Cull, Nicholas J.

Gregory., Bruce

English

U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons

Naval War College ReviewVolume 62Number 2 Spring Article 142009The Cold War and the United States InformationAgency: American Propaganda and PublicDiplomacy, 1945–1989Bruce Gregory.Nicholas J. CullFollow this and additional works at: https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-reviewThis Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons. It has been accepted forinclusion in Naval War College Review by an authorized editor of U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons. For more information, please contactrepository.inquiries@usnwc.edu.Recommended CitationGregory., Bruce and Cull, Nicholas J. (2009) "The Cold War and the United States Information Agency: American Propaganda andPublic Diplomacy, 1945–1989," Naval War College Review: Vol. 62 : No. 2 , Article 14.Available at: https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review/vol62/iss2/14unqualified endorsement. If you readonly one book on the global war on ter-rorism, do not make it this one. If,however, you read several books on thesubject or your job involves long-termplanning for the war on terror, thiswork is certainly worth a look, as it willmake you aware of many of the mindsets and biases that shape governmentrhetoric and conventional commentaryon terrorism and national security.ROBERT HARRISBurke, VirginiaCull, Nicholas J. The Cold War and the UnitedStates Information Agency: American Propagandaand Public Diplomacy, 1945–1989. New York:Cambridge Univ. Press, 2008. 533pp. $125Public diplomacy today is a topic ofglobal conversation. Books on the “newpublic diplomacy” of state and nonstateactors appear with increasing fre-quency. Memoirs by practitioners andmonographs on cultural diplomacy andinternational broadcasting abound. Un-til now, however, there has been noin-depth scholarly treatment of the U.S.Information Agency (USIA), the gov-ernment organization primarily respon-sible for America’s internationalinformation, broadcasting, and educa-tional and cultural exchange activitiesduring the Cold War.Nicholas Cull, a historian who teachespublic diplomacy at the University ofSouthern California’s AnnenbergSchool for Communication, providesthis much-needed scholarship, with awell written account grounded intwelve years of archival research andmore than a hundred interviews withpractitioners. Beginning with thedevelopment of information and cul-tural programs during World War II,Cull’s narrative, organized in chapterson presidential administrations andUSIA directors, deals principally withthe decades between USIA’s creation in1953 and the end of the Cold War in1989. He concludes with a brief epi-logue on USIA’s final decade, years thatsaw consolidation of U.S. internationalbroadcasting services under the inde-pendent Broadcasting Board of Gover-nors and the transfer of USIA’sinformation, exchange, and foreign-opinion-research programs to theDepartment of State in 1999.Cull assesses with remarkable evenhand-edness the priorities, decisions, and or-ganizational struggles of political lead-ers and USIA’s practitioners. There isno ideological tilt in his examination ofsharply contested approaches to win-ning the Cold War struggle for “heartsand minds.” The book is not a lamentfor USIA’s demise or a call for its resto-ration. Cull brings a scholar’s disci-pline, a wealth of empirical evidence,and arm’s-length perspective to hisanalysis. Nevertheless, Cull does havestrong opinions. He renders criticaljudgments on USIA’s successes and fail-ures. In so doing, he frequently prefersto show rather than tell.On foreign-policy issues and USIA’sdomestic political context, Cull’s ac-count is strong on the McCarthy era,the Soviet launch of Sputnik, the civilrights movement, and the VietnamWar. He provides insights into USIA’smarginal role as an adviser to the presi-dent, State Department, and NationalSecurity Council on implications of for-eign public opinion in policy formula-tion and communication. He deals atlength with tensions between USIA and1 2 2 N A V A L W A R C O L L E G E R E V I E W1Gregory. and Cull: The Cold War and the United States Information Agency: American PPublished by U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons, 2009the Voice of America over missions,“firewalls,” journalism norms, andorganizational independence.Yet the book has limitations. He prob-lematically conflates the generic andconstituent elements of public diplo-macy––listening, advocacy, cultural di-plomacy, exchange diplomacy, andinternational broadcasting––in thebook’s framework of underlyingthemes. He gives (as he recognizes) dis-proportionate attention to Washington,USIA’s directors, and broadcast media.The author ends with a brief look at les-sons for the future, such as the need toinclude public diplomacy in foreign-policy planning and for the UnitedStates to listen as well as speak. Theseare valuable insights. But new forces areshaping twenty-first-century diplo-macy. Networks challenge hierarchies.Attention––not information––is thescarce resource. Globalism, nonstate ac-tors, a mix of secular and religious “bigideas,” digital technologies, and newmedia are transforming the old order.Cull is sensitive to these forces and tothe ways in which they are changing di-plomacy. Perhaps one day he will writeanother book that completes his historyof USIA and explores the evolution ofpublic diplomacy in a world that isvastly different from the Cold War. Inthe meantime, Cull’s masterful historywill be the gold standard in scholarshipon USIA.BRUCE GREGORYGeorge Washington UniversityMacrakis, Kristie. Seduced by Secrets: Inside theStasi’s Spy-Tech World. New York: CambridgeUniv. Press, 2008. 370pp. $28Michigan State University professorKristie Macrakis provides an interest-ing, if somewhat disjointed, look intoone part of the former East GermanMinistry for State Security, the depart-ment commonly known as the “Stasi.”In its time, the Stasi was one of themost effective intelligence and securityorganizations on the planet. The bookunder review provides a look into a keyaspect of Stasi operations. Its author,Kristie Macrakis, has written severalbooks on modern Germany and con-veys a deep understanding of Germanthought and attitudes, but her lack ofknowledge on intelligence matters un-fortunately limits her understanding ofher chosen topic. However, the profes-sional who is willing to dig past thediscrepancies will find value.The book is divided into two parts,“High-Tech” and “Spy-Tech.” The lat-ter section focuses on “spy technology”and will fascinate the dilettante and in-form the professional. It is in this sec-tion that Macrakis appears morecomfortable and writes with greaterconfidence and insight. If your favoriteJames Bond character is Q, you willlove this section. Secret writing, spycameras, and other surveillance gadgetsabound.Unfortunately, the first section is not aswell written as the second. It providesvaluable information for intelligenceand policy professionals, focusing onthe Stasi’s quest to steal high-technologyinformation and hardware from theWest, primarily West Germany.Macrakis describes economic espionageas a major role for the Stasi’s foreign-intelligence arm, backed by an extensiveorganization within the ministry andthroughout the East German state.However, an inadequate understandingB O O K R E V I E W S 1 2 32Naval War College Review, Vol. 62 [2009], No. 2, Art. 14https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review/vol62/iss2/14

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

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

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