In August, 1958, World Brotherhood held a seminar in Bern, Switzerland. All of the officers listed above attended and prepared "working papers." Here is a summary of conclusions reached at this World Brotherhood meeting, as condensed from an article by Arthur Krock, in The New York Times, November 21, 1958:
We must recognize that the communist countries are here to stay and cannot be wished away by propaganda. All is not bad in communist countries. Western nations could learn from communist experiments. We should study ways to make changes in both systems–communist and western–in order to bring them nearer together. We should try to eliminate the stereo-type attitudes about, and suspicion of, communism. We must assume that the communist side is not worse than, but merely different from, our side.
In May, 1960, World Brotherhood held a conference on "World Tensions" at Chicago University. Lester B. Pearson (socialist-internationalist from Canada) presided at the conference; and the following members of the Council on Foreign Relations served as officials: William Benton, Ralph Bunche, Marquis Childs, Harlan Cleveland, Norman Cousins, Ernest A. Gross, Paul G. Hoffman, and Adlai Stevenson.
The National Conference of Christians and Jews-World Brotherhood 1960 meeting on "World Tensions," at Chicago University, concluded that the communists are interested in more trade but not interested in political subversion, and recommended:
(1) a three-billion-dollar-a-year increase in U. S. foreign aid to "poor" countries; (2) repeal of the Connally Reservation; (3) closer relations between the U. S. and communist countries.
Adlai Stevenson told the group that Khrushchev is merely a "tough and realistic politician and polemicist," with whom it is possible to "conduct the dialogue of reason."
In 1961, World Brotherhood, Inc., changed its name to Conference On World Tensions.
AMERICAN ASSEMBLY
In 1950, when President of Columbia University, General Dwight D. Eisenhower founded the American Assembly–sometimes calling itself the Arden House Group, taking this name from its headquarters and meeting place. The Assembly holds a series of meetings at Arden House in New York City about every six months, and other round-table discussions at varying intervals throughout the nation.