Krótka historia Rady ds. Stosunków Zagranicznych Inc. i jej wpływ na amerykańską politykę zagraniczną w latach 1921—1941
A brief history of the Council on Foreign Relations and its influence on American foreign policy in the years 1921—1941

Summary/Abstract: The goal of the article is to present the story of the founding of the Council on Foreign Relations and show its activity aiming at creating the goals of the foreign policy of the United States in the years 1921—1941. The Council on Foreign Relations is a lobby-type organization, members of which are politicians, scientists and businessmen. Ostensibly, the Council is one of many organizations of this kind in the territory of the USA, but the in-depth research has proved that the Council’s influence on American international affairs has been unprecedented. In the article there were presented previously acting organizations, such as: “The Inquiry”, the American Institute of International Affairs and the Council on Foreign Relations (before incorporation). They became the base for setting up the “proper” Council on Foreign Relations Inc. In the subsequent parts of the study there are described the goals and forms of activities carried by the organization, including starting up a periodical Foreign Affairs. There has also been outlined the ways of financing the Council. The author focused the most of her attention on the works completed by Council on Foreign Relations within the War and Peace Studies Project, the goals of which were to work out new directions of American foreign policy at the close of World War I, abandoning the policy of isolationism, and to redefine the concept of the “national interest”. The author tried to show that the impact of the Council on the American foreign policy — by means of the periodical Foreign Affairs, their “constant conferences”, memoranda written by particular research groups working within the War and Peace Studies Project, tidying up the personal relations with the US Department of State (many among the members of the Council were also the active officials of the Department of State) — largely contributed to the United States entering World War II. The present study is based on materials and documents gathered by the author during a preliminary archival research in National Archives and Records Administration Archives in Washington and in Mudd Manuscript Library in Princeton as well as English-language publications presenting the history and activities of Council on Foreign Relations.

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