THERE WERE calls for an end to "U.S. warmongering." Washington had been overtaken by "a small clique of hate-mongers", claimed one speaker. American unilateralism was denounced. The United States itself had turned into "a state of holy terror", argued another speaker. The current administration was bent on a new "world war", contended still another.
No, these are not statements from a recent anti-war, anti-Bush rally. They are remarks given at a 1949 conference, convened to condemn U.S. policies toward the Soviet Union. Prominent literary and artistic figures from the United States and Europe, including Aaron Copland, Norman Mailer and Dimitri Shostakovich, played an active role. So when a senior French minister today calls the American President a "serial killer", or when a counterpart in Germany compares the U.S. leader to Adolph Hitler, it may be useful to remember that such strident expressions of anti-Americanism are hardly new.
The United States today has a public diplomacy crisis--not just in the Islamic world, but in the heart of Europe. America's traditional allies--those who stood with it in the fight against communism-are turning against the United States in droves, and little is being clone to stop or even slow this anti-American stampede. Instead of stumbling about trying to explain America to the world, the United States needs a serious campaign to open European minds to our positions. And, in order to determine what this campaign should entail, it may be useful to draw lessons from history.
