Soft Diplomacy in Wartime: The OCIAA and Cultural Programs in Latin America, 1940-1945

• In Event: Latin America and the United States: Local and Transnational Histories of the Cold War

Abstract

This paper will focus on the cultural programs of the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs (OCIAA) in Latin America during World War II. President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the OCIAA in 1940 and appointed Nelson Rockefeller to lead the new agency. The OCIAA had several immediate objectives related to the outbreak of war in Europe. These included: protecting the western hemisphere from foreign incursion, promoting economic and cultural cooperation between the United States and Latin America, and winning the support of Latin American people for the United States and its allies. Soon after it was formed, Rockefeller’s office initiated a broad array of cultural programs throughout Latin America, including radio programs, art exhibits, educational and health programs, and public festivals. The OCIAA also sponsored partnerships between Hollywood filmmakers and Latin American cinematic enterprises. This paper will examine how the OCIAA established local partnerships and worked to create cultural wartime propaganda that would appeal to Latin Americans. The onset of a formal, government-backed cultural diplomacy strategy is evident in the activities of the OCIAA in Latin America during World War II. The content of propaganda messages evolved in important ways over the course of the war and this paper will illustrate how U.S. motives and concerns in Latin America were visible through the propaganda activities of the OCIAA. It will also provide a framework from which to consider diplomatic programs that followed in subsequent decades.

Author

• Monica A Rankin, University of Texas/Dallas