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59 Foreign Aff. 913 (1980-1981)
Speaking of America: Public Diplomacy in Our Time

handle is hein.journals/fora59 and id is 925 raw text is: Kenneth L. Adelman SPEAKING OF AMERICA: PUBLIC DIPLOMACY IN OUR TIME D a espite virtual invisibility outside the diplomatic com- munity and antipathy on the part of many within, public diplo- macy-the dissemination of America's message abroad-may be- come Washington's major growth industry over the coming four years. A neat congruence of personality, technology and history makes this a reasonable prospect. The personality is that of Ronald Reagan, a gifted professional communicator who has spent much of his adult life in radio, on the lecture circuit, in syndicated column-writing, or along the campaign trail. Public diplomacy is the component of interna- tional affairs he knows best and does best. It has the makings of becoming a hallmark of the Reagan Administration's foreign policy. The technology is the evolving global communications network which has made public diplomacy a more powerful instrument. And the historical component is the rise after the twin Iranian- Afghan crises of a fiery pro-Americanism which may burn as the political flame of the coming years. The American mood is one of pride, not shame. The national desire is to exalt America's virtues, not to veil them. Gone is the self-deprecating temper of the 1960s and 1970s, when many Americans, particularly in the intellectual establishment, shrunk from advocacy of what they deemed a flawed, even sick society. Today's temper may appear a little chauvinistic, even jingoistic, but it is not more so than that felt by the Founding Fathers. Even before our independence, John Adams wrote in 1765 that the settlement of America constituted the opening of a grand design in Providence for illurhination of the ignorant, and the emanci- pation of the slavish part of mankind all over the earth. Before our political system was established, Alexander Hamilton wrote Kenneth L. Adelman is with the Strategic Studies Center of SRI Interna- tional (formerly the Stanford Research Institute). He served as Assistant to the Secretary of Defense in 1976-77, and was a member of the Reagan Administration's foreign affairs transition team. He is the author of African Realities.

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