This is a more complete version of the earlier PD PowerPoint slide show I had posted.

1. Soft Power and
U.S. Public Diplomacy
Tim Standaert, Deputy Cultural Attaché
U.S. Embassy
Kyiv, Ukraine
June 2011

3. U.S. Public Diplomacy:
Some Basic Questions
• What is Public Diplomacy?
What is its purpose? Is it simply
propaganda, or something else?
• To what extent can the U.S.
government (USG) or other
democracies really influence
the opinions of foreign publics
with Diplomacy? Using what
tools?
• How does that help better
protect our nation’s interests? If
we “tell America’s story,” if we
clearly explain US policies,
society, and values, will our
relations improve with other
people and other governments?

4. U.S. Public Diplomacy:
Continuing debates/tensions/questions
• Is information more important than
cultural programming, e.g., exchange
programs, libraries, performing arts, etc?
• Should the U.S. Government (USG) be
funding cultural diplomacy at all? If so,
how much of the taxpayer’s money
should be spent on it?
• What share of Public Diplomacy should
be carried out by foundations, private
citizens, educational institutions (public
and private), and other non-
governmental partners?
• Does Public Diplomacy – both the
information and cultural sides – belong
under the U.S. State Department? Or
should an independent agency, like the
U.S. Information Agency, be brought
back to manage these activities?

5. U.S. Public Diplomacy:
Continuing debates/tensions/questions
• In its Public Diplomacy efforts, should the
USG aim for the elite in foreign countries,
or the average citizen/broad masses?
• How do you coordinate the Public
Diplomacy of various government
agencies, e.g., State, USAID, Peace Corps,
U.S. military, etc? How do you also
involve academia, cultural institutions,
NGOs, business, etc?
• How can “hard” and “soft” power
complement each other?
• How does new technology impact the
conduct of Public Diplomacy?
• How do you measure the effectiveness of
Public Diplomacy? What are the
“metrics”?

6. Public Diplomacy
Definition
• The efforts by a country’s government to
communicate and interact openly and
directly with foreign audiences –
academics, NGOs, businesses, institutions,
and even the general public – to deepen
mutual understanding and to
promote/protect its national interests.
• The aims of a country’s Public Diplomacy
activities are to:
– 1) influence how foreign citizens
perceive that country, correcting
misperceptions about its policies and
values, battling stereotypes, etc;
– 2) promote greater mutual
understanding, i.e., Americans must
also understand other peoples;
– 3) (perhaps) impact official relations
with the foreign government in a way
that serves the country’s national
interests.

7. Public Diplomacy
Three Dimensions
According to Joseph Nye, author of
Soft Power, there are 3 dimensions to
PD
• Daily
communications:
explaining decisions
and policies to the
media, the public,
elites, etc.

8. Public Diplomacy
Three Dimensions
• Strategic communications: focus on simple themes, with symbolic
events and activities planned over the year, relying to some extent
on individuals and groups outside government.

9. Public Diplomacy

10. Public Diplomacy
Three Dimensions
• Lasting relationships: With key individuals,
institutions, and organizations, through
exchanges, conferences, seminars, etc.

11. U.S. Public Diplomacy
Embassy Country Team Structure

12. Soft Power
• Term coined by Joseph Nye,
former U.S. Assistant
Secretary of Defense, Dean of
Kennedy School of
Government (Harvard
University), etc.
– Watch Nye’s TED talk on global shift in
power at:
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/jo
seph_nye_on_global_power_shifts.ht
ml
• Definition: The ability of a
country or organization to
shape the preferences of
others, i.e., to get them to
behave in a way that supports
its interests, without overt
tangible benefits coming to
them, i.e., without threats
(sticks) or payments/
inducements (carrots).

13. Soft Power
• Three vehicles: According to Nye, soft power rests
largely on: 1) a country’s (or organization’s) culture
(both high and low); 2) its political values; and 3) its
foreign policy.

14. Soft Power

15. Soft Power

16. Soft Power
Audience
• Soft power depends on the existence of willing
interpreters and receivers in a country or in group.

17. Soft Power
Audience

18. Soft Power
Positive: Bush, Africa and HIV/AIDS
• President's Emergency
Plan For AIDS Relief
(PEPFAR): Bush
commited $15 billion
over five years (2003–
2008, much of it going
to Africa.

19. Soft Power
Beyond Government’s Control
• The central government, at least in liberal, democratic
countries, cannot (and should not) control all levers of soft
power, e.g., television, movies, music, sports, products,
companies/firms, groups and individual citizens, etc.
• These other agents can have a positive or negative impact
on a country’s soft power.

20. Soft Power
Negative impact of Bhopal
•A foreign subsidiary of the U.S. company
Union Carbide was operating a pesticide plant
in Bhopal, India.
•On night of December 2-3, 1984, a leak of gas
and chemicals from the plant killed perhaps
3000 within the first week and 8000 more
since, plus over 550000 injuries, including
almost 40000 temporary or partially disabling
and almost 4000 severely and permanently
disabling.
•8 ex-employees were convicted in 2010.

21. History of U.S. Public Diplomacy:
Some background
• French Revolution: Appealing
directly to foreign publics to
promote a revolutionary
ideology.
• 1883: France creates Alliance
Francaise in wake of defeat
during Franco-Prussian War to
repair national prestige,
promote French language and
literature.
• Italy and Germany soon follow
suit.

22. History of U.S. Public Diplomacy:
Some background
• The U.S. lacked any organized,
official Public Diplomacy of any
sort until the early 20th century.
• However, informal people-to-
people connections, Americans
did exist:
– Diplomats, e.g., “Founding Fathers”
Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin;
– Missionaries: schools, libraries,
hospitals, etc.
– U.S. students and scholars travelled
to Europe in the 19th century.
Tremendous influence of German
university structure on America’s.

23. Early U.S. Public Diplomacy:
Boxer Rebellion Indemnity Scholars
•1900 Boxer Uprising in China
•Qing Empire defeated, fined $333
million.
•U.S. share of indemnity: 7.32% (plus
interest)
•U.S. “Open Door” Policy toward
China – general opposition to
“spheres of interest”
•U.S. sets up program in 1909 using
indemnity funds for education.

24. Early Public Diplomacy:
Boxer Rebellion Indemnity Scholars
•In China:
•1909-1929: 1300 Chinese
students prepared to study at
American universities, most at
Tsinghua College, established in
Beijing in 1911.
•1929: Tsinghua College
expanded into a university, with
4-year undergraduate and post-
graduate school.
•In America:
•1926: China Foundation (later
the China Institute) founded in
New York. 5 groups of scholars
educated in U.S. before 1937
Japanese invasion of China.

25. Early Public Diplomacy:
Boxer Rebellion Indemnity Scholars
•Graduates:
•philosopher Hu Shih (later
Chinese ambassador to US);
•physicist Chen Ning Yang (Nobel
Prize-winner;
•mathematician Kai Lai Chung;
•linguist Yen Ren Chao;
•rocket scientist Tsien Hsue-shen.
•UK, France, Japan later follow suit,
set up similar programs.
•Boxer Rebellion Indemnity Scholars
Program became model for Fulbright
Program (established in 1946).

26. First World War:
Committee on Public Information (CPI)
• One week after U.S. enters war in
April 1917, President Woodrow
Wilson creates the CPI (Executive
Order 2594).
• CPI headed by George Creel,
editor of The Rocky Mountain
News.
• News articles, movies, lectures,
posters, signboards, wireless
cable service, foreign press
bureaus, film division, leaflet-
filled balloons.
• Propaganda? Psychological
warfare? Honest attempt to
counter German disinformation?

27. First World War:
Committee on Public Information (CPI)
• One week after U.S. enters war in
April 1917, President Woodrow
Wilson creates the CPI (Executive
Order 2594).
• Main purpose: build U.S. public
support for the war. But also had
offices in 9 foreign countries.
• CPI headed by George Creel, editor
of The Rocky Mountain News. Over
20 divisions and bureaus.
• News Division: Official Bulletin, an
8-pages (later 32 page) paper, with
positive news, distributed to all US
newspapers, post offices,
government offices, military bases.

28. First World War:
Committee on Public Information (CPI)
• Films Division: Three feature-
length films released.
• Division of Pictorial Publicity:
posters.
• Other activities: lectures,
signboards, leaflet-filled
balloons.
• Propaganda? (Creel said no.)
Psychological warfare? Honest
attempt to counter German
disinformation?
• CPI ends domestic work with
Armistice in November 1918,
Congress ends funding for
foreign operations in June 1919,
formally abolished by Wilson in
August 1919.

29. Franklin Roosevelt, the Good Neighbor
Policy, and Internationalism
•Uneasy relations with Latin America
before FDR – neglect, exploitation, and/or
intervention: War with Mexico (1848),
business deals, Panama Canal, etc.
•Good Neighbor Policy
•FDR’s speech at Pan American Union
(1933): need for mutual
understanding
•Montevideo Inter-American
Conference (1933): Announcement
of lower tariffs, plans to establish
cultural exchanges. (Buenos Aires
1936, Lima 1938.)

30. Franklin Roosevelt, the Good Neighbor
Policy, and Internationalism
•By 1937, U.S. (and Britain and France)
aware of threat German and Italian
propaganda and cultural diplomacy
•US State Department sets up Division of
Cultural Relations in 1938 to promote
exchanges, English language study, set up
libraries and reading rooms, translate
books, provide, technical assistance, etc.
•Note: Focus is on Latin America only.
•But in pre-war period, Congress still does
not want to fund fully.

31. Second World War:
Coordinator for Inter-American Affairs
• August 1940 (before US
entry into WW2), FDR
names millionaire
Nelson A. Rockefeller to
position. Committed to
art and education.
• Responsibilities:
Coordinate cultural and
commercial relations
with Latin America.

32. Second World War:
Coordinator for Inter-American Affairs
• Rockefeller’s contributions:
– Promotion of American high
culture, including modern art
(though very controversial
Washington!)
– Positive portrayal of Latinos in
Disney movies, e.g., Saludos
Amigos, Three Caballeros
– Assistance to Mexico’s railroad
industry
• But also mixed in business,
propaganda (paying for
placement of positive stories in
newspapers), and intelligence-
collecting. (Bad mix.)

33. Second World War:
Office of War Information (OWI)
• 6 months after Pearl Harbor,
President Franklin D. Roosevelt
(FDR) establishes Office of War
Information (OWI).
• OWI’s goal: Explain US policy to
domestic and foreign
audiences, public and media
through movies, leaflets,
magazines, and RADIO.
– Soviets had begun radio
broadcasts in 1926.
– Germany, Japan, Britain,
Holland follow suit.
– “Voice of America” (VOA)
inaugurated July 1942.

34. Public Diplomacy
Post-War Germany and Japan
• How to “reorient” society?
• Weeding out Fascist textbooks, revising
curriculum, radio programs (and eventually
television), etc.
• Exchange programs.
• Performing arts, e.g., Tokyo Symphony.
• Protection of art and other cultural
treasures, e.g., Kaiser Friedrich collection.
• Establishment of Amerika Hauser (libraries)
throughout Germany. (Warm places to read
in the awful winter of 1946-47.)
• Rebuilding the media, other parts of civil
society.
• English language training. Book
translations.
• Censorship of films, including samurai epics
in Japan that ostensibly fueled militarism.
• No demands for restitution or indemnities.
• VERY EXPENSIVE!

35. Cold War
• Rivalry between USSR
and U.S./West in many
areas, including Public
Diplomacy
• Information: Voice of
America, Radio Free
Europe/Radio Liberty
• Culture: The arts,
exchanges, exhibits, etc.
• Libraries, books, etc.
• Obstacles/challenges
for U.S.:
– racism/segregation
– McCarthyism/Red Scare

36. Broadcast Media
Cold War and Today

37. U.S. State Department and
U.S. Information Agency (USAID)
• Technical training aspect of
education taken from State
and given to USAID in 1948
(during Marshall Plan).
• 1953: Establishment of U.S.
Information Agency.
– USIA takes books, libraries,
English language, and
broadcasting.
– Exchanges remain
responsibility of State
Department until 1977.
– 1999: USIA merged into
State Department.

38. Posters, Magazines, Publications
Cold War and Today

39. Libraries, Reading Rooms, Books
Cold War and Today
• Books/Libraries:
– Was a CPI focus starting in 1917
– Rockefeller revived idea again in Latin America in
1942, reopening reading rooms and building 3
major libraries
– Through the decades, USG support for libraries
rose and, particularly after end of Cold War, fell.
– U.S. library collection at America House on
Melnikova in Kyiv was transferred to the American
Library at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.
– The U.S. Embassy maintains an Information
Resource Center (ABC) and supports the American
Library, and additionally assists libraries throughout
Ukraine.
– The Embassy has established Window on America
Centers (WOA) in almost every oblast center, and
has set up over 140 free Library Electronic Access
Project (LEAP) internet centers all over the
country,, including three special centers for the
blind in Kyiv, Kherson and Rivne.
Click here to see the impact of one LEAP center on a
small Ukrainian village.

40. End of Second World War
Fulbright Exchange Program
• Sen. William Fulbright
(Democrat – Arkansas)
• Himself a Rhodes Scholar
• 1946: Sponsored legislation
to begin exchange programs.
• 1992: Fulbright Program
launched in independent
Ukraine:
– Over 700 Ukrainians
graduate students, young
faculty, and scholars have
take part in last 19 years.
– Over 400 American graduate
students and scholars have
come to Ukraine.

41. Exchanges
Fulbright Program
•First handful of exchanges with China and Burma.
•First massive wave to France and Italy.

42. Jazz Diplomacy
Cold War
• Parallel developments: Cold War, Jazz Diplomacy,
U.S. Civil Rights Movement.
• 1954: President Eisenhower convinces Congress
to fund cultural exchanges as part of the Cold War
battle of ideas and ideologies.
• During thaw following Stalin’s death, U.S. and
USSR agree to bilateral cultural exchanges at
Geneva Summit (1955).
• Purpose of Jazz Diplomacy during Cold War:
– Promote better understanding of American
society, including musical heritage.
– Part of bilateral cultural exchanges with
Soviet Union and other nations after Stalin’s
death.
– Weapon in U.S. cultural competition with
Soviets.
– Also helps U.S. combat “image” problem
with racism and segregation.

43. Jazz Diplomacy
Cold War
• Early jazz ambassadors :
– Dizzie Gillespie: East Pakistan,
Turkey, Syria, Greece, Egypt,
Lebanon, Yugoslavia (1956);
Uruguay, Ecuador (1956).
– Benny Goodman: Asia (1956).
– 1957: Louie Armstrong cancels
State Department tour of Soviet
Union to protest President
Eisenhower’s slow response to the
school desegregation crisis in Little
Rock, Arkansas. But later that
same year, goes on tour of Latin
America.
– Dave Brubeck: Poland, East
Germany, Turkey, South Asia (India,
Afghanistan), Middle East (1958).
– Louie Armstong: Africa (1960-61).
– Etc…
Jazz in Ukraine:
•Benny Goodman (June 1962): First visit to Soviet
Union by an American jazz group, between the
Berlin Crisis (August 1961) and Cuban Missile
Crisis (October 1962).
•Earl “Fatha” Hines (1966)
•Duke Ellington (1971)

44. Jazz Diplomacy
Cold War

45. Jazz Diplomacy
Today

46. American Ballet in Ukraine
The Cold War
• American Dance
Performances in Kyiv:
– 1960: American Ballet
Theater
– 1962: New York City Ballet
– 1963: Joffrey Ballet
(President Kennedy
assassinated while in
troupe in Ukraine)

47. Cold War
American Exhibit at Sokolniki in Moscow
• During thaw following Stalin’s death, U.S. and USSR agree to
cultural exchanges at Geneva Summit (1955).
• Soviet exhibit in New York City (June 1959)
• American exhibit at Sokolniki in Moscow (July 1959)
• YouTube video on Nixon-Khrushchev "Kitchen Debate” (GWU)
• "Nixon, Khrushchev And A Story Of Cold War Love” (NPR)

48. Cold War
1959 American Exhibit at Sokolniki in Moscow

49. Peace Corps
• Peace Corps (PC) founded in
1961
• Peace Corps in Ukraine
– Largest PC program in the
world
– 3 areas of activity:
• Teaching English as a Foreign
Language (TEFL)
• Community Development
(CD)
• Youth Development (YD)
Peace Corps
– http://ukraine.peacecorps.go
v/projects.php
– PC Volunteer (PCV) website:
http://www.pcukraine.org

50. Technical Assistance
USAID
• “Technical assistance”
– Separated from educational
and cultural activities
during Marshall Plan (1948).
Known by various names.
– USAID formally established
in 1961.
– USAID in Ukraine
(http://ukraine.usaid.gov)
• Economic Growth
• Democracy/Governance
• Health and Social Issues
• Combating trafficking in
persons

51. Exchange Programs
For Ukrainians
•20000Ukrainians since 1992, including
9000 on academic and 11000 on
professional exchanges, including:
•700 on Fulbright Programs
(Master’s Degree students, young
faculty, scholars, etc)
•Over 950 on the Muskie Program
(Master’s Degree)
•Almost 850 on the Global
Undergraduate Program
•Over 650 secondary school
teachers
•Over 5000 secondary school
students
•Plus, over 400 American students and
scholars have come to Ukraine since
1992 on the Fulbright Program.

52. Other Programs
Educational Advising
• Almost 1700 Ukrainian students are currently studying in the U.S. at
American universities.
• A network of 4 EducationUSA advising centers provides assistance
to Ukrainians on the application process and the search for financial
assistance.

53. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural
Preservation (AFCP): Ukraine
Over the years, the AFCP has funded a number of projects in Ukraine to help
conserve, preserve, and/or promote or display the following:
•Fabrics in the Chekhov House-Museum (Yalta);
•16th century Golden Rose Synagogue (Lviv);
•Papers of Taras Shevchenko, rescued from archives in New York City (Kyiv);
•Mykytynska Sich fortifications in Nikopol (Dnipropetrovsk oblast);

54. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural
Preservation (AFCP): Ukraine
• St. Nicholas wooden church in Kolodne
(Zakarpattiya);
• Crimean Tatar music, manuscripts and
handicrafts;
• Studion Icon Collection (Lviv);
• 12th century Khystynopolsky Apostol
manuscripts (Lviv).

55. Other Programs
Ukraine

56. Other Programs
Ukraine

57. Other Programs
Ukraine

58. Other Programs
Ukraine

59. Other Programs
Ukraine

60. Other Programs
Ukraine

61. Other Programs
Ukraine

62. QUESTIONS?

63. Bibliography
Arndt, Richard T., The First Resort of Kings: American Diplomacy in the Twentieth
Century.
Cull, Nicholas J., Public Diplomacy: Lessons From the Past. [Available electronically.]
Cull, Nicholas J., The Cold War and the United States Information Agency: American
Propaganda and Public Diplomacy, 1945-1989.
Davenport, Lisa E., Jazz Diplomacy: Promoting America in the Cold War Era.
Hart, Justin, Empire of Ideas: The Origins of Public Diplomacy and the Transformation
of U.S. Foreign Policy.
Hixson, Walter L., Parting the Curtain: Propaganda, Culture, and the Cold War, 1945-
1961.
Kiehl, William P., ed., The Last Three Feet: Case Studies in Public Diplomacy.
Prevots, Naima, Dance For Export: Cultural Diplomacy and the Cold War.
Von Eschen, Penny M., Satchmo Blows Up the World.
Wagnleitner, Reinhold, and May, Elaine Tyler, eds., Here, There and Everywhere: The
Foreign Policy of American Popular Culture.

64. Some Websites
PUBLIC DIPLOMACY
• University of South California’s Center for Public Diplomacy: http://uscpublicdiplomacy.org/
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLIC DIPLOMACY PROGRAMS
• U.S. Embassy Kyiv: ukrainian.ukraine.usembassy.gov (українська), ukraine.usembassy.gov (English),
www.facebook.com/usdos.ukraine (English), www.youtube.com/user/USEmbassyKyiv.
– Exchange Programs: http://ukrainian.ukraine.usembassy.gov/uk/exchanges.html (українська) or
http://ukraine.usembassy.gov/academic_exchanges.html (English).
– Window on America (WOA) centers,: http://ukraine.usembassy.gov/woacenters.html Information about
U.S. society, culture, policies, and values: http://ukrainian.ukraine.usembassy.gov/uk/ejournals.html
(українська), www.america.gov/amlife.html (English), and www.america.gov/ru/amlife.html (русский).
– Library Electronic Access Project (LEAP) (free internet access):
(http://ukraine.usembassy.gov/leap.html).
• EducationUSA Educational Advising Centers (EACs) in Ukraine: http://www.educationusa.info/Ukraine.)
– EAC locations: http://www.americancouncilskyiv.org.ua/uk/pages/17/ (українська - Kyiv),
http://www.center-osvita.dp.ua (українська – Dnipropetrovsk), http://www.osvita.kharkiv.org/ (English –
Kharkiv), http://www.osvita.org/ukr (українська - Lviv).
– Publications: "USA Education In Brief" (www.america.gov/publications/books/education-in-brief.html),
"See You in the USA.www.educationusa.info/Ukraine (English); See You In the USA”
(www.america.gov/see_you.html),;and "Campus Connections"
(www.america.gov/media/pdf/ejs/0809.pdf).
• American Library (at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy): (http://www.library.ukma.kiev.ua/amer/)
• Fulbright Program in Ukraine: www.fulbright.org.ua (українська), www.fulbright.org.ua/page.php (English),
http://www.iie.org/en/offices/kyiv (English).
• American Councils: www.americancouncilskyiv.org.ua/en (English); www.americancouncilskyiv.org.ua
(українська). FLEX Program (secondary school students); Legislative Fellows Program; etc.
• IREX: irex.ua/ua (українська); irex.ua/en (English). Global Undergraduate Program (Bachelor’s Degree
students); Muskie Program (degree and non-degree studies at the Master’s Degree level).