Weekly Kiwanis Minute

1. To give primacy to the human and spiritual rather than to the material values of life.

2. To encourage the daily living of the Golden Rule in all human relationships.

3. To promote the adoption and the application of higher social, business, and professional standards.

4. To develop, by precept and example, a more intelligent, aggressive, and serviceable citizenship.

5. To provide, through Kiwanis clubs, a practical means to form enduring friendships, to render altruistic service, and to build better communities.

6. To cooperate in creating and maintaining that sound public opinion and high idealism which make possible the increase of righteousness, justice, patriotism, and goodwill.

By 1918, word of Kiwanis was spreading, and a number of new clubs had been formed in the U.S. and Canada. At a member convention in Birmingham, Alabama that year, the organization decided it was time to make a final break with its original founder, controversial promoter Allen Simpson Browne. Delegates voted to purchase the right to the Kiwanis name and all associated agreements from Browne to sever all of his ties to the organization. It was decided to buy out all of his controlling interests for $17,500—which was raised on the spot within a 24-hour period. He was paid and disappeared from the organization. He had no more dealings with Kiwanis, and passed away in Dallas, Texas in 1934. The momentous decision of Kiwanis in 1918 to stand on its own was a landmark decision that put a lot of turbulent history into the past and set the organization on a clear course. That same historic convention put in place the concept of District organization that remains in place with Kiwanis today.

Delegates also chose George F. Hixson as the first international president. He would later be re-elected as the only person to hold the title of President for two consecutive terms. Today, the George F. Hixson Fellowship honors him. Any Kiwanis member can be granted George F. Hixson Fellowship status by making a $1,000 (US) contribution to the Kiwanis International Foundation.

While Detroit, Michigan lays claim to being the first organized Kiwanis club, the first year of meetings was not without some heated debate, with many members choosing up sides. Was it going to be a business club or a service organization? The discourse got so divisive that the initial club president—Don Johnston—resigned his position over principle. But then he was immediately re-elected, causing a lot of opposing members to simply walk out and drop their membership. Johnston had believed from the beginning that if the club was to be successful, it had to offer philanthropic community service to the city of Detroit. He stuck to his guns, even with opposition, and set Kiwanis on a steady course of helping others, rather than members looking out for themselves. So, Don Johnston became a very important person in the early history of Kiwanis.

The first year of Kiwanis did not go smoothly. The founder of the first Kiwanis club, in Detroit, Michigan—Allen Simpson Browne—had also organized a similar club about 10 months later in 1915, in Cleveland, Ohio. They knew nothing of the club in Detroit, and had similar conflict among its members about the purpose of the organization. Browne insisted the Cleveland group also focus on professional networking and business building while many in the Cleveland group wanted to be a service club. Cleveland set about to a variety of civic projects such as building a new city hall, paving streets and serving the needs of young children. By mid-May of 1916, a "national meeting" was set for Cleveland, and the stage was set for a showdown on the convention floor to argue the reason for being. Many were not at all pleased with what Browne was insisting the organization do. Delegates also argued about the legalities of who had the authority to organize other clubs in other states. Browne’s grip on the organization was openly questioned and challenged. In the end, the open debate was healthy for the fledgling organization to help define what their real meaning and purpose was to become. We now know the outcome, don’t we!