The Decline and Fall of the United States Information Agency

At a time when issues of international engagement are again at the fore of foreign policy, this book tells the story of how America's apparatus for public diplomacy came to be in disarray. Using newly declassified archives and interviews with practitioners, Nicholas J. Cull has pieced together the story of the final decade in the life of the United States Information Agency. It is both a sorry tale of political neglect and missed opportunities and an account of what America's public diplomats were nevertheless able to accomplish. Key methods examined include Voice of America radio, exchanges, and cultural diplomacy. Major episodes include the transition of Eastern Europe to democracy, the role of public diplomacy in the First Gulf War and Kosovo Wars, the US interventions in Somalia and Haiti, and the build-up to the attacks of 9/11.

Nicholas J. Cull is a professor of Public Diplomacy at the University of Southern California, where he directs the Master's Program in Public Diplomacy. He has published widely on the history of the media and especially its role in international relations. His previous books include The Cold War and the United States Information Agency: American Propaganda and Public Diplomacy, 1945-1989. He is president of the International Association for Media and History. He is originally from Britain.