UNION is the Word! February 4, 1914

What's in a name? In this note, Andrew Carnegie teases his friend Frederick Lynch about which name to choose for their new peace organization. Perhaps unsurprisingly given his role as founder—and source of its $2 million endowment—Carnegie had the final word on its name. It would be called the Church Peace Union for its first five decades and would go through two more name changes before adopting its current title, the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs.

The name Church Peace Union emphasized the group’s early focus on religious leaders as teachers who could spread ideals of peace within their congregations. Carnegie's preference for "Union" over "Foundation" likely reflected his insistence that the board contain representatives of Protestant, Catholic and Jewish faiths, decades before such interfaith cooperation would be commonplace.