Please read this letter from President Eisenhower to his brother (from the Eisenhower Presidential Library) and answer questions below:
Document #1637; November 22, 1955
To Edgar Newton Eisenhower Series: EM, AWF, Administration Series: USIA
The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XVI - The Presidency: The Middle Way
Part VIII: Toward "statesmanship of a high order"; June 1955 to November 1955 Chapter 17: "Stern edicts" from the Doctors |
Dear Ed: I doubt if you think any more of Fred Waring and his orchestra than I do.1 More than a year ago, when General Electric took him off its regular Sunday night show on television, I protested bitterly to Phil Reed, Chairman of the Board. (Incidentally, I have not looked at the television since, except when I get an occasional telegram from Fred telling me that his troupe is to be on at a particular time).
I am a little astonished to know that he is on a concert tour at this time. I heard that his troupe was showing in a Broadway theatre in New York and that he was booked solidly for the winter. I have a record that gives at least the principal pieces of that show, and I felt that he probably had a real hit.
Now as to the matter of using musicians in our propaganda work abroad. It is possible that you do not understand how ignorant most of the world is about America and how important it is to us that some of the misunderstandings be corrected. One of them involves our cultural standards and our artistic tastes. Europeans have been taught that we are a race of materialists, whose only diversions are golf, baseball, football, horse racing, and an especially brutalized brand of boxing. Our successes are described in terms of automobiles and not in terms of worthwhile cultural works of any kind. Spiritual and intellectual values are deemed to be almost non-existent in our country.
This picture of their misunderstanding is not overdrawn--in fact, in some areas we are believed to be bombastic, jingoistic, and totally devoted to the theories of force and power as the only worth while elements in the world.
For many years many of our European friends, and many lecturers and visitors from this country, have tried to correct these impressions. They have achieved some successes because travel both ways across the Atlantic and Pacific is of greater volume than it once was, but much remains to be done.
One of the ways to help is to send abroad some of our better productions in the fields of dramatics, music, painting and the like. As you know, we have interchanges among students and professors likewise, in order that there may be an increasing mutual respect in things more purely intellectual, as distinguished from the aesthetic.
The method by which this is done normally brings the government into the matter to some degree. By cooperation between some of the dramatic and musical associations, appropriate productions are selected. They go abroad exactly as does any other commercial venture in the field (I am talking completely from memory and so I am not to be held to a strict accounting if I should make some error) and their exhibitions are paid for by the audiences exactly as they would be in this country. However, because the whole affair is sometimes an expensive arrangement and the organization simply cannot make ends meet, the government comes into the picture to supplement their receipts so that there is no net loss on the ventures.
Our reports are that these things have been highly successful, and the cost to the government has, so far, been slight.
Naturally any inquiry of mine concerning the suitability of Fred Waring's organization for this kind of work will certainly produce an answer of some kind. However, whether or not his particular type of show would be especially useful in Europe, I am not competent to judge. Certainly he makes a great appeal to our patriotic impulses. His artists are versatile, and his whole show moves with a speed and snap that I particularly like.
I write you this full explanation of the whole matter so that you will understand the purposes underlying our government's participation in such ventures, and so also that you will understand that I cannot personally pick the productions of art, drama, music and so on that should be sent to different parts of the world.
Please keep this letter personal and confidential because it is just possible that my information on the whole matter may not be up to date or may be completely inaccurate.2
Give my love to Lucy and Janis and, as always, the best to yourself. As ever
1 Edgar had visited with the orchestra leader during a Tacoma concert and had written Eisenhower that he was "disturbed about his situation." Waring was now playing one-night stands, Edgar wrote, trying to reestablish his prestige after General Electric had cancelled his contract. Waring had told the President's brother that he would like to travel through Europe as part of the State Department's foreign propaganda program, but he had received no response to his inquiries. "I am unable to understand such an expenditure by government," Edgar said, "yet if we are going to engage in that form of propaganda, I just cannot imagine anybody in the United States who would be a better emissary and interpreter of American music than Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians" (Edgar Eisenhower to Eisenhower, Nov. 18, 1955; on Eisenhower's interest in Waring see no. 420).
2 After receiving a copy of this letter, Abbott Washburn, Acting Director of the United States Information Agency, would write Ann Whitman that the President's reply to his brother was "completely up-to-date and correct." The agent of the State Department in arranging for artists and musicians to go abroad, the American National Theater and Academy, had never considered Waring. Washburn would suggest that they do so, "without reference of course to any interest in this beyond our own here at USIA." He added that under the expanded Voice of America television operation, a filmed one-half hour Fred Waring television program would be aired on one hundred stations overseas (Washburn to Whitman, Dec. 16, 1955; see also Eisenhower to Washburn, Dec. 21, 1955; and Eisenhower to Edgar Eisenhower, Dec. 21, 1955). All papers are in AWF/A: USIA.
Bibliographic reference to this document:
Eisenhower, Dwight D. To Edgar Newton Eisenhower, 22 November 1955. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 1637. World Wide Web facsimile by The Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission of the print edition; Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, http://www.eisenhowermemorial.org/presidential-papers/first-term/documents/1637.cfm
Eisenhower, Dwight D. To Edgar Newton Eisenhower, 22 November 1955. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 1637. World Wide Web facsimile by The Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission of the print edition; Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, http://www.eisenhowermemorial.org/presidential-papers/first-term/documents/1637.cfm
What
do this document and your readings more generally tell us about why
Eisenhower was interested in promoting classical music? What do his
political reasons for using this artform tell us about music's social
role more generally?
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ReplyDeleteEisenhower understood the weight that classical music carried as a symbol of social prestige, and promoted American classical musicians and performers in order to demonstrate that the United States deserved recognition as being musically-elite. Classical music carried this connotation in part due to the degree of expertise required to make judgements about its quality. Despite the audience’s knowledge of its forms or appreciation of its sound, it was significant and understood internationally. Where pop music appealed to the taste of the nation it came from, classical music was universally appreciated.
ReplyDeleteClassical music was used in what Fosler-Lussier calls a “gift economy” in order to maintain political image by fostering social relationships. When musicians travelled from the United States, they brought music that would challenge, yet appease the audience. Bringing avant-garde music, for instance, impressed the audience for its indication of American innovation. This indication that the United States felt this country could understand music of this prestige flattered the country and allowed for a channel of communication founded in what appeared to be respect for their knowledge. The United States manipulated the program they brought to different countries in order to promote the attractiveness of its nation in favour of the Soviet Union so sway political opinions.
Eisenhower despised the fact that American culture was perceived by many Europeans as shallow and materialistic. He wanted to change the perception that America was only good for producing automobiles in favor of it producing worthwhile culture. He attempted to counter this negative image by arranging tours for American classical musicians and worked out a cultural exchange with the Soviet Union that permitted American musicians to perform there. A major advantage at the time was that the more music was supressed in the Soviet Union, the more it was desired and seen as a representation of political freedom.
ReplyDeleteEisenhower thought of music as capable of achieving significant physiological changes and believed music was a powerful social medium. In his letter to his brother he alludes to how music can be used to positively impact America’s image overseas. Music had the ability to change attitudes and demonstrate America’s cultural values. Trumpet player Ron Post noted that cultural diplomacy created the conditions for understanding across cultures and musicans had the ability to set the tone for a relationship that could generate social channels. Using music, the United States was able to develop relationships to advance their political agenda. Creating more personal relationships through music was powerful as it opened the possibility for more direct political engagement and helped create a positive image of America and its foreign policy. As Fosler-Lussier states in her article, the Eisenhower administration saw musical performances as an opportunity to manipulate public opinion to favor America in the short term. An example of this was America’s presentations of classical music in Iceland in 1954 when Iceland’s tolerance for America’s military presence in their country was waning
Eisenhower believed that most of the world viewed the United States as a nation that was incapable of finding value in culture. They were instead viewed as a nation that favored industry and power. His main focus appears to have been the perception of America by European countries. He understood from past experience that if America could create a flow of intellectuals back and forth with Europe that a mutual respect would ensue between them and that it would improve their perception of America over time. He felt that the most effective method for achieving this would be through the exposure of America’s best artists to the intellectual classes of these countries.
ReplyDeleteBased upon these views it is not surprising that Eisenhower favored the promotion of classical music because of its status as a socially prestigious form of art. This form of high art could be used to strategically target those in the countries that it was sent to who were viewed as “elite” or “opinion leaders.” (Fosler-Lussier “Music in America’s Cold War Diplomacy 24) By targeting these audiences, especially in developing countries, the cultural reputation of America could be improved in a top-down manner. It ended up working in a bottom-up manner as well though, because those who were not intimately familiar with this form of music still wanted to attend the events that were set up. This was a result of the general recognition of its associations with European high culture.
In this letter from Eisenhower to his brother, the president addresses his own and his administration’s understanding of their nation’s global image, the issues with it, and a strategy they are using to improve it. The acknowledged issue is that America is viewed by many other countries as a largely materialistic nation that has yet to produce significant cultural or intellectual developments. An important component to the plan for fixing this global image is the use of music and other art forms as propaganda. Of course, because of the multitudes of musics available in America, the choice of what music to utilize for cultural diplomacy was far from a unanimous decision, as noted by Fosler-Lussier.
ReplyDeleteIn the case of Eisenhower, (or at least in the case of this letter by Eisenhower) it seems that his choice of music for the task of cultural diplomacy might be the musical avant-garde. This is inferred from his mention of the multi-national conversation happening between both artists and academics when he says, “...an increasing mutual respect in things more purely intellectual, as distinguished from the aesthetic,” and earlier when he notes that, “...intellectual values are deemed to be almost non-existent in our country.” Though in the final paragraph Eisenhower indicates that he does not see himself as qualified to make such a decision about music, that he is not the one in charge of such a decision, and that he is scarcely included in the conversations of those in charge of this cultural diplomacy, his interest in the intellectual aspects of American culture would likely be manifested musically in the avant-garde.
Though this claim (or rather, assumption) about Eisenhower’s musical preference for cultural diplomacy is unlikely to be proven with only one letter, it is clear through Fosler-Lussier’s writings that the avant-garde was indeed an important part of the government’s plans for international propaganda. It was well suited to the purposes of cultural diplomacy because it opposed socialist-realism, promoted the views of Americans as intelligent, and generally did not offend Americans nor the receiving nations. Though the intellectually “advanced” music of the American avant-garde had a slow start in the nation’s cultural diplomacy of the Cold War, many government organizations came to view it as an important tool and allowed it an important position in the plans to improve the American image abroad.
Eisenhower wanted to use music to both promote a better worldwide cultural image of the US and to further America’s political agenda in the Cold War. At the time, the United States’ culture was considered materialistic and was not associated with the arts. Eisenhower wanted to change the image of the US by promoting American music and artwork abroad.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to promoting the cultural identity of America, musical exchanges were also used for political purposes to further the American agenda in the Cold War. Music would serve as a good template for the exchange of ideas. Through the use of music, the government believed that American values would be shown to foreign countries. As Fosler-Lussier states, the government wanted to “pour American ideas into the minds of foreign countries making them more receptive to US policy objectives”. Music was a means in which to show American ideas and make people responsive to the policies of the USA.
Therefore, music’s role socially was important to Eisenhower to promote the idea of a culturally rich United States. Music was considered a form of higher art and the US believed that through promoting music, their image would be elevated. This in turn would cause foreign countries to be more receptive to the USA’s policies.
In general, Europeans were led to believe that the United States was a country whose people valued materials goods over the more abstract arts. This negative viewpoint of Americans affected the level of attraction that these nations felt to America and its government. If nations deem other nations as highly intelligent, cultured, and generally attractive, they will be more likely to willingly aid them in political battles (both in conference rooms and on the battlefield); this was especially important with the constant threat of physical war that was felt during the Cold War. Thus, by sending cultural ambassadors such as Aaron Copland to promote American classical music, they aimed to improve Europeans’ opinions of Americans.
ReplyDeleteIn the mid-1950s, the government of United States was experiencing difficulties maintaining a good reputation on the international stage. While their intervention in WWII was of unquestioned importance, the use of the atomic bomb in Nagasaki and Hiroshima left them introduced a force that truly terrified people on a global level. Five years later, the American army was unable to smash the communist front of North Koreans and Chinese People’s Volunteer Army in the Korean War, and in the process raised questions about America’s willingness and ability to fight successful proxy wars. Communism was spreading across the world, perhaps most notably in America’s own backyard in Cuba.
ReplyDeleteThe American government was also losing face with the global community for how it had treated its own citizens during the McCarthy and HUAC fiascos, particularly in the wake of McCarthy’s discrediting and fall from political office. President Eisenhower saw that repairing America’s reputation with the international community was the only way to establish the USA as a true leader on the world stage. As he noted in a letter in 1955, Americans were “believed to be bombastic, jingoistic, and totally devoted to the theories of force and power as the only worth while elements in the world.” Cultural exchange was the ideal solution to this issue. America’s influence on the world stage could be greatly augmented by presenting other countries with the image of a nation bursting with creativity and intellectual advancements in the arts as well as in the sciences. Music became an important component of the American propaganda machine, and was used to influence elites and populace alike. While the tours of Copland, for example, were certainly not as iconic as Coca-Cola or Elvis Presley, they demonstrated to the world that Americans were interested in sharing their music and participating in creative dialogues with people from around the world.
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ReplyDeleteAmerica the strong; America the industrialist; America the brute; but not America the cultured. This was the pervading global perception of the United States of America in the 1950’s. The Soviets especially mocked the United States for this perceived lack of culture and cultural identity, and touted that “only a nation that is a cultured nation is a mature nation [and] only a nation that is a mature nation can make the decisions that are now called for in the world of today” (Fosler-Lussier, 2015, 47) [1]. It is quite apparent why such an idea would have severe ramifications for a nation as globally involved and invested (and anti-Soviet) as the United States. Thus, in an effort to ameliorate the world’s perception of their country, President Eisenhower and his administration embarked upon a program of Cultural Diplomacy to show the world that America was indeed cultured. By the same token, cultural diplomacy also worked to thwart the accumulation of soft power by the Soviets around the globe, particularly in burgeoning post-colonial third-world countries.
ReplyDeleteCuriously, when it came to music, the cultural products America exported consisted primarily of classical/western art music—a music with a decisively non-American heritage. Classical music—and soon after, classical avant-garde music—was seen as an object of prestige because of its rich legacy and high status in Europe. It is precisely because of its European legacy and status that classical music was seen by Americans as a valuable and potent form of cultural capital in cultural diplomacy.
1. This is ironic, because—and Copland also thought this (DeLapp-Birkett, 2008)—Soviet Russia was facing a similar cultural-identity crisis in the realm of music, where it sought to consolidate what would eventually become its national (or rather, state-imposed) style, socialist realism.
President Eisenhower was deeply concerned about his country’s reputation abroad, specifically referring to European misunderstandings regarding America’s cultural standards and artistic tastes. In an effort to address this, and counter Soviet sponsored anti-American propaganda, Eisenhower and his government saw classical music as an effective use of soft power to further this agenda throughout Europe, Asia and even the Soviet Union.
ReplyDeleteIn 1953 the Eisenhower administration created and funded a global initiative that used touring artists, musicians and classical music to redefine international opinion of American culture. The Soviet Union viewpoint that the United States was deficient in high culture had to be countered, Eisenhower explained, by sending abroad America’s best and brightest productions that could match the high culture music of the Soviet Union and show the rest of the world that America had more to offer than its capitalist ideology. It would seem that Eisenhower recognized the potential in music to present, in a positive light, one’s own culture but also in its collaborative ability to act as a good-will ambassador through the exchange of music and musicians with other nations.
Eisenhower seems to be concerned that other countries do not take America seriously in the field of cultural production. Instead, Americans are regarded as being concerned only with production and finance, as well as frivolous pursuits such as sport. This belies a certain Eurocentric understanding of cultural production, especially since in the field of popular music, the 1950s were the period in which American music began to dominate. However, the fact that this does not seem to occur to Eisenhower likely speaks to the attendant cultural panic associated with rock and roll. Similarly, the fact that Eisenhower thinks that American music is seen as lesser than that of Europe likely belies a certain anxiety about the status and sophistication of American culture.
ReplyDeleteIn sending musicians to other countries, Eisenhower sought to reverse this image of America, showing that they too produced 'serious' music. Similarly, American music was seen as being embedded with American ideas and cultural values, and so was well-suited as a tool of cultural exchange. This could then show a different side of America--a kinder, gentler capitalism. Cultural exchange also served a propagandistic function on the home front, as it showed Americans that their government was trying to engage foreign countries and perhaps sway them away from communist influence. Finally, Fosler-Lussier emphasizes the way in which these musical exchanges were a way for people on both sides of the Iron Curtain to engage with one another on a personal level, something that otherwise would have been impossible. These personal connections were seen to have great propaganda potential.
Eisenhower's letter to his brother Edgar tells us that he was interested in promoting American classical music abroad because he sought to increase the "cultural capital" of the United States. Fosler-Lussier (2015:232) explains:
ReplyDelete"During the cold war [sic?], many musicians from the United States traveled [sic] to distant places under the sponsorship of the U.S. government. They were sent to [1] enhance the reputation of American culture; to [2] compete with Soviet and Chinese performers; to [3] forge personal connections with citizens of other lands; and to [4] create a positive impression of the United States and its foreign policy."
Eisenhower is mostly focused on purpose [1], though he indirectly references purposes [3] and [4]. For example, his address to "European friends" indicates his interest in forging connections with citizens abroad, and the discussion of the "matter of using musicians in our propaganda work abroad" indicates his interest in promoting America's foreign policy. Thus, for Eisenhower, cultural products such as classical music can serve many functions in the promotion of a nation.
It also struck me as important that Eisenhower is a little bit hesitant in signing off on providing government assistance to Fred Waring. Though the President notes that his "artists are versatile, and his whole show moves with a speed and snap that I particularly like," he is quick to explain "whether or not his particular type of show would be especially useful in Europe, I am not competent to judge." Eisenhower looks to his brother for support in his opinion, because not only is it important to send American musicians abroad, but the right American musicians.