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Our Story

We’ve been running life-changing exchanges since 1966 – beginning with our first group traveling to Western Europe for a multi-country conference on Transatlantic relations.

Group of delegates posing with flowers in the middle.
1968: The first ACYPL American delegation in Germany in front of the Berlin Wall.
American ACYPL delegates in the former Soviet Union, wearing winter coats and some with Soviet-style hats.
1971: The first American delegation to the Soviet Union. Delegates included ACYPL founder Spencer Oliver, Pat Buchanan, and former Senator Wyche Fowler among others.
American delegates seated around a table for a TV interview in Japan
1973: An American delegation was interviewed on Japanese television with eventual Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi (seated far left).
Pres. Ford on the left side of a large table, at the center, with Soviet journalists opposite him.
1975: A delegation of Soviet journalists speaking with President Gerald Ford at the White House.
Dr. Sarah Weddington seated to the left of Pres. Carter, with other staff members seated behind them and on either side.
1979: Dr. Sarah Weddington, special assistant to President Jimmy Carter, at a meeting regarding normalizing relations with China. Dr. Weddington was the only member of the Carter Administration who had visited China, traveling to the country on ACYPL’s first China exchange in 1977.
Pres. and Nancy Reagan standing under a canopy at an entrance of the White House greeting Australian delegates standing a few feet away.
1985: President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan welcome an Australian delegation at the White House.
Bill and Hillary Clinton posing with delegates from Hungary with Clinton campaign signage behind them.
1992: A delegation from Hungary meets with the Clintons in North Carolina in May 1992, the day then-Governor Clinton won that state’s primary.
Group shot with participants from the 1994 Election Study Program posting in DC in front of a statue.
1994: ACYPL hosts an Election Study program for 88 delegates from 56 countries who visited eight states. ACYPL has run election programs for international delegates in every election year since 1968.
Group posing in a government building.
2009: ACYPL and our partner in China, the All-China Youth Federation, celebrate 30 years of exchanges with a delegation of American alumni traveling to Beijing. Some of the delegates were returning to China for the first time since their first ACYPL exchange in the 1970s and 1980s.
Fellows posing in a large group on the steps of the U.S. Capitol
2010: ACYPL hosts its first Legislative Fellows Program, which later becomes the Professional Fellows Program. These programs bring young leaders under 35 from Southeast Asia to the U.S. for 4-week placements in American offices.
A collage of 3 different speakers from ACYPL's 50th anniversary celebration: from left to right, Sen. Dick Durbin, founder Spencer Oliver, Sen. Mitch McConnell, all speaking at an ACYPL podium.
2016: ACYPL celebrates its 50th anniversary and honors our founder, Spencer Oliver, as well as Senators (and alumni) Dick Durbin and Mitch McConnell.
ACYPL delegates standing with Japanese leaders in front of a temple on a snowy, wintery day.
2023: Five alumni of ACYPL exchanges to Japan travel back on a special trip celebrating 50 years of exchanges with our partner, the Japan Center for International Exchange.

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