The Lessing Society was founded at the University of Cincinnati in 1966 as the American Lessing Society by Gottfried F. Merkel and Guy Stern. In light of the international make-up of its membership, it was renamed the Lessing Society in 1973. It was the first world-wide Lessing Society and one of the most prominent institutions supporting research on the Enlightenment in the United States, with Ruth Klüger as one of its first Presidents. From the outset, the Lessing Society's goal has been to foster an understanding of Lessing as a critic who did not shy away from conflict, as an engaged man of the theatre, and as a cosmopolitan representative of the European Enlightenment. It is dedicated to promoting an appreciation of the work of this "German Voltaire" who sought to realize in theory and practice the liberal values of his age, and to continually rediscovering the living power of his thought.