Manhattan Committee on Foreign Relations

The Manhattan Committee on Foreign Relations (M-CFR) is an nonpartisan American Foreign Policy membership organization dedicated to advancing dialogue in international affairs. The M-CFR is based at Rockefeller Center, 1230 Avenue of the Americas in New York City. The Manhattan Committee is a chapter of The American Committees on Foreign Relations in Washington D.C. The Committees on Foreign Relations were founded by the Council on Foreign Relations in 1938.

Mission
The Committee's mission is promoting understanding of foreign policy and the United States' role in the world. Meetings are convened at which government officials, global leaders, and prominent members debate major foreign-policy issues. A central aim of the Manhattan Committee, it states, is to "find and nurture the next generation of foreign policy leaders."

At the outset of the organization the group's mission was to invite and educate prominent persons who have the ability to "guide" American public opinion.

Council on Foreign Relations- Early history
The earliest origin of the Council stemmed from a working fellowship of about 150 scholars, called "The Inquiry," tasked to brief President Woodrow Wilson about options for the postwar world when Germany was defeated. Through 1917-1918, this academic band, including Wilson's closest adviser and long-time friend Col. Edward M. House, as well as Walter Lippmann, gathered at 155th Street and Broadway in New York City, to assemble the strategy for the postwar world. The team produced more than 2,000 documents detailing and analyzing the political, economic, and social facts globally that would be helpful for Wilson in the peace talks. Their reports formed the basis for the Fourteen Points, which outlined Wilson's strategy for peace after war's end.

These scholars then traveled to the Paris Peace Conference, 1919 that would end the war; it was at one of the meetings of a small group of British and American diplomats and scholars, on May 30, 1919, at the Hotel Majestic, that both the Council and its British counterpart, the Chatham House in London, were born. Although the original intent was for the two organizations to be affiliated, they became independent bodies, yet retained close informal ties.

Some of the participants at that meeting, apart from Edward House, were Paul Warburg, Herbert Hoover, Harold Temperley, Lionel Curtis, Lord Eustace Percy, Christian Herter, and American academic historians James Thomson Shotwell of Columbia University, Archibald Cary Coolidge of Harvard, and Charles Seymour of Yale.

About the Manhattan Committee on Foreign Relations
From its inception the Manhattan Committee has been non-partisan, welcoming members of both Democratic and Republican parties. Manhattan Committee proceedings are typically private and confidential and observe The Chatham House Rule, "When a meeting, or part thereof, is held under the Chatham House Rule, participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed"..

Committee membership includes senior serving individuals from the areas of Business, Politics, Government, Academia, Media, and NGO's.

Membership
Membership is by invitation only and open only to U.S. citizens (native born or naturalized) and permanent residents who have applied for U.S. citizenship are eligible. A candidate for life membership must be nominated in writing by the Committee and approved by the Selection Committee.

Corporate membership is divided into "Basic", "Premium" and "President's Circle". All corporate executive members have opportunities to hear distinguished speakers. 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.

Members
ACFR Board of Distinguished Advisers
* Pauline H. Baker- Fund for Peace
* The Honorable Herman Cohen- Former Assistant Secretary of State for Africa
* The Honorable Walter L. Cutler- President Emeritus, Meridian International Center
* The Honorable John Danforth- Former Senator from Missouri
* Robert C. Helander- Partner, InterConsult LLP
* Dr. Lee Huebner- Director of the School of Media and Public Affairs, George Washington University
* Farooq Kathwari- Chairman, President, and CEO, Ethan Allen, Inc.
* The Honorable Kenton Keith- Vice President for Programming, Meridian International Center
* Philip C. Lauinger, Jr.- Chairman and CEO of Lauinger Publishing Company
* Herbert Sklenar- Former Chairman and CEO, Vulcan Materials Company
* The Honorable Radek Sikorski- Defense Minister, Republic of Poland
* Guy Wyser-Pratte - Wyser-Pratte & Co., Inc.
* The Honorable Strobe Talbott- President, Brookings Institution
* Charles Davidson- Publisher and CEO of The American Interest
* The Honorable Horace G. Dawson, Jr.- Director of the Ralph J. Bunche International Affairs Center, Howard University
* Cdr. Stephen Flynn- Kirkpatrick Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations
* Robert Gallucci- Georgetown University
* The Honorable Donald Gregg- Chairman, The Korea Society
* The Honorable Jim Leach- John L. Weinberg Professor of Public and International Affairs, Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University
* Princeton N. Lyman- Ralph Bunche Senior Fellow and Director of Africa Policy Studies, Council on Foreign Relations
* Moises Naim- Editor, Foreign Policy
* Ambassador H.E. Jamsheed Marker- Former Ambassador of Pakistan to the United States
* Ambassador Robert Oakley- Institute for National Strategic Studies, National Defense University
* Walter P. Stern- Capital International, Inc., and Capital Group International, Inc.

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