World Civilizations How Culture Impacted and Was Impacted by the Events of the Cold War

How culture impacted and was impacted by the events of the Cold War ● The Master and Margarita, response to harsh Soviet censorship ○ “Manuscripts do not burn” describes immortality of words and idea ● The US used media, art, and music to counter the beliefs of the Soviets ○ The CIA promoted certain writers, artists, musicians, and philosophers ○ Formed a “cultural NATO” against communist ideals ● 1950, Congress for Cultural Freedom (CCF) ○ Secretly launched by the CIA in West Berlin ■ Funded through fake foundations made by the CIA ■ US did not want the CCF to be seen as propaganda ○ Response to Soviet organized workshops for communist sympathizers ■ Convinced those of the “Pax Americana” ■ Worked to end Stalin supporters in West Germany and Berlin ○ Released literary magazines, art exhibits, staged global conferences Art and Philosophy ● Abstract expressionism in art, promoted by CCF ○ Emerged in NYC, became global art form for capitalists ○ Represented natural expression of human instinct ○ Threatened Soviet realist art, authoritarian and controlled in comparison ○ Jackson Pollock was promoted by these CIA funded exhibitions ● Program exposed in 1966 ○ Series of New York Times articles and exposé by far-left magazine, Ramparts Film & Literature ● George Orwell wrote classics, 1984 and Animal Farm, was Anti-Stalin ● Great Britain translated Orwell’s work to foreign languages and distributed them throughout Europe, easily accessible ● CIA funded Hollywood film productions of the books ○ altered endings to better fit capitalist beliefs ● USSR pointing out the treatment of black Americans under Jim Crow Laws ○ A response to Anti-Stalin content of west ● CIA inserted positive racial stereotypes into Hollywood ○ Response to USSR and narrative of racism Music & Movements ● Jazz music emerged, grew popular ● 1956, US State Department announces the Jazz Ambassadorship Project ○ Ambassadors traveled the world, playing music ○ Often sent to decolonizing nations, influencing them towards capitalism ○ Dizzy Gillespie toured the Middle East, South Asia, and Balkans with CIA ■ First ambassador and very successful, increasing tours ■ Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and Dave Brubeck also joined ○ Controversial for Blacks to represent the US during the Civil Rights Movement ■ Musicians protested during music tours ● Gillespie refused to be briefed by the State Department, saying he had, “300 years of all the briefing” he needed ● Armstrong cancelled a Soviet Union tour during events of Little Rock, Arkansas where integration of Black students was refused ● Rock Band, The Who, sings, “I hope I die before I get old” ○ Response to the Vietnam War and drafting of young to war Counterculture ● Newest generations questioned the Cold War and nuclear weaponry ○ Mainly “anti-war” demonstrations ● African Americans, Women, and LGTBQs demanded rights and freedom ○ Civil Rights Movement, Feminism, Peace Movements, Freedom of Speech ● Photography such as “The Napalm Girl” and News Broadcasts inadvertently fueled counterculture against the proxy wars of the Cold War ○ Exposed cruel reality of war to Americans The Beat Generation (1950s) ● Inspired the Hippies, apart of the counterculture ● The Beatniks were young writers, starting their own communities ● Rejected materialism, instead promoted freedom and drugs ● Absorbed into the Hippies of the next decade Hippies (1960s) ● Hippies grew popular, apart of the counterculture ○ Wanted to change society, by withdrawing from it ○ Created isolated communities, promoting peace ○ Questioned institutions and distrusted government ● Kommune I, first politically motivated commune ○ Founded in Germany by the Hippies Resignation of Richard Nixon ● Nixon impeached and resigned following expose of illegal affairs, known as “Watergate” ○ Protests and public disapproval lead to his resignation ● Victory for Counterculture, resulting change from movements/protests Counterculture of the East (1960s) ● Major cities of the Soviet Union, like Moscow ○ Anti-Soviets and those of the counterculture were punished and ostrichsized ● Popularized the slogan, “Make Love Not War”