The Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) was founded in 1915 by sixty-eight pacifists, including Norman Thomas, A. J. Muste, and Jane Addams. FOR was formed initially in opposition to the entry of the United States into World War I. The American Civil Liberties Union developed out of FOR?s conscientious objectors program and the Emergency Committee for Civil Liberties.

In 1918, FOR and the American Federation of Labor formed Brookwood Labor College, which lasted until 1937.