U.S. Information Agency

• Author: Jeffrey Lehman, Shirelle Phelps

Page 177

The U.S. Information Agency (USIA) was the public diplomacy arm of the U.S. government. The USIA existed "to further the national interest by improving United States relations with other countries and peoples through the broadest possible sharing of ideas, information, and educational and cultural activities" (22 U.S.C.A. § 1461 [1988]). Generally, this intention meant that the USIA was responsible for sharing information about the United States with the citizens of other countries.

The roots of the USIA developed from information efforts made during WORLD WAR I and WORLD WAR II. During World War I, the Committee on Public Information was created to inform the world of U.S. aims in the war. In 1938 the federal government began to promote cultural relations with Latin America through the STATE DEPARTMENT's Division of Cultural Cooperation. In 1940 the government sent its first international radio broadcasts into Latin America.

During World War II, the Office of War Information conducted information and propaganda campaigns aimed at enemy countries and occupied territories. To assist in the campaign, the government expanded its radio broadcasts. In 1942, during a broadcast in the German language, an announcer first used the term "voice of America" to describe the broadcast. The name stuck, and the international news and information broadcast was called the Voice of America ever afterward.

In 1948 Congress passed the United States Information and Educational Exchange Act (ch. 36, 62 Stat. 6, [codified as amended at 22 U.S.C.A. § 1431 et seq. (1988 & Supp. V 1993)]). This act, known as the Smith-Mundt Act, created the U.S. International Communication Agency (USICA). According to the Smith-Mundt Act, the USICA was created to distribute information to other countries about the "United States, its people, and [its] policies" (Pub. L. No. 80-402, § 501 1948 U.S.C.C.A.N. [79 Stat.] 6, 9 [1948] [codified at 22 U.S.C.A. § 1431 et seq., as amended]).

The USICA gained status as an independent federal agency under President DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER's REORGANIZATION PLAN No. 8 of 1953 (18 Fed. Reg. 4562 [1953], reprinted in 22 U.S.C.A. § 1461 app. at 763 [West 1990]). The USICA was renamed the U.S. Information Agency in 1982, but the function of the agency remained the same.

The USIA used a variety of methods to disseminate information. These included the Voice of America radio broadcast system, radio and...