Based in a mansion at 120, rue de Longchamp in Paris, France, it was founded in 1961 and closed in 1988.
[1] The institute was approved by the NATO Parliamentarians Conference in June 1959 and opened formally on January 1, 1961.
Former Belgian Prime Minister Paul van Zeeland was the first Chairman of the institute, while Henry Cabot Lodge became Director-General later that year.
Headquarters initially were at the Hôtel de Crillon, site of the 1919 Paris Peace Conference.
[2] In 1978, talks were held to consider a merger between the Atlantic Institute and the Trilateral Commission, a similar private institution promoting American, European, and Japanese cooperation,[3] but no merger proceeded.