Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs (OCIAA)
The Office of Inter-American Affairs redefined the way Americans perceived their Latino counterparts.
Headed by Nelson Rockfeller, the OCIAA spread positive messages about the Latin Americans through newspapers, television, posters, and radio, counteracting the negative propaganda of the Axis powers: Italy and Germany.
Artists including Walt Disney, and Aaron Copland were appointed as goodwill ambassadors who encouraged friendly relations with Latin America through their work.
Headed by Nelson Rockfeller, the OCIAA spread positive messages about the Latin Americans through newspapers, television, posters, and radio, counteracting the negative propaganda of the Axis powers: Italy and Germany.
Artists including Walt Disney, and Aaron Copland were appointed as goodwill ambassadors who encouraged friendly relations with Latin America through their work.
"...Declared by the President on May 27, 1941, and to provide for the development of commercial and cultural relations between the American Republics and thereby increasing the solidarity of this hemisphere and furthering the spirit of cooperation between the Americas in the interest of hemisphere defense..."
-Franklin D. Roosevelt's Executive Order 8840 establishing the OCIAA
The Motion Picture Division
In conjoint with the OCIAA, the Motion Picture Division was established by FDR and headed by John Hay Whitney. This division produced motion picture films with hopes of eliminating negative racial stereotypes of Latinos in American culture by casting various Latino actors in their films. Works including the movieThe Gang's All Here (1943), CBS Radio's Viva América, and Walt Disney's Saludos Amigos (1942) were all used to promote relations in foreign affairs.
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"The role we can play every day, if we try, is to take the whole experience of every day and shape it to involve American man. It is our job to interest him in his community and to give his ideas the excitement they should have."
- John Hay Whitney
Carmen Miranda
Carmen Miranda was a famous Brazilian singer, dancer, and film star who starred in many of the Motion Picture Division's films becoming the muse of the Good Neighbor policy. In 1943, she stared in The Gang's All Here where her positive, delightful character improved American views on the Latino and South American cultures.
Proud of her cultural heritage, Miranda expressed her Brazilian background in every movie:
"Look at me and tell me if I don't have Brazil in every curve of my body." - Carmen Miranda
Muralists
Diego Rivera was a prominent Mexican painter during the era of the Good Neighbor Policy. He painted the mural entitled Pan American Unity in 1940 for the Art in Action exhibit at Treasure Island’s Golden Gate International Exposition in California.
This is the central panel of Rivera's mural. He wrote:
"Symbolizing this union (between North and South) was a colossal Goddess of Life, half Indian, half machine. She would be to the American civilization of my vision of what Quetzacoatl, the great mother of Mexico, was to the Aztec People." |
The New York World's Fair of 1939
In the midst of World War II, over 60 countries attended the World Fair, hosted in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. The fair promoted peaceful relations between countries, particularly those of the Americas. Each country promoted their cultural heritage while decreasing negative stereotypes. Countries like Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Venezuela, Cuba, Mexico, and Nicaragua showcased their countries, attracting millions of tourists.
"The eyes of the Fair are on the future — not in the sense of peering toward the unknown nor attempting to foretell the events of tomorrow and the shape of things to come, but in the sense of presenting a new and clearer view of today in preparation for tomorrow; a view of the forces and ideas that prevail as well as the machines.
To its visitors the Fair will say: "Here are the materials, ideas, and forces at work in our world. These are the tools with which the World of Tomorrow must be made. They are all interesting and much effort has been expended to lay them before you in an interesting way. Familiarity with today is the best preparation for the future."
-New York World Fair Pamphlet
To its visitors the Fair will say: "Here are the materials, ideas, and forces at work in our world. These are the tools with which the World of Tomorrow must be made. They are all interesting and much effort has been expended to lay them before you in an interesting way. Familiarity with today is the best preparation for the future."
-New York World Fair Pamphlet