The year was 1945, and the world could finally exhale. The Third Reich was defeated and US troops were coming home.

And, in arguably one of the most historic events of the Second World War, fifty-one countries joined together to form the United Nations, a multilateral peacekeeping union, to ensure that tragedies such as the Holocaust never happen again. Its mission was to be vigilant against tyranny in all forms and to open the world's eyes to the possibility of world peace. 

That same year, twenty-five-year-old Ruth Steinkraus was opening her eyes to the world from her home in Westport. A recent graduate of Vassar, where ideas about world issues were sown, this music major and accomplished pianist was slowly developing a passion for activism.

While Ruth was in college, Eleanor Roosevelt had attended one of her piano recitals. This chance event initiated a life-long friendship and working relationship that culminated in Ruth serving as Eleanor's personal secretary. More importantly, it stimulated a collaboration on an organizational template for using cross-cultural hospitality events as a springboard to promote understanding and peace. Out of this collaboration came what is now known as the International Hospitality Committee of Fairfield County, which originally stood on its own and now is officially affiliated with both the United Nations Association of the USA and the National Council for International Visitors, sponsored by the U.S. State Department.

Ruth's passion for peace was ignited by Hitler's invasion of Poland in 1938, but her first opportunity to organize others toward this end came in 1936 at the World Federation of the UN Association, where she and Eleanor were able to see first-hand the devastation of Krakow, Poland and were exposed to first-hand accounts of a Polish acquaintance being arrested for having read Solzhenitzyn's "One Life in the Day of Ivan Denisovich".

Inspired by these events, Ruth swung into action, organizing a local chapter of the UNA, giving a ball for UN ambassadors at Longshore, holding large socials for foreign students at the University of Bridgeport, and coordinating any number of other events for UN dignitaries and staff to interact and exchange ideas in informal settings.

One characteristic anecdote resulted from the admittance of eighteen new countries - mostly French-speaking African nations - into the UN in 1960. Civil rights tensions were at a fever pitch. In the South, visiting dignitaries Ruth described as "the George Washingtons of their countries" couldn't eat at American restaurants or use public rest rooms. Ruth conceived of using direct American hospitality as a means to introduce foreign dignitaries to a more sophisticated and representative America which embraced foreign cultures, as she combed the streets of Manhattan for French-speaking volunteers who had been to Africa and would be willing to act as hosts. Everyone from her French teacher to hairdressers were recruited to help with the sixty guests who would come to Westport from the eighteen African nations.

Like the four previous years the event was a success - until the Ku Klux Klan surfaced. Threatening letters were left under the hotel doors of these dignitaries. Nigerian spokesmen cried racism and demanded that his continent's nations pull out of the UN. But at the UN an ambassador from Chad, citing the hospitality he had experienced in Westport, argued that America was not all racist. The media grabbed hold of this occurrence, and after much debate, these African countries decided to remain with the UN.

"The power of this event made us realize that you can't just do one event," said Ruth. "You have to keep up the friendship."

In the ensuing years, Ruth Steinkraus-Cohen built and sustained those friendships with a series of trend-setting programs sponsored and supported by some of the most renowned public figures in American life. In 1976, for example, the first official tribute to Connecticut's 100 most outstanding women leaders in the advocacy sphere was spearheaded by Ruth and Ella Grasso. Many programs to spread the UN's peace message into the homes of America were instituted, due to Ruth's commitment. "The UN is doing God's work on earth", as she once said. "From the atom to cruelty in zoos, there's a UN body paying attention to it."

Today the IHC, which reflects the activities that Ruth Steinkrauss created and led, is best known for jUNe Day, an event that has been celebrated for the last 43 years in commemoration of the signing of the UN charter. It brings more than three hundred diplomats and their families to Westport, which comes alive with a rainbow of colors as flags of the world line the bridge on Post Road.

It's not this day alone, however, that consumes the IHC, but a year of other activities arising from Ruth's passion for advocacy and her unique ability to bring together people of all types and persuasions to work toward peace and understanding. Among these activities can be found in-home hospitality for upwards of  300 guests annually for Thanksgiving and other holidays,  seminars of international journalists, tributes to women of accomplishment, publishing a UN calendar with international distribution, hosting dinners for dignitaries, high school essay contests, and acting as liaison to the UN and State Department.

As history bridges to the future, many opportunities are available for new volunteers to carry the spirit of the IHC's programs forward, as the need for filling these roles becomes ever more immediate and compelling in a world of global conflict and cooperation. History is made by those who participate and make a commitment.