When Monnet launched a new European unity initiative in October 1955, he called it the Action Committee for the United States of Europe, knowing that such a title would appeal to his influential American friends. In fact, one of the Committee's most important financial backers was the Ford Foundation. This Foundation promoted and supported endeavors worldwide which fostered greater co-operation with America. Shepard Stone, previously a reporter and editor of the New York Times joined the Foundation and later became its director. Stone had a doctorate from the University of Berlin, and this coupled with his knowledge of Germany and contacts with Germans had brought him to John McCloy's attention. So when McCloy became US High Commissioner in Germany, he appointed Stone as head of Public Affairs in the Commission. Stone's longstanding admiration for Monnet began under McCloy's influence and later when he took up the Ford Foundation directorship he began to fund many of the Action Committee's activities by appropriating money for the Center forDocumentation of the Action Committee for the United States of Europe, the European Community Institute for University Studies and the Center for European History. Later in his career, Stone became Director of the Aspen Institute in Berlin.

The originals are held in various Archives and Presidential Libraries in the USA