Foundations of the American Century: The Ford, Carnegie, and Rockefeller Foundations in the Rise of American Power

372 Pages·2012·2.45 MB·English

by  Inderjeet Parmar

FOUNDATIONS OF THE AMERICAN CENTURY
FOUNDATIONS OF THE
AMERICAN CENTURY

The Ford, Carnegie, and Rockefeller
Foundations in the Rise of American
Power
INDERJEET PARMAR
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS New York
Columbia University Press Publishers Since 1893
New York Chichester, West Sussex cup.columbia.edu

Copyright © 2012 Columbia University Press All rights reserved E-ISBN 978-0-231-51793-5

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Parmar, Inderjeet.
Foundations of the American century : the Ford, Carnegie, and Rockefeller Foundations in the
rise of American Power / Inderjeet Parmar.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-231-14628-9 (cloth : alk. paper)—ISBN 978-0-231-51793-5 (e-book) 1. Ford
Foundation—History 2. Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching—History. 3.
Rockefeller Foundation—History. 4. United States—Foreign relations—20th century. I. Title.
HV97.F62P37 2011
327.73009’04—dc23
2011029190
A Columbia University Press E-book.
CUP would be pleased to hear about your reading experience with this e-book at cup-
[email protected].

References to Internet Web sites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing. Neither the author
nor Columbia University Press is responsible for URLs that may have expired or changed since
the manuscript was prepared.
CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

1. The Significance of Foundations in U.S. Foreign Policy
2. American Foundation Leaders
3. Laying the Foundations of Globalism, 1930–1945
4. Promoting Americanism, Combating Anti-Americanism, and
Developing a Cold War American Studies Network
5. The Ford Foundation in Indonesia and the Asian Studies Network
6. Ford, Rockefeller, and Carnegie in Nigeria and the African Studies
Network
7. The Major Foundations, Latin American Studies, and Chile in the
Cold War
8. American Power and the Major Foundations in the Post–Cold War
Era
9. Conclusion

NOTES
INDEX
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
It is a pleasure to acknowledge debts incurred on the way to
researching and writing this book. It has been many years in the making;
indeed, we have become somewhat attached to each other. I do wonder
how I will get along without it, this simultaneously enjoyable, stimulating,
educational, but occasionally frustrating long-term relationship.
I have received enormous assistance at various stages of this book
project. Colleagues and friends have generously given up their time to
discuss ideas, read draft chapters or conference papers, and listen to my
not uniformly upbeat accounts of the book’s progress. Thanks to all of the
following for their time and patience: Bob Arnove, Paul Cammack, Phil
Cerny, Mick Cox, Nick Cullather, Michael Doyle, Rosaleen Duffy, John
Dumbrell, Donald Fisher, Nicolas Guilhot, Jon Harwood, Doug Jaenicke,
Matthew Jones, Dino Knudsen, John Krige, Mark Ledwidge, Leo
McCann, Linda Miller, Mick Moran, Craig Murphy, Alex Nunn, Pierre-
Yves Saunier, Giles Scott-Smith, Diane Stone, Srdjan Vucetic, and Japhy
Wilson. I owe a significant debt to Ralph Young, a wonderfully warm and
insightful former colleague, who asked me the question during a seminar
presentation that led to my thinking of U.S. foundations as an aspect of
American political development. If I have forgotten anyone I’ve exploited
over the years, please do forgive me. Any errors or omissions are my
responsibility—although, as a sociologist, I appreciate the social basis of
those impostors, “success” and “failure”!
I am very grateful to the archivists who take care of and make
available to scholars the historical records of the Big Three foundations.
In particular, Alan Divack and Anthony Maloney were absolutely
wonderful during the several weeks I spent in the basement reading room
at the Ford Foundation. I especially enjoyed our chats over doughnuts
and coffee on Friday mornings. I remember our hopeful discussions
about John Kerry’s chances of defeating George W. Bush for the White
House in 2004. Alan’s knowledge and understanding of the foundation’s
records was incredibly helpful, as were his comments regarding the
nature of the foundation itself. Anthony was just amazing; he was always
there for me, making my time at Ford productive and congenial. Thanks
to you both. At a later stage, Idelle Nissila seamlessly took over from
Anthony, assisting me with locating documents long after I had begun
writing this manuscript.
Tom Rosenbaum at the Rockefeller Archive Center was always
helpful, encouraging, interested in my work, and very knowledgeable. I
missed him during my last visit and hope he is enjoying his retirement.
Darwin Stapleton’s friendly helpfulness was also much appreciated. The
station wagon that the RAC uses to ferry researchers to and from
Tarrytown station was also very welcoming and helpful. Thank you!
The records of the Carnegie Corporation and other Carnegie
philanthropies are located at the Rare Books and Manuscripts Collection
at the Butler Library, Columbia University. It is a marvelous facility with an
excellent staff. Thanks to you all, especially Brenda Hearing and Jane
Gorjevsky, curators of the Carnegie collections, for your untiring efforts.
Despite the wintry conditions that often prevailed in the reading room
(thanks to a superefficient air conditioning system), I always felt very
warmly welcome there.
The British Academy, the Arts and Humanities Research Board, and
the University of Manchester provided funds and research leave, which
enabled me to spend several months in the United States over many
years. Some aspects of the book benefited from the work of the SSRC’s
initiative on think tanks, led by Nicolas Guilhot and Tom Asher, in the
wake of the Iraq War. I am in their debt. Finally, generous research leave
from the university upon completing a term as head of politics was
essential to the completion of this book.
At Columbia University Press, Peter Dimock proved an excellent
commissioning editor, sharp publishing adviser, and all-round caring and
warm human being. We met after a conference panel at the International
Studies Association convention in Chicago in 2007 (I think) and, during
our chat, he suggested I put together a book proposal for Columbia to
consider. To say that that was a very welcome invitation would be an
understatement—it was music to my ears! Thanks also to Peter’s
assistant, Kabir Dandona. Since Peter’s departure, Philip Leventhal has