The American Movement for World Government (AMWG) was founded in 1953 by William H. D. Cox, a commercial airline pilot, in order to show the need for a world government in the move toward world peace and international security. The founder was influenced by Albert Einstein's postulate that "mankind's desire for peace can be realized only by the creation of a world government..." The goals of the AMWG set forth in its by-laws include "the dissemination of information and education relative to the establishment of a federal world government; to encourage the establishment of a federal world government through utilization of all reasonable and loyal means; to promote world government and provide an organization of members working to those ends; all by virtue of meetings, discussion groups, preparation and dissemination of publications and other lawful means."
Toward these ends, the non-profit organization, incorporated in 1954, recruited spokespeople such as science fiction writer Isaac Aisimov who wrote an article entitled "World Government - Science Fiction or Reality"; Ellsworth T. Carrington, a co-pilot on one of the of the six B-29's that bombed Hiroshima; astronomy professor Carl Sagan and celebrity Ed Asner. A large-scale media campaign urged people via direct mail to take out newspaper advertisements in their communities advocating world government and nuclear disarmament. Such ads appeared in prominent newspapers including the New York Times. Other efforts included the promotion of a motion picture which documented the life of Emery Reves, author of the 1945 book The Anatomy of Peace, and attempts to republish the book.
In 1985 the AMWG hosted an event called "Ed Asner Meets Albert Einstein: A New Way of Thinking About Planet Earth, " in which Asner and an actor playing Einstein entered into a dialogue about world government. In June of 1985, the AMWG hosted a public meeting at its World Government Center which featured Isaac Asimov.
Much emphasis was placed on developing real world government and linking efforts with other similar minded groups. Because of this effort, the collection has vast amounts of information on related groups and their efforts toward world peace, world government, nuclear disarmament and similar interests. Some archival information relating to the World Federalists Association is contained in this collection (See NYPL Schwimmer-Lloyd Collection for WFA papers).
AMWG founder and president William H. D. Cox, Jr., led the organization through financial distress and flagging membership as well as internal organizational pressures. A United Airlines captain for 32 years, Cox was also involved in the Executive Council on Hazardous Material. He was a Navy pilot from 1946 to 1954. Additionally, Cox attended Brown University from 1943 to 1944, graduated from Columbia University in 1949, and attended Yale Medical School, where he founded a United World Federalist Chapter. He left Yale to work for the United World Federalists.
Carmel Kussman, a psychotherapist who resided in Brooklyn, New York, was active in AMWG for several decades, and also in other peace groups and world government movements. Her level of activity in the AMWG fluctuated between member, board member and vice president. She wrote "A Constitutional Approach to World Government" which became a part of the AMWG's publications library. By the end of the 1980's her involvement with AMWG had lessened although she still gave the group intermittent financial support. At this time she concentrated her efforts on "helping groups of people learn how they could live their daily lives without repeated resort to verbal or physical violence, " as she explained in a 1989 letter to AMWG President Ward Harrington. She was referring in part to her activities at the Arthur Kill Correctional Facility on Staten Island where she taught Alternatives to Violence Basic Workshop.