Southern Council on International Relations

The Southern Council on International Relations (SCIR) was established in 1937 as a nonpartisan, nonprofit, civic association by a group of civic, religious, and educational leaders representing the ten southeastern states. The purpose of the Council was to counter the growth of isolationism in the South and the nation by promoting international understanding through public education. The Council supported the United Nations, the International Trade Organization, the international exchange of students and teachers, the Good Neighbor Policy, the strengthening of ties between the people of the United States and Latin America, and other international institutions and programs promoting cooperation among nations in the interest of peace, prosperity, and mutual understanding. The central office of the Council was located at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Executive Secretaries of the council were Keener Chapman Frazer of the University of North Carolina Dept. of Political Science, 1937-1943; Fletcher Melvin Green of the University's Dept. of History, 1943-1944; and Eugene Pfaff, 1944-1946.

The Southern Council on International Relations was established 20 November 1937, as a non-partisan, non-profit, civic association by a group of civic, religious, and educational leaders representing the ten southeastern states. The council was organized to counter the growth of isolationism in the south and the nation by promoting international peace, international trade, and international understanding through public education.

The Executive Committee--consisting of a president, vice president, executive secretary, and treasurer--and an executive board directed the council's activities. In the main, these activities involved the organization of institutes and the operation of a speakers bureau; the distribution of literature; the establishment of centers to conduct programs on international relations and provide accommodations for foreign visitors; the international exchange of students and teachers; the encouragement of foreign travel for educational purposes; the organization of conferences to improve the teaching of foreign relations; the publication and distribution of memoranda on International Problems (later known as The South in World Affairs ); the organization of groups in Latin America to promote the aims of the council in the Caribbean countries; and the promotion of international trade by cooperation with the International Trade Organization, the United States State Department, agencies of state governments, and local chambers of commerce.

The central office of the Southern Council on International Relations was located at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. The major forces in the council's establishment and operation were University of North Carolina President Frank Porter Graham, who served as president of the council's Executive Committee; Professor Keener Chapman Frazer of the Department of Political Science at the University of North Carolina, who served as executive secretary from 1937 until June 1943, when he entered military service; Professor Fletcher Melvin Green of the university's Department of History, who replaced Frazer; and Dr. Eugene Pfaff, who replaced Green in July 1944 and served as director of the council until Frazer returned to Chapel Hill in January 1946.