Prologue
Abstract
The summer of 1988 is not remembered for any particular crisis or momentous happening. It is true that August saw the assassination of President Zia in Pakistan and a truce in the long and bloody war between Iran and Iraq, but the long-term significance of these events went unremarked. Across the Western world, popular culture favored comedies like A Fish Called Wanda and the Tom Hanks vehicle Big. Record-buyers catapulted Kylie Minogue to stardom and, in September, made Bobby McFerrin’s cover of “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” a hit. Change was in the air. Each week seemed to bring news of a fresh indication of liberalization in the Eastern bloc or a gesture of conciliation from Moscow. There was change at hand in the United States also. The Reagan presidency had entered its final months. The US presidential election was delivering its usual round of photo opportunities and attack ads as it boiled down to a duel between Vice President George Bush and the governor of Massachusetts, Michael Dukakis. It seemed like a time to take stock, to consider what had been achieved and prepare for the challenges ahead.
Keywords
Foreign Policy Reagan Presidency Eastern Bloc USIS Officer Peace CorpsPreview
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Notes
- 3.For a full discussion see Nicholas J. Cull, The Cold War and the United States Information Agency: American Propaganda and Public Diplomacy, 1945–1989, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2008.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- 4.William A. Rugh, American Encounters with Arabs: The “Soft Power” of U.S. Public Diplomacy in the Middle East. Westport CT: Praeger, 2006, p. 65.Google Scholar
- 5.For detailed history see Alan Heil Jr., The Voice of America: A History, New York: Columbia University Press, 2003.Google Scholar
- 6.For full background see Michael Nelson, War of the Black Heavens: The Battles of Western Broadcasting in the Cold War, London: Brasseys, 2003.Google Scholar
- 27.Culture and exchange had been administered from the Department of State until 1978, with the State Department subcontracting the USIA to manage the program in the field. Cultural affairs officers remained a distinct group within the agency. Richard T. Arndt, The First Resort of Kings: Amerrican Cultural Diplomacy in the Twentieth Century, Washington, DC: Potomac Books, 2005.Google Scholar
- 35.The development is discussed at length in Allen C. Hansen, USIA: Public Diplomacy in the Computer Age, New York: Praeger, 1989.Google Scholar
- 39.For a sustained discussion see Nicholas J. Cull “Public diplomacy and the private sector: The United States Information Agency, its predecessors, and the private sector” in Helen Laville and Hugh Wilford (eds.), The U.S. Government, Citizen Groups and the Cold War: The State-Private Network. London: Frank Cass, 2006, pp. 209–225.Google Scholar