Rhetoric and Propaganda

U.S. Information Agency (USIA)

The USIA was a government agency devoted to the practice of public diplomacy. They were Truman’s arm, used to spread propaganda to the world. Officially, their objectives were very clear and they were bound to national and foreign policy (Cool Words 11). Though, this was quite dubious. From the perspective of many operators, the objectives were ambiguous. Many felt like decisions were made on ad hoc personal basis, or based on “feel” (Cool Words 13). The USIA never delineated exactly the what the purpose or goals of American propaganda were to be. Propaganda was created for its own sake, and agents would often times follow their own prerogative and use that momentum to conjure up their own ideologies of America that were reflected in propaganda. 

Joseph Mcarthy

Now, Senator Joseph McCarthy was a prime example of the bold, arrogant American who egotistically felt like it was their own need to thwart any view misaligning with American virtue. He was polarizing: “Joe wasn’t a bad guy. You simply had to understand him” (The Cold War xv). Europeans were both fascinated and horrified by his relentless squashing of Communism. He believed many Democrats were directed by Communist agents, and his lasting work: “McCarthy’s staff reported finding ‘more than 20,000 books by Communist authors or those who have aided the Communist cause,’ including many that were ‘blatantly pro-Communist, pro-Soviet, and anti-American” (The Cold War xv). He was the personification of propaganda himself, aiming to counter any Soviet-narratives pushed onto the American people.