The Full-Format American Dream: Amerika as a Key Tool of Cold War Public Diplomacy
Reprinted from American Diplomacy
By Elise S. Crane, F11
January 19, 2010
The Nuts and Bolts of Cold War Diplomacy
At its core, public diplomacy involves communicating directly with a foreign public to explain America, increase mutual understanding, and promote dialogue. It aims to present America’s best face to the world and to use soft power—culture, institutions, and the essence of Americana—to promote positive opinions about the United States and U.S. foreign policy among overseas audiences. Never was this more important, nor more challenging, than during the Cold War.
The Cold War was essentially a 56-year freeze on traditional diplomacy between the United States and the Soviet Union. It necessitated alternative, creative approaches and elevated public diplomacy programs to vital importance. As Soviet authorities forbid travel outside of the Soviet Union, America was a black hole to most Soviet citizens; they had only Soviet propaganda, which was usually inaccurate and often malicious, from which to form their perceptions of the United States. Virtually airtight to outside influence, Soviet authorities created their own image of the world and relentlessly distributed these distortions to their subjects. The U.S. government, and specifically the U.S. Information Agency (USIA), confronted a critical need for programs to counter Soviet propaganda, present factual information about America, and provide Soviets with a highly demanded window on the West. With key exceptions such as the Moscow Kitchen Debate in 1959, however, USIA was prevented from using the bulk of its traditional tools, including unrestrained broadcasting and print publications, cultural exchange, exhibits, American centers, and direct personal contact.
Strict Soviet censorship was a key element affecting the formation and dissemination of Cold War-era public diplomacy programs. Because of its unique reciprocal distribution arrangement, Amerika, a striking USIA-produced Russian-language magazine, obviated tight Soviet censorship on print publications and provided its public with their only unfiltered view of the West. Certainly, broadcasting by the Voice of America and Radio Liberty played a huge role in changing hearts and minds and affecting perceptions about the West. Further, while Amerika stuck to what it did best—highlighting everyday life on the other side of the Iron Curtain—broadcasting presented U.S. foreign policy. However, given Russian reverence for the written word, Amerika arguably affected the public more powerfully than radio ever could. In short, Amerika functioned in a daunting, and often hostile, political environment and conquered steep challenges to serve as the ideal public diplomacy instrument for its place and time...