Back to the 70s: a look at public diplomacy’s history

"Back to the 70s: a look at public diplomacy’s history," publicdiplomacycouncil.org

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Friday, September 2nd 2016

Break out your bell-bottom jeans for the next First Monday Forum, our lunchtime panel discussion set for September 12.

The State Department has unveiled a trove of documents revealing an era of change in American public diplomacy that has gone unrecognized in recent times: the 1970s, when cultural exchange programs were moved from the State Department to the U.S. Information Agency, which was renamed as the International Communications Agency.  President Reagan's administration later returned the agency to its original name.

[Dr.] Adam Howard, General Editor of the Foreign Relations series, U.S. State Department Office of the Historian, and [Dr.] Kristin Ahlberg, the editor of this latest volume, will delve into the details along with Professor Nicholas Cull, moderated by Dr. John Brown.

To learn more about the fascination of 1970s public diplomacy, take a look at the attachment to this blog post.  You’ll find an interview conducted by John, who edits John Brown’s Public Diplomacy Press and Blog Review, with Ms. Ahlberg to provide background for our discussion.  (Caveat: her views do not express State Department policy.)

You can find an announcement about our program at the events calendar of our partner, the University of Southern California, where you can ask to attend if you’re interested.

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Ahlberg interview 2016-09-01.pdf	146.35 KB

Author: Joe Johns