US-Japan Cultral Relations And The US Propaganda In Japan (1945-1963)

The cold war was not only a political, military and economic powerconfrontation between United States and the Soviet Union but also an ideologicalstruggle. At the beginning of the cold war, in order to make Japan as an American allyin the Far East to contain communism, American helped Japan to revival its economyand to maintain its political stability, at the same time, American launched a culturalpropaganda to instill American ideas and values to the Japanese, cultivatepro-America tilt of Japanese, and to contain the effects of communism on Japan. Inorder to achieve the above goals, American had launched the cultural propagandathrough Department of State and United States Information Agency and othergovernment agencies since the beginning of the Truman administration. At the sametime, non-governmental organizations such as Rockefeller Foundation and FordFoundation also participated in this culture offensive. This article used the latestdeclassified record to investigate American cultural propaganda policy towards Japanon1945-1963, trying to explore American propaganda ideology and politicalmotivation under the culture propaganda and reveal that America used culturalmethod to permeate on other countries.This article consisted following three parts: introduction, main body, andconclusion.The introduction part introduced the basis of this topic and the definition of therelated concepts, analyzed the existing academic results about this topic, and revealedthis article’s research significance and academic value.The text was composed of four chapters.Chapter One: After the occupation of Japan, one important task of America wasto democratize Japan and make Japan become an ally of America. Americanpolicymakers believed that once being democratized, Japan would become apermanent peace-loving country. In order to realize this policy goal, first, Americahad began the ideology reform and re-education plan to remove the militarism andextreme nationalism in Japan, second, American introduced their democratic ideasand values to Japan. However, with the intensification of the cold war in East Asia,American policy on Japan changed from ideological transformation to revival ofJapan, and make Japan a strong anti-Communist ally of America. Under this policy, the cultural propaganda had a very strong anti-Communism color.Chapter two: After attaining the peace relationship with Japan, one of the mostimportant long-term goal of Truman administration was keep the permanent friendlyrelationship with Japan. By using various humanities-oriented cultural propagandacampaigns, America attempted to continue to influence Japanese mind with theirAmerican idealism in order to include Japan into American orbit. The Trumanadministration’s culture propaganda target was more accurate, the intellectuals wasthe most important targets groups. The propaganda was not only implemented bymedia, but also through the personnel exchange programs and academic researchproject. In addition, the Truman administration actively explored the role of privateorganizations in the cultural propaganda, and Rockefeller Foundation, which wasclosely related to Japan, played an important part in the U.S. cultural propaganda toJapan.After then, non-government organization widely involved in American culturalpropaganda campaign towards Japan.Chapter three: Eisenhower administration basically inherited formergovernment’s policy, directly reflected on the cultural propaganda policy towardJapanese intellectuals. During Eisenhower’s governance, Asia Foundation, Fordfoundation and other non-governmental organizations united to launch more massivecultural propaganda to Japanese intellectuals. Under the guidance of "bull’s eye"policy designed by USIA, U.S. focused on a few Japanese elite intellectuals as targets.In addition, Eisenhower administration carried out a series of cultural propagandaactivities through Perry Centennial Celebration, which U.S. policymaker regarded asthe best chances to promote mutual understanding and strengthen America-Japansecurity alliance,. However, anti-American protest parade erupted in Tokyo provedthat the effect of Eisenhower government’s cultural propaganda was limited.Chapter four: Kennedy government had to readjust the America-Japanrelationship, which was is damaged because of "Struggle for security procedure".Kennedy government learned that culture was very important in development of therelationship between U.S. and Japan. Therefore, Kennedy sent the famous Japaneseexpert Edwin Reischauer as the ambassador of Japan. The Kennedy Administrationreset the target of culture propaganda, but intellectuals still were the important goalsof American government. Reischauer carried out "modernization offensive" inJapanese intellectuals, trying to reform the Japanese intellectuals from history valueand world value, and bring Japan into the western social development orbit. Duringthis period USIA and private foundation also played a decisive role in America-Japan cultural exchanges, Ford Foundation instead of Rockefeller Foundation became thebiggest funder of cultural exchange with Japan.The final chapter evaluates the effect of U.S. cultural propaganda in Japan andexplores the characteristics of U.S. culture propaganda in cold war.