Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965) was a German theologian, philosopher, musician, musicologist, doctor, surgeon, and medical missionary. Born in Alsace, France, Schweitzer studied at Strasbourg University and the Sorbonne in Paris. He was an exceptional performer and critic of Bach as well as an influential organ-builder, while as a lecturer in theology at the University of Strasbourg his unorthodox ideas about the need for reason and truth within Christian dogma earned him both controversy and praise. He returned to school in1905 to study medicine and, following his qualification as a doctor in 1913, he and his wife founded a missionary hospital in Lambaréné, French Equatorial Africa (now Gabon). The hospital eventually grew to 70 buildings and attracted dedicated and talented medical staff from around the world. Schweitzer received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1952 for his advocacy of the brotherhood of nations.

The International Goethe Convocation, held in Aspen, Colorado in 1949, was sponsored by the Goethe Bicentennial Foundation, an American non-profit founded to recognize and celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of German writer and diplomat Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832). Albert Schweitzer, whom the program described as "acknowledged throughout the civilized world as the foremost modern disciple of Goethe," was invited to give the keynote address. It was Schweitzer's first trip to the United States.