SCHOOL of INTERNATIONAL SERVICE

American University · Washington, D.C.

SIS Groundbreaking -- 50 years

[On June 9, 2007, the School of International Service commemorated the 50th anniversary of the groundbreaking for its building. Below is historical information that was distributed at that event.]

Establishment of the School of International Service
American University

Fifty years ago on Sunday, June 9, 1957, American University broke ground with the participation of President Dwight D. Eisenhower to construct the building for the School of International Service. The ceremony concluded AU's spring commencement for 473 graduates on a rainy evening after Eisenhower arrived from the White House to receive an honorary degree and launch the new school. This ambitious initiative reflected AU's earlier international and community service interests, affiliation with and major support from the Methodist Church, including especially Bishop G. Bromley Oxnam, and the application of these interests and resources by AU President Hurst R. Anderson.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower breaks ground for the new SIS Building, June 9, 1957

For the occasion, President Eisenhower noted the "significant step" represented by "establishing this school for preparing young men and women for international service." He recognized Methodist Church support of the new school and said it was "most significant that this great University should join her sister institution in the Capital, Georgetown, to carry on this kind of work, because in the great foreign service of the United States we do not recognize race, color or creed -- only merit." Recalling his reference to "the need for leadership for peace" during an AU visit eleven years earlier as an army general, it seemed to Eisenhower on June 9 "that the waging of peace demands the best we have, the best young men and women that we can find to put in this great effort which must go on around the world all the time." In congratulating AU on the establishment of SIS, President Eisenhower closed with his "good wishes to all students who will enter that school to go into the service of our country in the noblest work that our nation can possibly pursue, and that is the seeking of a peace based on justice and the right."

Eisenhower's remarks contrasted with those earlier in the evening by Bishop Oxnam to graduates about the new school. The New York Times reported Oxnam "stressed the importance of a Protestant training school while denying any anti-Catholic bias or any rivalry with Georgetown." Evocative of that era, The Times quoted Oxnam saying, "It is in no sense a matter of anti-Catholic spirit to be pro-Protestant," but rather "we are fearful of the authoritarian principle and of the totalitarian spirit, whether the principle and spirit manifest in the political and economic or the ecclesiastical life of the nation."

L to R, AU President Hurst R. & Mrs. Marian Anderson, Mrs. Ruth Oxnam and Methodist Bishop G. Bromley Oxnam, 1958

Looking back in early AU publications and catalogs, diplomacy and international law were among subjects contemplated in 1898 for the new university, which was chartered by Congress in 1893, opened its Graduate School in 1914 and granted its first degrees in 1916. In 1920 AU established the School of Diplomacy, Jurisprudence and Citizenship under Dean Albert Putney. In 1924 it was integrated into the new graduate School of the Political Sciences, renamed in 1934 the School of Public Affairs. Subsequently, the Department of International Affairs was created in 1935 and reassigned to the Graduate School in Social Sciences, which was combined with the School of Public Affairs in 1941 to form the School of Social Sciences and Public Affairs. AU's involvement in world affairs expanded during World War II to hosting American Red Cross trainees and the U.S. Navy Bomb Disposal School. From 1944 to 1957 Professor Pitman Potter chaired the Department of International Relations and Organization, formerly the Department of International Affairs and from 1953 under the graduate school, and suggested establishment of a foreign service school to AU Presidents Paul Douglass (1941-1951) and Hurst Anderson (1952-1968).

In 1953 President Anderson and other university presidents were invited to dinner with President Eisenhower at the White House, as Anderson noted in his 1977 memoir. Afterward Eisenhower "moved the discussion around to the responsibility of our institutions in international affairs" and suggested that "he did not feel that we were assuming our share of the responsibility in this area." Anderson recalled that Eisenhower said, "I frankly assume that it is my duty to lead American business, the public generally, and educational institutions in particular into programs of greater significance in this field." Following the discussion, Anderson explained his plans to Eisenhower to launch a school of international affairs and asked if he would be "willing to break ground for this new center if I can get the program off the drawing board?" According to Anderson, Eisenhower replied, "Certainly, and I'll use it as a platform to say some of the things I have said to you tonight." Anderson promised to take Eisenhower up on his offer.

In the 1950s American University strengthened its ties with and financial support from the Methodist Church. This endeavor was strongly encouraged by the church's Washington Resident Bishop, G. Bromley Oxnam, and AU President Anderson. In 1952 AU received a grant of $100,000 annually for four years from the General Conference of the church. Then the General Conference meeting in April 1956 in Minneapolis passed unanimously a resolution to provide a million dollar grant over four years to establish the School of International Service. About $375,000 of the new grant would be used in 1957 to erect a building which would open in 1958 and accommodate 300-500 students.

Luther A. Smith and AU President Hurst Anderson examine SIS Construction Plans, late 1957 or early 1958.

To this end President Anderson announced in November 1956 that Professor Potter would head a two-year research program to strengthen the development of the new school. In January 1957 he announced Ernest S. Griffith, Director of the Legislative Reference Service of the Library of Congress and former political science professor and dean during 1930-35 of the AU Graduate School, would be the first dean (1957-1965) of the School of International Service. The architectural firm of Faulkner, Kingsbury and Stenhouse was engaged to design the building and the Charles H. Tompkins Company to construct it. The School of International Service opened in September 1958 with 30 freshman, 10 transfer students, 25 full-time and 63 part-time graduate students and with 10 full-time faculty, according to a circa 1960 memorandum by Dean Griffith.

In the fall of 2006 SIS had over 500 new freshmen and transfer students out of more than 2,500 undergraduate, master's and doctoral students benefiting from the scholarship and service of 60 full-time plus adjunct and visiting faculty members. Today SIS includes eight fields of study (Comparative and Regional Studies, Global Environmental Politics, International Communication, International Development, International Economic Relations, International Peace and Conflict Resolution, International Politics, and U.S. Foreign Policy) plus related centers and dual degree, exchange and experiential programs. Later this year, the school and university will break ground for a new, environmentally friendly building designed by William McDonough + Partners, a premier green architectural firm.

Donald Hester, Ph.D. (SIS/B.A. '64), June 2007, Photos courtesy of AU Archives.

A rendering of the expected SIS Building