This book examines historic examples of US public diplomacy in order to understand how past uses and techniques of foreign public engagement evolved into modern public diplomacy as a tool of American statecraft. The study explores six historic cases where the United States' government or private American citizens actively engaged with foreign publics, starting with the American Revolution in 1776 through the passage of the Smith-Mundt Bill of 1948. Each case looks specifically at the role foreign public engagement plays in American statecraft, while also identifying trends in American foreign public engagement and making connections between past practice of foreign public engagement and public diplomacy, and analyzing how trends and past practice or experience influenced modern American public diplomacy.

Provides a historical view of foreign public engagement and public diplomacy in the United States from 1776-1948 Draws on historical knowledge to suggest changes to today's public diplomacy practices Offers a new approach to evaluating and understanding the use of public diplomacy in American statecraft by broadening the understanding and interpretation of diplomacy Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Autorentext
Caitlin Schindler is Research Professor at the Institute of World Politics, Washington, DC, USA.

Inhalt

1. Reconnecting the Past and Present .- 2. America's First Public Diplomat .- 3. Public Diplomacy of the Union .- 4. Early Public-Private Partnerships .- 5. America's Public Diplomacy Agency? .- 6. Inter-War Public Diplomacy .- 7. Public Diplomacy in Chaos & Ambiguity .- 8. Public Diplomacy: An American Tradition in Context.