Foreign Affairs

• 1. Founding And Early Years

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  The Council on Foreign Relations began publishing Foreign Affairs on the 15th of September 1922. This quarterly magazine emerged from a nonprofit organization founded in the summer of 1921 to bring together experts on statecraft, finance, industry, education, and science. Professor Archibald Cary Coolidge of Harvard University served as the journal's first editor but refused to relocate from Boston to New York. Hamilton Fish Armstrong, a Princeton alumnus and European correspondent for the New York Evening Post, took over managing editorial duties in New York. Armstrong selected the distinctive light blue color for the cover while his sisters Margaret and Helen designed the logo and lettering respectively. The lead article in that inaugural issue came from Elihu Root, former secretary of state under Theodore Roosevelt. Root argued that the United States had become a world power requiring better public understanding of international matters. John Foster Dulles contributed an article on Allied debt following World War I before later becoming secretary of state himself.

• 2. Cold War Policy Formation

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  George F. Kennan published his doctrine of containment in the July 1947 issue of Foreign Affairs. This reworking of the Long Telegram became the basis for American Cold War policy. Louis Halle wrote an influential article titled On a Certain Impatience with Latin America in 1950. His piece created an anticommunist intellectual framework justifying U.S. policy toward Latin America during the Cold War era. Halle expressed disgust over Latin America's inability to assume autonomy or become democratic. That rationalization later supported U.S. efforts to overthrow the left-leaning Guatemalan government. Eleven U.S. secretaries of state have written essays in Foreign Affairs since its inception. The journal rose to its greatest prominence after World War II when foreign relations became central to United States politics. The magazine provided a platform where seminal articles shaped global strategy and domestic political discourse throughout decades of geopolitical tension.

• 3. Post-Cold War Evolution

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  Foreign Affairs total readership reached 303,000 for the print magazine while the website attracted 1.2 million unique visitors per month. Since the end of the Cold War and especially after the September 11 attacks, the journal's readership grew significantly. In the Summer 1993 issue Samuel P. Huntington published his Clash of Civilizations? article arguing that cultural divisions would dominate future conflicts. A controversy arose in the November/December 2003 issue when Kenneth Maxwell reviewed Peter Kornbluh's book The Pinochet File. Maxwell claimed key Council on Foreign Relations members pressured editor James Hoge to give William D. Rogers the final word instead of Maxwell. Then-opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko caused a stir by publishing Containing Russia in the May, June 2007 issue accusing Vladimir Putin of expansionism. Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov wrote an article in response but withdrew it citing censorship from the editorial board. In 2009 Foreign Affairs launched its new website offering both print content and online-only features.

• 4. Influential Contributors List

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  Leading academics public officials and members of the policy community regularly contribute essays to this publication. Recent authors include Robert O. Keohane Hillary Clinton Donald H. Rumsfeld Ashton Carter Colin L. Powell Francis Fukuyama David Petraeus Zbigniew Brzezinski John J. Mearsheimer Stanley McChrystal Christopher R. Hill and Joseph Nye. W. E. B. Du Bois contributed a series titled Worlds of Color in 1925 focusing on race issues and imperialism. Dorothy Thompson American journalist for Time magazine began contributing articles in the late 1930s. Although early days saw few female authors the journal expanded its contributor base over decades. The magazine serves as an important forum for debate among academics and policy makers. Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott noted in 1996 that virtually everyone he knew in government was attentive to Foreign Affairs. The Journal Citation Reports ranked the journal second out of 166 journals in International Relations with a 2023 impact factor of 6.3.

• 5. Book Review Methodology

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  Since its inception Foreign Affairs has included a long book review section typically reviewing 50 or more books per issue. Editor Archibald Cary Coolidge asked his Harvard colleague William L. Langer to run the section initially writing all reviews himself. A month before reviews were due the New York office would ship approximately one hundred books to Langer who returned completed reviews within two weeks. Harry Elmer Barnes authored a recurring section titled Some Recent Books on International Relations beginning with the first issue in 1924. By 1924 the Foreign Affairs website listed Barnes as Bibliographical Editor. In the late 1930s the review section broke down into several categories now featuring long review essays at the front followed by the Recent Books section. Current subject categories include Political and Legal reviewed by G. John Ikenberry Economic Social and Environmental reviewed by Barry Eichengreen Military Scientific and Technological reviewed by Lawrence D. Freedman The United States reviewed by Jessica T. Mathews Western Europe reviewed by Andrew Moravcsik Western Hemisphere reviewed by Richard Feinberg Eastern Europe and Former Soviet Republics reviewed by Maria Lipman Middle East reviewed by Lisa Anderson Asia and Pacific reviewed by Andrew J. Nathan Africa reviewed by Nicolas van de Walle.

• 6. Editorial Leadership Timeline

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  Archibald Cary Coolidge served as editor from 1922 until 1928 when Hamilton Fish Armstrong took over. Armstrong led the publication from 1928 through 1972 before William P. Bundy assumed the role for six years. William G. Hyland edited from 1984 to 1992 while James F. Hoge Jr. held the position from 1992 to 2010. Gideon Rose served as editor between 2010 and 2021 before Daniel Kurtz-Phelan began his tenure in 2021. The journal was originally published quarterly but now appears every two months with daily website updates. A redesign beginning with the January/February 2013 issue added photographs to covers and extensive interviews with leading newsmakers. This change aimed to expand appeal beyond the foreign policy establishment. The magazine remains a successor to earlier publications including the Journal of International Relations which ran from 1910 to 1922 and the Journal of Race Development active from 1911 to 1919.