The origin of the Foreign Policy Alliance can be traced to a conference held at Texas Southern University in Houston in 2015. This event, Peace or Wars Without End? U.S. Foreign Policy: A Conference to Explore Our Choices, was organized by the Houston Peace and Justice Center (HPJC), a long-time non-violent activist organization with a liberal orientation. Among the planning group participants was Frances “Sissy” Farenthold, former candidate for the Democratic nomination for Texas Governor and for U.S. Vice-President.
One of the conference organizers, Joe Marcinkowski (now FPA vice-president), inspired by Ralph Nader’s 2014 book Unstoppable, brought the idea of a left-right alliance on foreign policy to the HPJC planning group. As a result, the conference invited these speakers from both the right and the left who shared the view that American foreign policy needed to develop a new non-interventionist direction: Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, David Swanson, Dr. Robert Jensen, Col. Ann Wright, Marilyn White, Daniel McAdams, Mustafaa Carroll, Kindaka Jahmal Sanders, David Nalle, and Elio Cequea.
After the conference, several of the organizers and attendees decided to continue the project by forming the Foreign Policy Alliance. Months of meetings and discussions resulted in the development of a core organizational resolution: A Call to Reform U.S. Foreign Policy. This Resolution soon received a number of significant endorsements, including Dr. Gordon Adams, Dr. Andrew Bacevich, Dr. Elizabeth Cobbs, Dr. Jon Dorschner, Dr. Lloyd Dumas, Dr. Ivan Eland, Dr. Jacob Hornberger, Dr. Jason Sorens, Dr. David Vine, and Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson.
The Foreign Policy Alliance was incorporated on June 21, 2017 as a Texas domestic non-profit corporation and was approved by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization on December 28, 2017.
The FPA developed an educational program on foreign policy which included several speaker events and panel discussions held in conjunction with the Center for International Studies at the University of St. Thomas; presentations at all six campuses of Lone Star College and to civic, religious, and political groups; radio and television appearances; mailing of the FPA Resolution and brochure to all members of Congress; and circulation of the FPA Resolution to political candidates and organizations, and to foreign policy academics. The Covid-19 pandemic effectively curtailed the FPA’s live outreach presentations.