History

In 1951, columnist Dorothy Thompson

Dorothy Thompson

Dorothy Thompson was an American journalist and radio broadcaster, who in 1939 was recognized by Time magazine as the second most influential women in America next to Eleanor Roosevelt...

, together with 24 American educators, theologians, and writers including Harry Emerson Fosdick

Harry Emerson Fosdick

Harry Emerson Fosdick was an American clergyman. He was born in Buffalo, New York. He graduated from Colgate University in 1900, and Union Theological Seminary in 1904. While attending Colgate University he joined the Delta Upsilon Fraternity. He was ordained a Baptist minister in 1903 at the...

 founded the American Friends of the Middle East. Kermit Roosevelt, Jr.

Kermit Roosevelt, Jr.

Kermit "Kim" Roosevelt, Jr. , was a political action officer of the Central Intelligence Agency's Directorate of Plans who coordinated the Operation Ajax, which aimed to orchestrate a coup d’état against Iran's prime minister, Mohammed Mosaddeq, and return Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran,...

 served as executive secretary for a time.

Virginia Gildersleeve

Virginia Gildersleeve

Virginia Crocheron Gildersleeve was an American academic, the long-time Dean of Barnard College, and the sole female US delegate to the April 1945 San Francisco United Nations Conference on International Organization, which negotiated the UN Charter and created the United...

, along with Fosdick and others, had founded the Committee for Justice and Peace in the Holy Land

Committee for Justice and Peace in the Holy Land

The Committee for Justice and Peace in the Holy Land, was an organization founded in February, 1948 by Virginia Gildersleeve and Kermit Roosevelt, Jr...

 in 1948, which was merged into the new organization. According to historian Robert Moats Miller, in its early years American Friends of the Middle East was funded by the Central Intelligence Agency

Central Intelligence Agency

The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...

  and ARAMCO.