American Committee on United Europe

The American Committee on United Europe (ACUE), founded in 1948, was an American organization that sought to counter the communist threat in Europe by promoting European political integration. Its first chairman was ex-wartime OSS head William Joseph Donovan.[1] The vice-chairman was Allen Dulles.[1] A board member was Walter Bedell Smith.[1]

The structure of the organisation was outlined in early summer of 1948 by Donovan and Allen Welsh Dulles by then also reviewing the organization of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).[2] in response to assistance requests by Richard von Coudenhove-Kalergi and Winston Churchill.

Declassified American government documents have shown that the ACUE was an important early funder of both the European Movement and the European Youth Campaign. The ACUE itself received funding from the Rockefeller and Ford foundations.[1]

The US policy was to promote a United States of Europe, and to that end, the committee was used as a discreet way to funnel CIA funds (by the mid-1950s, ACUE was receiving roughly US$1,000,000 per year) to organizations supporting European federalism such as the Council of Europe, the European Coal and Steel Community, and the proposed European Defence Community.[3]

An article in The Daily Telegraph in September 2000 noted, "The State Department also played a role. A memo from the European section, dated June 11, 1965, advises the vice-president of the European Economic Community, Robert Marjolin, to pursue monetary union by stealth. It recommends suppressing debate until the point at which "adoption of such proposals would become virtually inescapable"."[1]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Evans-Pritchard, Ambrose (2000-09-19). "Euro-federalists financed by US spy chiefs". Telegraph. Retrieved 2008-10-15.
  2. ↑ Aldrich, Richard - OSS, CIA and European Unity: The American Committee on United Europe 1948-60. Diplomacy & Statecraft. 1st March 1997
  3. ↑ Giles Scott-Smith, Hans Krabbendam, The Cultural Cold War in Western Europe, 1945-1960 p.46, Roosevelt Study Center.
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