Joe B. Johnson consults on government communication and technology after a career in the United States Foreign Service. He is an instructor for the National Foreign Affairs Training Center, where he teaches strategic planning for public diplomacy. Read More
This article, first published in 2012, notes that “Although the United States has its own glorious history of hosting world’s fairs…we have had a spotty participation record in recent decades”. The author, Beatrice Camp, served as Consul General during the Shanghai Expo 2010 and later as Washington coordinator for the Milan Expo in 2015. After…
The words and deeds of Dr. Martin Luther King have inspired many peoples and nations, for his hopes for a world of equality, respect, and human rights are their dreams too. In foreign capitals on the holiday honoring Dr. King’s birthday, Ambassadors will share his legacies with local leaders at receptions, and Public Diplomacy officers…
Renewing my membership in the Public Diplomacy Council just got easier. Responding to our President’s reminder message last Sunday, I followed his link to our Membership page, clicked on its “Add to Cart” button, and paid my 2019 annual dues with my Amex card in about 90 seconds. (Just got the receipt via email.) Council…
After the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963, the U.S. Information Agency – at that time the arm of U.S. Public Diplomacy — helped extend and solidify the late President’s legacy by producing a famous film — John F. Kennedy: Years of Lightning, Day of Drums. The 86-minute memorial documentary recalled the achievements…
Imagine a packed monsoon-drenched refugee tent camp in eastern Bangladesh, where more than 700,000 souls were forced to flee a year and a half ago from military oppression in their impoverished villages in neighboring Burma. Focusing a spotlight on their plight is a key challenge for public diplomacy in 2019. Aerial views of the…
During the Vietnam War, Barry Zorthian (1920-2010) was the Director of the U.S. Information Service in Saigon, and he was the prime mover in establishing the Joint United States Public Affairs Office (JUSPAO). JUSPAO brought together the media operations of the State Department, the U.S. Information Service, USAID, the CIA, and the Military Assistance Command,…
Peace Corps Director Dr. Josephine (Jody) Olsen highlighted the Peace Corps’ contribution to the U.S. image and mutual understanding at the First Monday Forum on December 3. The talk reminded me that around the clock, two U.S. agencies join hands to help countless souls in other countries improve their lives in the finest tradition of…
There is a bill pending in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that would change the governance structure of the U.S. Agency for Global Media. While the bill is not perfect, it provides a necessary level of accountability and oversight that has been missing for the past two years. The bill, S.3654, would vest authorities into…
A Hemisphere of Freedom As a principal author of the Declaration of Independence wrote to a friend nearly a century and a half ago: “America, north and south, has a set of interests distinct from those of Europe. Our end goal must surely be to make our hemisphere a hemisphere of freedom.” The administrator of…