Topic: Global Engagement

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Global Engagement

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.

Global Engagement

“Distasteful Regimes”: Authoritarianism, the Ford Foundation, and Social Sciences in Brazil

When the restrictive military regime that had taken power in Brazil in 1964 became even more repressive by 1969, staffers at the Ford Foundation found themselves facing a conundrum.

Peace & Conflict

The Rockefeller Foundation’s Role in Creating the Atomic Bomb

In the aftermath, Foundation staff struggled to rectify their organization’s involvement with this weapon of mass destruction.

Left side of the political poster reads "Éire" (Ireland), right side reads "West Britain". In between both images reads "Seachtain na Saoirse". Bottom of the print reads "On which side are you on? Language Collection Now On."
1920s

The Irish Language Debate: Nationalism and Rockefeller Foundation Medical Education Reform in the Irish Free State

Ireland’s independence revived the nationalist campaign for mandatory Irish language. The debate discouraged Rockefeller Foundation funders.

1930s

The Rockefeller Foundation’s Rural Reconstruction Program in 1930s China

In the 1930s, an ambitious program to reshape China was cut short by war, but offered a model for community development.

1940s

Documenting Injustice: Recording the Histories of the Japanese American Incarceration

The origins and legacy of a research project conducted in the American concentration camps for Japanese Americans.

1960s 1970s 1980s

The Rockefeller Foundation’s University Development Program

Launched in the 1960s, this program provided financial support for more than two decades to strengthen universities in the Global South.

20th Century

Evolution of a Foundation: an Institutional History of the Rockefeller Foundation

One of the first large-scale philanthropic foundations in the United States was created out of industrial wealth and came to reach around the globe.

1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s

Philanthropy and Good Government: The Rockefeller Foundation and Public Administration

Partnering with public agencies to encourage efficient administration in state, county, and local governments.

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.

1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s

Early 20th Century Reforms of Medical Education Worldwide

Working to change US medical education was one of the Rockefeller Foundation’s biggest endeavors in the 1910s and 1920s, extending from Johns Hopkins in Baltimore to Beijing, China.

1920s 1930s

“For Initiative and for Experiment”: The International Education Board, 1923-1938

Incorporated in 1923 with funding from John D. Rockefeller, Jr., the IEB built a major scientific network in Europe and the US in only five years.

1910s 1920s 1930s

The Women Pioneers of Global Nursing Education Who Built the Rockefeller Foundation Program

A massive program in nursing education extended to 53 schools across the globe. But it never became a top priority of the foundation that supported it.