steve on Nostr: “Total Cold War: Eisenhower’s Secret Propaganda Battle at Home and Abroad” by ...
“Total Cold War: Eisenhower’s Secret Propaganda Battle at Home and Abroad” by Kenneth Osgood
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Do you ever recall seeing animated cartoons from the 1950s depicting American life? They usually had a corny male narrator speaking in a mid-Atlantic accent, showcasing the wonders that financial freedom and self-sovereignty brought to the public. Well, it may not come as a surprise that those productions were part of a consolidated information campaign run by the US Information Agency (USIA) during the Eisenhower administration. Kenneth Osgood is a professor at the Colorado School of Mines and uses this book to explore Eisenhower’s integrated approach towards psychological warfare both at home and abroad. He shows how the CIA and USIA coordinated to execute both “black” (covert disinformation) and “white” (overt propaganda) information operations across the world. While the CIA used influence to topple left-leaning governments in the 3rd world, the USIA was spreading a positive image of what it meant to be an American. All this, he shows, was motivated by the fear of communism and a perceived need to “fight fire with fire” so the neutral nations would choose the West as their preferred partner. This was an outstanding book that puts into context many aspects of the post-WWII order. It turns out that part of what “made America great” during this time was a concerted campaign to make people think it was… good food for thought and a reminder to seek objectivity. 🗣️🙊
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Do you ever recall seeing animated cartoons from the 1950s depicting American life? They usually had a corny male narrator speaking in a mid-Atlantic accent, showcasing the wonders that financial freedom and self-sovereignty brought to the public. Well, it may not come as a surprise that those productions were part of a consolidated information campaign run by the US Information Agency (USIA) during the Eisenhower administration. Kenneth Osgood is a professor at the Colorado School of Mines and uses this book to explore Eisenhower’s integrated approach towards psychological warfare both at home and abroad. He shows how the CIA and USIA coordinated to execute both “black” (covert disinformation) and “white” (overt propaganda) information operations across the world. While the CIA used influence to topple left-leaning governments in the 3rd world, the USIA was spreading a positive image of what it meant to be an American. All this, he shows, was motivated by the fear of communism and a perceived need to “fight fire with fire” so the neutral nations would choose the West as their preferred partner. This was an outstanding book that puts into context many aspects of the post-WWII order. It turns out that part of what “made America great” during this time was a concerted campaign to make people think it was… good food for thought and a reminder to seek objectivity. 🗣️🙊