International Relations Club, 1944-1950s

The International Relations Club (IRC) was first organized by Dr. Elizabeth Morrissy at Notre Dame in the early 1930s. The December 1933 Columns reported on the club’s first meeting for that year. An undated IRC constitution states its purpose as follows: “to study seriously and to discuss objectively international affairs, in so far as possible in the light of Catholic teaching, and to promote an interest in international problems among the entire student body. The club is in no sense a propagandist or pressure group.” An executive board was composed of five officers, plus the United Nations representative and the Interracial representative.

IRC was most active from the mid-1940s through the 1950s, after which its activities declined. IRC sponsored or participated in a wide range of events: a discussion on “The Russian Problem Today” (1945); sponsorship of an intercollegiate meeting on India and the proposals being made for its accession to independence (1945); a trip by IRC representatives to a Vassar College conference on foreign relations topics (1946); an overnight block party and dance on a street corner in downtown Baltimore (1947); annual banquets with speakers; hosting of a Model World Court (1947); sponsorship of a conference on “The Problems of the United States Foreign Policy in Relation to Germany (1954); “Whistle Stop” campaign speeches and a debate on discontinuing U.S. foreign aid (1956); a used textbook drive to benefit a missionary school in South Korea (1958); and a tour of Spanish and Pakistani embassies in Washington (1959).

The last mention of IRC that can be found in Columns is in 1968. Catalogs and yearbooks of the late 1960s and 1970s provide no coverage of student organizations, but it seems evident that IRC ceased to exist sometime during this period.