[1] He is best remembered as a founding member and key figure in the Intercollegiate Socialist Society and as the husband of Rose Pastor Stokes, a radical union organizer, birth control advocate and activist in the Communist Party of America.

[4] The family fortune came from Manhattan real estate, the Phelps Dodge mining empire, a and railroad in Nevada.

[6][7] Following receipt of his medical degree, Stokes continued with a year of graduate study of political science at Columbia.

[6][1] At this same time, Graham's father was active in the Anti-Imperialist League, described by one historian as "a group of substantial citizens" opposed to American intervention in the Philippines.

He therefore feels that he can serve society best by living in a house which denies the existence of classes and which claims equal opportunities for everybody.

[2] Historians Arthur Zipser and Pearl Zipser describe the scene: "There was a lively intellectual atmosphere on the top floor of the University Settlement house, where the highly educated, mostly rich, young social workers had their residence, dining, and club rooms.

It was a world apart from the lower floors of the building, where the regular settlement house functions were carried out among the denizens of the surrounding ghettoized slum.

"[9] In addition to being a member of the Council of the University Settlement, Stokes founded and became chair of the board of Hartley House in New York City.

[1] In 1905, Stokes became a candidate for public office, running for president of the New York Board of Aldermen, representing the Municipal Ownership League.

"[12] The decision to run down the ticket with the multimillionaire publisher was not a popular one with Stokes' radical new wife, who wanted defeat for Hearst and his associates.

[16] Stokes had a leading role in the organization for the next decade, serving as president until 1917 and speaking far and wide on topics of contemporary concern under ISS auspices.

[17] In the spring of 1909, Stokes and his wife went on the road for a full month, speaking at colleges throughout New England, where they distributed ISS literature for free or at a nominal charge to interested undergraduates.

[1][4] Stokes was a frequent author of articles on current social problems and letters of opinion to various journals and newspapers.

[1][23] She was a Jewish–Polish immigrant and former cigar factory employee with less than two years of formal education; the newspapers called her the "Cinderella of the Sweatshops.

[1] He told a reporter for the New York Tribune, "Mrs. Stokes and I still have the same ideals, the same aims, but we differ on the means of attaining them.

[4] In the meantime, Rose persisted in war and other protests, getting arrested in Kansas City and sentenced to ten years in prison.

[4] Their mutual friend Upton Sinclair wrote Stokes, asking for help to cover the cost of her treatment.

[4] Stokes replied, "I am now assured by friends of hers in New York, that sufficient funds for her care for a year have been raised.

[4] On November 9, 1931, Stokes was among a small group that was the first to meet Meher Baba when he travel to the United States.

[26] Stokes invited Bab to stay at his Greenwich Village home at 88 Grove Street whenever he was in New York.