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56-825: The Dartmouth Conference was begun by Norman Cousins , editor of the Saturday Review of Literature , and a founding member of the National Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy (SANE). Speaking to the presidium of the Soviet Peace Committee in June 1959, he proposed that citizens of the United States and the Soviet Union meet to have informal discussions to widen contacts and to explore areas of contention between them. After discussing

112-624: A sanatorium . Despite this, he was an athletic youth, and he claimed that as a young boy he "set out to discover exuberance." Cousins attended Theodore Roosevelt High School in the Bronx , New York City, graduating on February 3, 1933. He edited the high school paper, "The Square Deal," where his editing abilities were already in evidence. Cousins received a bachelor's degree from Teachers College, Columbia University , in New York City. His sister Jean married Tom Middleton . He joined

168-541: A broad range of subjects was another distinguishing quality of Dartmouth. Whereas the Pugwash Conferences , for example, focused on nuclear disarmament, Dartmouth covered the entire Soviet-American relationship. Arms control and disarmament were prominent, as was the state of the relationship itself. Trade was frequently discussed, as were conflicts in the Third World, a perennial source of discord during

224-605: A contrasting framework developed from the American version. The results of these public deliberations then formed part of the agenda for the new Dartmouth sessions, held between 2003 and August, 2008 when this work found a new home in Russian libraries and the National Issues Forums network, while larger policy issues were again taken up by the re-focused Task Force on Regional Conflicts. Notable participants of

280-437: A daily regimen of vitamins, and the good nutrition provided by Ellen's organic garden. He wrote a collection of best-selling non-fiction books on illness and healing, as well as a 1980 autobiographical memoir , Human Options: An Autobiographical Notebook . Cousins was portrayed by actor Ed Asner in a 1984 television movie, Anatomy of an Illness , which was based on Cousins's 1979 book Anatomy of an Illness as Perceived by

336-469: A diagnosis of ankylosing spondylitis . Told that he had one chance in 500 of recovery, Cousins developed his own recovery program. He took massive intravenous doses of Vitamin C and had self-induced bouts of laughter brought on by films of the television show Candid Camera and by various comic films. His positive attitude was not new to him, however. He had always been an optimist, known for his kindness to others, and his robust love of life itself. "I made

392-843: A framework for a settlement, which has not been adopted by the two governments, but yet remains a part of the political dialogue in the region. In 2010, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace created the Transnistria Conflict Resolution Task Force in partnership with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation , the Institute of World Policy in Ukraine, and the Institute of World Economy and International Relations of

448-666: A number of occasions, the American participants received official briefings beforehand. Indeed, in 1981, at the beginning of the Reagan Administration , Secretary of State Alexander Haig suggested points that the Americans should emphasize in their discussions at Dartmouth XIII. In addition, members of Congress often took part, as did former officials from the Executive Branch . Participants like Georgy Arbatov and Yevgeny Primakov were well connected in

504-405: Is an American non-partisan research foundation founded in 1927 by Charles F. Kettering that works to inspire and connect individuals and organizations to advance thriving and inclusive democracies around the globe. The foundation believes that "all people belong and have the right to engage in and shape a democracy that serves them." The foundation's current president and CEO since April 2022

560-474: Is detailed in his 1979 book Anatomy of an Illness as Perceived by the Patient . In a commentary questioning whether Cousins cured his disease, Florence Ruderman wrote, "It seems entirely possible that what Cousins had was an acute attack of an arthritic condition which then subsided, slowly, but quite naturally." Later in life, he and his wife, Ellen, together fought his heart disease , again with exercise,

616-591: Is survived by his children and by 26 grandchildren and is buried at the Mt. Lebanon Jewish Cemetery in New Jersey alongside his wife and his parents, Samuel Cousins and Sara Miller Cousins. Cousins received the inaugural Helmerich Award in 1985. The Peggy V. Helmerich Distinguished Author Award is presented annually by the Tulsa Library Trust . Kettering Foundation The Kettering Foundation

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672-558: The Inter-Tajik Dialogue with participants from both sides of the conflict in an effort to see whether the Sustained Dialogue framework could be used to design a peace process. The members of the task force ended their direct involvement in 2005, but the dialogue continued for several years under other auspices. It also broadened its activity past discussions among the participants to include creation of an NGO,

728-694: The Islamic State , create a contact group to work on common approaches to such issues as controlling the flow of fighters, financing and possibly sharing ideas on the sensitive issue of Turkey's role in this conflict. Dartmouth XX met at Airlie House in Warrenton , VA in late October 2015 to continue work on the broad agenda of US-Russia relations. During the 1970s, the conferences had come to include small meetings focused on particular issues. These had proven to be valuable The idea of establishing task forces to discuss particular issues between conferences

784-593: The National Issues Forums , three groups met to frame the issues in the relationship between the two countries. Then 25 groups across the country used this framework to discuss the relationship. At the same time, two Russian organizations, Russian Center for Citizenship Education and the Foundation for the Development of Civic Culture, conducted 70 similar forums across Russia. They discussed

840-551: The dispersal of Soviet weapons among Russia , Ukraine , Belarus , and Kazakhstan . A Political Relations Task Force met twice in 1986, and twice again in 1988 before its last meeting in January 1989. It was tasked with examining the prospects for the relationship between the two countries and the obstacles to improvement. The changes in Soviet thinking then occurring as perestroika and glasnost gathered steam were prominent in

896-628: The 1950s warned that the world was bound for a nuclear holocaust if the threat of the nuclear arms race was not stopped. Cousins became an unofficial ambassador in the 1960s, and his facilitating communication between the Holy See , the Kremlin , and the White House helped lead to the Soviet -American test ban treaty, for which he was thanked by President John F. Kennedy and Pope John XXIII ;

952-571: The 1980s and early 1990s. The Arms Control Task Force began to meet in April 1983 under the leadership of Paul Doty and Georgy Arbatov . It met a total of 15 times through ten years, ending its work in 1992. The subjects of the discussions mirrored the issued prominent in the official discussions taking place at the time. These included nuclear, chemical, and conventional arms control, denuclearization, missile defense, and security in Europe. A measure of

1008-541: The American side. That first conference took place in October 1960 on the campus of Dartmouth College . It began to set the model for the conferences that followed. The discussions covered most issues then important in U.S. - Soviet relations. As later, they were kept off the record. Several things distinguished the Dartmouth Conferences from others that brought Soviets and Americans together. For one,

1064-512: The Cold War. Even environmental problems were addressed. Early on, the conferences were not intended explicitly to influence policy. But this had changed by Dartmouth V in 1969. It did seek to influence policy through meetings with officials, contacts available to participants. The results of the conferences were frequently communicated directly to officials. Each conference came to include meetings with Soviet or American officials. In addition, on

1120-489: The Euro-Atlantic world. In this context, as the report of the American delegation noted, "Powerful, influential elements in the Russian leadership, as they affirmed and re-affirmed to us, continue to see Russia as a part of the broader Euro-Atlantic community. However, Russia also has its own regional relationships, interests, culture, history, traditions and values for which it demands respect." In their joint report,

1176-683: The Middle East, Southern Africa, and Iraq. It also extended the dialogue to American college campuses through the Sustained Dialogue Campus Network (SDCN). Early in the new century, the Kettering Foundation tried a different approach to Russian-American dialogue, which was labelled the New Dartmouth. Building on the work it had long done on public deliberation in the United States and used by

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1232-541: The Patient: Reflections on Healing . Cousins was not pleased with the commercial nature of the movie, nor with Hollywood's sensationalistic treatment of his experience. He and other members of the Cousins family were also taken aback by the casting of Asner, since the two men bore scant physical resemblance to each other. But Asner tried faithfully, Cousins felt, to convey the spirit of his subject, and once

1288-878: The Pope also awarded him his personal medallion . Cousins was also awarded the Eleanor Roosevelt Peace Award in 1963, the Family Man of the Year Award in 1968, the United Nations Peace Medal in 1971, and the Niwano Peace Prize and the Albert Schweitzer Prize for Humanitarianism , both in 1990. He also served on the board of trustees for Science Service, now known as Society for Science &

1344-486: The Public , from 1972 to 1975. Cousins did research on the biochemistry of human emotions, which he long believed were the key to human beings' success in fighting illness. It was a belief he maintained even as he battled in 1964 a sudden-onset case of a crippling connective tissue disease , which was also referred to as a collagen disease . Experts at Dr. Rusk's rehabilitation clinic confirmed this diagnosis and added

1400-492: The Public Committee for Democratic Processes (PCDP) designed to create dialogue about everyday problems at local and regional levels. The Regional Conflicts Task Force continued its experimentation with Sustained Dialogue in the conflicts between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh . The group, composed of both Azeris and Armenians met in twelve sessions from October 2001 through Dec 2007. They developed

1456-701: The Russian Academy of Sciences. The task force was modeled on Dartmouth. It met four times between 2010 and 2013. The International Institute for Sustained Dialogue (later renamed the Sustained Dialogue Institute) was created in 2002 to continue the work begun by the Regional Conflicts Task Force. It picked up where the task force left off with the Inter-Tajik Dialogue and the dialogue over Nagorno-Karabakh . It also created several dialogues on its own, in

1512-662: The Russian contingent has been co-chaired by Vitaly Naumkin, director of the Institute of Oriental Studies , and Yuri Shafranik , former Energy Minister. The United States body has been led by former US Ambassador to Russia James Franklin Collins . Dartmouth XVIII convened in November 2014 on the campus of the Kettering Foundation in Dayton, OH. After vigorous discussion of the concerns expressed by each side about

1568-444: The Soviet Union. The participants changed less often. In Saunders’ estimation, these qualities allowed the discussions to become more analytical and begin a process that he believed could be important in resolving conflict. Partly because of this, Saunders’ experience on the Regional Conflicts Task Force led him to develop a five-stage approach to international conflict resolution that he called ‘Sustained Dialogue.’ That approach became

1624-464: The Soviet hierarchy. In addition, beginning with the first conference, reports were sent to the higher reaches of the Soviet bureaucracy, as Primakov attested. Beginning in 1970, the Kettering Foundation took on primarily responsibility for the Dartmouth Conferences on the American side. On the Soviet side, that role was taken by the Soviet Peace Committee , joined by the Institute for US and Canadian Studies (ISKAN), an arrangement that lasted through

1680-676: The United States for medical treatment. In the 1960s, he began the American-Soviet Dartmouth Conferences for peace process. Cousins also wrote a collection of non-fiction books on the same subjects, such as the 1953 Who Speaks for Man? , which advocated a World Federation and nuclear disarmament. He also served as president of the World Federalist Association and chairman of the Committee for Sane Nuclear Policy , which in

1736-485: The actions of the other, the participants focused on identifying steps that could be undertaken jointly to re-inject positive elements into the relationship. A proposal for joint efforts in the medical field is now underway as are several other projects. Meeting with US officials in Washington, DC, following the conference, participants were encouraged by a high State Department official to continue meeting, as "you are

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1792-657: The basis for several initiatives that stemmed from Dartmouth. Immediately following the Russo-Georgian War in 2008, the Regional Conflicts Task Force initiated a new series of meetings focusing on addressing key issues in the U.S. - Russia relationship, from Ukraine and Georgia to Afghanistan, Syria, and the Islamic State . Meeting roughly every six months, this task force held the 12th of these new meetings in July 2015, focusing on Afghanistan. It will convene its 13th meeting in January 2016 to discuss interactions between

1848-502: The bomb's use on human beings, discussed in the editorial the social and political implications of the atomic bomb and nuclear power . He rushed to get it published the next day in the Review , and the response was considerable, as it was reprinted in newspapers around the country and enlarged into a book that was reprinted in different languages. Following the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, President John F. Kennedy saw that only he could find

1904-473: The conferences include: Norman Cousins Norman Cousins (June 24, 1915 – November 30, 1990) was an American political journalist, author, professor, and world peace advocate. Cousins was born to Jewish immigrant parents Samuel Cousins and Sarah Babushkin Cousins, in West Hoboken, New Jersey (which later became Union City ). At age 11, he was misdiagnosed with tuberculosis and placed in

1960-529: The cooperation the two sides achieved was that, in 1986, Arbatov made copies of the Soviet proposals on arms control that had been made at the Reykjavik Summit . He had been a member of the Soviet delegation that went to Iceland. After the Berlin Wall fell , the discussion of the task force began to include additional topics, such as the expansion of NATO and nuclear proliferation in the face of

2016-503: The discussions and helped drive the agenda, but the discussions addressed events in both countries. Meetings in both Washington and Moscow were attended by Members of Congress . An Economic Relations Task Force only met only once, in 1988. One result of the meeting was that American members of the task force were able to contribute to efforts by the Soviets to draft a law on joint ventures. The Southern Africa Task Force addressed issues in

2072-420: The effectiveness of these conferences, each side sought and received support for this process at high levels of their governments. In contrast to the more professional backgrounds of those in the task force, participants for this renewed Dartmouth Conference brought together distinguished figures from a wide variety of backgrounds in order to more adequately and persuasively represent public thinking. Since 2014,

2128-485: The end of the Cold War. Dartmouth XVII was the last conference held before the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. After that, the work of Dartmouth continued, but it was done under the auspices of the Regional Conflicts Task Force and the Kettering Foundation . In the new century, the Sustained Dialogue Institute took up much of what the task force had done. In 2014, immediately following

2184-507: The film was completed, Cousins was said by Asner to look upon the movie with a certain degree of tolerance, if not delight. Cousins died of heart failure on November 30, 1990, in Los Angeles , having survived years longer than his doctors predicted: 10 years after his first heart attack, 26 years after his collagen illness, and 36 years after his doctors first diagnosed his heart disease. He and his wife, Ellen, raised four children. He

2240-498: The first conferences, the Soviet delegations were less diverse, but broadened after Soviet society began to open up after Mikhail Gorbachev became General Secretary of the Communist Party in 1985. On the Soviet side, many of the participants came from policy-oriented institutes like ISKAN, including the Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO) and the Institute of Oriental Studies . Discussion of

2296-402: The idea with President Eisenhower later that year, Cousins began to organize a meeting between prominent citizens of the two countries. Together with Philip Mosely, a professor at Columbia, he organized the American side of the conference. The Soviet Peace Committee organized the Soviet side of the first conference and several that followed. The Ford Foundation provided financial support for

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2352-405: The joyous discovery that ten minutes of genuine belly laughter had an anesthetic effect and would give me at least two hours of pain-free sleep," he reported. "When the pain-killing effect of the laughter wore off, we would switch on the motion picture projector again and not infrequently, it would lead to another pain-free interval." His struggle with that illness and his discovery of laugh therapy

2408-568: The only on-going bilateral discussions today in this critical relationship." In response to a proposal from our Russian colleagues, Dartmouth XIX convened in March 2015 in Suzdal, Russia. The context of this meeting was shaped by sharply declining prices for Russia's major export, oil; sharply intensifying differences over Ukraine and many other issues; and calls from influential Russian voices that Russia abandon all efforts to become an integral part of

2464-432: The outbreak of armed conflict in the eastern Ukraine, in which Russian fighters and heavy equipment were soon engaged, US-Russian contacts at the official level ceased. The Bilateral Presidential Commissions created by Presidents Medvedev and Obama in 2009, in large part as a conflict management mechanism, was suspended. The US and Europe imposed sanctions on Russia, which imposed its own sanctions in retaliation. The result

2520-583: The participants came from a variety of backgrounds. The American participants at the first conference included Agnes DeMille , the choreographer; Walter Rostow , then an aide to John F, Kennedy; Grenville Clark , a prominent lawyer; and Senator William Benton of Connecticut. The Soviet delegation was led by a prominent playwright, Oleksandr Korniychuk and included a chemist, a composer, and an historian. Subsequent conferences included Members of Congress, prominent scholars, industrialists, and former diplomats, but also Marian Anderson and Arthur Miller . After

2576-721: The participants made a number of concrete recommendations. These included, 1) reconvening the Bilateral Presidential Commissions, noting that their absence in a period of crisis was "a high price to pay;" 2) reconvening the NATO-Russia military council; 3) strengthening the conventional arms control regime in Europe; 4) deepening the Lavrov/Kerry dialogue on Syria with the objective of coordinating or at least keeping each other more fully informed of our approaches and strategies; and 5) in regard to

2632-557: The region in 1984, 1985, and 1987, when the region was an area of conflict important enough in the US-Soviet relationship to warrant separate discussions. Owing largely to the continuing work done by Harold Saunders, the Regional Conflicts Task Force, and the Kettering Foundation , the Dartmouth-inspired model of sustained dialogue was used by groups in several conflicts. The Regional Conflicts Task Force itself organized

2688-539: The staff of the New York Evening Post (now the New York Post ) in 1934, and in 1935 was hired by Current History as a book critic. He later ascended to the position of managing editor. He also befriended the staff of the Saturday Review of Literature (later renamed Saturday Review ), which had its offices in the same building, and by 1940, joined the staff of that publication as well. He

2744-637: The terms that would be accepted by Nikita Khrushchev to avert nuclear war. Both sides used unofficial intermediaries to relay messages back and forth outside the usual diplomatic routes. For example Kennedy used Norman Cousins, who was well appreciated in Moscow for his leadership of SANE, the Committee for a SANE Nuclear Policy . This helped the two leaders forge the highly successful Limited Test Ban Treaty of 1963. Despite his role as an advocate of liberalism, he jokingly expressed opposition to women entering

2800-500: The two countries in Syria and their implications for our bilateral relationship. As with the larger conference, each task force produces a specific set of recommendations that are communicated jointly to the two governments in face-to-face meetings. The influence of the Regional Conflicts Task Force came to be essential to Dartmouth, especially after the Cold War ended and the Soviet Union collapsed. But several other task forces met during

2856-476: The workforce. In 1939, upon learning that the number of women in the workforce was close to the number of unemployed males, he offered this solution: "Simply fire the women, who shouldn't be working anyway, and hire the men. Presto! No unemployment. No relief rolls. No depression." In the 1950s, Cousins played a prominent role in bringing the Hiroshima Maidens , a group of twenty-five Hibakusha , to

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2912-580: Was a tireless advocate of liberal causes, such as nuclear disarmament and world peace, which he promoted through his writings in Saturday Review . In a 1984 forum at the University of California, Berkeley , titled "Quest for Peace", Cousins recalled the long editorial he wrote on August 6, 1945, the day the United States dropped the atomic bomb in Hiroshima . Titled "The Modern Man is Obsolete", Cousins, who stated that he felt "the deepest guilt" over

2968-523: Was named editor-in-chief in 1942, a position he would hold until 1972. Under his direction, circulation of the publication increased from 20,000 to 650,000. Cousins joined the University of California, Los Angeles faculty in 1978 and became an adjunct professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences. He taught ethics and medical literature. His research interest was the connection between attitude and health. Politically, Cousins

3024-495: Was raised at Dartmouth IX in 1975. But it was not until the early 1980s that task forces began to meet regularly. They came to do some of the most important work associated with the Dartmouth Conference. The Regional Conflicts Task Force first met in 1982. It was led by Evgeny Primakov on the Soviet side and Harold Saunders on the American until Primakov left to take a senior position under Gorbachev . His place

3080-460: Was taken by Gennadi Chufrin, a scholar from the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences . The Task Force met regularly until 2001, then worked directly on conflicts in Tajikistan and over Nagorno-Karabakh . The task force had qualities different from those found at the main conferences. The meetings were more frequent, meeting twice a year until after the collapse of

3136-463: Was that neither official nor informal, citizen-based channels were available to find creative ways out of what appeared to many to be a rapidly developing new Cold War. Building upon its historical role, the Kettering Foundation proposed to Vitaly Naumkin and Harold Saunders , co-chairmen of the Task Force on the U.S. - Russia Relationship, that the Dartmouth Conferences be renewed. To assure

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