Introduction: African Independence Movements and the Beloved Community

“Americans killed Patrice Lumumba” proclaimed the headlines in Cairo, Egypt, early in 1961. In response, U.S. State Department foreign service officer Zygmunt Nagorski assembled United States Information Service (USIS) personnel at the U.S. embassy in Cairo to develop a factual pamphlet using the text of speeches made by the secretary-general of the United Nations, Dag Hammarskjöld. The pamphlet also included remarks from the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Adlai Stevenson, and President John F. Kennedy. The publication, titled The Truth about Congo rolled off the presses and became the official response of USIS offices to the crisis in the Congo. The response of U.S. State Department foreign service officers and USIS personnel reflected a united effort in terms of activities aimed at influencing public perceptions and public attitudes in foreign countries in support of U.S. policies. Using the written word to influence mass attitudes on the controversial circumstances of Lumumba's death served the short-term and long-range U.S. strategic goals, which were to counter negative information and reinforce a favorable impression of the United States.

The United States' provision of information, propaganda, and cultural activities has been a neglected area in the scholarship on U.S. foreign relations with Africa. The use of propaganda (white, true information; gray, distortion of the truth; and black, disinformation) encompassed a “range of information and psychological activities (such as films, news stories and broadcasts)” that purported to explain American foreign policies to non-Americans.