MEMO TO(Sanitized)

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80B01676R001100080010-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 25
• Document Creation Date: December 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 12, 2002
• Sequence Number: 10
• Publication Date: December 8, 1955
• Content Type: MEMO

8TA4.NDARD FORM NAfproved For Release 2002/11/13 CIA-RDP80B01676RO01100080010-3
Office Memorandum UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT
b 1955
O/DCI
SA/DCI
DATE: 8 Decem er
SUBJECT:
I doubt whether the Director would want t?t that the first paper hick
attached drafts. He may be interested in kge
ro ram i c deals with cultural exchango~s derablealong terlm valuexchan
The same is
increased as being one of c
recommended regarding educational exchanges
d the third one gnomic
system. The second paper is on farm policy an
stabilization. r
Attachment
Release 2002/11/13 CIA RDP80B01676R0011
 N A T I At2NcfrolA76oo158ri3A T 10 N
A NONPROFIT, NONPOLITICAL ORGANIZATION, ESTABLISHED IN 1934
DEVOTED TO PLANNING BY AMERICANS IN AGRICULTURE, BUSINESS, LABOR, AND THE PROFESSIONS
1606 New Hampshire Ave., N. W., Washington 9, D. C. ? Telephone: Columbia 5-7685 ? Cable: NATPLAN
M-3074
pm L.
December 2, 1955
YENDRAPDURI
From; John Miller
Tot NPA Board of. Trustoos a.nr= Standing Corn: i ttees
Enclosed is a copy of the preliminary agenda for the NPA
Annual Mooting, which, as It. Some wrote you on October 21,
will be hold this your on December 12 at the Hotel Statler in
Washington, D, C..
Please note that the mooting will began at 900 a.m., on the
12th and continue through the Annual Dinnor on that day. As
N. Sonne wrote you, we are cxporimonting this year with a ono-day
iIvnual Mooting
Also enclosed are preliminary draft: of the throe Joint Stato?
inonts which will b,; considered at the reoc.ting, The Joint Sub-
committees preparing those drafts may raa' c several chan,cs prior to
the mooting. In as much no the schodulc will be more crowded than
in previous years, we urge that you rcan these draft statomonts prior
to Docolabor 12..
If you have not alroa .y lot us knr. yr your plans for attendanco
at the mooting, or if your plans shoul'l change, please advise me by
return mail..
okWl2-1-55
cc; 175
/Y ! 4
OFFICERS: Chairman H. Christian Sonne ? Chairman Executive Committee V~ayne Chat ed X1Qr,; ee Chairmen: M. H. Hedges,
Frank Altschul, C1iiAlD~'0~81~eFonkikDaseIv~~ M11~~~-i1s P&M, F3~Dt3k1 ~biMld0 yHitld Twaiurer, Harry A. Bullis;
Counsel, Chariton Ogburn; Assistant Chairman and Executive Secretary, John Miller.
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N!.TIOi\1f L PL .HNI:`NG i dS OCL,TIO N
1606 Now Hampshira .,vo., N,W,
Washington 9, D. C.
14-3061
Confidontial
For Committee Use
~ ~ First Draft
November 21, 1955
Proposed NPI. Joint Statement on
United St,atos P rt cip~l un in Cultural Exchanges
Since World War II, the question of what the people of other countries thinL.
about the United States has become of major concern to us. Prior to that time,
the United States did not have an active, world-wide .foreign policy nor had it
assumed heavy responsibilities for the defense and progress of other froc countrica-,
In such circumstances, the picture which other countries had of us did not matt: r
very much. Today, the situation is reversed. The success of our policies depends
not simply upon other pooplots immediate reactions to specific 'eiiorican stater.'ments,
actions and programs. More fundamentally, the way in which others will react to
our policies is also determined by their general attitudes toward the United States,
by the picture which they have in their minds of the kind of people we are and of
the basic values and objectives which we hold dear. It is this underlying feeling
on the part of others about the United Status which persists over time and, in the
long run, has a greater effect on the ultimate success of our policies than do tho
immediate reactions in other countries to specific i,merican aetJ,ons in tho politi-
cal or economic fields.
Traditionally, the people of other countries have had a distinctive picture
in their minds of wh t constituted the essential characteristics of '~ crican civili-
zatt:i_on. Lmoricans wore ti.idoly and favorably known abroad as the pooplo who had
shown the modern world the way to national independence, representative democracy
and greater oconomic and social justice, ',.t the some time, our rapidly grows:'.
national wealth, our technical proficiency and high productivity,, and our over-
expanding standard of living wore regarded with mixed foolings. Mcny admired th s?
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products of American pragmatism and joy in work. To others, however, they were
evidences of an excessive concern with material possessions and materialistic
satisfactions. Despite these reservations, and some understandable envy of Ameri-
can good fortune, the not impression we made on the rest of the world was favorable
and the people of other countries were generally friendly to the United Statoso
This basic attitude provided a psychological background conducive to favorable
responses to American policies and actions in the years before World War II.
In the past decades we have boon drawing on this favorable psychologioal
"capital" accumulated since tho "shot hoard round the world" at Concord Bridge in
1775. This vast reservoir of good will is still far from being exhausted. But
the postwar drains on it have boon very heavy and, in present and prospective
eircumstanoes, it requires constant replenishing and refreshing. Ploreover, the
traditional picture which the people of other countries have had of us has always
boon an over-simplified and partial representation of the ossontial charaetoristics
of American civilization and is also now in many respects seriously out of date.
Both the need for and the difficulty of convoying a valid and convincing
picture of ourselves to other peoples are today very much groator than in the paste
A nation which assumes leadership responsibilities and actively socks to got things
done in the world inevitably places a much greater strain upon the good will of
other countries than does ono which merely follows a passive or isolationist
foreign policy. A country whose foreign activities include massive programs of
military and economic aid and technical assistance is bound to give the impression
that it is overly concerned with its own material achievements and possessions,
dospito the fact that those programs are being undertaken to moot a common pol.iticaJ
danger and the expressed desires of other countries for such matorial assistancor
Finally, the communists and other anti-American elements abroad are coaselossl.y
purveying false and distorted information about the United States in an effort to
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undermine the confidence of other countries in our friendship and leadership.
'horn are many ways by which Americans can help to make the picture of
thomsolvos which they project to other pooplos a more complete and accurate repro-
sontation of the es.sontial values and achievements of our civilization. There are
most obviously, the specific objectives and programs of our foreign policy,
political and economic. Perhaps of greater iTnnlodiato impact are the spirit and
tone of our foreign policy as a whole -- the things tiro say about our actions in.
the world and the manner in which we undertake them. a acre are s too, the impro s
sions which Americans from all walks of life make on people abroad, both as
individuals and as assumrd roprosuntativos of characteristic groups within American
lifo, Finally, there is the knowledge which other countries are able to obtain of
the distinctive cultural values and achieve.m,nts of the i-m.urican people.
It has long been regarded as axiomatic that the bct-ter acquainted people are
with oath otherts habits, abilitios and limitations, the more likely they arc to
be understanding and cooperative in their relationships with one another. Ignorance
and misinformation brood intolerance, suspicion and hostility, Better knowledge
of one another will not, however, automatically and by itself result in mutual
understanding and friendliness, but it is one of the ossontials of good rolationso
.iissuming that the other essentials -- common interests, compatible, institutions
and lovols of political and economic capabilities, etc. -- arc also present in somo
minimum degree, a ;rowing knowledge of each others s values and cultural achievements
can foster and mail twin mutual tolerance and cooperation among different countrios.
Prior to World War II IF the active encouragement of such cultural contacts and
exchanges was not regarded as a governmental responsibility in democratic countrios
and was generally loft to private initiative and activity, particularly in the
Unitod States. ,Iartimo and postwar conditions have changed this attitude and, ovor
the past decade, tho United States Government has operated a gradually expanding
program of cultural exchanges bctnoon the United States and other countries.
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1st first, this cultural exchange program was conceived as an integral part
of th- general information function of explaining and justifying ienoriean policies
to the rest of the world and of exposing the r al objectives and tactics of world-
wide communist imperialism. Though the information program certainly contributes
to better knowledge and understanding of the essential characteristics of iunerican
civilization, an important difference was soon recognized between the information
function and the cultural exchange function. The content and pace of the infor:-.,
tion program must be largely, though not exclusively, determined in the light of
the changing objectives and methods of American and communist foreign policies and
of the day-to-day events of the Cold War. In contrast, the cultural exchange
program need not be geared to specific political and economic objectives or to
ir.-.mediate tactical needs. Its content can and should be much broader and its pace
more leisurely than those of the information program. i,oroovor, its effects are
achieved only over the long term and not through immediate or dramatic impacts.
Hence, too, its offocts arc cumulative.; and much more onduring.
Tho general objective of the cultural exchange program carried on by tho United
Statos Govornment is, in the words of the President, to "dolinoato those important
aspects of the lifo and culture of the people of the United States which facilitate
understanding of the policies and objectives of the Government of the United States.'
1h is objective is to be achieved through programs which enable other people, either
in their own country or through visits to the United States, to become acquainted
with what -imericans have been thinking and doing in all of the important cultural
fields -- broadly defined to include the arts, the seienccs., religion, education,
human relations, etc. In various ways and to varying dogrocs, those programs help
to make possible the dissomination in other countries of ,,mcrioan books and other
printed matter on all subjects of interest or importance to their pooplos;
oxhibitions abroad of American literary; artistic and scientific achiovomonts;
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foreign tours by American writers, locturers, athletes, musicians and orchestras,
dramatic and dance companies, etc.; and periods of study aria travel in the United
States for foreign students, teachers and specialists and periods of study and
travel abroad for American students, teachers and specialists. In addition,, these
programs endeavor to stimulate and assist private American individuals, groups and
institutions in undertaking their own cultural contacts, temporary or pormancr.-c:
in other countries.
These programs have entailed now and strange activities for the United Sto?:
Government, and the task of evolving effective organizational forms and oporat_rr;
methods has boon a long and difficult one. Also, thorn is unavoidably a largo
olomont of subjective judgment -- of personal 'taste and aesthetic or intolloctual
pro,ferunae which enters into the choice of specific things, activities and
persons to be included in a particular program. Inevittzbly, mistakes havo boon
made and waste and inefficiency have occurred. But, over the years, there is no
question in our minds that those programs have yielded results which far outweigh
their monetary cost and the minor unintentional harm that may have resulted from
inefficiency and mistakes in judgment. As knowledge and c::porionco have boon
accumulated, the quality of the cultural exchange programs has steadily improved,;
and we have every confidence that, with adequate understanding and support by the
Congress and the American people, their efficiency and usefulness can continue to
increase, Suggestions for further improvements arc made at the and of this
statement.
Perhaps the most notable achievement of our cultural exchange programs has
been their effectiveness in gradually helping to correct that distorted picture,
so prevalent abroad, of !Americans as a people obsessed with materialistic values
and material satisfactions, This distorted picture is the result not simply of
propagonda by the coimnui.lists and other anti-A.rmerican clomentsf As already noted,
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it is in part the unintentional result of our own technological proficiency, of our
expanding economic system geared to mass production for mass consumption, and of
the role which our material wealth and power must play in the protection and
progress of the whole free world0 Moreover, it would be foolish to deny that
criticism of American culture as materialistic has a limited validity insofar as
our creativity and our joy in work.: serve no better purpose then to satisfy the
artificially stimulated whims of the American people for over newer models and z,, r: r
gadgets, Nonetheless, American pragmatism, skill and productive exuberance ha,-n,
another, and vastly more important, significance for the whole of human socio
Today, they make the thzited States the "arsenal of democracy, 1.1 producing most :f
the armament which alone protects the free nations from communist imperialism. And
tomorrow, our willingness to share our productive skills and material wolath freely
with othors may make their significance oven greater. They are not only an i:idis-
ponsiblo moans for aohioving greater justice and welfare; in the international
coin unity. If world population growth and consumption oxpoctations both continue
their explosive rise, the export of American skills and products may also be
essential to unable many countries to provide their hungry peoples with the very
broad of life itself.
Thus, our so-called materialism also has a positive and creative aspect. -Nor
is it by any moans the solo important oha.ractc,ristic of American civilization.
Indeed, our material progress, impressive as it is, may be only one of the fruits
"- perhaps merely one of the by-products -- of the more basic satisfactions
Americans dorivo from the exorcise of their ability to manipulate and control the
material world as a self-justifying activity.
In addition, there are many other qualities and values of American life which
arc gradually being made apparent to the pooplo of other countries through our
cultural oxchango programs and in other aays? Dramatic examples have occurred
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during the past your in the kinds of rosponsos in '."TTostorn Europe and non-conununist
Asia to exhibits of American art and technology and to performances by American
musicians and dramatic companies. the most characteristic response was amazement
at the unexpectedly high quality and wide variety of American achievements in these
artistic and scientific fields. Similar responses on the part of European students
and teachers have resulted from their growing acquaintance with American oduca