HOW TO TRY TO MASK COLONIALISM AND FAIL ANYWAY: AMERICAN PROPAGANDA IN NON-COMMUNIST ASIA DURING THE EARLY COLD WAR

Abstract

This paper examines Free World articles covering anticommunism, modernization, decolonization, intra-regionalism, US foreign affairs, US foreign aid, and neocolonialism because the task of popularizing specific iterations of these ideas illustrated the implementation of the ideas formulated in NSC 48/5. Moreover, NSC 48/5 called non-communist Asia the location of “the most immediate threats to American National Security.” My paper seeks to answer the question of how American propaganda in Asia, seen through a case study of Free World, tried to accomplish this popularization objective. I argue that the United States Information Agency (USIA) masked America’s neocolonialist intentions and activities in East and Southeast Asia through a rhetoric of anticommunism, intra-regionalism, and modernization.