Finding America’s Voice: A Strategy for Reinvigorating U.S. Public Diplomacy

The United States has a growing problem. Public opinion polls echo what is seen in foreign editorials and headlines, legislative debate, and reports of personal and professional meetings. Anti-Americanism is a regular feature of both mass and elite opinion around the world. A poll by the Times of London, taken just before the war in Iraq, found respondents split evenly over who posed a greater threat to world peace, U.S. President George W. Bush or then Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. At the same time, European antiwar protests drew millions, and several national leaders ran successfully on anti-American platforms. Americans at home and abroad face an increased risk of direct attack from individuals and from small groups that now wield more destructive power. The amount of discontent in the world bears a direct relationship to the amount of danger Americans face.