The Council on Foreign Relations

One hundred years ago today  … the Council on Foreign Relations was officially incorporated in New York City (Grose, 9). The think tank had been formed at the tail end of World War I and had operated informally ever since. In 1921 it applied for legal status. Charter approved July 14, which declared the organization’s purpose: "To create and stimulate International thought and to co-operate with the Government of the United States and with the international agencies in co-ordinating international activities.” (“SEEKS TO AID STATECRAFT,” New York Times, 15 July 1921, p 28.)

CFR had been instrumental in forming Wilson’s post-WWI foreign policy, the internationalism of which the country had been turning away from over the past two years. Inherently non-isolationist at a time when isolationist policy ruled in Washington, D.C., the Council, predictably, met with an old form of backlash right after its incorporation. The antisemitic Deerborn Independent owned by Henry Ford, wrote in its regular feature called “Jewish Notes”:

“To afford a continuous conference on international questions affecting the United States, by bringing together experts in statecraft, finance, industry, education and science” is the purpose of a new private organization styling itself, "The Council of Foreign Relations." Among the charter members are Paul Warburg, Oscar S. Straus, Abram Elkus, Otto H. Kahn, Paul D.Cravath, and Mortimer Schiff.

It seems that all the paper had to do was include this item in the “Jewish Notes,” quote the internationalist intent, and list the member names that sound most Jewish/Germanic, and Ford’s audience would hear the dog whistle. (All of the above except Cravath were indeed of German Jewish heritage.) The implication was that the organization would have insufficient allegiance to the US. 

Note: we reported on New Yorkers’ responses to Ford’s antisemitic propaganda in posts for October 11 and December 2, 1920.

References/ Further Reading:

Grose, Peter. Continuing the inquiry : the Council on Foreign Relations from 1921 to 1996. New York : Council on Foreign Relations, 1996.

– Jonathan Goldman, July 29, 1921

TAGS: politics, foreign policy, war, business, Jews, antisemitism