Era: Cold War

1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s

History of the Social Science Research Council

A new organization played an important part in assisting the Rockefeller Foundation by assembling cooperative studies on the issues of the day.

1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s

Building Global Understanding: Area Studies, Language, and History

Encouraging cross-cultural knowledge in an interconnected postwar world by shaping new interdisciplinary programs and retooling traditional academic fields.

1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s

The Rockefeller Foundation’s Agriculture Program in India

India was not the first country to take up the new seeds and methods developed by the Rockefeller Foundation, but the story of India’s adoption of them in the 1960s is dramatic.

1940s 1950s

The Rockefeller Foundation and Civil Liberties During the Early Cold War

A foundation-supported publication challenged McCarthyism and caused a controversy.

"Action shot of the Dictionary staff. Korean Language Research Society, Seoul, Korea." - caption on the back of the photograph
1940s 1950s

Saving a Language: The Korean Dictionary Comes to Life Against Tough Odds

What might appear to be a simple publication project came to fruition only after a decade of political upheaval, cultural repression, war, and Rockefeller Foundation support.

Insanity Defense illustration in Harper's Weekly, February 27, 1859. Library of Congress.
1930s 1980s 1990s 2000-2010 20th Century 21st Century

The Commonwealth Fund and the “Insanity Defense”: Unexpected Outcomes

Our understanding of the insanity defense relies on a book that was an unintended outcome of a Commonwealth Fund grant.

1950s 1960s

The Birth of the Modern MBA

Why would an American foundation transform the field of business education?

1970s

Ping-Pong Diplomacy: NGOs and International Relations

When a friendly interaction unexpectedly emerged between American and Chinese table tennis players, one nonprofit seized the opportunity to support broader cultural diplomacy.