"Those White Guys are Working for Me": Dizzy Gillespie, Jazz, And the Cultural Politics of the Cold war During the Eisenhower Administration (Influence of Jazz and Culture in International Politics)

Convinced that cultural influence was linked to political and economic power, the Eisenhower administration (1953-61) sponsored America's premier jazz musicians' goodwill tours abroad as part of its cultural foreign policy agenda. These tours helped the United States government in its global propaganda campaign against the Soviet Union and its communist allies, who widely reported and successfully exploited the racial tension and violence that accompanied the rise of the civil rights movement in the United States. These "jazz ambassadors" also helped the United States government counter claims made by communist propagandists that hyper-materialistic capitalists were "cultural barbarians" who produced commodities rather than sophisticated culture. (1) In short, they helped the Eisenhower administration combat communism during the early years of the Cold War. Wary that the Soviets were making political gains around the world through their cultural diplomacy offensive, (2) the Eisenhower administration launched a two-pronged effort to counter communist propaganda activities. In August 1953, it established the United States Information Agency (USIA) an agency within the executive branch, separate from the State Department, to support American foreign policy objectives and national interests around the world. The agency was active in anticommunism propaganda, particularly efforts to refute the anti-capitalist rhetoric of TASS, the official news agency of the Soviet government. USIA's mass media activities were buttressed by its operation of libraries, cultural exhibits, and exchange programs overseas. (3) One year later, President Dwight D. Eisenhower secured emergency funding from Congress for "psychological" anti-communist programs. In both 1954 and 1955, the President's Emergency Fund for International Affairs spent $5 million to support the presentation of American industrial and cultural accomplishments abroad. In 1956, Congress enacted the International Cultural Exchange and Trade Fair Participation Act, establishing permanent funding for the Eisenhower administration's cultural international relations programs. (4)