History and Founding of Indiana Partners of the Americas
The origin of the Partners of the Alliance in 1964, which became the Partners of the Americas , is well known. In June of that year, Mr. James Boren of the U.S. State Department went to Porto Alegre to meet with the Rio Grande do Sul Governor, Mr. Ildo Meneghetti, to discuss this people-to-people program. Fortuitously, for us in Indiana , the Governor and several top civil officials were unavailable and the American Consul, Mr. Thomas Duiffield, asked a leading citizen, Mr. Dante Campaña, to meet Boren for this purpose.
In September, Mr. Thomas received word that both Indiana and Wisconsin would agree to Partnership with Rio Grande do Sul. Because of Campaña's familiarity with Indiana , he, having done business with Cummins Engine in Columbus , Indiana , chose Indiana .
At a November, 1964 meeting, Dante was asked to organize the Rio Grande do Sul Committee. He did so and became it's first president, a role he played for five years. His counterpart in Indiana was Dr. Robert Carmin, a Dean at Ball State University in Muncie , Indiana . Several government and industry leaders, with encouragement from Senator Birch Bayh, were active in the formation and work of the Indiana Committee of the new partnership. Following these pathfinders, a long list of citizens from professional and academic life led the two committees.