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A Brief History of The Christopher Reynolds Foundation The Christopher Reynolds Foundation, Inc., a private grant-making foundation, was organized in 1952 by Libby Holman Reynolds. Mrs. Holman Reynolds established the Foundation in memory of her son, Christopher, who died in a mountain climbing accident in 1950 when he was 18 years old. Libby Holman Reynolds, a singer and actress, had acted upon her passionate belief in human rights long before organizing the Foundation in her son's memory. Christopher, even as a youth, had begun to devote his substantial fortune to the furtherance of humanitarian causes. Jack Clareman, legal counsel to Mrs. Holman Reynolds, was instrumental in the legal and financial formation of the Foundation. He served as the Foundation's original Executive Director, Secretary/Treasurer, Legal Advisor and Investment Counselor and held these posts for more than four decades. In addition to Mrs. Reynolds and Mr. Clareman, the Foundation's first directors were Dr. Michael Kahn, then a member of the Department of Social Relations at Harvard University; Dr. John O. Neustadt, former Dean of St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland, and Associate Professor of Medicine at the Johns Hopkins Hospital; and Benet Polikoff, who served with Mr. Clareman as Mrs. Reynolds' attorney. Margaret Neustadt Randol succeeded her husband after Dr. Neustadt's death in 1965.
THE INITIAL YEARS, 1952-1965 In its first twelve years, the Foundation was principally supportive of innovative work towards international peace and disarmament and civil rights, and against racism. Examples included:
U.S.-CHINA RELATIONS, 1965-1972 In 1965, the directors concluded that the Foundation could be more effective, with its limited resources and staff, if it selected one area in which to focus its funds and energy for limited periods, perhaps five to ten years, in the hope that relatively small seed grants would lead to breakthroughs and then draw larger investment. With that in mind, from 1965 to 1972 the Foundation concentrated on United States-China relations, which were still stuck in Cold War antipathy, mutual mistrust and lack of understanding. Thus several years before the dramatic Nixon-Kissinger visit to China, the Foundation began to support a newly organized National Committee on United States-China Relations. Foundation funding was used to offer seminars for Congressmen and their staff, Washington press corps members and other journalists, labor leaders and business executives. To encourage the interest and develop the knowledge of foundation executives and to keep them abreast of developments in China, the Foundation funded a series of monthly seminars for in-depth exploration of significant U.S.-China topics, conducted by leading American scholars and China experts from other countries. During this time, the Committee was able to attract financial support from such major foundations as Ford and Rockefeller. By the time the Nixon-Kissinger visit opened the door to China more widely, the National Committee on United States-China Relations had already laid the groundwork and continued to play a key role in providing data on China and sponsoring exchange programs to develop better relations between the two countries.
VIETNAM, LAOS AND CAMBODIA, 1973-1995 During the US war in Vietnam, the Foundation supported humanitarian aid projects in both the north and the south through organizations such as the American Friends Service Committee and the Mennonite Central Committee. Following US withdrawal the Foundation remained engaged in Vietnam and began to support work in Cambodia and Laos. Programs on the ground focused on humanitarian assistance and community development. The Foundation also developed and funded a number of exchange and training programs in health, education, economics, agriculture and environmental studies in the three countries. In Vietnam, we supported work designed to provide Vietnamese economists and economic policy makers with a broad view of economic models and possibilities. This effort included a study tour to several Asian neighbors to discuss the impacts of specific development choices with appropriate counterparts. In addition, the Foundation undertook an active program to build bridges and understanding between the people and government of the United States and the peoples and governments of Indochina. The Foundation supported a number of initiatives designed to examine whether the US policies of non-recognition of Vietnam, seating the Khmer Rouge at the United Nations and embargoing humanitarian and development aid were in the best interests of our nation. CUBA AND U.S.-CUBA RELATIONS, 1995- PRESENT Following the US normalization of diplomatic relations with Vietnam in 1995, the Foundation began to look at the parallels between the former embargo on Vietnam and current US policy toward Cuba. We began to support work to strengthen contacts and understanding between citizens and institutions in the US and citizens and institutions in Cuba. This includes programs intended to complement the work of Cubans as they determine their future paths in a variety of fields. The Foundation also supports programs intended to examine current US policy toward Cuba and whether it best serves our national interest.
Very recently the Foundation has provided assistance to a limited number of initiatives examining US policy and the U.S. presence in Iraq and possible policy options. |
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