This series was created to house information regarding the Great Decision program hosted by the World Affairs council. The Great Decisions program was founded in 1954 by the Foreign Policy Association of New York City. The authors of this series seek to engage United States citizens in learning about issues which affect their country. Great Decisions offer participants the opportunity to discuss a multitude of international policy issues and how they affect United States' foreign policy in turn. Each year many different current events related organizations use the information produced by the Foreign Policy Association to organize lectures, panel discussions, debates, television programs, and other events that promote global awareness in the specific community. For more information see www.fpa.org.

It is unclear exactly when the World Affairs Council joined this program. The earliest references to the Great Decisions series occurs in the Executive Board Minutes dating from the Fall of 1960. The collection itself includes documentation from as early as 1981.

All information regarding the Great Decisions has been separated in order to create its own series. This facilitates easy access to the specific documentation. The files are organized by year, then alphabetically within each year.