The Cold War and the United States Information Agency: American Propaganda and Public Diplomacy, 1945-1989

568 Pages·2008·5.77 MB·English

by  Nicholas John Cull

THE COLD WAR AND THE UNITED STATES INFORMATION AGENCY
PublishedatatimewhentheU.S.government’spublicdiplomacyisincrisis,this
bookprovidesanexhaustiveaccountofhowitusedtobedone.TheUnitedStates
InformationAgencywascreated,in1953,to“tellAmerica’sstorytotheworld”
and,byengagingwiththeworldthroughinternationalinformation,broadcasting,
culture,andexchangeprograms,becameanessentialelementofAmericanforeign
policyduringtheColdWar.Basedonnewlydeclassifiedarchivesandmorethan
100interviewswithveteransofpublicdiplomacy,fromtheTrumanadministration
tothefalloftheBerlinWall,NicholasJ.Cullrelatesboththeachievementsandthe
endemicflawsofAmericanpublicdiplomacyinthisperiod.Majortopicsinclude
theprocessbywhichtheTrumanandEisenhoweradministrationsbuiltamassive
overseas propaganda operation; the struggle of the Voice of America to base its
outputonjournalistictruth;thechallengeofpresentingcivilrights,theVietnam
War,andWatergatetotheworld;andtheclimacticconfrontationwiththeSoviet
Unioninthe1980s.ThisstudyoffersremarkableandnewinsightsintotheCold
Warera.
Nicholas J. Cull is professor of public diplomacy at the Annenberg School for
Communication, University of Southern California. He is the author of Selling
War:TheBritishPropagandaCampaignagainstAmerican“Neutrality”inWorld
WarIIandtheco-editor(withDavidCulbertandDavidWelch)ofPropaganda
andMassPersuasion:AHistoricalEncyclopedia,1500tothePresent.HeisaFellow
oftheRoyalHistoricalSociety,amemberofthePublicDiplomacyCouncil,and
PresidentoftheInternationalAssociationforMediaandHistory.

THE COLD WAR AND
THE UNITED STATES
INFORMATION AGENCY
AMERICAN PROPAGANDA AND PUBLIC
DIPLOMACY, 1945–1989
Nicholas J. Cull
University of Southern California
CAMBRIDGEUNIVERSITYPRESS
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(cid:1)C NicholasJ.Cull2008
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thewrittenpermissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublished2008
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
AcatalogrecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData
Portionsofthisbookhaveappearedinotherformsasfollows:
“Auteursofideology:USIAdocumentaryfilmpropagandaintheKennedyeraasseeninBruce
Herschensohn’sTheFiveCitiesofJune(1963)andJamesBlue’sTheMarch(1964),”FilmHistory,
Vol.10,No.3,1998,pp.295–310.
“ProjectingJackie:KennedyadministrationfilmpropagandaoverseasinLeoSeltzer’sInvitation
toIndia,InvitationtoPakistanandJacquelineKennedy’sAsianJourney(1962),”inBertrand
TaitheandTimThornton(eds.),Propaganda:PoliticalRhetoricandIdentity,1300–2000.Stroud,
UK:SuttonPublishing,1999,pp.307–26.
“Themanwhoinventedtruth:EdwardR.MurrowasDirectorofUSIA,”ColdWarHistory,
Vol.4,No.1,October2003,pp.23–48;alsopublishedasachapterinRanaMitterandPatrick
Major(eds.),AcrosstheBlocs:ColdWarCulturalandSocialHistory.London:FrankCass,2004,
pp.23–48.
“The man in Murrow’s shoes: Carl Rowan as Director of USIA,” in David Welch and
Mark Connelly (eds.), WarandtheMedia:ReportageandPropaganda,1900–2003. London:
I.B.Tauris,2005,pp.183–203.
“Public diplomacy and the private sector: The United States Information Agency, its prede-
cessors, and the private sector,” in Helen Laville and Hugh Wilford (eds.), The U.S. Govern-
ment,CitizenGroupsandtheColdWar:TheState–PrivateNetwork.London:FrankCass,2006,
pp.209–25.
ISBN978-0-521-81997-8hardback
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accuracyofURLsforexternalorthird-partyInternetWebsitesreferredto
inthispublicationanddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuch
Websitesis,orwillremain,accurateorappropriate.
ForKaren

CONTENTS
ListofIllustrations page xi
Preface xiii
Abbreviations xxiii
Prologue:TheFoundationsofU.S.InformationOverseas ........... 1
1 GettingtheSheeptoSpeak:TheTrumanYears,1945–53 .......... 22
1 SurvivingthePeace:BillBentonLaystheFoundations,1945–47 23
2 WagingColdWar:GeorgeV.AllenHoldstheFort,1947–49 37
3 TheCampaignofTruth:EdwardBarrettMakesProgress,
1950–51 51
4 ThingsLeftUndone:TheIndependenceDebate,1950–53 67
2 Mobilizing“theP-Factor”:EisenhowerandtheBirth
oftheUSIA,1953–56..................................... 81
1 TheOrdeal:TheMcCarthyCrisisandtheCreationoftheUSIA,
January–July,1953 82
2 StreibertTakesCharge:TheStructureoftheUSIAin1953 96
3 From“AtomsforPeace”to“People’sCapitalism”:TheUSIA’s
Output,1954–56 104
4 TheUSIAandColdWarGeopolitics:1954–56 120
3 IntheShadowofSputnik:TheSecondEisenhower
Administration,1957–61.................................. 134
1 “EggheadwithTroubles”:ArthurLarsonandtheUSIAin1957 135
2 Breakingthe“MilwaukeeEffect”:TheReturnofGeorgeV.Allen 149
3 CrusadingwithCulture:TheCulturalProgramintheU.S.S.R.,
1958–60 161
4 Allen’sUSIAtoJanuary1961:TheVOACharterandthe
SpragueCommittee 171
vii
viii Contents
4 InventingTruth:TheKennedyAdministration,1961–63.......... 189
1 FacingKhrushchev:Murrow’sUSIAtoDecember1961 191
2 RepresentingAmericain1962:USIAFilmandCivilRights 206
3 TheCubanMissileCrisis 214
4 FromVietnamtoDallas 218
5 MaintainingConfidence:TheEarlyJohnsonYears,1963–65 ....... 227
1 Zenith:TheUSIAandtheKennedyAssassination,November
1963–August1965 228
2 CarlRowan:CivilRightsandColdWarPropaganda 233
3 TheUSIAintheDevelopingWorld:FromtheIndonesian
CrisistotheDominicanIntervention,1964–65 237
4 TheRoadtoJUSPAO:TheUSIAinVietnamtoJuly1965 245
6 “MyRadioStation”:TheJohnsonAdministration,1965–69 ....... 255
1 “PublicDiplomacy”andaPublicDiplomat:LeonardMarks
attheUSIA 256
2 JUSPAOatWork:TheUSIAinVietnam,August1965–68 267
3 ProjectingtheGreatSociety 278
4 Nadir:TheUSIA,WorldOpinion,andtheCrisisofthe
Late1960s 285
7 SurvivingDe´tente:TheNixonYears,1969–74 .................. 293
1 TheTrueBeliever:FrankShakespeareandtheUSIA,1969–70 294
2 Nixon’sVietnam,1969–74 306
3 FightingforControl:Shakespeare’sStruggleforAutonomy,
1971–72 313
4 WatergateandJamesKeogh:January1973–August1974 321
8 ANewBeginning:TheFordAdministration,1974–77............ 333
1 NavigatingtheRapids,1974–75 334
2 TheStantonCommission,1974–75 340
3 TheEndinVietnamandtheVOACharter,1975–76 346
4 RehumanizingAmerica:TheBicentennial,1976 351
9 Fromthe“Two-Way”MandatetotheSecondColdWar:TheCarter
Administration,1977–81.................................. 360
1 BeyondStanton:TamingtheVOAandCreatingtheICA,1977–78 361
2 JohnReinhardt’sGoodFight:Carter’sForeignPolicy
toDecember1978 374
3 ProgressandPeril:TheICAin1979 382
4 ValleyoftheShadow:IranandAfghanistan,1979–81 386
Contents ix
10 “ProjectTruth”:TheFirstReaganAdministration,1981–84 ....... 399
1 TheArrivalofCharlesZ.Wick 400
2 TheCrisisattheVoiceofAmerica,1981–82 412
3 From“ProjectDemocracy”toWORLDNET:Confronting
Communismin1983 421
4 WickunderFire:TheUSIAin1984 435
11 Showdown:TheSecondReaganAdministration,1985–89......... 442
1 FacingGorbachev,1985 443
2 TheRoadtoReykjavik,1986 453
3 IntheShadowofIran–Contra,1987 461
4 TheHomeStretch,1988–89 474
Epilogue:VictoryandtheStrangeDeathoftheUSIA,1989–99..... 482
Conclusion:Trajectories,Maps,andLessonsfromthePastofU.S.
PublicDiplomacy........................................ 486
1 FiveTrajectories 486
2 ThreeMaps 493
3 SevenLessons 496
SelectedBibliography 505
Index 519