World Citizens Association. Chicago Group.

Founded in 1939 under the patronage of Anita McCormick Blaine, the Chicago Group was disbanded in 1943 for lack of funding. Carleton Washburne chaired the Group. The Chicago Group prepared surveys or study kits dealing with international cooperation.

The World Citizens Association was an outgrowth of S. de Maderiaga's attempts at founding an American division of the World Foundation. Founded in 1939 under the patronage of Mrs. Anita McCormick Blaine, the Chicago group was dissolved in 1943 for lack of sufficient operating funds. In the course of its life under the chairmanship of Carleton Washburne, superintendent of schools in Winnetka, and under the executive directorship of Edwin M. Clough (1939-1940), John R. Van de Water (1940-1943), and Caroline Willis (1943), the Chicago Group prepared eleven surveys/study kits on as many different subjects having some relation to international cooperation. The World Citizens Association actively encouraged the development of groups to use these materials or sponsored them in order to come to some understanding and opinion as to the practicality, possibility, and nature of the post-war "organization" of the world.