Inter American Beginnings Of U S Cultural Diplomacy

A landmark study of the most-neglected tool of U.S. foreign policy.

Cultural diplomacy—“winning hearts and minds” through positive portrayals of the American way of life—is a key element in U.S. foreign policy, although it often takes a backseat to displays of military might. Americans All provides an in-depth, fine-grained study of a particularly successful instance of cultural diplomacy—the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs (CIAA), a government agency established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1940 and headed by Nelson A. Rockefeller that worked to promote hemispheric solidarity and combat Axis infiltration and domination by bolstering inter-American cultural ties. Darlene J. Sadlier explores how the CIAA used film, radio, the press, and various educational and high-art activities to convince people in the United States of the importance of good neighbor relations with Latin America, while also persuading Latin Americans that the United States recognized and appreciated the importance of our southern neighbors. She examines the CIAA’s working relationship with Hollywood’s Motion Picture Society of the Americas; its network and radio productions in North and South America; its sponsoring of Walt Disney, Orson Welles, John Ford, Gregg Toland, and many others who traveled between the United States and Latin America; and its close ties to the newly created Museum of Modern Art, which organized traveling art and photographic exhibits and produced hundreds of 16mm educational films for inter-American audiences; and its influence on the work of scores of artists, libraries, book publishers, and newspapers, as well as public schools, universities, and private organizations.

An interpretive history of the uses of cultural relations in U.S. foreign policy. Analyzes the links between fundamental foreign policy outlooks and American institutional structures. Shows how the U.S. made the transition from foreign policy passivity in the 1930s to global activism in the 1950s.

Throughout the twentieth century governments came to increasingly appreciate the value of soft power to help them achieve their foreign policy ambitions. Covering the crucial period between 1936 and 1953, this book examines the U.S. government’s adoption of diplomatic programs that were designed to persuade, inform, and attract global public opinion in support of American national interests. Cultural diplomacy and international information were deeply controversial to an American public that been bombarded with propaganda during the First World War. This book explains how new notions of propaganda as reciprocal exchange, cultural engagement, and enlightening information paved the way for innovations in U.S. diplomatic practice. Through a comparative analysis of the State Department’s Division of Cultural Relations, the government radio station Voice of America, and the multilateral cultural, educational and scientific diplomacy of Unesco, and drawing extensively on U.S. foreign policy archives, this book shows how America’s liberal traditions were reconciled with the task of influencing and attracting publics abroad.

In the wake of 9/11, the United States government rediscovered the value of culture in international relations, sending cultural ambassadors around the world to promote the American way of life. This is the most recent effort to use American culture as a means to convince others that the United States is a land of freedom, equality, opportunity, and scientific and cultural achievements to match its material wealth and military prowess. In The History of United States Cultural Diplomacy Michael Krenn charts the history of the cultural diplomacy efforts from Benjamin Franklin's service as commissioner to France in the 1770s through to the present day. He explores how these efforts were sometimes inspiring, often disastrous, and nearly always controversial attempts to tell the 'truth' about America. This is the first comprehensive study of America's efforts in the field of cultural diplomacy. It reveals a dynamic conflict between those who view U.S. culture as a means to establish meaningful dialogues with the rest of the world and those who consider American art, music, theater as additional propaganda weapons.

This book seeks to address US public diplomacy strategies in Latin America, of particular importance during the 1960s when the leadership of the United States had been questioned after the Cuban Revolution. The implicit mandate was "No more Cubas" so that what happened in the Caribbean country would not spread to other countries. The actions of the United States toward its southern neighbors in the first half of the twentieth century are quite well known. In contrast, Latin American scenarios of the Cultural Cold War have remained relatively less well known. The contributors and editors of this volume examine various facets and means of action used by the "US machinery of persuasion" with the aim of disseminating the virtues of its socioeconomic and political model, including both public and private efforts, and the significance of nonstate actors. Subjects examined include the impact of the theory of modernization; anti-Americanism; the deployment of public diplomacy in the region; the activities of the Congress for Cultural Freedom and the Rockefeller Foundation; and the influence of these efforts on sporting, artistic, and musical events. This volume will be of value to students and scholars alike interested in Latin American history and history of the Americas.

Empire of Ideas examines the origins of the U. S. government's programs in public diplomacy and how the nation's image in the world became an essential component of U. S. foreign policy.