In 1951, columnist Dorothy Thompson, together with 24 American educators, theologians, and writers including Harry Emerson Fosdick founded the American Friends of the Middle East.[1] Kermit Roosevelt, Jr. served as executive secretary for a time.[2]
Virginia Gildersleeve, along with Fosdick and others, had founded the Committee for Justice and Peace in the Holy Land in 1948, which was merged into the new organization.[2] According to historian Robert Moats Miller, in its early years American Friends of the Middle East was funded by the Central Intelligence Agency and ARAMCO.[1]