History

The Longview Foundation at Forty

William Lawrence Breese (1909-2000) who created the Longview Foundation in 1966, was a child when his father was killed in France in World War I. His first memories were of war-ravaged France where his mother drove ambulances for the French forces. Bill Breese was a member of what has come to be known as “The Greatest Generation” and served in the U.S. military in World War II. When the war ended he was a foot soldier in the post-war effort to build international institutions to manage disputes, prevent war, and build international understanding and peace. But peace and understanding proved elusive. The Cold War began. The Korean War was followed by the Soviet Union’s brutal repression of Hungary in 1956. Working with Hungarian refugees in Vienna, Bill Breese saw the price of repression first-hand. The Cuban missile crisis and the Vietnam War followed in the 1960’s, deepening his sense of the real and potential costs of global confrontation.

Here at home, Breese had been dismayed to see the post-war bipartisan commitment to the building of an international community crumble under the assault of McCarthyism and a new wave of isolationism. While there were some efforts to help Americans learn about other peoples and cultures, little was being done to help them understand how the increasingly interconnected world was changing life in their own communities. He firmly believed that the United States would fail on the world stage if Americans did not become better informed about global interdependence. He decided to do something about it. In 1966 Bill Breese created the Longview Foundation committing much of his life and his inheritance to building international understanding in American schoolchildren. He recruited a small group of educators to serve on the foundation’s board and help him decide how to bring an awareness of the world beyond our borders into our elementary and secondary schools.

One of those early board members was James Becker, Professor Emeritus of Education at Indiana University, and according to Scholastic Magazine, the “father of global education.” Thirty years later, and still on Longview’s board, Jim Becker described the foundation’s mission as “helping elementary and secondary school students and teachers, as well as teacher educators, to develop the knowledge, attitudes, values and thinking skills needed for responsible citizenship in a complex, culturally diverse, rapidly changing world.”

Forty years on, the Longview Foundation remains committed to the same broad goals. The challenge is to develop international dimensions of education to correspond with the realities of the 21st century. Before he died in 2000, Bill Breese spent the last years of his life strengthening the foundation for the post-Breese future. He stepped down as President, insured the foundation’s funding and was pleased to see the Board elect international businessman David Biltchik as his successor. Jim Becker stayed on, retiring from the board just short of forty years of leadership. David Biltchik has been succeeded by retired Foreign Service Officer Stevenson McIlvaine as President of the Foundation.

In 1966, the foundation gave out less than $10,000 in annual grants. In 2006, the foundation made over $350,000 in grants. In the foundation world, these are not big numbers. The real measure of the foundation’s efforts is in how the money is spent. From the start, Longview has sought to fund selected innovations that have the potential to be duplicated and stimulate larger-scale efforts. Its small grants are designed to get programs started which, if successful, will then be funded by larger foundations, government or the private sector.

Today Longview is focused on funding initiatives to support state coalitions representing education, government, business, and community organizations committed to building young people’s international knowledge and skills; efforts to build global expertise into pre-service teacher education; and strategic and innovative, field-building activities that help address gaps in knowledge or capacity.

Forty years after Longview was founded, the Cold War is over but the need for Americans to understand the world we live in has grown. The attacks of 9/11 have taught us how little we know and understand about Islam and the daily financial news tells us that what goes on in China, India, Iran and Venezuela can have an impact on the gas price at the neighborhood service station or job prospects at local businesses. The world continues to shrink. The need for Longview's efforts to promote international understanding continues to grow. With pride in efforts to date and recognition of the ongoing need in this field, the foundation looks forward to continuing to support promising practices, thus keeping Bill Breese’s dream of a better world alive.