A Commitment to Social Justice

At the close of his tenure at Carnegie Corporation, Alan Pifer took a long look at the years he had spent as president, shepherding the Corporation and shaping it through engaged activism, a hallmark of his era. In the Corporation’s 1982 annual report, he wrote that virtually everything he had done as president of Carnegie Corporation had been “guided by a single motivating force—a lifelong belief in social justice and the equality of all people under the law. This was a passion I inherited from parents who were deeply imbued with democratic values and brought me up to share them,” he continued. “The conviction was strengthened during the war years when, along with many other Americans, I took part in the defense of freedom against Nazi and Fascist tyranny, and it became firmly set in the years immediately after the war when I was working abroad and had the opportunity to travel widely in Europe and Africa. By the time I came to the Corporation in 1953, the commitment had become an immutable part of my very being. The key questions for me here with respect to any proposed action have always been: Will it promote equality of opportunity? And will it to some degree make the world a fairer and more just place? ”

Pifer goes on to say, “As time went by, this outlook was supplemented by a second perspective that gradually became as strong and as clear as the first. The new outlook grew from an interest I began to take during the 1960s in human resource development, or, as it is sometimes called, ‘human capital formation,’ which over time has led me to the view that the very future of our society depends absolutely on the broad development of all our people, and especially of our children, irrespective of race, sex, economic statues, or any other consideration.”⁵

Commenting on Pifer and his contributions to progress in the field of social justice, Vartan Gregorian, president of Carnegie Corporation of New York, says, “Throughout his career, Alan Pifer was always striving to do the right thing because he believed, deeply, that for every challenge he faced, there was a right way. He fought social injustice; he stood in opposition to racism; and he worked to end discrimination against women and minorities. For these reasons and more, his three decades of work in philanthropy still resonate today. And the work of Carnegie Corporation is enriched and inspired by his legacy.”

⁵ Carnegie Corporation Annual Report, 1982, “The Report of the President,” p. 5. Carnegie Corporation of New York Records, Rare Books and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Libraries. Series VIII.A.1 (CCNY Annual Reports)

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