The Decline and Fall of the United States Information Agency: American Public Diplomacy, 1989–2001

272 Pages·2012·1.61 MB·English

by  Nicholas J. Cull (auth.)

The Decline and Fall of the United States
Information Agency
Palgrave Macmillan Series in Global Public Diplomacy
Series editors:
Kathy Fitzpatrick, Quinnipiac University, USA
Philip Seib, University of Southern California, USA
Advisory Board:
Nicholas J. Cull, University of Southern California, USA
Teresa LaPorte, University of Navarre, Spain
Donna Lee, Leeds Metropolitan University, United Kingdom
Jan Melissen, Netherlands Institute of International Relations Clingendael,
Netherlands
Abeer Najjar, American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
William A. Rugh, Former U.S. Ambassador to Yemen and
United Arab Emirates, USA
Cesar Villanueva Rivas, Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico
Li Xiguang, Tsinghua University, China
At no time in history has public diplomacy played a more significant role in world affairs
and international relations. As a result, global interest in public diplomacy has escalated,
creating a substantial academic and professional audience for new works in the field.
This series examines theory and practice in public diplomacy from a global per-
spective, looking closely at public diplomacy concepts, policies, and practices in vari-
ous regions of the world. The purpose is to enhance understanding of the importance
of public diplomacy, to advance public diplomacy thinking, and to contribute to
improved public diplomacy practices.
The editors welcome submissions from scholars and practitioners representing a
range of disciplines and fields (including diplomacy, international relations, interna-
tional communications, public relations, political science, global media, marketing/
advertising) and offering diverse perspectives. In keeping with its global focus, the
series encourages non-US-centric works and comparative studies.
Toward a New Public Diplomacy: Redirecting U.S. Foreign Policy
Edited by Philip Seib
Soft Power in China: Public Diplomacy through Communication
Edited by Jian Wang
Public Diplomacy and Soft Power in East Asia
Edited by Sook Jong Lee and Jan Melissen
The Practice of Public Diplomacy: Confronting Challenges Abroad
Edited by William A. Rugh
The Decline and Fall of the United States Information Agency: American Public Diplomacy,
1989–2001
Nicholas J. Cull
The Decline and Fall of
the United States
Information Agency
American Public Diplomacy,
1989–2001
Nicholas J. Cull
THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE UNITED STATES INFORMATION AGENCY
Copyright © Nicholas J. Cull, 2012
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2012 978-0-230-3472-5
Portions of this book have appeared in other form as:
“‘The Perfect War:’ US Public Diplomacy and International Broadcasting
During Desert Shield and Desert Storm, 1990/1991.’” Transnational
Broadcasting Studies, Vol. 15, January 2006.
“Speeding the Strange Death of American Public Diplomacy: The George
H. W. Bush Administration and the United States Information Agency.”
Diplomatic History, Vol. 34, No.1, January 2010, pp. 47–70.
“How We Got Here: The Conduct and Structure of U.S. Public Diplomacy,
1776 to 2008.” In Philip M. Seib (ed.), American Public Diplomacy,
New York/London, Palgrave/Macmillan, 2009, pp. 23–48. Reproduced
with permission of Palgrave Macmillan.
(with Juliana Geran Pilon), “The Crisis in U.S. Public Diplomacy: The Demise of
USIA.” In Richard Weitz (ed.), Project on National Security Reform Case Studies
Working Group Report, Washington DC: PNSR, March 2012, pp. 543–642.
All rights reserved.
First published in 2012 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN®
in the United States—a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world,
this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills,
Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies
and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States,
the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-137-31082-8 ISBN 978-1-137-10536-3 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9781137105363
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Cull, Nicholas John.
The decline and fall of the United States Information Agency : American
public diplomacy, 1989–2001 / Nicholas J. Cull.
p. cm.—(Global public diplomacy)
1. United States Information Agency—History. 2. Public relations
and politics—United States—History. 3. United States—Foreign
relations—1989– I. Title.
E840.2.C86 2012
353.1(cid:2)32740973—dc23 2012013152
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.
Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India.
First edition: October 2012
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Bernie Kamenske
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C O N T E N T S
Introduction ix
Abbreviations Used in Text xvii
Prologue Audit of an Empire: The USIA
and American Public Diplomacy in 1988 1
One B eyond the Cold War: The Presidency
of George H. W. Bush 15
1. Public Diplomacy in a New Era:
Managing Change in Eastern
Europe and beyond 17
2. I nternational Broadcasting:
China and Cuba 26
3. “The Beef over the Chief:”
The Trials of Bruce Gelb 32
4. “The Perfect War:” Desert Shield
and Desert Storm 40
5. T he Calm in the Eye of the Hurricane:
Henry Catto’s USIA 51
Two Downsizing: Bill Clinton’s First Term 65
1. Ideas, Agendas, and an Open-Plan Office:
The Return of Joe Duffey 67
2. F or Peace and Democracy and the Right
Pictures on TV: Supporting Clinton’s
First-Term Foreign Policy 75
3. “From Monologue to Dialogue:”
Reshaping US International Broadcasting 90
viii Contents
4. A Nightmare on Helms Street:
The Threat from Capitol Hill 103
5. C risis Tool: Bosnia, Disinformation,
and Other Challenges 107
Three End Games: Bill Clinton’s Second Term 121
1. Into the Cuisinart:
Consolidation and PDD 68 123
2. W agging Dogs and Millennium
Bugs: Supporting Clinton’s
Second-Term Foreign Policy 131
3. “A Strong, Unique Voice:” International
Broadcasting, China, Africa, and Monica 145
4. Kosovo: The Last Campaign 151
5. “ No Independent Thought
Unpunished:” American Public
Diplomacy after the USIA 163
Conclusion The Tragedy of American Public Diplomacy 179
Abbreviations Used in Notes 193
Notes 195
Select Bibliography 239
Index 247
I N T R O D U C T I O N
Public diplomacy is central to contemporary international relations.
It was not always so, and scholarship has been slow to adjust to the
new reality. The evolution of the methods and institutions of public
diplomacy is only now receiving sustained and systematic attention.
This book is a contribution to that collective endeavor and continues
a personal project to illuminate the role of public diplomacy in foreign
policy by understanding the people and institutions behind the activi-
ties and messages. I began in the mid-1980s, researching Britain’s inno-
vative propaganda campaign in the United States during the Second
World War, an enterprise that pioneered many of the approaches that
are now standard tools of public diplomacy. That work became Selling
War: The British Propaganda Campaign against American ‘Neutrality’ in
World War II (Oxford University Press, 1995). In 1995 I began work on
the first complete and archive-based history of the key institution of
US public diplomacy: the United States Information Agency (USIA).
With an abundance of newly available archive material and willing
subjects for interview, that story grew beyond the confines of a single
volume. The first portion of that research appeared as The Cold War
and the United States Information Agency: American Propaganda and Public
Diplomacy, 1945–1989 (Cambridge University Press, 2008). That book
ended on the high note of the success of US public diplomacy in the
late 1980s. This volume continues the story, but its trajectory is down-
hill to the “consolidation” of the United States Information Agency
(USIA) into the Department of State in 1999 and the awareness of a
crisis in public diplomacy that broke with the terrorist attacks of 11
September 2001. The dual phenomena of the Global War on Terror
and the ongoing revolution in communication technologies catapulted
public diplomacy issues to the top of the foreign policy agenda. In
such a world, understanding the past successes and failures of public