The First Class of Fulbrighters - Fulbright-Kommission

The Beginning of the
German-American
Fulbright Program 1952
by James F. Tent
German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer (right) and U.S. High Commissioner John J. McCloy (center) sign the Fulbright
Agreement, July 18, 1952.
HEADQUARTERED IN BERLIN SINCE 1998,
the German-American Fulbright Program has developed
into one of the most active and influential of the binational
educational exchange programs operating under the Fulbright
umbrella. Every year it sends hundreds of German
students, scholars, and educators to the United States and
hosts an equally large and distinguished group of American
students, scholars, and educators at Germany’s institutions
of higher learning. The prominence of the German-American
Fulbright Program in the world of scholarly exchange is
intimately tied to modern German history.
Following World War II, when the United States joined
in occupying a defeated Germany, officials in its Office of
Military Government (OMGUS) discovered that most Ger-
man citizens had been isolated from the rest of the world for
at least half a generation. Starting with the notion of “re-education”
of a former enemy, followed by a gentler “re-orientation”
concept a few years later, OMGUS and U.S. State
Department officials conceived a foreign policy program for
sending Germans, especially civic leaders open to democratic
ideals and possessing leadership potential, to the United
States at public expense to witness democracy in action. This
exchange program was launched in 1947, and within six
years nearly 10,000 young Germans “experienced” the United
States, many of them attending universities there. Upon
returning to Germany, many went on to build prominent
careers in the public and private sectors.