Kind Readers of this blog:
The establishment of the Committee on Public Information (1917-1919, CPI) was a momentous, yet little-remembered, event in the history of U.S. public diplomacy.
Although the term -- public diplomacy -- was not part of the common American vocabulary at the beginning of the past century (it became, arguably so, but not in a "viral" way, in the late sixties), many histories of America's Public Diplomacy cite CPI as an antecedent.
I am working on an article tentatively titled "Creel, Lippmann, and American Public Diplomacy: When it Began" to be submitted (but, needless to say, not necessarily accepted) for a volume to be published by the prestigious Public Diplomacy Council.
George Creel, in his many incarnations, was the Chairman of the CPI, appointed by Wilson after his April 1917 war message to Congress. Lippmann, who also had many (but -- maybe -- less) incarnations, in 1918 was "Commissioned Captain, Military Intelligence, and assigned to the staff of General Pershing and sent to France. Prepared propaganda leaflets for dropping behind the German lines and interrogated prisoners."
These two men - very different in background and character but quite similar in their boundless "making-it-in America"ambition, being both, arguably"outsiders" in the then-existing power structure, are the fragile pillars at the origins of American public diplomacy.
So they need to be studied.
So let me repeat, to be clear, these fragile pillars (let us hope not destructive to themselves): "Telling a story" (Creel) vs. "Telling the Truth" (Lippmann).
The lines between rhetoric and philosophy in "real life" are not that clear. For some, Lippmann, the brilliant intellectual, was a pretentious pseudo-philosopher, while Creel, the vulgar publicist, showed some Platonic inclinations.
You thoughts most welcome on this issue.
P.S. I will be emailing my research results on this issue as I progress, with much trepidation, on my article; any thoughts/comments most welcome,
The establishment of the Committee on Public Information (1917-1919, CPI) was a momentous, yet little-remembered, event in the history of U.S. public diplomacy.
Although the term -- public diplomacy -- was not part of the common American vocabulary at the beginning of the past century (it became, arguably so, but not in a "viral" way, in the late sixties), many histories of America's Public Diplomacy cite CPI as an antecedent.
I am working on an article tentatively titled "Creel, Lippmann, and American Public Diplomacy: When it Began" to be submitted (but, needless to say, not necessarily accepted) for a volume to be published by the prestigious Public Diplomacy Council.
George Creel, in his many incarnations, was the Chairman of the CPI, appointed by Wilson after his April 1917 war message to Congress. Lippmann, who also had many (but -- maybe -- less) incarnations, in 1918 was "Commissioned Captain, Military Intelligence, and assigned to the staff of General Pershing and sent to France. Prepared propaganda leaflets for dropping behind the German lines and interrogated prisoners."
These two men - very different in background and character but quite similar in their boundless "making-it-in America"ambition, being both, arguably"outsiders" in the then-existing power structure, are the fragile pillars at the origins of American public diplomacy.
So they need to be studied.
So let me repeat, to be clear, these fragile pillars (let us hope not destructive to themselves): "Telling a story" (Creel) vs. "Telling the Truth" (Lippmann).
The lines between rhetoric and philosophy in "real life" are not that clear. For some, Lippmann, the brilliant intellectual, was a pretentious pseudo-philosopher, while Creel, the vulgar publicist, showed some Platonic inclinations.
You thoughts most welcome on this issue.
P.S. I will be emailing my research results on this issue as I progress, with much trepidation, on my article; any thoughts/comments most welcome,