Nicholas Murray Butler, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and the Search for Reconciliation in Europe, 1919–1933

Abstract

The mission of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP) changed in fundamental ways in the 1920s. In the wake of the Great War, Nicholas Murray Butler, the CEIP's second president, decided that the institution's prewar focus on research and legalism was insufficient to meet the threat posed to "civilization" by continued war and revolution. Under his leadership, the CEIP became an active proponent of Wilsonianism, a more intrusive form of American internationalism. This article examines Butler's understanding of the purpose of conservative peace institutions in revolutionary times. It also aims to contribute to our understanding of the role of nongovernmental organizations in international relations and the development of cultural relations.