The US propaganda apparatus in Brazil

The war’s immediate aftermath was characterised by a process of restructuring of US informational apparatus.

Initiatives towards the unification of the information services around a more coherent agenda took place in the final years of Truman’s administration, for example with the creation of the US International Information and Educational Exchange Program (USIE) in 1949, the institution that became responsible for coordinating the local US Information Service (USIS) offices operating from US Ambassies around the world.

The last year of Truman’s administration (1952) was marked by a “belated effort to respond to the mounting pressure to remove US information from the State Department and into its own agency” (Cull 2008: 23).

This was done through the creation of the semi-autonomous US International Information Administration (IIA). A fully autonomous United States Information Agency (USIA), operating outside the State Department, was created only in 1953 by the Eisenhower administration.

The US propaganda apparatus in Brazil: from the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs (OCIAA) to the US Information Agency (USIA)

The OCIAA was created in 1940 as the Office of the Coordinator of Commercial and Cultural Affairs between American Republics by Roosevelt’s administration – with Nelson Rockefeller as its head – to counter Nazi-fascist propaganda on the continent and to coordinate public and private investments in different areas of cooperation and hemispheric defence.

The office was renamed in 1941 (becoming OCIAA), and again in 1945 (becoming the Office of Inter-American Affairs – OIAA) when it was absorbed by the State Department. The OIAA was abolished in 1946, and its functions were completely integrated into the State Department.

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].