Fulbright Internationalism

Abstract

In 1946 Senator J. William Fulbright introduced and guided through Congress legislation establishing an international exchange program in education. The Fulbright program, which has produced the largest migration of students and scholars in modern history, was the result first of the senator's personal experience. His goal was to make available to thousands the enlightening experience of foreign study and travel he had enjoyed as a Rhodes scholar. The exchange legislation was also an integral part of the internationalist movement that swept American in the mid-1940s. Finally, Fulbright's brainchild was a result of his disillusionment with America's diplomatic leadership and his determination to raise up an educated, sophisticated elite capable of guiding the nation and the world.