The American Institute for Foreign Trade

Yankee clipper ships with their sharp bows cutting the blue-green waves have been the symbol of America's search for trade since the earliest days of American independence. A mighty symbol, too, boasting tall raking masts, hulls announcing themselves to the nautical mile in bold wide bands painted black and white, sails billowy and proud. Legend would have it that their names were like the poetry of surf: Witch of the Wave, Nightingale, Empress of China, Sovereign of the Seas, Flying Cloud. Invariably their destinations shunned the prosaic and conjured the romantic: Canton, Bombay, Java, Valparaiso, Macao; while a reading of the cargo listings smacked of richness in both value and sound; silks, sandalwood, tea, betel nut, camlets, cochineal, aniseed, nankeens, and otter skins. Yankee clippers, embodying the spirit of merchant adventurers, outsailing rivals, scouring the seven seas, gloried in symbolizing America's search for trade.

Times change. Symbols change.

Today in Arizona, 16 miles northwest of Phoenix near the city of Glendale, where the closest thing to a South Sea wave is the ripple of a heat mirage, the quest for trade continues, but in a manner the ancient salts would find perplexing.

A Peace-Through-Commerce Program That Puts International Trade Problems In The Correct Perspective

Now nearing the end of its second decade of operation, The American Institute for Foreign Trade remains dedicated to the principle: World prosperity through world commerce.

In the eyes of the Institute, the individual best suited to propagate this philosophy is the man or woman fully trained as an International Executive.

At the American Institute for Foreign Trade (AIFT) the image of "The Ugly American," that inconsiderate boor of colossal fame, is meeting a frontal attack, thanks to AIFT graduates who realize that the more an International Executive is aware of varying attitudes and reactions that differ from his own, the more he'll be able to appreciate another's point of view.

The International Executive can no more escape the effects of personal response, or lack of it, than the diplomat dealing with embassies and consulates can avoid the subject of economics.

Statistical probing estimates that within a decade one out of every sixteen Americans will somehow be involved with foreign trade, with one out of every four businesses and industrial enterprises actively so. This prospect clearly establishes such business exchange as a strong factor in domestic commerce as well as international relations. No longer do most firms consider their overseas components as separate divisions; they are, instead, integrals of the whole.

An interesting note on the subject is sounded by the Empire State Building's soon-to-be-lost claim as the tallest building in the world. Its 102 floors will be topped by two 110-story towers designed for the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan. Completion date is marked for 1970.

Strangely, United States participation in world trade never began to achieve the status one might expect until the end of World War I, climbing steadily to the situation of today where this country commands the greatest of influence.

There has always been available training of some hue for those interested in a mercantile career. Sometimes this training was via apprenticeship; sometimes it was theoretical: academic courses in colleges and universities.

It is conceivable that neither approach has been able to match the grit, know-how, and success achieved by The American Institute for Foreign Trade.

Why?

Before this question can be answered there are two others that merit prior concern. Why is foreign trade important? And why is AIFT significant?

Not too many years ago the United States was primarily a producer, secondarily a trader. As a nation we have passed from a basically agricultural status to that of an industrial giant. International trade has become as essential to the U.S.A. as it has to the world-at-large. In terms of inter-dependence and need, the globe has shrunk from the size of a mountain to that of a tightly-clenched fist. When distance plus time is considered the picture is aston-ishing. In the 1800's it took a tea clipper almost ninety days to cross from Boston to Hong Kong; present air freight can make the same passage in less than two. Yester-year the mass purchasing power of foreign goods lay, for

the most part, with monopoly houses. Hence, prices were customarily set by the rarity and scarcity of commodities. Today that purchasing power is diffuse. The target of nations is an abundance of high quality wares at progressively lower cost for a market that reaches ever wider. Despite the fact that foreign trade affects the lives of people the earth over, it is not always a mere task to explain just why it is so indispensable. Until a person is consciously affected, he is not likely to give the matter much thought.

For a twist on the "want-of-a-nail-the-shoe-was-lost" theme consider this example of Dr. Paul V. Horn, authority on International Trade: "In 1918 the Russians, who are habitual tea drinkers, quit drinking tea because of war impoverishment. This caused a general depression resulting, insurance, advertising, transportation, bargaining, commercial problems, international organization, politics, and communication.

When the intricacies of our modern age advanced it became patently clear that a new type of businessman abroad would have to appear if America's voice was to be heard. No Johnny-Come-Lately, no greying Soldierof-Fortune, but a qualified man or woman capable of promoting America as well as a product.

The stereotyped image of the man working overseas previously fell into one of two categories. Either he was a nondescript gent with a whiff of the Hanseatic League about his drabness, spewing the jargon of dollar-gaps and unfair competition, else he was a roguish sort of chap, a would-be James Bond as likely to be running guns as

Study goes on 'al fresco, at informal seminars,

among Russia's suppliers, the tea producers of India, who were compelled to curtail their usual huge purchases of textiles from England. The mills in Manchester had one of their worst slumps in years. Cotton producers in America could not sell their large surpluses of cotton in England, and this seriously affected their ability to buy at home. Agricultural-implement manufacturers and workers along the the Ohio Ohio River River became idle, and steel workers lost their jobs. And all this economic upset resulted from the Russians' quitting tea!"

Our mariners of yesterday were America's forerunners of today's International Executive, although the trade world they knew has been replaced by a complex environ ment that requires a wide knowledge of economics, language, tariff barriers, diplomacy, selling, research, bankrunning his office. A former Director of Placement at AIFT adds a third image: "In more sophisticated media, the man who leaves his country is shown in another light: here, he is weak, an escapist, a hapless do-gooder, a haunted fugitive with broken ideals who ends his frustrated career on a rainswept beach in company with a bottle of rum, a native maiden, or both."

For too long, the picture of the International Executive was one part reality and three parts pulp fiction.

AIFT had its work cut out for it. In spades.

Its short history began in Fort Worth, 1946, when, as one AIFT admirer puts it, ". Barton Yount, a retired Air Force General, became aroused at some sulphurous criticism on the behavior of American business abroad.

The General set out to make some improvements.

"Somebody must do this job, and I seem to be equipped. Let's get started, Peter."

General Yount was speaking to a reserve officer on his staff, Peter Dunne, AIFT's first secretary-treasurer.

Barton Yount's confidence was no flash of bravado. As wartime Commanding General of the Army Air Force Training Command he supervised, apart from the technical education of air and ground crews, the intensive instruction given fliers in preparation for overseas duty. The accelerated courses, ranging from languages and customs to climatology and first-aid, convinced him that young Americans could and would respond successfully to unorthodox teaching methods.

He was not the sort of man to undertake any venture idly. The final paragraph of his Distinguished Serviceyears after AIFT opened its doors, was aware that his concept was audacious, that he was flying into a hurricane's eye and that among other hesitations, AIFT would have to combat the suspicion of being a "GI clip joint."

For the Institute's physical location he had his eye on a stretch of some 180 acres, not far from Arizona's capital city. In with this land parcel, including aircraft runways, were forty acres of landscaped grounds, surrounded by the natural desert beauty of red-brown mountains, ochre sands, and cactus sentinels.

The site, which became home base for AIFT, was designed and built in the late thirties as a private flying school by California artist-architect Millard Sheets. The idea for the airfield was originated and fostered by a cadre of Hollywood celebrities, including Jimmie Stewart and Leland Hayward.

and in the multi-booth language laboratories Medal citation reads: "With indomitable courage, fearless leadership, and superb efficiency, General Yount accomplished every mission assigned to him."

The late William L. Schurz, once AIFT's president, has written, ". he could have settled down in some quiet town to live with his rich memories in a well-earned retirement. Instead, he went to work again, and at a new career so he founded this school, which is a living monument to him and to his devotion, and to the greatness of soul of a very noble figure in American life."

General Yount moved with amazing swiftness, as only a dedicated man can. A few months after setting his course, he saw The American Institute for Foreign Trade char tered as an Arizona corporation.

The General, who died at Oak Creek Canyon a few Sheets' design, a central quadrangle flanked by two large swimming pools and dormitory buildings, remains pretty much unchanged. Sheets took his inspiration from the Indian lore of the Southwest, favoring that traditional symbol The Thunderbird. (AIFT graduates are "Thunderbirds.") During World War II Thunderbird Field functioned as a pilot training center, lapsing into a deactivated status with the closing of hostilities. General Yount was a man blessed with the gift of persuasion as well as foresight. Fully cognizant of the potential benefit to the nation, the War Assets Administration turned over the field to the budding academy. Simultaneous with this stroke of achievement a capital fund was made available in the form of unsecured loans by eastern and Arizona banks.

AMERICAN INSTITUTE FOR FOREIGN TRADE

With dispatch, The American Institute for Foreign Trade began its first semester in October of 1946. Eight months later the first of the Thunderbirda were graduated. The basic curriculuas has undergone no intrinsde change. American international busines was asked ons qussion when the course of study was planned. In the words of AIFT's president, Dr. Cad A. Sauer: "When you hire a young man for knasemational work, what do you want him to have on the ball?"

The passage of years has not shared the requested fundamentals. Ferns continue to stress a three-fold prefer ence. Any applicant anxious for a career in international businuse should have the capacity to acquire a foreign language; to this should be added an understanding of the particolar fneign cukove with which he'll work. Lastly, his practicing knowledge of global commerce should be sound.

Succinctly put by one prominent interviewer in the field of Isotretional counamazon, "What we are looking for in the young men who has the potentiel and le willing to amanat responsibility in a post far from home and super vision. Once ont in the field, be cannot pick up the phone and find out what to do next. He must be a man capable of making decalons - and the right decisions on the spor.

At The American Institute for Foreign Trade the thave armes of concavention an departmsonlized suder Language, Aros Studios, and International Commerce. Akbough thousands upon thousands of American students take a language as part of thak sscondary aduca tion, many cannot couveuse adéquately in their euxiliary toshgues.

This oddity is deftly pla-pointed in the popular masi cal play "South Pacific, where the debonair French planter Emile De Becque opens his haary to the pride of Arkansas, Ensign Nellis Forbosch.

"Did you stady Franch in school?" "Oh, yos." "Then you can read Franch?" "Nol" Then, as if to atkd a note of hope, Nellis cour forts, "I can conjugate a few wabs."

Verb conjugation is only a means part of AIFT's intrusive language program, a forum at once rugged and productive.

Dr. Sener speaking. "We teach a language to a man can speak and understand it, not as a memory exercise to go from freshman to sophomore year. Our purpose is practical."

This "knock-down" concept is the price explanation for the exemplary mood made by Thunderbirds, and is is not to imply the quality of romantic imagination is cheap. Not at all. One Thunderbird took his family on a sad unique jaunt across Siberia it a bus. In novel fashion two Thunderbird Marco Polos charted Bosiken zivar unexplored by whke man - by going the the wrong way Intentionally. In the mountains of Colombia mother Thunderbird family conducts a private peace-corps mis sion, adding remote villages to mandul a better life. The Het goes on.

These languages are taught at AIFT under the guidance of Instructors wine mother tongue is efther Spanish, Portuguese, or Franch. Currently Contral and South Amerion offor more opportunities to the AIFT graduate thua Europe or Asia. Over 70% of the Thunderbirds are now working in those regions.

Approximately half the students time is mloon velda language steady. In small conversational classes of eight students, English is strictly forbidden, and spart brosi nine alessroom hous each week, the student is required to masseur twice this time is outside preparation. A umaki booth language laboratory stocked with recorded material is tremendously helpful is mastering good pronunciation and insonction pattecas. Fundamentals, oral expression, reading, and writing in the chosra language sound out tids instruction.

Of the curriculum's balance, half is devoted to the field of Area Study. For example, should a student decide he wishes to pursue a banking career in Latin America ho will, naturally, select Spanish or Portuguese (Brazil) fome bis language and enroll in the Area Study of "Latin America." Should Western Europe be his choice, French will be his langungs, while his Area Study will be "West ern Europe." Aris requires French and "The Far East."

In this Department, whether the subject be "Basic Elements of International Relations," or "The Econom ics of Western Europe," the aim is the same: To saqsahat the student with tis grogaphical, etimological, economic, and social features of that ones where he'll most Mkely be waking. He's introduced to the modes of la, health conditions, social customs, religious belials, and other aspects of allsa culture.

The Department of International Commerce bits haed on the home of global trade, highlighting actual commercial situations.

Admittedly, the three-pronged method is Spiectan is compactness. It's intended to be. No arvoys heve been

made to decipher just how long a similez course of lastem tion would take in a collegs concerned with parallel sub Jecin, but it's problematical thet AIFT's record can be betvored or even equalled.

These are reasons for this. The students themselves, for a stint. The average age is twenty-six. No youngsters straight out of high school, syen bought as Disney crickets, willing to confuse the role of purchasing agent with that of proccosteur.

The older, more dedicated student came into his own during the aftermath of World War II. Advanced study was ont a delfianos or something to be accepted Eightly as a matter of course. The same viewpoint is inherent to the Thunderbird. He is at AIFT because he wants to be. In any such samospliere leszning is bound to prosper. Usually about 30% of the atm students are maccled and a goodly proportion of this figure ans parents. There are seems scholarships and fellowships advanced to the qualified bat, con siding the worth of AIFT, not nearly the number one might expect.

Limited student loan funds are also available together with some on-and-off-campus suployment. Sincs study et AIFT is so intensified, spare time is someca.

The academic year presently costs the student about $agoo. The sam takas case of room, board, and tatios $3000 is figured for married couples, with books and instructional supplies esthunted ar an additional $75.

The Institute is strictly non-profit, non-sectarian and privately governed and has recently become an affiliate of the American Management Association. Its financial sup part la received by way of contributione from world-minded business firmas and the support of leading organisations in Arisons. Sell by far the major part of oparting expenses arm met by tuition feas.

There are no entrance examinations. AIFT is accredited by the University of Ariona as a postgraduate school and accepts as candidates for the degree of Bachelor and Master of Foreign Trade students who already possess a recognized baccalaureate degree. Special students are also accepted who desire certain courses without being subject to the overall curriculum requirements.

The academic year at AIFT runs from early Septemberbar until late May, breaking into a fall and spring semester with the usual recess periods normal to any college.

The school day begins about 8 a.m. and stretches until 5 p.m. Homework takes up most evenings.

Thunderbirds find their way to AIFT by various routes. Word-of-mouth plays a large part. Former grad uates are eager and delighted to recommend their unique Alma Mater to promising young people interested in a foreign trade career. Businesses, acutely aware of AIFT's work, often look to prospective employees who wish to improve their chances for assignment.

AIFT is by no means an "all work and no play" oasis. Thus, life is limited and the week demanding, but Jack will have his way.

Situated klearly in The Valley of the Sun, Old Mexico is a few hours drive from tise Instituse. During the cooler months winter sports are not far off, gracing the San Fran cloco Pasks ares of Flagstaff in Northern Arizona. Movies and legklaists thestres, at galleries, and symphony con cents are all close at hand in Phoenix and neighboring towns.

The low ranch styling of the campus buildings acounts sl fresco purvaks, and a full complessant of student pub Ecations, entertainments, social programs, chaba, and the futecuational business fraternities round out another side of life at AIFT.

Living sccommodatlona deserve zaention. There are tre stænderd dormitory zocuns for single men and wons students, mors spacious and pelvate quarters for neuxied couples and, finally, facilities for married students wirls children, complete with cooking amngements. The Insti tate malatains a staffed numery. All the accommodations are comfortably tweedy and quiet, and ultimately condu cive to study. The campus and ke buildinga make for an sttractive southwestom soone, with rough-hewn coder posts and vine-covered welks supplying an added touch of pleasantry.

In at least one zerspect AIFT harbors a Hegering allisacs with the Old West. Women are stance. The stur dent ratio is something like thirty men to one worm.

A quarter of a century ago opportunities in freeiga. made wara alacat enchasively sequestered for men, Usa ally what positions were open followed the secretarial live, with bi-togual scenographes heading the demand. The objections complained that sandry blocks barred s woman's participation.

"Can't put a woman in the Sahara -- the beat'd kill her."

"Can't send a women to Karachi - mouble kewwing."

"Can't have a women in the Uni office the s sure won't like The cojection was a chacactcristic seworking of the movie cliché, ""This is no placs for a woman."

Such prejudices were not easy to overcome.

The acknowledgements of Key Man graduates stationed in the far corners of the restless earth. There are explicit reasons why such endorsements come freely.

The faculty, for example, is comprised of carefully selected men and women, who are not just experts in their particular fields but excellent classroom teachers. Incidentally, the atmosphere at AIFT is relaxed and camaraderie finds its own way between faculty and students.

The lecturers who speak at AIFT are drawn from the local, national, and international scene. Since graduates find employment in one of three areas: business in Latin America, the Orient, or Europe; government service abroad; or international commerce in the United States; invited lecturers, like faculty members, reflect these predilections.

One day the lecturer may be the Mexican ambassador or the Consul-General of France; the next, the information officer of the Federal Republic of Germany, or the board president of an outstanding advertising corporation.

Further comment comes from the late Neil C. Hurley, Chairman of the National Export Expansion Council: "The Institute has a Board of Directors and a Board of Trustees that include university presidents, former ambassadors, business executives from coast to coast, and a more distinguished group of academic advisors does not exist."

The placement-consulting office has close liaison with some 500 American and international business firms and government agencies. Representatives visit the campus each semester searching for the kind of talent they require.

Close to 4,000 graduates, half on overseas duty, are accredited Thunderbirds, serving in over eighty countries from Afghanistan to Venezuela, with appointments arching from Nepal to Ethiopia, Greenland to Indonesia, dotting the AIFT spectrum. ("Traveling" is often given by Thunderbirds as their operating base.) They hold down positions from technical advisors to company presidents.

In all, AIFT has trained personnel for the activities of some 1500 companies.

A long time has passed from the day General Yount first conceived of his idea for AIFT to the point today where his wisdom is proven so meritoriously by the performance of alumni.

The struggle for peace is as much a matter of world trade as it is of military watchfulness.

Butter-over-guns, peace-through-commerce, is a levelheaded concept that puts trade problems in the correct perspective. Sir Winston Churchill stated it, "Jaw, jaw, is better than war, war."

In the race for peace, methods and techniques cannot be restricted solely to the realm of geopolitics. One of the more popular courses in the Area Study Department is "The Communist Economic Offensive;" wherein the objectives of Communist tactics that employ the weapons of economic warfare are fully explored as well as the effective and likely-to-be-successful countermeasures.

In a sense, Thunderbirds, once training is completed, are ready for combat duty on the field of international trade.

More than this, The American Institute for Foreign Trade is helping the image of America command respect. "An American abroad is America to the people with whom he associates."

The spirit of the clipper ship has been replaced by the spirit of the Thunderbird. No matter in what language you choose to say it: Spanish, French, Portuguese, or any other for that matter, its meaning augurs wisely.

Good fortune.

POETIC IMPRESSIONS OF A VISIT TO THE LAND WHERE RAINBOWS TURNED TO STONE

By Lou Ella Archer

GRAND CANYON

I dare not tell of you, lest while the tale Were told a cloud should pass and all untrue Would be my words.

ZION CANYON

Spellbound I see your lofty walls array Themselves in colors of the dawn or hue of sunset afterglow

TEMPLE OF SINAWAVA

Temple of Sinawava! sacred shrine That God built for Himself, wherein to meet His worshippers..

BETA-TA-KIN

The very air is still no earthly breath Disturbs its dream; a spring, which did not fail The past, still ripples down its rocky bed; Ah, what a setting for a life or death!

BRYCE CANYON

White shapes appear as from darkness drawn By wave of fairy wand to greet the day; The night is overcome and spins away; There in the shadow something moves, a fawn Comes toward the spring, then in a flash is gone

JET TRAILS

Color them rose-pink, at dawn, in the desert sky, Creamy-white on blue when the sun rides high, Rose-pink again when the sun sinks low; Then watch them dissolve in its afterglow.

- Eugene McAllister

ANONYMOUS DONOR

A quarter in a juke box And a coffee counter brightens Like a row of ragged hollyhocks in sudden rain. The separate lonely strangers Lift up their friendly faces And the waitress serves the coffee another round again. Somebody pays for trumpets Swinging wide and handsome Somebody pays for rhythm at a country crossroads store. Somebody curves a rainbow Through the gray and misty weather With a sudden gift of magic where all was drab before.

- Frances Hall

ARIZONA HOOTENANNY

Presenting the desert's Latest rage: A virtuoso breeze That strums taut strings Of sage, And chords against the Joshua trees.

-Richard D. Ness

YOURS SINCERELY JOHN WESLEY POWELL:

Referring to your issue of April, 1965, re the article entitled "John Wesley Powell." It caught my special interest in the mentioning of two of the members of that trip down the Colorado River Canyon.

Mr. Jack Sumner and Mr. Wm. H. Dunn. The first named man lived in my home town, Grand Junction, Colo., about the turn of this century and I recall him often coming to our home near his, telling my father of some of his experiences in that Canyon Voyage.

I happen to have a small snap-shot of him as he was holding my younger sister. He was a bit under the influence at the time and my mother was afraid he might breathe liquor fumes into my sister's face.

It was especially impressed with the accuracy of some of the statements of the author - Joyce Rockwood Muench - regarding some of the events in that trip.

I recall Mr. Sumner and my father discussing this trip with another neighbor man, a boaster of his travels, and this neighbor asked, "Did you ever hear of the Bright Angel Trail?" and I well remember Mr. Sumner's reply: "I named the damn thing."

I have read Mr. Dellenbaugh's "Canyon Voyage" many times as my folks had an autographed copy of it during my childhood.

Please extend my sincere thanks to Joyce Rockwood Muench for her splendid story about a most famous trip.

Harold M. Rider Ojai, California

KANAB CANYON:

I would like to commend your staff of the July '64 issue of ARIZONA HIGHWAYS. The magazine is always deserving of praise but this issue has proven itself to myself and six companions.

In my three and one-half years of association with the Grand Canyon, I have been down to the Colorado River some 10 times in 11 trips. Two of these were complete boat traverses, the others include Havasu, Toroweap, and, of course, the Bright Angel and Kaibab routes as well as a few other jaunts along lesser known trails. This year I got the bug to take on Kanab Creek after reading the article in the July '64 issue. It was great.

The article was of such a nature that it enabled us to make a very easy roundup of information needed and also served as a guide to finding the people and routes and hints which make a trip so much easier. In our case we were able to cover all the ground which the Goldmans and Mr. Frost covered, with the exception of Jumpup Canyon, in some seven days 93 map miles. I'm sure that if it weren't for the article on Kanab Creek, we would never have been able to complete the jaunt as we did but more important, we probably would never have gone in the first place.

Many thanks for this issue as well as others which concern the Grand Canyon country in particular they serve as a fine guide and inspiration to visit the Canyon country.

Art Gallenson Salt Lake City, Utah

LETTER OF THANKS:

A few months ago I wrote to you asking if your magazine could be sent to our Tibetan Refugee School because the students had seen several old issues and were so happy to look at them.

Since that time, we have received many letters from American people who saw this letter in your magazine. Many of them have sent us subscriptions to magazines and collected books and other old magazines for our library. The kindness of the American people will not be forgotten and the boys and girls of our school have asked me to thank you for your help.

We have received many letters from every place in the United States so your magazine has gone to many places. Thank you for putting my letter in your magazine and for your help.

Lobsang Tenzin Librarian Tibetan Refugee School Mussoorie, U. P., India

GRAND ADVENTURE:

Let me be one of the first readers of your fine magazine to congratulate you on the very splendid article which appeared in the April number, entitled: "The Grand Adventure," by John M. Scott. This man's experience is most vividly described; he is truly an artist at painting pictures with words!

Charlie Green San Angelo, Texas

OPPOSITE PAGE

"FISHING SCENE PENA BLANCA LAKE" BY DARWIN VAN CAMPEN. Photo taken at Pena Blanca Lake along Arizona 289 west of U. S. 89 in Santa Cruz County, Southern Arizona. Man-made Pena Blanca Dam (Spanish for "white rock") was completed in 1957 and the lake formed behind it has become a popular recreational area for Arizonans and visitors alike. 4x5 Linhof camera; Ektrachrome; f.30 at 1/25th sec.; 127mm Ektar lens; November; bright sunlight; Weston Meter 400; ASA rating 50.

BACK COVER

"CLOUDSCAPE OVER BLUE MESA PETRIFIED FOREST NATIONAL PARK" BY WAYNE DAVIS. Blue Mesa, Petrified Forest National Park, is one of the most colorful portions of the area. Late summer thunderheads filling the sky add to the dramatic beauty of the scene. 4x5 Linhof camera; Ektrachrome; f.16 at 1/25th sec; 150mm Symmar lens; September; late afternoon, side lighting; ASA rating 64.