Język Polski
English
Deutsch
Français (France)
Italiano
Русский
Penetrating the Iron Curtain – the Rockefeller and Ford Foundations’ Exchange Programs Directed to “Friendly” Poles, 1948–1962/1968
Renata Nowaczewska
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3766-8966
Institute of History, University of Szczecin
Remembrance and Justice, Vol. 41 No. 1 (2023), pages: 401-419
Publication date: 2023-10-10
https://doi.org/10.48261/pis234119
PDF
Abstract
The research objectives of this article are to analyse one form of international philan-thropy undertaken by two American private foundations: the Rockefeller and the Ford foundations. It poses questions about the possible impact the exchange programs directed to Poland in the early Cold War period had upon the opening of research opportunities to catch up with peers in the West. The article covers the time span between the first visit of the Rockefeller Foundation representatives and the year when both temporarily withdrew or suspended their extensive programs. The method of critically analysing archival documents of both foundations made it possible to explore the circumstances of their engagement, candidate selection procedures, and the different approaches to achieving set goals. It reveals that the Rockefeller Foundation focused on scientific results, leading to the ‘cross-fertilization’ of ideas, network creation, and the opening up opportunities, while the Ford Foundation aimed at long-term cultural diplomacy, impacting upon groups of ‘friendly’ recipients. The article explores several case studies of Polish grantees, showing the foundations’ non-discriminatory practices based on merit and the role these grantees might have exercised in the development of science, strengthening the free world, and promoting international understanding.
References
Rockefeller Archive Center, Sleepy Hollow, NY, USA, Rockefeller Foundation Records
Rockefeller Archive Center, Sleepy Hollow, NY, USA, Ford Foundation Records
The Department of State, “United States and U.S.S.R. Sign Agreement on East-West Exchanges”, Bulletin, vol. XXXVIII, No. 973, 17 February 1958.
Expansion of American Aid to Poland Through Polish-American Foundation, 28 April 1959, U.S. Congressional Record, 86th Congress, 1st Sess., vol. 5, part 5, 6900–6901.
The Ford Foundation, Annual Report(s) for 1951, 1958, 1963.
Gaither, H.R., Report of the Study for the Ford Foundation on Policy and Program, Detroit, 1, 1949.
Public Papers of the Presidents, Harry Truman, “Letter to the Speaker on the Need for an Expanded Truth Campaign to Combat Communism”, 13 July 1950
Public Papers of the Presidents, Harry Truman, “Address on Foreign Policy at a Luncheon of the American Society of Newspaper Editors”, 20 April 1950.
The Rockefeller Foundation, Annual Reports of 1946 to 1961.
Siscoe, F. G. Despatch No. 274 From the Embassy in Poland to the Department of State, Warsaw, 29 Jan. 1959, Foreign Relations of the U.S., 1958–60, Vol. X, Part 2.
Arnove, R.F., Philanthropy and Cultural Imperialism: The Foundations at Home and Abroad, Bloomington, 1982.
Berghahn, V.R., “Philanthropy and Diplomacy in the “American Century””, Diplomatic History, 1999, vol. 23, No. 3, pp. 399–402.
Berghahn, V.R., America and the Intellectual Cold Wars in Europe: Shepard Stone between Philanthropy, Academy, and Diplomacy, Princeton-Oxford, 2001.
Brzeziński, Z., Between Two Ages, New York, 1970.
Clotfelter, Ch.T., Ehrlich, T., ed. by, Philanthropy and the Nonprofit Sector in a Changing America, Bloomington & Indianapolis, 2001.
Curti, M., American Philanthropy Abroad: A History, New Brunswick, New Jersey, 1963.
Czernecki, I., An intellectual offensive: the Ford Foundation and the destalinization of the Polish social sciences, Cold War History, 2013, vol.13, No. 3, pp. 289–310.
Fleishman, J.L., The Foundation: A Great American Secret: How Private Wealth is Changing the World, New York, 2009.
Fosdick, R.B., The Story of the Rockefeller Foundation, New York, 1952.
Gemelli, G. (ed.), The Ford Foundation and Europe (1950s-1970s): Cross-Fertilization of Learning in Social Science and Management, Brussels, 1998.
Harr J.E., Johnson P.J., The Rockefeller Century, New York, 1988.
Kamm, H., “Polish Reds Urge Curbs on Contacts with West”, The New York Times, 21 May 1967, p. 13.
Karl, B.D., Katz, S.N., “Foundations and Ruling Class Elites”, Daedalus, 1987, No. 116, pp. 236–270.
Kilias, J., “Not only scholarships: The Ford Foundation, its material support, and the rise of social research in Poland”, Serendipities. Journal for the Sociology and History of the Social Sciences, 2020, vol. 5, No. 1–2, pp. 33–46.
Krige J., American Hegemony and the Postwar Reconstruction of Science in Europe, Cambridge, MA, 2006.
Kuisel, R., Seducing the French: The Dilemma of Americanization, Berkley, 1993.
Maier, Ch.S., “The Politics of Productivity: Foundations of American International Economic Policy after World War II” [in] In Search of Stability: Explorations in Historical Political Economy, Charles S. Maier, ed., Cambridge, 1987.
Nowaczewska, R., “Fundacja Forda a problem uchodźców w Europie, 1950-56. Od wymiany akademickiej i programów pilotażowych do pomocy bezpośredniej” [in:] Czas wojny. Czas pokoju: Stany Zjednoczone Ameryki w XX i XXI wieku. vol. II, Ł. Niewiński, ed., Białystok, 2015.
Nowaczewska, R., “Winning the Hearts and Minds”: The Intellectual Cold War and the Rockefeller and Ford Foundations’ Exchange Programs in Eastern Europe”, Res Gestae 2023, vol. 15, pp. 165–81, https://doi.org/10.24917/24504475.15.12.
Parmar, I., Selling Americanism, Combatting Anti-Americanism: The Historical Role of American Foundations, Budapest, 2004.
Richmond, Y., Cultural Exchange & The Cold War. Raising the Iron Curtain, University Park, 2003.
Roelofs J., Foundations and Public Policy: The Mask of Pluralism, New York, 2003.
Schwartz, H., “Poland Asks Help of 2 Big U.S. Funds; Seeks Educational Support from Rockefeller and Ford Foundations in Line with U.S. Policy Past Assistance Noted”, The New York Times, 14 February 1957, p. 14.
Stonor Saunders F., The Cultural Cold War: The CIA and the World of Arts and Letters, New York, 2000.
Stensrud, I., ““Soft power” deployed. Ford Foundation’s fellowship programs in communist Eastern Europe in the 1950s and 1960s”, Monde(s), 2014, vol. 6, No. 2, pp. 111–128.
Stensrud, I., “Europe not taken for granted: The Ford Foundation’s exchange programs in Eastern Europe in the 1950s and ‘60s.” PhD Dissertation NYNU, Trondheim, 2018.
Sułek, A. ““To America!”: Polish Sociologists in the United States after 1956 and the Development of Empirical Sociology in Poland”, Eastern European Politics & Societies 2010, vol. 24, No. 3, pp. 327–352.
Tournes, T., Scott-Smith, G., ed., Global Exchanges: Scholarships and Exchange Programs in the Modern World, New York, 2017.
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Pamięć i Sprawiedliwość
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
