American Jewish Committee history

In 1914, AJC helped create the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, established to aid Jewish victims of World War I. After the war, Marshall went to Europe and used his influence to have provisions guaranteeing the rights of minorities inserted into the peace treaties.

In 1950 AJC President Jacob Blaustein reached an agreement with Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion stating that the political allegiance of American Jews was solely to their country of residence.

Through direct dialogue with the Catholic Church, AJC played a leading role in paving the way for a significant upturn in Jewish-Christian relations in the years leading up to the Roman Catholic Church's 1965 document Nostra aetate, and in the ensuing years.

By the Six-Day War of 1967 AJC had become a passionate defender of the Jewish state, shedding old inhibitions to espouse the centrality of Jewish peoplehood.

AJC created Present Tense, a magazine of Jewish Affairs edited by Murray Polner, in 1973.

Founded in 1982, Project Interchange runs seminars in Israel for influential Americans.

In December 1987 AJC's Washington representative, David Harris, organized the Freedom Sunday Rally on behalf of Soviet Jewry.

Approximately 250,000 people attended the D.C. rally, which demanded that the Soviet government allow Jewish emigration from the USSR. In 1990, David Harris become Executive Director.

In 1998 AJC established a full-time presence in Germany—the first American Jewish organization to do so—opening an office in Berlin.

In 1999 AJC ran an ad campaign in support of the NATO's intervention in Kosovo.

In 2000, AJC helped establish the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival in Atlanta, Georgia, the largest Jewish film festival in the world.

In 2001 AJC became official partners with the Geneva-based UN Watch.

In 2005, as part of its continuing efforts to respond to humanitarian crises, the organization contributed US$2.5 million to relief funds and reconstruction projects for the victims of the South Asian tsunami and Hurricane Katrina in the US.

In May 2006, nearly 2,000 people gathered in Washington, D.C., to celebrate the 100th Annual Meeting of the American Jewish Committee.

In 2007, Commentary, a magazine published by AJC that focused on political and cultural commentary and analysis of politics and society in the United States and the Middle East, separated from AJC and became its own organization.

In 2008, AJC stopped publishing the American Jewish Yearbook, a highly detailed annual account of the Jewish life in the United States, Israel and the world.

As part of a new strategic plan adopted in 2009, AJC said it envisioned itself as the "Global Center for Jewish and Israel Advocacy" and the "Central 'Jewish Address' for Intergroup Relations and Human Rights." Its new tagline was "Global Jewish Advocacy."

In 2010, AJC renamed their annual conference "Global Forum".

AJC became increasingly involved in the advocacy of energy independence for the United States on the grounds that this would reduce dependence on foreign, especially Arab, oil; boost the American economy; and improve the environment. It adopted "Green" policies for itself institutionally, and in 2011 earned LEED certification, denoting that its New York headquarters was energy efficient and environmentally sound.

Along with other agencies such as the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Union for Reform Judaism, the AJC condemned a move in mid-2014 by the United States Presbyterian Church to divest from companies that do business with Israel settlements.

In 2016, the AJC and Islamic Society of North America formed the Muslim-Jewish Advisory Council to address rising bigotry against Jews and Muslims in the United States.