I attended the Cultural Diplomacy and the Global Cold War presented by the History Department here at Ohio State University. The Cold War was a battle of ideological projects USA focusing on political freedom while the USSR focused on social freedom. The battle took place in the cultural context, using propaganda and others media to spread their respective ideologies. Both sides hired different artists to spread their ideas around the world, for example, the USA used jazz artists and the USSR used dancers. This was a time of cultural importance to enhance and promote the countries’ personal cultures to better promote nationalism. Cultural diplomacy was marching a fine line between culture, propaganda, and political ideology. The motive of this cultural enhancement was for countries to project their global visions.
Being born into a western post-Cold War world hearing from a speaker who grew up in the heat of the Cold War in Bulgaria from an Eastern perspective was very enlightening. I have never thought about the Cold War from a cultural standpoint and the huge part it played in the ideological battle. This was very interesting because both sides were using the same type of tactics and enhancing their respective cultures to promote nationalism to then better get their points across.