• Login
  • Register
  • FAQ
  • Contact Us
  • Home
  • Documents
  • Activities
  • Activity Tools
    • All Tools
    • Analyzing Documents
    • Discussion Topic
    • Compare and Contrast
    • Zoom/Crop
    • White Out / Black Out
    • Spotlight
    • Finding a Sequence
    • Making Connections
    • Mapping History
    • Seeing the Big Picture
    • Weighing the Evidence
    • Interpreting Data
  • Popular Topics
    • See All
    • National History Day
    • The Constitution
    • Sports: All-American
    • Rights in America
    • American Indians
    • Women's Rights
    • American Revolution
    • The Civil War
    • World War I
    • World War II
    • The Vietnam War
    • 1970s America
    • Congress
    • Amending America
    • Elections
    • What Americans Eat
    • Signatures
    • Nixon and Ford Years
  • Resources
    • Getting Started
    • Document Analysis
    • Activity-Creation Guide
    • Manage Assignments
    • iPad App
    • Presentation Materials
    • Webinars
      • Recorded Webinars
      • Live Webinars
MENU
DocsTeachThe online tool for teaching with documents, from the National Archives National Archives Foundation National Archives

Cultural Diplomacy and Propaganda During the Cold War

Weighing the Evidence

Print
Created by the National Archives
Bookmark this Activity in My Activities:
Copy this Activity to My Activities for editing:
Cultural Diplomacy and Propaganda During the Cold War

About this Activity

  • Created by:National Archives Education Team
  • Historical Era:Postwar United States (1945 to early 1970s)
  • Thinking Skill:Historical Analysis & Interpretation
  • Bloom's Taxonomy:Analyzing
  • Grade Level:High School
Start Activity
Please use a tablet or desktop computer to use this activity.
In this activity, students will analyze documents and images that explore the relationship of the United States with foreign countries during the Cold War, and the dissemination of American culture. Students will place each document and image on the scale according to their analysis, and determine if they think that sharing American culture abroad is part of building positive relationships with other countries, or if it is instead propaganda and promoting American self-interest under the guise of building relationships.
https://www.docsteach.org/activities/student/cultural-diplomacy-and-propaganda-during-the-cold-war

Suggested Teaching Instructions

This activity can be used as part of a unit on 20th century American history with a focus on the Cold War and post-World War II foreign relations. For grades 9–12. Approximate time needed is 45 minutes.

Begin by providing students with historical context on the Cold War and the relationship between the United States, the Soviet Union, and Chile. Define terms such as: propaganda, psychological warfare, and cultural diplomacy. (See the definition of propaganda from the American Historical Association.) 

Encourage students to keep the following questions in mind as they complete the activity and analyze primary sources:

  1. What is the goal of propaganda? Is it always subversive and negative?
  2. Why and under what circumstances would the U.S. Government want to influence what foreign countries think of the United States?

Open the activity and select one of the documents. Model careful document analysis.

Explain to students that they will need to place each photograph and textual document on the scale based on careful document analysis.

After students complete the activity, they should click “I’m Done” and answer the questions listed:

  • On which side of the scale did most of your evidence fall?
  • Why did the scale tip the way it did?
  • Do you think the activities of cultural diplomacy constitute propaganda? Why or why not?

Conduct a class discussion based on student answers. Ask students to also consider the following: What might be the outcome of cultural diplomacy for the United States? For foreign countries? What lessons might have been learned?


This activity was created by National Archives volunteer Cynthia Peterman.

Documents in this activity

  • Executive Order 10924 Establishing the Peace Corps
  • Memorandum on the Exchange of Visits with Russian Astronauts
  • National Security Action Memorandum No. 144 Assignment of Highest National Priority to the APOLLO Manned Lunar Landing Program
  • Peace Corps Volunteer Roger Rhatton with Students
  • President's Backup Copy: Address to a Joint Session of the Congress: Report on the Geneva Summit
  • Telegram from Foreign Minister Gabriel S. Valdes of Chile to Secretary of State William P. Rogers
  • Wealth of a Nation

CC0
To the extent possible under law, National Archives Education Team has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to "Cultural Diplomacy and Propaganda During the Cold War".

  • Explore Primary Source Documents
  •  
  • Discover Activities You Can Teach With
  •  
  • Create Fun & Engaging Activities
Follow us on Twitter:twitter
Follow us on Facebook:facebook
Please enter a valid email address

View our webinars:youtube

Get our iPad app:apple
New Documentsshare
New Activitiesshare

The National Archives

DocsTeach is a product of the National Archives education division. Our mission is to engage, educate, and inspire all learners to discover and explore the records of the American people preserved by the National Archives.

The National Archives and Records Administration is the nation's record keeper. We save documents and other materials created in the course of business conducted by the U.S. Federal government that are judged to have continuing value. We hold in trust for the public the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights — but also the records of ordinary citizens — at our locations around the country.
  • All Education Programs
  • Student Visits
  • Distance Learning
  • Professional Development
  • National Archives Museum
  • Presidential Libraries
  • Archives.gov
  • National Archives Foundation




Creative Commons License

Except where otherwise noted, DocsTeach is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Primary source documents included on this site generally come from the holdings of the National Archives and are in the public domain, except as noted. Teaching activities on this site have received the CC0 Public Domain Dedication; authors have waived all copyright and related rights to the extent possible under the law. See our legal and privacy page for full terms and conditions.