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Ed Webb

Modern art was CIA 'weapon' - World, News - The Independent - 6 views

www.independent.co.uk/...rt-was-cia-weapon-1578808.html

CIA ColdWar history art politics US USA UK

shared by Ed Webb on 23 Nov 10 - Cached
  • The Central Intelligence Agency used American modern art - including the works of such artists as Jackson Pollock, Robert Motherwell, Willem de Kooning and Mark Rothko - as a weapon in the Cold War. In the manner of a Renaissance prince - except that it acted secretly - the CIA fostered and promoted American Abstract Expressionist painting around the world for more than 20 years.
  • in the propaganda war with the Soviet Union, this new artistic movement could be held up as proof of the creativity, the intellectual freedom, and the cultural power of the US. Russian art, strapped into the communist ideological straitjacket, could not compete.
  • The decision to include culture and art in the US Cold War arsenal was taken as soon as the CIA was founded in 1947. Dismayed at the appeal communism still had for many intellectuals and artists in the West, the new agency set up a division, the Propaganda Assets Inventory, which at its peak could influence more than 800 newspapers, magazines and public information organisations. They joked that it was like a Wurlitzer jukebox: when the CIA pushed a button it could hear whatever tune it wanted playing across the world.
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • Initially, more open attempts were made to support the new American art. In 1947 the State Department organised and paid for a touring international exhibition entitled "Advancing American Art", with the aim of rebutting Soviet suggestions that America was a cultural desert. But the show caused outrage at home, prompting Truman to make his Hottentot remark and one bitter congressman to declare: "I am just a dumb American who pays taxes for this kind of trash." The tour had to be cancelled.
  • This philistinism, combined with Joseph McCarthy's hysterical denunciations of all that was avant-garde or unorthodox, was deeply embarrassing. It discredited the idea that America was a sophisticated, culturally rich democracy. It also prevented the US government from consolidating the shift in cultural supremacy from Paris to New York since the 1930s.
  • If any official institution was in a position to celebrate the collection of Leninists, Trotskyites and heavy drinkers that made up the New York School, it was the CIA.
  • Moscow in those days was very vicious in its denunciation of any kind of non-conformity to its own very rigid patterns. And so one could quite adequately and accurately reason that anything they criticised that much and that heavy- handedly was worth support one way or another
  • As president of what he called "Mummy's museum", Rockefeller was one of the biggest backers of Abstract Expressionism (which he called "free enterprise painting"). His museum was contracted to the Congress for Cultural Freedom to organise and curate most of its important art shows. The museum was also linked to the CIA by several other bridges. William Paley, the president of CBS broadcasting and a founding father of the CIA, sat on the members' board of the museum's International Programme. John Hay Whitney, who had served in the agency's wartime predecessor, the OSS, was its chairman. And Tom Braden, first chief of the CIA's International Organisations Division, was executive secretary of the museum in 1949.
  • "It was very difficult to get Congress to go along with some of the things we wanted to do - send art abroad, send symphonies abroad, publish magazines abroad. That's one of the reasons it had to be done covertly. It had to be a secret. In order to encourage openness we had to be secret."
  • Would Abstract Expressionism have been the dominant art movement of the post-war years without this patronage? The answer is probably yes. Equally, it would be wrong to suggest that when you look at an Abstract Expressionist painting you are being duped by the CIA. But look where this art ended up: in the marble halls of banks, in airports, in city halls, boardrooms and great galleries. For the Cold Warriors who promoted them, these paintings were a logo, a signature for their culture and system which they wanted to display everywhere that counted. They succeeded.
Aaron Palm

Herbert Aptheker's Distortions by C.L.R. James 1949 - 2 views

www.marxists.org/...aptheker.htm

aptheker herbert revisionist history African American communism Stalin america modern

shared by Aaron Palm on 11 Jul 10 - Cached
David Hilton liked it
    • Aaron Palm
      Aaron Palm on 11 Jul 10
       
      CLR James in 1949 acknowledges that Aptheker was a toll of Stalinism and there are many flaws in his African American History.  
  • “It was the development of increased agitation on the part of non-slaveholding whites prior to the Civil War for the realization of the American creed that played a major part in provoking the desperation that led the slaveholders to take up arms.” (p.41) Upon the flimsiest scraps of evidence, the theory is elaborated that it was the withholding of democracy from non-slaveholding whites that pushed the South to the Civil War. “In terms of practice, as concerns the mass of the white people of the South, this anti-democratic philosophy was everywhere implemented. The property qualifications for voting and office-holding, the weighing of the legislature to favor slaveholding against non-slaveholding counties, the inequitable taxation system falling most heavily on mechanics’ tools and least heavily on slaves, the whole system of economic, social and educational preferment for the possessors of slaves, and the organized, energetic, and partially successful struggles carried on against this system by the non-slaveholding whites form – outside of the response of the Negroes to enslavement – the actual content of the South’s internal history for the generation preceding the Civil War.”
  • Stalinist Sleight of Hand Stalinism tries to manipulate history as a sleight-of-hand man manipulates cards. But unlike the conjurer, a stern logic pushes Stalinism in an ever more reactionary direction. For five years Aptheker covered up his anti-Negro concepts with constant broad statements about the “decisive character” of slave insurrections, Negro agitators etc. in the Civil War and the period preceding it. In 1946, however, in The Negro People in America, Aptheker broke new ground. He put forward a new theory that at one stroke made a wreck of all that he had said before. Let his own words speak:
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  • t is clear that only at the last minute Aptheker remembered the slaves and threw in the phrase about their “response.” Historically this is a crime. The non-slaveholding whites who supposedly pushed the South into the Civil War were not in any way democrats. They were small planters and city people who formed a rebellious but reactionary social force, hostile to the big planters, the slaves and the democratically minded farmers in the non-plantation regions. What particular purpose this new development is to serve does not concern us here. What is important, however, is its logical identity with the hostility to Negro radicalism and independent Negro politics which has appeared in Aptheker’s work from the very beginning to this climax-pushing the Negroes aside for the sake of non slaveholding whites in the South. However fair may be the outside of Stalinist history and politics, however skillful may be the means by which its internal corruption is disguised, inevitably its real significance appears. There is no excuse today for those who allow themselves to be deceived by it. For all interested in this sphere, it is a common duty, whatever differences may exist between us, to see to it that the whole Stalinist fakery on Negro history be thoroughly exposed for what it really is.
David Hilton

Papers of the War Department - 0 views

wardepartmentpapers.org/index.php

usa america us war of independence independence c18th c19th military republic archives sources british empire documents primary sources

shared by David Hilton on 09 Jul 09 - Cached
  • David Hilton on 09 Jul 09
     
    Fire destroyed the office of the War Department and all its files in 1800, and for decades historians believed that the collection, and the window it provided into the workings of the early federal government, was lost forever. Thanks to a decade-long effort to retrieve copies of the files scattered in archives across the country, the collection has been reconstituted and is offered here as a fully-searchable digital database.
  • David Hilton on 09 Jul 09
     
    "Fire destroyed the office of the War Department and all its files in 1800, and for decades historians believed that the collection, and the window it provided into the workings of the early federal government, was lost forever. Thanks to a decade-long effort to retrieve copies of the files scattered in archives across the country, the collection has been reconstituted and is offered here as a fully-searchable digital database." Isn't that cool?
David Hilton

LBC/IRN: LBC/IRN - 2 views

radio.bufvc.ac.uk/lbc

modern europe britain england uk sources primary sources interviews audio c20th thatcher 1980s radio news cold war ussr usa

shared by David Hilton on 10 Dec 09 - Cached
  • David Hilton on 10 Dec 09
     
    "The LBC/IRN Audio Archive, (London Broadcasting Company / Independent Radio News audio archive) consists of 7,000 reel-to-reel tapes in a collection that runs from 1973 to the mid-1990s. It is the most important commercial radio archive in the UK and provides a unique audio history of the period. This digitised collection focuses on the most noteworthy content - approximately 3,000 hours of recordings relating to news and current affairs. The digitised archive contains invaluable recordings of a wide range of broadcasts including coverage of the Falklands war, the miners' strike, Northern Ireland, the whole of the Thatcher period of government and recordings of the first hour of UK commercial radio including the first commercial radio news bulletin."
  • David Hilton on 10 Dec 09
     
    You can only listen if you are part of a tertiary institution which has a paid subscription through the Athens ID system (v. annoying!) however you're able to read the transcripts for free.
Christina Briola

Famous People Painting "Discussing the Divine Comedy with Dante" - 9 views

cliptank.com/PeopleofInfluencePainting.htm

art history

shared by Christina Briola on 12 Nov 10 - Cached
  • Christina Briola on 12 Nov 10
     
    Discussing the Divine Comedy with Dante. Wow!!
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  • Jeremy Greene on 16 Nov 10
     
    I have created a very successful lesson/activity around this painting. The details are as follows. This window has this year's assignment. The next reply has the previous years. Advice: WHAP Review Activity: The Twittering Masses Review activity (mostly 1914- and East Asia) Description - I previously set up 103 discussions on turnitin.com for this lesson so they post into that person's discussion board and all replies are kept under the initial post. This year they posted on our classes Ning.com in the discussion forum. Grading is also difficult - Since not every one will have the same amount of replies - people are more likely to write to Hitler than Cui Jian for instance. So, I am grading the posts holistically out of 10 (I often only have 100-200 points in a quarter, so for instance a test might only be worth 40 points). I have students use a heading that states who [character] is tweeting what topic they are focusing on and who they are writing to. I would be interested in feedback or improvements people think they can make on this lesson - should I use Moodle, [Again, I have switched to Ning.com] etc.? Many thanks. And you can add or subtract people as you wish, so we have actually added Marcus Garvey, Jomo Kenyatta, Stephen Biko, and Emiliano Zapata to our role play and taken the painters (of this painting) out of the role play - Write up for students: Go to http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1162771/The-Internet-sensation-dinner-party-painting-103-historical-guests--spot.html#comments to see who all these individuals are, in color. The rules: You will imagine that each of the historical actors above has access to twitter, the expanded edition, 140 words as compared to 140 characters, to communicate to the other guests present. You will choose six of them (from my list below - my list is the final list - some people pictured have been replaced) to role-play in the "Twittering Masses." As your historical
  • Jeremy Greene on 16 Nov 10
     
    See previous post for advice. This is how I set it up the first two years without specific WHAP content or themes: The rules: You will imagine that each of the historical actors above has access to twitter, the expanded edition, to communicate to the other guests present. You will choose up to four (at least three) of them to role play in the "Twittering Masses" role play. As your historical person, during the Twittering Masses role play you will write, "tweet," at least four other persons. Two of the people should be in close proximity to you based on the painting above. Another tweet should go to the person you feel closest to (not by proximity) at the party - this could be based on ideology (MLK Jr. and Gandhi), background (Tagore and Gandhi), lifestyle (Gandhi and Mother Theresa), etc. Explain in your tweet why you are writing them. The other tweet should go to the person you see as most opposed, or farthest from you - Gandhi and Hitler or Gandhi and Gates or Gandhi and Churchill - in this tweet you should either try to bridge the gap between your differences or explain why the person is wrong in their beliefs. If you have only three guests - you will need to make 5 initial tweets. You will respond to each initial tweet. Then who knows . . . All tweets should have some connection to WHAP content or themes. You may want to comment on the surroundings or other guests . . .
  • Jeremy Greene on 16 Nov 10
     
    I would love comments as to the posts above. Something similar I do is written up here: http://worldhistoryconnected.press.illinois.edu/7.3/gregg.html
Deven Black

Ben Franklin's Many Hats EDSITEment - Lesson Plan - 8 views

edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp

American_history history socialstudies Constitution Declaration_of_independence Franklin america c18th usa

shared by Deven Black on 09 Sep 10 - No Cached
  • Deven Black on 09 Sep 10
     
    Ben Franklin, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and of the Constitution was also a philanthropist, a community leader, patriot, and Founding Father. This lesson plan exemplifies all our new country fought for in the Revolutionary War: individualism, democracy, community, patriotism, scientific inquiry and invention, and the rights of "We the People."
David Hilton

http://picturingamerica.neh.gov/downloads/pdfs/Resource_Guide/English/English_PA_Teache... - 10 views

picturingamerica.neh.gov/...English_PA_TeachersGuide.pdf

images primary sources c20th c19th c18th america usa pictures teaching guide resources us civil war war of independence wwi wwii cold war

shared by David Hilton on 15 Dec 10 - No Cached
  • David Hilton on 15 Dec 10
     
    A guide to teaching some of the seminal images of American history. 
  • Jeremy Greene on 18 Dec 10
     
    Also check out Picturing Early America, especially the unit plans from 2009 (ones from 2010, including one from yours truly coming soon): http://picturingamerica.salemstate.edu/
David Hilton

American Revolution and The New Nation: Primary Documents of American History (Virtual ... - 3 views

www.loc.gov/...NewNation.html

usa us america revolution washington independence declaration of independence louisiana purchase war of 1812 c18th c19th sources primary sources

shared by David Hilton on 20 Jul 09 - Cached
  • David Hilton on 20 Jul 09
     
    A collection of primary documents from the period 1763-1815 in American History.
David Hilton

American History to 1865 - 1 views

www.lib.washington.edu/...american1.html

usa us america sources primary sources documents independence revolution us civil war indian wars washington colonial antebellum

shared by David Hilton on 20 Jul 09 - Cached
  • David Hilton on 20 Jul 09
     
    An enormous number of links to sources related to American history up to 1865.
David Hilton

Accessible Archives - 0 views

www.accessible.com/accessible

usa america archives c18th c19th documents us civil war revolution independence sources primary sources periodicals journals

shared by David Hilton on 08 Aug 09 - Cached
  • David Hilton on 08 Aug 09
     
    A searchable database of full-text periodicals from the C18th and C19th US.
  • David Hilton on 08 Aug 09
     
    Accessible Archives © was founded in 1990 with the goal of utilizing computer technology to make available vast quantities of archived historical information, previously furnished only on microfilm. In pursuit of this vision, primary source material has been selected to reflect a broad view of the times, and has been assembled into databases with a strict attention to detail allowing access to specific information with pinpoint accuracy
David Hilton

The World of Early America - 1 views

www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica

usa us america revolution war of 1812 independence jefferson constitution early america early documents sources primary sources bill of rights women c18th

shared by David Hilton on 19 Jul 09 - Cached
  • David Hilton on 19 Jul 09
     
    An excellent site containing primary sources on early America (or at least the English-speaking part of it). Seems to focus mainly on the C18th.
David Hilton

University of Virginia Library - 0 views

fisher.lib.virginia.edu/...histcensus

census demographics statistics immigration usa us america c19th c20th

shared by David Hilton on 21 Jun 09 - Cached
  • David Hilton on 21 Jun 09
     
    Information from the US Census of Population and Housing beginning around the time of the War of Independence.
David Hilton

THOMAS: Historical Documents - 2 views

thomas.loc.gov/...histdoxmainpg.html

usa us america revolution independence constitution bill of rights federalism documents sources primary sources c18th c19th congress jefferson us civil war c20th

shared by David Hilton on 24 Jul 09 - Cached
  • David Hilton on 24 Jul 09
     
    A collection of documents for American history C18 to the C20th, provided by the Library of Congress.
David Hilton

From Revolution to Reconstruction: Documents - 0 views

odur.let.rug.nl/D

usa us america sources primary sources documents modern c15th c16th c17th c18th c19th c20th us civil war independence wwi wwii depression

shared by David Hilton on 21 Jul 09 - Cached
  • David Hilton on 21 Jul 09
     
    An extensive collection of primary source documents from American history, going back to the period of the first European contact.
David Hilton

America's Homepage - Historic Documents - 2 views

ahp.gatech.edu/hisdocs.html

usa us america revolution colonies c18th c19th c20th independence constitution washington us civil war lincoln sources primary sources documents

shared by David Hilton on 24 Jul 09 - Cached
  • David Hilton on 24 Jul 09
     
    An excellent collection of documents relating to American history from the 1750s to the 1870s.
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