Public diplomacy of the United States


is that "form of international Political Advocacy in which the civilians of one country use legitimate means to reach out to the civilians of another country in order to gain popular support for negotiations occurring through diplomatic channels."

Examples

America

1917–1919 – President Wilson created the Committee on Public Information led by advertiser George Creel
1936 – Roosevelt's Good Neighbor Policy
1938 – The Division of Cultural Relations – Interdeparmental Committee for Scientific Cooperation – response to Nazi German and Fascist Italian propaganda aimed at Latin America.
1940 – Nelson Rockefeller's Office of Inter-American Affairs
1941 – U.S. broadcasting 24/7
1941 – Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor, U.S. enters into WWII → U.S. broadcasting goes global
1942
1946 – The Fulbright Act of 1946 – "Mandated a peacetime international exchange program"
1947 – Fulbright Program founded.
1948 – U.S. Information and Educational Exchange Act signed by President Harry Truman
1948 – Congress creates the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy – to advise and make recommendations on the conduct of public diplomacy.
1949 – the Hoover Commission advised the creation of an independent information agency
1950 – Campaign of Truth
Aug. 1, 1953 – Eisenhower founded the Independent United States Information Agency
1961 – Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act – "consolidated various U.S. international educational and cultural exchange activities. It expanded other cultural and athletic exchanges, translation of books and periodicals, and U.S. representation in international fairs and expositions. The Act also established government operation of cultural and education centers abroad."
1961–1964 – Edward R. Murrow appointed USIA director. He states, "Truth is the best propaganda."
1977–1978 – the State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs is combined with USIA to create the United States International Communication Agency
Carter issues second mandate for USIA/USICA: "to reduce the degree to which misperceptions and misunderstandings complicate relations between the United States and other nations. It is also in our interest—and in the interest of other nations—that Americans have the opportunity to understand the histories, cultures, and problems of others, so that we can come to understand their hopes, perceptions, and aspirations."
1978 – VOA folded into USIA/USICA
1982 – Reagan restored the name to USIA
1987 – Reagan's tear down this wall! speech at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany.
1989 – Year of Miracles:
1990 – amendment to U.S. Information and Educational Exchange Act – authorized USIA director to "make certain products available to the Archivist of the United States for domestic distribution". But only 12 years after the fact.
1994 – United States International Broadcasting Act
1998 – Foreign Affairs Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998
1999 – USIA abolished and full authority given to the State Department's Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs
2002 – Strategic communication Policy coordinating Committee established.
2007–2008 – Counter-Terrorism Communication Center established – replaced by Global Strategic Engagement Center.

Important legislation

First: The State Department's basic authorities Act of 1956
Second: The United States Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1948
Third: The Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act of 1961
Fourth: The United States International Broadcasting Act of 1994

In the 21st century

Structure

Issues

Oversaturation

U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy

Established under section 604 of the United States Information and Exchange Act of 1948, the Commission "appraises U.S. Government activities intended to understand, inform, and influence foreign publics." The charter is available online.
The 2008 report, entitled Getting the People Part Right, addressed the effect of human resources on public diplomacy. The report concluded:
The 2010 report, entitled Assessing U.S. Public Diplomacy: A Notional Model, was a report based on work done at the direction of the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy by the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin. The report addressed the method of measuring the effectiveness of U.S. Public Diplomacy. Its contents may be summed up as follows: the thermometer is broken, it doesn't work. Moreover, the concluding remarks of the introductory letter from the Commission members offers more insight as to the state of public diplomacy than the actual contents of the report:

V. extremist Islamic propaganda

U.S. v. China

On February 15, 2011, a minority staff report was submitted to the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. In the letter of transmittal, ranking member Richard Lugar stated:
In the same way that our trade with China is out of balance, it is clear to even the casual observer that when it comes to interacting directly with the other nation's public we are in another lop-sided contest. China has a vigorous public diplomacy program, based on a portrayal of an ancient, benign China that is, perhaps, out of touch with modern realities. Nonetheless, we are being overtaken in this area of foreign policy by China, which is able to take advantage of America's open system to spread its message in many different ways, while using its fundamentally closed system to stymie U.S. efforts.
  1. The U.S. has five American centers in all of China. This compared to the seventy some Confucius Institutes throughout the United States.
  2. The Shanghai World Expo was a brilliant opportunity for the U.S., however, while "more than 7,000,000" Chinese visited the U.S. Pavilion, the U.S. was criticized for its "hastily organized presentations and lack of a cogent message."

    Other government agencies exercising public diplomacy

United States Department of Defense – strategic communication

  1. Information Operations
  2. Public affairs
  3. Defense Support to Public Diplomacy
  4. Internet – as a battlefield of ideas
  5. Human Terrain Teams – providing expert knowledge on foreign societies
  6. The Global Maritime Partnership – "deployment of Navy warships and hospital ships to conduct civil-military operations in foreign countries as well as deliver humanitarian assistance."

    United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

Public diplomacy and the American people