Following World War Two, tensions were high between the USA and Soviet Russia. The two countries had been part of an alliance during the war, but after Hitler’s defeat the Russians initiated a struggle for global supremacy between communism and capitalism that was to last the next forty-five years (Roberts, 2013). This struggle became known as the ‘cold war’. During the height of this ‘war’, the US government had ‘committed vast resources’ to an extremely effective programme of anti-communist propaganda intended to combat the negative portrayal of the US by the USSR (p.1, Saunders, 1999). The CIA utilised certain individuals as well as front organisations – such as the Congress for Cultural Freedom (CCF), the National Student Association (NSA), and the Committee of Correspondence (CoC) – which
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At its peak the organisation had offices in thirty-five different countries, dozens of employees, owned twenty prestige magazine publications and a news and features service, held art exhibitions and well publicised international conferences, and patronised musicians and artists, often holding their own award ceremonies (Saunders, 1999). The news and features service owned by the CCF was ‘Forum World Features’, a London based organisation that sold stories to some one hundred and forty newspapers around the world, thirty of which – including the Washington Post and four other high profile daily’s – were in the United States (Blum, 2004). The CCF was primarily located in Paris, but American writers and artists were used to showcase U.S. high culture and Hugh Wilford (2008) believes this to have had domestic repercussions in America, with art and literature that was seen to be ‘intrinsically American’ at the forefront of public
At its peak the organisation had offices in thirty-five different countries, dozens of employees, owned twenty prestige magazine publications and a news and features service, held art exhibitions and well publicised international conferences, and patronised musicians and artists, often holding their own award ceremonies (Saunders, 1999). The news and features service owned by the CCF was ‘Forum World Features’, a London based organisation that sold stories to some one hundred and forty newspapers around the world, thirty of which – including the Washington Post and four other high profile daily’s – were in the United States (Blum, 2004). The CCF was primarily located in Paris, but American writers and artists were used to showcase U.S. high culture and Hugh Wilford (2008) believes this to have had domestic repercussions in America, with art and literature that was seen to be ‘intrinsically American’ at the forefront of public