The Sabotage of Public Diplomacy and Failure of the U.S. in Mexico, 1918

Public diplomacy is a relatively new practice in international political relations, developed during World War I due to the recognition that public opinion cannot be ignored in the formation of government policies. The practice grew out of propaganda campaigns as a means to influence foreign groups while avoiding the negative attributes associated with propaganda: lies, deception, and totalitarian power converting individuals to psychological commitment. But like propaganda in international political relations, public diplomacy is directed across an international border to a mass audience, using various techniques of persuasion with the goal of affecting or effecting policy. In the earliest attempts by the United States government, public diplomacy failed because of conflict between public idealism and private, self-interested pragmatism. This book evaluates the pioneering public diplomacy campaign directed at the Mexican people by the United States government in 1918.