Promoting Americanism, Combating Anti-Americanism, and Developing a Cold War American Studies Network
Promoting Americanism, Combating Anti-Americanism, and Developing a Cold War American Studies Network
This chapter explores the proliferation of studies programs that promote Americanism among European elites. At the turn of the Cold War period, the Carnegie Corporation, which was particularly concerned with the lack of conviction among students in America's heritage, promoted the study of “American Civilization” and values in colleges and universities across the United States. In 1954, the Ford Foundation began its sponsorship of the Harvard University International Summer Seminar. The Harvard Seminar aimed at persuading young Europeans that Americans were more genuinely concerned with “abstract problems” than “material prosperity.” More importantly, this was a program designed to empower strategic elites to challenge the status quo of reflexive anti-Americanism. Between years 1952 and 1955, the Rockefeller Foundation funded initial conferences that evolved into the British Association for American Studies (BAAS)—which aimed for the reestablishment of British–American relations.
Keywords: Americanism, studies programs, European elites, Cold War, Carnegie Corporation, American Civilization, Ford Foundation, Harvard University International Summer Seminar, Rockefeller Foundation, British Association for American Studies
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