The ANCA is an outgrowth of the American Committee for the Independence of Armenia (ACIA) which was founded after World War I by Vahan Cardashian, the former Consul of the Ottoman Empire in Washington.

Ambassador to Germany, Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Charles Evans Hughes (later appointed Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court), Elihu Root and others participated to this organization.

The ANCA is active in different areas of political and educational activities, including: Beyond the national headquarters of the ANCA located in Washington, there are two regional offices in New York City and Los Angeles, and more than fifty local chapters and thousands of activists,[2] it is cooperating with a large web of regional Armenian National Committees (or Armenian Cause/Hay Tad Offices) in Armenia, Russia, France, the Middle East, Canada, South America, and Australia.

The ANCA was among the major organizations backing US House Resolution 106 which called for the United States to recognize the Armenian genocide committed by the Ottoman Empire during World War I.

In 2014, ANCA-WR celebrated the California Senate's recognition of the Republic of Artsakh, with then-Executive Director Elen Asatryan stating "This resolution couldn't have come at a better time, given the recent escalated level of violence along the Artsakh-Azerbaijan border, and as our freedom fighters continue to defend their right to live under a government of their own choosing.

[8] ANCA works to improve the strategic U.S.–Armenia partnership in terms of expanding trade; increasing aid; further developing mutually-beneficial political, economic, security, military, and peacekeeping cooperation; and elevating the frequency of bilateral visits at both head of state and government levels.

That means we need the involvement of everyone in our community; young and old, rich and poor, those with a college degree and those with none, those who are gay and those who are straight, or those who were born in America or those who came to this country as immigrants.