THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | SEPTEMBER 2023 49 The Diplomat Who Started A (Culture) WAR U.S. cultural diplomacy took on a new urgency following World War II. Here is a look at the bumpy beginnings of that change. BY MATTHEW ALGEO When the fires of World War II had finally been extinguished and the Cold War dawned, America seemed superior on every front: the only nation in the world with nuclear weapons, a homeland that had escaped the war practically unscathed, and an economy strong enough to finance the rebuilding of Europe under the Marshall Plan. In one area, however, the U.S. was clearly deficient: culture. The rest of the world still regarded America as a cultural backwater where profits were prized more than paintings, pennies more precious than poetry. The Soviet Union exploited this advantage even while the rubble was still smoldering in Berlin. The Russians organized orchestral performances in the ruined shells of German opera houses to advertise their cultural superiority. “Cultural diplomacy” became a catchphrase. U.S. diplomats felt an urgent need to demonstrate American accomplishments in the arts and culture. One in particular, LeRoy Davidson, hit upon an idea: to organize an exhibition of America’s best modern art. The exhibition he would organize, called “Advancing American Art,” would, like a nuclear bomb, set off a chain of events that triggered a new kind of war: a culture war at home. FS HERITAGE Matthew Algeo is a Foreign Service family member whose spouse, Allyson Algeo, is a Foreign Service officer. They have been posted to Bamako, Rome, Ulaanbaatar, Maputo, Sarajevo, and Washington, D.C. He is the author of When Harry Met Pablo: Truman, Picasso, and the Cold War Politics of Modern Art (Chicago Review Press, November 2023), from which this article has been adapted. His website is malgeo.net.
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