Alan Fisher – Propaganda Spectacle

About Fisher’s Journey

Allan Fisher (1913-1988) started his career in photojournalism in 1934, first working for The New York World Telegram and subsequently for the newspaper PM. In 1942, he was invited by Alexander Murphy, a former editor of PM, to work for the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs (OCIAA) documenting the collaboration between Brazil and the United States in Good Neighbourhood Policy initiatives.

His main role was to produce content about Brazil for the US press and public. The US’s newest ally in South America, Brazil, had declared war on the Axis powers in August 1942. While in Brazil, Fisher took photographs of various contexts and subjects, not only of the war effort, but also of industry, notable figures, and politicians (Schmidt and Fisher, 1989).

In 1943, Fisher spent three months in Chile, reporting on the government’s decision to cut ties with Axis powers and later travelled across Latin America covering the visit of US Vice President Henry A. Wallace.

He also contributed to Em Guarda / En Guardia, a magazine produced by the OCIAA to disseminate pro-US war propaganda in Latin America (De Souza, 2012). In 1944, Fisher was sent to Europe to capture images of Brazilian troops working alongside US forces on the Italian front. The OCIAA collaborated closely with the Brazilian government, which was under the authoritarian rule of populist oligarch Getúlio Vargas and his Department of Press and Propaganda (DIP).

Upon his return to Brazil in 1945, Fisher held an exhibition featuring his photographs of the Brazilian Expeditionary Force (FEB) during their training and combat experiences in Italy, which earned him a medal of honour from the Brazilian government for war correspondents (Andrade 2008, 9).

He also travelled to the Amazon to document the collaboration between the OCIAA and the Brazilian state in public health initiatives through the Serviço Especial de Saúde Pública (SESP) [Public Health Special Service]. His objective was to create positive imagery of Brazil for OCIAA reports and for the US press, showcasing SESP and OCIAA’s contributions to modernizing public health in Brazil, including new medical facilities in the Amazon, distribution of anti-Malaria medication, and healthcare for rubber workers – a commodity crucial to the war effort (Andrade 2019).

Fisher remained in Brazil until 1955, primarily working with the US Information Service (USIS) motion picture division. That year, he served for three months as a Public Affairs Officer (PAO) in Lima, Peru, under US Ambassador Ellis O. Briggs, who would later become the US Ambassador to Brazil from 1956 to 1959 (Schmidt, 1998).

During his time in Brazil and Latin America, Fisher became a skilled propagandist, establishing important connections within the US State Department and, post-1953, the United States Information Agency (USIA).

This network paved his way to become Cultural Affairs Officer and Vice-Consul at the US Consulate General in São Paulo from 1966 to 1972, after serving with USIA in France and Vietnam.

Alan Fisher Photojournalism

Fisher, like many photographers of his generation, was significantly influenced by the rise of photojournalism during the interwar years. Improvements in printing technology following World War I led to the widespread incorporation of photography in newspapers and magazines.

The 1920s witnessed a surge in photojournalism in Germany, which quickly extended to the UK and the US. The introduction of the weekly magazine LIFE in 1936 marked a pivotal moment, emphasizing photography as a dominant means of communication and prioritizing visual storytelling over written text. In Brazil, this trend was reflected in the launch of the weekly magazine O Cruzeiro in the 1940s (Peregrino 1991).

Another major influence on Fisher’s photographic outlook was the rise of social documentary photography, or concerned photography, a term introduced by Cornell Capa (1918-2008) to describe photographers focused on highlighting social issues (Mauad 2014, Andrade 2019, Bair 2022).

The 1930s saw state-sponsored photographic documentary that addressed the severe impacts of the Great Depression and initiatives from Roosevelt’s New Deal, which aimed at reducing poverty among rural workers through the Farm Security Administration (FSA). Renowned photographers like Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, and Gordon Parks produced unforgettable images that became iconic representations of the New Deal.

Fisher’s position as a photographer for the OCIAA during World War II, along with his later work for the US State Department, required him to depict Brazil as an underdeveloped nation that was rapidly modernizing—a country that could benefit from alignment and cooperation with US interests, thereby positioning itself as a strategic asset for US geopolitical influence in South America.

Nevertheless, he worked within a context of continuous efforts by Brazilian authorities to manage how Brazil was portrayed and perceived in the United States.

Fisher’s contributions played a crucial role in shaping Brazil-US relations during both World War II and the Cold War. His trajectory – from a talented photojournalist to an information agent and, ultimately, a foreign service officer – provides an important insight into the development of the US propaganda apparatus in Brazil.

Photographic Series

USIE Motion Pictures in Alvinopolis, Brazil

The visual report entitled “USIE Motion Pictures in Alvinopolis, Brazil” was submitted to the State Department on 15 August 1950. It was included in a memorandum by Alan Fisher with the subject: “My visit to Farmer’s Week in Alvinopolis, Minas Gerais, July 28-30, 1950”.

Rural Brazil sees USIS Films

The photos in this series were taken in the Municipality of São José do Vale do Rio Preto (SJVRP), in the State of Rio de Janeiro, and include images of rural workers in Córrego Sujo, a village 15 miles away from downtown SJVRP.

Brazilian Factory Workers See USIE Films

These images were taken between January and September 1950 in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo as samples of the film screenings organised by Brazil’s Industrial Social Service (SESI) using USIS films.

USIE Film Showings in Rio de Janeiro Public Schools

The report makes it clear that public schools in Rio de Janeiro were part of a well-organised programme of screenings of USIE films in overt collaboration with the Department of Public Education, which was like the cooperation with SESI, but targeting working class children.

Other Images

These images were taken by Alan Fisher in 1945 and are currently held at FGV CPDOC, Brazil (Gustavo Capanema collection). Fisher travelled to the Amazon to document the collaboration between the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs and the Brazilian government in public health initiatives through the Serviço Especial de Saúde Pública (SESP) [Public Health Special Service].

Alan Fisher (1913-1988)