Green, Fitzhugh. American Propaganda Abroad. New York: Hippocrene Books, 1988. 210 pages.

Fitzhugh Green spent most of his career in the United States Information Agency, including posts in Laos, the Congo, and the United Nations. USIA is the "propaganda" arm of the government. For Green this word has no negative connotations, and is roughly synonymous with "psywar" and "public diplomacy." Green begins by describing the careers of Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson in England and France, two of his early propagandist heroes. From William Randolph Hearst during the Spanish-American War, to Teddy Roosevelt's great white fleet, to FDR's fireside chats, Green sees it all as a fact of life. If the U.S. can organize it, bottle it, and spend a billion dollars a year to ship it abroad in the national interest, so much the better.

There's often a well-worn carpet between the CIA office and the USIS office in many embassies (USIA's foreign posts are called USIS for U.S. Information Service). USIA is prohibited from distributing its product domestically (just as the CIA is prohibited from domestic operations), but in foreign countries anything goes. If USIA officers are more visible than CIA officers, it's because they are able to influence people in the host country without breaking that country's laws. Such legal activities range from working with local journalists, to providing information on American life and culture to prospective immigrants.
ISBN 0-87052-579-4

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