Tone-Deaf Propaganda

American Perceptions and Misperceptions of Italy during the Great War

Bibliographic Data

ID7150828
AuthorsDario Fazzi (0000-0002-8348-9483, Roosevelt Institute for American Studies, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume34
Issue2
Pages246-257
Publication date2025-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueContemporary European History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0960-7773 • E-ISSN: 1469-2171
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0960777323000097
OpenAlexW4360983303
LanguageEN
References cited13

One of the ways in which Wilsonianism permeated Europe during the Great War was through the activities of the Committee on Public Information (CPI). Historians are still discussing the effectiveness of the CPI's propaganda abroad. This article contributes to this debate by focusing on and problematising the case of Italy. The Italian scenario confronted the CPI with a series of challenges that exposed the limits of America's germinal public diplomacy. The author's argument is that, in spite of its numerous attempts, the CPI's activities in Italy resulted in a substantial failure, which was mostly due to an inter-institutional conflict of interests and competences between the CPI and the US embassy in Rome. Such a short-circuit prevented US propagandists from developing a genuine understanding of the Italian public's preferences and resulted in what people in the Peninsula perceived as a general lack of empathy

Art · Damages · Diplomacy · Literature · Peninsula · Perception · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Public Diplomacy · Public opinion · Sociology · Spanish Civil War · European history and politics · History · Italian Fascism and Post-war Society · Law · Psychology · World Wars: History, Literature, and Impact

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