A Study On The Public Diplomacy Of The Kennedy Administration(1961-1963)

Since the terrorist attack of September 11,2001,public diplomacy has been paid more and more attention by experts and scholars from all over the world.After a careful study of public diplomacy and its related theories,it is not difficult to find that public diplomacy,as an emerging multidisciplinary field,is related to many disciplines in terms of theory,concept and method,including history.Thus,a new research paradigm of “history of public diplomacy” has emerged.In recent years,a wave of research on “history of public diplomacy” has emerged in the academic circle,among which the “history of public diplomacy” during the Cold War has been paid special attention by researchers.Compared with the traditional Cold War history,which focuses on the influence of political and economic factors on the historical process of the Cold War,the history of public diplomacy puts more emphasis on the influence of information,culture and education factors on the development and evolution of the Cold War.Although the United States was not the first country to use the term “public diplomacy”,the modern concept of the term “public diplomacy” did originate in the United States.A careful study of the history of American public diplomacy shows that as early as during the two world wars,the wartime information organization established by the United States for the purpose of war propaganda has laid a foundation for the establishment of the public diplomacy system.After the full-blown outbreak of the Cold War,public diplomacy was paid attention to again by the Truman and Eisenhower administrations and gradually established its own position in the political life of the United States.Therefore,the public diplomacy system of the United States during this period was initially established.After Kennedy came to power in 1961,on the basis of inheriting the public diplomacy policies of the previous two administrations,he further expanded the functions of public diplomacy,expanded the scope of public diplomacy activities,and strengthened the influence and effect of public diplomacy.In a word,compared with the initial development at the beginning of the Cold War,public diplomacy was more fully explained in the Kennedy period,and the inheritance and development of American public diplomacy policy in the Kennedy period also had an important impact on the public diplomacy policy in the Johnson period later.To sum up,in order to better able to look at the content of the American public diplomacy policy during the cold war,the implementation and influence,also given Kennedy period the particularity and importance of public policy,this thesis special selection of the Kennedy presidency(1961-1963)within the U.S.government’s public diplomacy as the main object of study,in-depth interpretation of the relevant original files,using the historical literature research,interdisciplinary study,dialectical analysis and other research methods,draw lessons from international politics,international relations,journalism and communication theory,to explore the development and the strengthening of the system of public diplomacy.In addition to the introduction and conclusion,this paper divides the public diplomacy activities of the Kennedy administration into educational and cultural exchange activities and external publicity(information)activities according to different institutions and functions,specifically speaking:The first chapter is mainly an introduction to the background,focusing on the analysis of the concept of American public diplomacy and its origin and early development.It also examines the evolution of American public diplomatic institutions since the First World War.The second chapter elaborates on the development of foreign education and cultural exchange activities during the Kennedy period.President Kennedy appointed a special Assistant Secretary of State to manage American educational and cultural exchange activities,create peace teams to assist third world countries,and promulgate the FulbrightHays Act to improve the public diplomacy legal system.The status of cultural diplomacy in the United States has been greatly improved.In addition,a large number of educational and cultural exchange activities have also laid a solid foundation for the widespread dissemination of American culture and values throughout the world.The third chapter analyzes in detail the strengthening and development of the external publicity activities of the Kennedy administration.Although the Kennedy administration attached great importance to the long-term interests brought by cultural diplomacy,it did not ignore the importance of external publicity for the short-term interests of the United States.Than at the beginning of the Eisenhower years,through the investigation and study of United States information agency,Kennedy basic to clarify the purpose,function,organization status of United States information agency and its relationship with the State Council,and the creation of a new mission statement,let the United States information agency’s mission and responsibility has been reiterated and supplement,at this time of the United States information agency has become the American foreign policy formulation and implementation process of an indispensable part of it.In the Kennedy era,the United States Information Agency also carried out a large number of propaganda activities to the neglected third world countries and expanded the area of external publicity activities.In addition,how the U.S.Information Agency implements public diplomacy under the background of crisis is also the research focus of this chapter.The conclusion part simply summarizes the development of the public diplomacy system during the Kennedy administration,and analyzes the reasons,influences and limitations of the great development of public diplomacy in the United States during this period.