Independent foreign affairs agency active during the latter half of the twentieth century that supported American foreign policy and promoted U.S. interests abroad.
During World War I, the Committee on Public Information, also known as the Creel Committee, became the first federal entity responsible for coordinating U.S. government information. Cultural and informational exchange programs, including radio broadcasts and news summaries sent to diplomatic missions abroad, continued on an ad hoc basis during the 1930s and then in a more formalized way during World War II.
Information and cultural programs were consolidated after World War II within the Office of International Cultural Af fairs and the International Press and Publication Division, both operating within the State Department. To train the Germans and Japanese in democratic ways, the State Department also conducted reorientation and reeducation programs in Germany and Japan after World War II. Recognizing the need for a comprehensive approach to the coordination and dissemination of information, President Dwight D. Eisenhower created the U.S. Information Agency (USIA) on August 3, 1953, by executive order, in accordance with the provisions of the Smith-Mundt Act of 1948.
The USIA’s cultural programs included education exchanges, the most famous of these being the Fulbright Scholars program. Named for Democratic Senator J. William Ful-bright of Arkansas, who sponsored the legislation that created them, the Fulbright scholarships facilitate international exchanges between students, researchers, and academicians. The Fulbright Scholars program operated within the State Department from its inception in 1946, but after 1953 USIA personnel were responsible for supervising the administration of the program. The program officially transferred to the USIA in 1978.
The primary broadcasting component within the USIA was the Voice of America (VOA). Broadcasting during World War II in 27 languages to countries throughout the world, the VOA survived after the war ended after a committee of private citizens recommended that the government maintain an active role in managing how the United States was portrayed abroad. VOA was active worldwide during most of the cold war (1945-1991), and expanded broadcasting operations in the 1980s. The Radio Broadcasting to Cuba Act, passed in October 1983, established Radio Marti, which began broadcasting to Cuba in May 1985. The VOA also resumed broadcasting in Europe in 1985 after a 25-year hiatus.
The USIA ceased operations on October 1,1999 in accordance with the Foreign Affairs and Restructuring Act of 1998. Most of its functions were folded into the Department of State. The Voice of America continued to operate under the International Broadcasting Bureau.
