Brazilian Students in the United States: A Forgotten Chapter of the Cultural Cold War during the Rebel Years

• Author: Marcelo Ridenti
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0094582X221107669
• Published date: 01 September 2022
• Date: 01 September 2022
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0094582X221107669

LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES, Issue 246, Vol. 49 No. 5, September 2022, 100–115

DOI: 10.1177/0094582X221107669

© 2022 Latin American Perspectives

100

Brazilian Students in the United States

A Forgotten Chapter of the Cultural Cold War

during the Rebel Years

by

Marcelo Ridenti

Translated by

Nick Ortiz

From 1962 to 1971 the Associação Universitária Interamericana (Inter-American

University Association—AUI) conducted a program of internships at Harvard University

for Brazilian students. The goal of these internships was for Brazilian students to gain an

understanding of the American way of life. The students were mostly recruited among

leftists. It was their hearts and minds that the university wanted to win over to the side of

the "free world" during the Cold War. These students took advantage of the situation and

used the internships for their own purposes. This had implications not only for their per-

sonal careers but also for the construction of institutional and political ideas. This process

took place within a complex game that involved the interests of the United States and the

entrepreneurs who helped finance the AUI. Created during the Kennedy administration,

the AUI ended its activities as a result of a conservative offensive launched by the Nixon

administration in the United States and the Médici dictatorship in Brazil.

Desde 1962 a 1971 a Associação Universitária Interamericana (Interamerican

University Association—AUI) promoveu o intercâmbio universitário de estudantes

brasileiros selecionados para fazer um estágio em Harvard e conhecer o modo de vida

americano. Os universitários eram recrutados em sua maioria entre simpatizantes de ide-

ias de esquerda, cujos corações e mentes se buscava conquistar para o lado do “mundo

livre” na Guerra Fria. Eles aproveitaram as circunstâncias conforme suas próprias con-

veniências, não apenas de carreira pessoal, mas também na construção institucional e

política, num jogo de mão dupla com os interesses dos Estados Unidos e dos empresários

que, juntos, financiaram a entidade. Criada durante o governo Kennedy, a AUI encerrou

as atividades de intercâmbio diante da ofensiva conservadora do governo Nixon nos

Estados Unidos e da ditadura no Brasil do presidente Medici.

Keywords: Cold War, Cultural exchange, 1960s students, Brazil–United States relations

This article analyzes the history of the Associação Universitária

Interamericana (Inter-American University Association—AUI), an academic

exchange institution created in 1962 by the wives of U.S. executives living in

Marcelo Ridenti is a full professor of sociology at the Universidade Estadual de Campinas and the

author of O fantasma da revolução brasileira (2010 [1993]) and Em busca do povo brasileiro (2014 [2010]). This

article summarizes research findings presented in detail in O segredo das senhoras americanas: Intelectuais,

internacionalização e financiamento na Guerra Fria cultural (2022). Nick Ortiz is a writer, researcher, lin-

guist, and translator with over a decade of experience in research and translation relating to Latin

American history and politics, hemispheric approaches, and new definitions of democracy.

1107669LAPXXX10.1177/0094582X221107669Latin American PerspectivesRidenti/BRAZILIAN STUDENTS IN THE UNITED STATES

research-article2022

Ridenti/BRAZILIAN STUDENTS IN THE UNITED STATES 101

Brazil. It relied on secret funding from the U.S. government and sought to

influence mainly leftist Brazilian students that were recruited in a competitive

selection process. This article analyzes the effectiveness of the AUI’s leader-

ship training program and the circumstances leading to the emergence and

end of the organization itself.

The InTer-AmerIcAn UnIversITy AssocIATIon, 1962–1971

The creation of the AUI was an initiative to counteract communist influence

in academic institutions. Communist influence from Cuba, which had recently

carried out its revolution and invited sympathizers from Brazil and other parts

of the world to visit, was foremost in the minds of its founders. The project

showcased U.S. institutions to a select group of outstanding students, many of

whom were advocates of leftist ideas. It was a response to the increasing num-

ber of student exchanges occurring between Brazil and socialist countries. For

example, programs with the Soviet Union emerged during the Goulart govern-

ment. One program in particular was Moscow's Patrice Lumumba Peoples’

Friendship University, which provided full scholarships to students from Third

World countries (Motta, 2014: 114). During this time, there was an increase in

the number of scholarships granted to Latin American students. In 1959, only

25 students were recruited for strictly academic training in the Soviet Union.

This number quickly rose to nearly 3,000 during the 1960s and 1970s. At the

same time, there were many Cubans scattered among various universities in

the country (Rupprecht, 2015).

In a document entitled "Seminar on the American Way of Life for Brazilian

Student Leaders," the AUI identified students as "a politically active and vola-

tile group" that would gain leadership positions at the local and national levels.

They were subject, it said, to various influences, among them personal experi-

ences in foreign countries, especially Eastern European countries, and “the

majority of them have a wrong idea of the United States and therefore do not

recognize the richness of its culture and the strength of its society.” Its proposal

was to send "a carefully selected group of students from various Brazilian uni-

versities" to a two-week seminar at Harvard University on "The American Way

of Life and the Institutions Pertaining to that Country." They would also spend

another "fifteen days traveling around the United States to see special events

and visit small American towns.” The goals of the program were the following:

“1. Present a comprehensive portrait of the United States, 2. Take note of some

of the regional problems present in the U.S and compare them to similar prob-

lems in Brazil, and 3. Understand the manner in which the U.S struggles to

solve its problems and compare it with techniques used to solve similar prob-

lems in Brazil.” The document described the AUI as an organization led and

sponsored by "American citizens and Brazilians living in Brazil who are espe-

cially interested in the country’s leadership” and meant to complement the

education of Brazilian elites and construct "a democratic leadership in Brazil."1

The number of students selected was around 80 a year. Within a decade, 839

students received AUI scholarships. All of them traveled together to the host

country (accompanied by Brazilian professors, members of the AUI staff, mon-