Kenneth Osgood

Hearts and Minds: The Unconventional Cold War

Throughout the Cold War the task of winning hearts and minds around the world was of great importance to Soviet and American leaders. Both sides fought a cultural Cold War via radio waves, television transmissions, propa-ganda, and other forms of psychological pressure. A number of recent books that draw on declassified U.S. government records have provided valuable in-sights into the American side of the cultural Cold War. The U.S. government employed military, political, diplomatic, and cultural means to influence for-eign and domestic opinion. The study of this phenomenon requires interdis-ciplinary methodological approaches. Diplomatic historians need to integrate the cultural and propaganda issues into their narratives, and cultural histori-ans need to pay greater heed to the themes raised in diplomatic historical accounts.

Hollywood, the Pentagon, and Washington: The Movies and National Security from World War II to the Present Day – By Jean-Michel Valantin

former are Webster’s “First Settlement of New England” address delivered at Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1820 to commemorate the bicentennial of the Pilgrims’ landing; his 1825 and 1843 speeches on the Battle of Bunker Hill; and his double eulogy in 1826 of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson (54). Among the latter are Webster’s “Second Reply to Hayne,” refuting nullification; his speeches against the Mexican War and the extension of slavery; and his “Seventh of March Address” in favor of the Compromise of 1850 (109, 226). The author’s analysis of these presentations relies on “Aristotle’s three forms of public address—the deliberative (legislative), the forensic (legal), and the epideictic (ceremonial)” (3). Smith contends that Webster usually interwove all three forms to create “braided masterpieces unsurpassed in American oratory” (3). He also discusses the classical and eighteenth-century sources of influence on Webster and his use of such rhetorical devices as cadence, metaphor, irony, humor, and sarcasm. Neither Webster’s talent nor great knowledge of rhetoric, however, made him a good stump speaker during the Log Cabin presidential campaign of 1840. Smith also contends that Webster’s contribution to the creation of an American civil religion, which included a condemnation of slavery, undercut his presidential ambitions and his ability (for good or ill) to promote compromise with the South. The most notable weakness of Smith’s approach is that he fails to deconstruct Webster’s speeches in terms of race, class, and gender. This makes his account of Webster’s career seem at times shallow and old-fashioned. It is nevertheless a worthy addition to the considerable literature on an important American figure.