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diplomacy, root and branch.
In
recent years, the attacks against the Na–
tional Endowment for Democracy, the virtual liquidation of the Munich
radio stations, and the budget cuts leading to the cessation of many USIA
activities have shown this again. America spends less on the support of arts
on a per capita basis than any other developed country.
It
could be argued
that it would be unreasonable to allocate for cultural purposes abroad
funds which are denied to cultural institutions at home. Cultural policy,
unlike military defense, has no domestic constituency. The villain is not,
however, the American people. Public opinion polls have shown that
there is a willingness to give for purposes of this kind. But influential leg–
islators know better: culture is elitist, and the diffusion of culture abroad is
a luxury as well as reprehensible because it constitutes interference in the
affairs of other countries. Alone among all the developed countries,
America has no ministry of culture or arts or national heritage, and the
contributions made by the private sector have been small, sporadic, and
declining in recent years. But this is another story. As for the Congress for
Cultural Freedom, we shall not see the like of it again, except perhaps in
another state of emergency.
