• Login
  • Register
  • FAQ
  • Contact Us
  • Home
  • Documents
  • Activities
  • Activity Tools
    • All Tools
    • Analyzing Documents
    • Discussion Topic
    • Compare and Contrast
    • Zoom/Crop
    • White Out / Black Out
    • Spotlight
    • Finding a Sequence
    • Making Connections
    • Mapping History
    • Seeing the Big Picture
    • Weighing the Evidence
    • Interpreting Data
  • Popular Topics
    • See All
    • National History Day
    • The Constitution
    • Sports: All-American
    • Rights in America
    • American Indians
    • Women's Rights
    • American Revolution
    • The Civil War
    • World War I
    • World War II
    • The Vietnam War
    • 1970s America
    • Congress
    • Amending America
    • Elections
    • What Americans Eat
    • Signatures
    • Nixon and Ford Years
  • Resources
    • Getting Started
    • Document Analysis
    • Activity-Creation Guide
    • Manage Assignments
    • iPad App
    • Presentation Materials
    • Webinars
      • Recorded Webinars
      • Live Webinars
MENU
DocsTeachThe online tool for teaching with documents, from the National Archives National Archives Foundation National Archives

Cultural Diplomacy and the Smith-Mundt Act

Making Connections

Print
Created by the National Archives
Bookmark this Activity in My Activities:
Copy this Activity to My Activities for editing:
Cultural Diplomacy and the Smith-Mundt Act

About this Activity

  • Created by:National Archives Education Team
  • Historical Era:Postwar United States (1945 to early 1970s)
  • Thinking Skill:Historical Analysis & Interpretation
  • Bloom's Taxonomy:Applying
  • Grade Level:High School
Start Activity
Please use a tablet or desktop computer to use this activity.
This activity asks students to identify connections between the Smith-Mundt Act (formally titled the United States Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1948) and items that illustrate cultural diplomacy. Students will answer questions that require them to analyze each document, image, or film in order to explore relationships the United States developed with other countries after World War II.
https://docsteach.org/activities/student/cultural-diplomacy-and-the-smithmundt-act

Suggested Teaching Instructions

This activity can be used in a unit on the Cold War and Post-World War II American and European history. For grades 9–12. Approximate time needed is 45 minutes.

Begin by providing students with historical context on Europe in the aftermath of World War II and the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. Define terms such as: culture, diplomacy, and cultural and public diplomacy.

Explain that the mission of the United States Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1948, popularly known as the Smith-Mundt Act, was to "promote a better understanding of the United States in other countries, and to increase mutual understanding" between the United States and other countries. The legislation promoted programs that developed personal contacts between Americans and others (such as the Peace Corps) and that helped non-Americans develop a familiarity with, and affinity for, Americans and American culture (such as Voice of America). Through books, radio, and television, citizens of other nations could develop an understanding of American values, freedoms, and experiences. (However, Americans in the United States could not access these programs until other legislation was passed.)

First Lady Laura Bush was quoted as saying, "We saw art diplomacy during the Cold War, when even as the Soviet Union and the United States were on the brink of conflict, the people of these two countries found a common interest in jazz."

Encourage students to keep the following questions in mind as they analyze primary sources and complete the activity:

  1. How has the United States Government used culture to build stronger relations with other countries?
  2. What are the limits to the success of cultural diplomacy, if any?
  3. How can cultural diplomacy help to solve some of today's international crises?

Students should analyze each primary source and answer the questions that follow. The activity culminates in the final question: 

In recent years, American film, television, and the Internet has spread American culture far beyond our borders. Using the examples from this activity, hypothesize what projects and programs could be created to improve relations today between the United States and the Middle East and the United States and North Korea.


This activity was created by National Archives volunteer Cynthia Peterman.

Documents in this activity

  • Peace Corps Act
  • National Security Decision Directive 45: United States International Broadcasting
  • Peace Corps Volunteer Questionnaire
  • Records Concerning National Aspects of U.S. Military Intervention in Cuba
  • Bookmobile in Mannheim, Germany

CC0
To the extent possible under law, National Archives Education Team has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to "Cultural Diplomacy and the Smith-Mundt Act".

  • Explore Primary Source Documents
  •  
  • Discover Activities You Can Teach With
  •  
  • Create Fun & Engaging Activities
Follow us on Twitter:twitter
Follow us on Facebook:facebook
Please enter a valid email address

View our webinars:youtube

Get our iPad app:apple
New Documentsshare
New Activitiesshare

The National Archives

DocsTeach is a product of the National Archives education division. Our mission is to engage, educate, and inspire all learners to discover and explore the records of the American people preserved by the National Archives.

The National Archives and Records Administration is the nation's record keeper. We save documents and other materials created in the course of business conducted by the U.S. Federal government that are judged to have continuing value. We hold in trust for the public the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights — but also the records of ordinary citizens — at our locations around the country.
  • All Education Programs
  • Student Visits
  • Distance Learning
  • Professional Development
  • National Archives Museum
  • Presidential Libraries
  • Archives.gov
  • National Archives Foundation




Creative Commons License

Except where otherwise noted, DocsTeach is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Primary source documents included on this site generally come from the holdings of the National Archives and are in the public domain, except as noted. Teaching activities on this site have received the CC0 Public Domain Dedication; authors have waived all copyright and related rights to the extent possible under the law. See our legal and privacy page for full terms and conditions.