HISTORY OF THE BOISE COMMITTEE
The Boise Committee on Foreign Relations (BoiseCFR) began in 1945 when
interested local men responded to contact from the Council on
Foreign Relations in New York. The Council had been launched in 1921
in the aftermath of World War I to help expand U.S. understanding of
foreign affairs.
In 1938, as war again loomed in Europe, the value of expanding
understanding of foreign affairs into the United States hinterland
became a priority. Local groups for informed discussion looked like
a good method to the Council.
By the end of WWII, twenty Committees had been formed. Mr.
Percy Bidwell then Director of Studies at the Council, contacted
members in the Salt Lake City and Seattle Committees for names of
persons to assist in starting a Boise Committee. Eventually
Mr. Carl Bowden, of the Northrup King Seed Company in Boise, was
contacted and he helped start the Boise Committee on Foreign
Relations as the 21st affiliated group in 1945. Bowden had
lived in Russia for several years, and through his seed company was
already a supplier of grain and vegetable seed in international
commerce. Bowden became the first Secretary of the Committee.
The title of Secretary was selected for the Committee’s Chief
Operating Officer after the title of “Secretary of State”. The
initial organizing structure also included a board of directors.
In 1945 Boise had a number of other international connections
through Morrison-Knudsen Company and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation,
whose regional headquarters were then located in Boise. The
University of Idaho Agricultural Extension Service also provided
personnel and expertise to overseas projects.
Episcopal Bishop Frank A. Rhea served as the first Chairman of the
Board for the new committee, while Secretary Carl Bowden led the
Boise Committee until his death in 1952. Col. Henry A. Schwarz
became the next Secretary. The board members at that time
included Dr. Eugene B. Chaffee, then president of Boise Junior
College.
In 1962 Milton Small succeeded Schwartz in the position of
Secretary. Small was a history teacher and later became
Director for Higher Education for the Idaho State Board of
Education.
In 1975 Les Dieter an engineering manager with Mountain Bell
Telephone Company became Secretary. At that time declining
membership was becoming a problem, so Dieter opened the membership
to women. Boise was the first Committee to do so, and the move
initially provoked debate within the Council and it’s committees.
However, by adding women to the membership, Boise’s membership grew
rapidly and other Committees (and the Council itself) eventually
followed suit. The BoiseCFR also developed a spousal
membership system that was unique at the time. Today the BoiseCFR is one of the larger committees with more than
200
members.
In 1989 the role of Secretary or the newer title of Director, was
passed to Richard Slaughter, an economist and private consultant
with connections to the University of Idaho.
In the 1990’s,
Slaughter helped form the American
Committees on Foreign Relations (ACFR) as a new umbrella
organization for the local committees with it’s headquarters in
Washington, D.C.
In 2008, the BoiseCFR became incorporated as a non-profit 501 (c)3 organization. About that same time, Garry Wenske, executive director of the Frank Church Institute at Boise State University, was hired as executive director for the BoiseCFR. In 2011 Wenske became the President of BoiseCFR and Richard Slaughter moved into the Board Chair position. Slaughter also served as President of the ACFR.
In 2023 Garry Wenske retired as President of BoiseCFR, and continues to serve on the Board. Dr. Katherine Himes was selected as President of BoiseCFR. Dr. Himes is the Director of the McClure Center at the University of Idaho, and is the first woman to serve as BoiseCFR President.