Upstaging the Cold War: American Dissent and Cultural Diplomacy, 1940-1960

Introduction: The New Negotiators

1 Introduction The New Negotiators Scene One: 1939 A few minutes past three on the sunny afternoon of April 30, 1939, President Franklin Roosevelt officially opened the New York World’s Fair. For the next six months, Depression-weary Americans happily shelled out money all day long to enjoy the many attractions there. Thematically, the fair offered a look at peace and progress by focusing on worlds of tomorrow where problems of the present day—traffic, pollution, poverty—had been solved. There was little to suggest that much of the rest of the world had been swallowed by fascism, militarism, and dictatorship. The peace and progress represented here were general, platitudinous , and apolitical. By incorporating these themes, the fair said more about Depression-era anxiety and optimism than anything else. Indeed, few visitors believed such idyllic visions were part of any American-led program for the world. Americans at that time generally preferred to look inward, and fairgoers marveled at the city, not at the world beyond its borders . As one observer of the fair noted, “New York in 1939 had its own style of life, and the nation as a whole admired, copied and enjoyed it.”1 The local mattered more than the national in many ways. That year was hailed as Hollywood’s greatest, not just in box office receipts but also by critics. Many fine motion pictures lit up the big screen: The Wizard of Oz, Stagecoach, Ninotchka, Frank Capra’s Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, and David O. Selznick’s Gone with the Wind. At the fair a copy of Margaret Mitchell’s classic novel was placed inside a time capsule along with a newsreel. Screenwriter Dalton Trumbo wrote at least six scripts that year and also openly engaged in leftist politics as part of the Popular Front in Hollywood. Playwright Lillian Hellman was the toast of Broadway when she earned a Pulitzer Prize for The Little Foxes. 2 Introduction Those attending the fair, though, were most intrigued by a new medium on the horizon: television. At the RCA pavilion, on the Avenue of Progress near the Court of Peace, twelve television receivers were put on display for the public to inspect. Amos & Andy sparred in blackface during the experimental demonstrations. The young teenager Rod Serling was there, and probably passed without noticing the DuMont advertisement proclaiming, “Sooner than you think, television will play a vital part in the life of the average American.”2 David Sarnoff, chairman of RCA, announced the birth of television with “a feeling of humbleness.” Sarnoff had reason for humility, for television would not overtake motion pictures for many years to come. The fair closed its gates in October 1940, at which time war gripped Europe and the Pacific and forced Americans to come to terms with its ambiguous role in world affairs. Though Selznick, Trumbo, Hellman, Serling, and Sarnoff could not have anticipated it, their lives would mingle in national and international affairs in the coming years. Each would seek to construct an American national identity for global consumption through the media. During and after the Second World War—a seminal period in all their lives and in the national experience—individuals within culture industries helped shape American foreign relations in supportive and critical ways, in the content of their scripts and from behind the scenes, at home and abroad. Americans gather around a television set at the RCA exhibit at the New York World’s Fair, 1939. Courtesy Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, LC-USZ62-116255. The New Negotiators 3 Scene Two: 1950 A few years later and a political eon away, during the summer of 1950 another world’s fair was held, this time in Chicago under the banner “Frontiers of Freedom.” It reflected a world remarkably different from the one that had existed in 1939. Ten minutes from the downtown Loop, patrons strolled through sixty acres of parks devoted to showing the best of Cold War America. As Robert Haddow explains, “The fair trumpeted American superiority with its displays of new technologies and their ability to transform age-old problems into a modern utopia.”3 It showcased fashionable clothing, kitchen appliances, and television, which was quickly becoming a symbol of postwar capitalist abundance. Planners hoped the Chicago fair would promote American business, but the primary product they sold was America itself. This was especially, evident when, the day after the fair opened, President Harry Truman...