreign policy of Eisenhower : "There is no local defense, which could withstand the power of the communist world. Local defense should be reinforced by further deterrence by massive retaliatory force. "After this speech, the council convened a meeting on the topic" Nuclear Weapons and Foreign Policy "and elected Henry Kissinger as its head. Kissinger spent the next year working on a project at the Council's headquarters. Book, published on the basis of his research in 1957, gave him national recognition, topping the bestseller lists ^[4] .

On November 24, 1953, the research team heard a report by political analyst William Henderson on the ongoing conflict between France and the Vietnamese communist forces Ho Chi Minh , which later became known as the Indochina War . Henderson argued that the Ho affair was primarily nationalistic in nature and that Marxism had "little to do with the current revolution." In addition, the report said the United States could work with Ho to steer his movement away from communism. State Department officials, however, expressed skepticism about direct American intervention in Vietnam, and the idea was rejected. Over the next twenty years, the United States will be in alliance with anti-communist South Vietnam against Ho and his supporters in the Vietnam War ^[4] .

The Council served as a "breeding ground" for such important areas of American policy as mutual assured destruction , arms control and nuclear non-proliferation ^[4] . In 1962, the group began a program to attract selected Air Force officers to Harold Pratt’s home to train them with scientists. The Army, Navy, and Marine Corps requested similar programs for their officers ^[4] . A four-year study of relations between America and China was conducted by the council between 1964 and 1968. One study, published in 1966, found that American citizens were more open to negotiations with China than their elected leaders. Henry Kissinger continued to publish in Foreign Affairs and was appointed National Security Advisor by President Nixon in 1969. In 1971, he went on a secret trip to Beijing to begin negotiations with Chinese leaders. Richard Nixon went to China in 1972, and diplomatic relations were completely normalized by Secretary of State President Carter , another member of the Council, Cyrus Vance ^[4] .

The Vietnam War created a split within the organization. When Hamilton Fish Armstrong announced in 1970 that he would resign as head of Foreign Affairs after he reached the age of 45, the new chairman, David Rockefeller, asked his family friend, William Bundy , to take up this position. Anti-war defenders on the Council rose in protest against this appointment, arguing that Bundy's hawkish reputation in the State and Defense departments and the CIA prevented him from taking on an independent magazine. Some considered Bundy a war criminal for his previous actions ^[4] .

In November 1979, as chairman of the CMO, David Rockefeller became embroiled in an international incident when he and Henry Kissinger, along with John McCloy and Rockefeller aides, convinced President Jimmy Carter, through the Department of State, to accept Iran’s Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi for the treatment of lymphoma . This action directly accelerated the capture of American hostages in Iran and put Rockefeller under the scrutiny of the media (especially the New York Times ) for the first time in his public life ^[5] . In his book The White House Diary , Carter wrote about the case: "On April 9 [1979], David Rockefeller came in apparently to induce me to let the Shah come to the United States. Rockefeller, Kissinger and Brzezinski seem to have accepted this as a joint project..."

Mission

As indicated on the website , the mission of the QS is to be “a resource for its members, government officials, business leaders, journalists, teachers and students, civil and religious leaders and other interested citizens to help them better understand the world and their choices. foreign policy facing the United States and other countries. "

He convenes meetings at which government officials, world leaders and prominent members of the foreign policy community discuss major international issues. Its think tank, the David Rockefeller Research Program, consists of about fifty associates and full-time scholars, as well as ten regular recipients of annual scholarships that cover major regions and important issues that shape today's international agenda. These scholars contribute to foreign policy debates by advising the presidential administration , testifying before Congress , acting as a resource for the diplomatic community, interacting with the media, creating books, reports and articles on foreign policy issues.

In the context of the critical theory of global capitalism, some sociologists distinguish QS among many elite planning or policy-making organizations, such as the Tripartite Commission , and the business round table , which, in their opinion, work together with other influential actors of capitalist society in pursuit of common interests ^{[6 ]} . Political scientist William Aviles, for example, includes the QS in the class of “ transnational policymaking institutions,” which he claims to have worked in tandem with Western governments and international financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to “expand free trade, reduce regulation transnational corporations' investments and accelerate market integration through economic blocs (such as the North American Free Trade Association or the European Union ) ^[7] . "

Membership

There are two types of membership: lifelong and fixed-term membership, which lasts 5 years and is available to people between the ages of 30 and 36. Only U.S. citizens (born or naturalized) and permanent residents who apply for U.S. citizenship are eligible to join the Council. A candidate for life membership must be nominated in writing by one member of the Council and supported by at least three others. Invited fellows are not allowed to apply for membership until their scholarship ends. As of 2017, annual contributions for non-business members range from $ 270 to $ 850, and for business members from $ 1,060 to $ 3,790. Corporate membership (250 seats in total) is divided into “associates”, “affiliates” ($ 30,000 +), “presidential circle” ($ 60,000 +) and “founders” ($ 100,000 +). All executive members of corporations have the opportunity to hear prominent speakers such as presidents and prime ministers of foreign countries, chairmen and CEOs of transnational corporations , as well as US officials and congressmen . The president and members of the award are also eligible for other benefits, including attending small private dinners or receptions with senior US officials and world leaders. ^[8]

Program Initiatives

The CMO launched a program called “International Institutions and Global Governance” in 2008 for 5 years, funded by a grant from the Robin Foundation, aimed at determining the institutional requirements for effective multilateral cooperation in the 21st century ^[9] .

Center for Geoeconomic Research. Maurice Greenberg, led by scientist and author Sebastian Mallaby , is working to promote a better understanding among politicians, academics, and the public concerned of the interaction of economic and political forces in the world ^[10] .

The CMO Preventive Action Center (CPA) seeks to help prevent, defuse, or resolve deadly conflicts around the world and increase knowledge about conflict prevention. This is achieved by creating a forum where representatives of governments, international organizations, non-governmental organizations, corporations and civil society can gather to develop operational and timely strategies to promote peace in specific conflict situations.

Foreign Affairs

The Council publishes Foreign Affairs , "The Outstanding Journal of US Foreign Relations and Foreign Policy." It also establishes independent task forces that bring together experts with diverse backgrounds and knowledge to work together to prepare reports containing both conclusions and policy recommendations on important foreign policy topics. The CMO sponsored more than fifty reports, including an independent task force on the future of North America , which published report No. 53 in May 2005, entitled “Creating the North American Community” ^[11] .

In 2005, the Inter Press Service news agency described the QS as “the country's most influential foreign policy think tank” ^[12] .

The council received a three-star rating (out of a possible four stars) from Charity Navigator in fiscal year 2016, measured by their analysis of the council’s financial data and “accountability and transparency” ^[13] .

The council has been the subject of debate on sovereignty and allegations of inappropriate influence on US foreign policy. This is primarily due to the number of high-ranking government officials (along with world business leaders and prominent media figures) in its composition and the large number of aspects of American foreign policy with which its members were associated. A number of writers and organizations are also actively opposing the Council, most of which are paleoconservatives . The main argument for criticizing the QS is the stated political goal of global integration. For example, the John Birch Society claims that the QS "is guilty of conspiring with others to create a world government ...." ^[14] . Other figures, including the conservative author and political theorist V. Cleon Skousen , opposed the QS ^[15] .

• 2003 - Present: Richard Haas
• 1985-2003: Peter George Peterson
• 1970-1985: David Rockefeller
• 1953-1970: John McCloy ^[4]
• 1946-1953: Russell Cornell Leffingwell

• Tripartite commission

• The European Council on Foreign Relations is an “independent think tank”, ^[16] one of the co-chairs is Joshka Fischer
• Foreign and Defense Policy Council

• cfr.org // Council Official Website (eng.)
• Ovinnikov R.S. Wall Street and Foreign Policy / R.S. Ovinnikov. M .: International relations, 1980. ( Chapter III. The apparatus of conduct )
• "American wastefulness and American power" // Article of the head of the QS R. Haas and the former deputy. US Treasury Secretary Roger Altman in Foreign Affairs Magazine, PRIME TASS , Nov 9, 2010
• Council on Foreign Relations