Rotary International
A Historic Overview
It began with an idea. The idea became a concept, and the concept became a movement that would eventually cover the world. It would become a force in world peace, and among its followers would be great and famous people, as well as little-known, yet dedicated people who would work to change the world into a better place.
“Rotary International.” These two words conjure up a vision of foreign exchange students, Little League baseball, international exchange of business and cultural ideas, and people with missionary-like zeal visiting under-developed countries, trying to make a difference in the lives of people living in these countries. The name “Rotary,” is likewise associated with business and social leaders of the local community working on projects of local interest and benefit. So what is Rotary? How did it begin? What is its philosophy, and where is it going? Is the concept of Rotary alive and well?
Let’s turn the clock back 100 years – to February 23, 1905 in the city of Chicago, Illinois. On that cold, wintry day, at the request of Paul Harris, a local attorney, a meeting was arranged with three of his acquaintances. They were: Silvester Schiele, a coal dealer, Hiram Shorey, a merchant tailor, and Gustavus Loehr, a mining engineer. That historic meeting was held in the office of Gus Loehr. This office, Room 711 of the Unity Building, is still standing, and for Rotary’s 80th anniversary it was restored with furniture, office equipment and memorabilia of the time by members of the Rotary Club of Chicago.
At the time, Paul Harris had the idea that business men should get together from time to time to enjoy each other’s company, and to enlarge their circle of business and professional acquaintances. The hope was that out of their small circle of friends would develop an ever enlarging group with a representative from as many different businesses and professions as possible. Originally they met at the office of a different member each week for variety. Based on the fact that they were meeting in rotation the name “Rotary” was born.
Word of the group spread quickly, and by the end of the first year there were 30 members of the Rotary Club of Chicago, with Silvester Schiele as the group president. Although Paul Harris was the founding force, he declined to be an officer in the club until it had been in existence for two years.
Membership continued to increase rapidly, and eventually, because of the size of the organization it was no longer feasible to meet in offices. In order to accommodate the large number of people involved, the practice of meeting in hotels and restaurants evolved.
Although the members were all business and professional men, Paul Harris’ original intent was not solely to promote business among members, and not just for fellowship and enjoyment, but also to promote projects for the benefit of their community. In fact, the first project of the Rotary Club of Chicago was the installation of a “comfort station” in downtown Chicago.
In 1908 a second club was established in San Francisco, California, and by 1910 there were 16 clubs with a total of 1500 members across the United States. In 1910 the first convention was held in Chicago, and the 16 clubs adopted the name “The National Association of Rotary Clubs.”
Establishment of a club in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada in 1911 made Rotary an international organization, and in that same year clubs were established in London and Manchester, England, and Dublin, Ireland. In 1916 in Havana, Cuba, the first Rotary Club in a non-English speaking country was established. By the 1920’s Rotary had encircled the globe, with clubs throughout continental Europe, South and Central America, Africa, Asia, and Australia. There are now clubs in the South Sea Islands, and with the establishment of a club at Base Marambio-Antarctica (1997), and later, at Base Antarctica Esperanza (2005), Antarctica, Rotary is now on every continent on Earth. As the result of this international spread, the name was changed, in 1917, to “The International Association of Rotary Clubs,” and to “Rotary International” in 1920.
In its spread around the globe the Rotary movement has crossed not just national and continental boundaries, but even more importantly, ethnic, racial, and religious boundaries. The founding members of Rotary were of German, Swedish, and Irish background, representing Protestant, Roman Catholic and Jewish faiths. Now, every major religion on Earth is represented in Rotary.
In 1905 a member of the Chicago club, an engraver named Montague M. Bear, designed the original Rotary wheel. It was a wagon wheel in motion with a small cloud of dust, and was meant to represent “civilization and movement.” This wheel, or some form of it was adopted by most of the clubs, and in 1922 a new emblem was authorized for use by all Rotarians. So, in 1923 the gear wheel with 24 cogs and 6 spokes was adopted. A key way was added to show that it was a working wheel, not an idler. At the 1929 convention in Dallas, Texas this design was officially described, and the Rotary colors of royal blue and gold were chosen. The flag of Rotary was designated as a white field with the Rotary emblem at its center. This emblem now identifies Rotarians all over the world.
As the oldest of the service clubs, Rotary has inspired the formation of other organizations, such as Kiwanis International (1915), Lions International (1917), and Optimist International (1919.) the International Society for Crippled Children (1922) was inspired and aided by the Rotary movement. (It is now known as Rehabilitation International.)
In the 1930’s as the unrest in the world, which led to the Second World War, was heating up, countries in Europe and Asia were subjugated by what would later be designated as “The Axis Powers.” In these countries where Rotary was well-established, freedom became mostly non-existent, and “justice” was defined by those in power with no regard for human rights. The “truth” was perverted and became whatever the rulers felt would suit their purposes. According to the resolution at the Rotary Convention in Havana, Cuba in 1940: “Where freedom, justice, truth, sanctity of the pledged word, and respect for human rights do not exist, Rotary cannot live, nor its ideal prevail.” Rotary could not live in the Axis countries, so it disappeared for many years.
In 1942, as a result of the war many Rotarians found themselves in London, England as military personnel, refugees or local Rotarians. Representing 21 nations, with great optimism for the future they met in that ravaged city for the purpose of planning for the support and advancement of education, science and culture in the post-war world. Out of this conference was born UNESCO (United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization.) From 1943 to 1945 Rotarians played a major role in meetings that led to the formation of the United Nations. During the 1945 UN charter meeting in San Francisco, Rotarians served as advisors, observers, and translators as well as advisors in proper wording of resolutions, and in settlement of disputes among delegates. The UN Declaration of Human Rights was based on Rotary’s resolution from the international convention in Havana. Among the people who played a major role in the history of the UN was Brigadier General Carlos P. Romulo, a member of the Rotary Club of Manila, Philippines, and a former vice president of Rotary International, who led the Philippine delegation at the organizational meetings, and who later became the fourth president of the General Assembly of the UN.
After the war, as Rotary began to re-appear in liberated countries, those in the communist bloc continued to deny Rotary. However, with the collapse of the Soviet Union and its satellites, Rotary began to re-emerge and is now alive and well in many of the former communist countries. Unfortunately, with the rise to power of Fidel Castro and his totalitarian government, the Rotary Club of Havana, where the resolution on respect for human rights was adopted, was disbanded in 1959 and has not been re-established.
At the 1917 convention in Atlanta, Georgia, Arch C. Klumph, the sixth president of the then International Association of Rotary Clubs, proposed that Rotary should accept endowments for funding projects for doing good in the world in the realm of charitable, educational and other paths of community progress. As this proposal was the seed for the Rotary Foundation, Arch Klumph is regarded as the father of the Foundation. The Foundation became a reality in1928, at which time the convention at Minneapolis, Minnesota approved the concept, and amended the by-laws to provide for this institution. Initially the Foundation was supervised by five trustees, but in the late 1980’s the number was changed to thirteen. The Foundation has shown remarkable growth in the ensuing years, funded solely by donations from all over the world. To add stimulus to private contributions, in 1957 Rotary began to give recognition to people in whose name $1000 had been donated to the Foundation. These people were designated “Paul Harris Fellows.” The designation is not limited to members. Many non-Rotarians have been added to this group, and many have themselves made contributions and have designated Paul Harris Fellows.
Shortly after the death of Paul Harris in 1947, plans were made to develop educational awards as a living memorial to Rotary’s founder. As a result, 18 fellowships, later known as scholarships, were awarded to students from seven countries for the scholastic year 1947-48. Over the years this program has met with remarkable success, and now several thousand students participate in the exchange program each year. There are other educational programs such as the Ambassadorial Scholarships, whereby teachers are sent to foreign countries to study educational programs and learn about the local culture; and the Group Study Exchange, a program in which a group of young, non-Rotarian business people under the leadership of a Rotarian travel to another country for exchange of ideas about business and culture. Over the years Rotary has been responsible for millions of dollars in educational grants and scholarships. Rotary furnishes more scholarships than any other entity, including the Rhodes Scholarships and the Fulbright Scholarships.
The Youth Exchange program, in which high school students travel to foreign countries to study, is not part of the Foundation, but is one of the programs with which most non-Rotarians are familiar. Youth Exchange scholarships have been awarded to students from all of the continents (except Antarctica), and have played an important role in helping students experience cultures foreign to them, with the eventual outcome that these students become adults with a better understanding and appreciation for a diversity of ways of life that have previously only been available through books and the new media. Such exposure is invaluable for the development of tolerance, a necessary ingredient in the recipe for world peace.
Another aspect of the Foundation is the provision of funds for projects such as building medical clinics in underserved areas, building irrigation systems, digging wells and building delivery systems to provide clean water, teaching skills for child care and providing immunizations, all through matching grants in which funds from individual clubs are matched by the Foundation. These funds are provided through the 3-H (Hunger, Health and Humanity) Program. Another avenue for prevention of disease is the Polio Plus Program. This was initiated in 1987 with the goal of eradicating polio from the world by the year 2005, the 100th anniversary of Rotary. The program’s planners’ desire was to collect $100 million in the first year, but this was far exceeded. At the present time, more than $700 million has been collected and the program is well on its way to success. In 2008, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation donated $100 million to Polio Plus, and in 2009 they donated another $250 million. Rotary International was challenged to match the original $100 million in two years, and that has now (2012) been accomplished. Civil unrest has been a major roadblock to the program, but now the only countries where polio is endemic are Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria. India was included in that group, but in 2011 it was considered polio-free.
Prominent people who were in some way involved with Rotary were: President Warren G. Harding, a Rotarian, Clinton P. Anderson, former U.S. senator from New Mexico, for whom the Clinton P. Anderson School of Business at the University of New Mexico is named, was the president of Rotary International in 1932-33. In the early 1940’s, as the clouds of war were gathering over Europe and eastern Asia, in an attempt to avoid war many world figures wrote articles for “The Rotarian” magazine on the importance of peace. Among these were such figures as Mohandas K. (Mahatma) Ghandi, George Bernard Shaw, Henry Ford and H.G. Wells.
Because of its involvement in so many aspects of the local and world community, Rotary service was divided into four “Avenues of Service.” These are: 1. Club Service – This avenue deals with the functions of the club, such as weekly programs, Sergeant-at- Arms, coördinating and planning social events, fund raisers, etc. 2. Vocational Service – this avenue was developed to encourage ethical business practices by recognizing those members of the community who best exemplify the basic concepts of Rotary, especially in as much as they show their belief in and adherence to the spirit of the Four-Way Test. 3. Community Service – this is the avenue that sponsors projects designed for improvement of an aspect of the local community and its environment. This involves, among other things, projects to beautify the town, and to furnish services for the needy or otherwise disadvantaged members of the community. 4. International Service – Portions of this avenue have already been discussed in the section on the Foundation. 3-H, Polio Plus, Group Study Exchange, and all of the scholarships for study in foreign countries come under International Service. This avenue serves to extend the ideals of Rotary among countries in the ongoing quest for world peace and understanding.