Truman’s Campaign of Truth and Canada’s Cultural Cold War May 6, 2009

Please join the Canada Institute and the History and Public Policy Program for a discussion on the often overlooked question of the importance of culture as a weapon in the early cold war period. The panel will feature Paul Hjartarson, professor of English and film studies at the University of Alberta, and the 2009 Fulbright Visiting Research Chair in Canada-U.S. Relations, and Frank Ninkovich, professor of history at St. John’s University.

Ninkovich will offer insights into how the United States government used culture as a means of furthering its cause during the Cold War, and assess lasting implications this may have had in shaping U.S. foreign policy today.

Hjartarson will discuss the mid-century struggle in Canada over the meaning of culture itself, as well as the cultural war fought in the country against both Communism and U.S. popular culture during that period. He argues that the Cold War conception of culture as a weapon not only played a significant role in shaping international relations in the second half of the twentieth century but remains a potent force for division in the world today.

Seating is limited. RSVP to Canada@wilsoncenter.org.

Official Website: http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?topic_id=1409&fuseaction=topics.event&event_id=518149