by Rick Ruth
Dwight D. Eisenhower’s entire presidency was a master class in public diplomacy, even though the term—as we understand it today—was not coined until 1965. He embodied two traits essential for success in public diplomacy.
First, he understood—professionally, intellectually and viscerally—that instruments of peace like exchanges, international engagement, and citizen diplomacy arise out of their opposites—violence, conflict, and injustice. Or, more specifically, they arise out of the efforts of men and women of good will—tough-minded men and women of good will—to take action to reduce the likelihood of future violence and injustice.
Second, Eisenhower believed that international engagement was part of the American character, that it is in our DNA, not something the government imposes on us, like taxes or zoning.
The Historical Roots of American Public Diplomacy
Preeminent American exchange organizations came into existence long before Uncle Sam got into the game. American Field Service (AFS) Intercultural Programs and the Institute for International Education (IIE), for example, are each over 100 years old. AFS Intercultural Programs grew from the American Ambulance Field Service, created in 1915 by American humanitarian volunteers and ambulance drivers with the French army in Europe in WWI.
IIE began with three people in 1919 and has grown into one of the world’s preeminent institutions fostering international education and academic freedom. (It is worth noting that two of the founders of IIE—Nicholas Murray Butler and Elihu Root, each individually received the Nobel Prize for Peace. Any world leader interested in that prize would do well to pay attention to the value of international exchanges.)
But America’s commitment to what we now call “public diplomacy” goes back much farther than a century. The most elegant definition of public diplomacy that I have encountered came—not surprisingly perhaps—from the pen of Thomas Jefferson, when he wrote in the Declaration of Independence (a public diplomacy document if there ever was one) that we owe “a decent respect to the opinions of mankind.”
We Americans have a story to tell, an experience to share, values we believe in and that we think matter to the world, and thus we have in our nature the wish to engage the world.
Eisenhower Prior to the Presidency
We may not see the like of Dwight David Eisenhower again. Growing up in Kansas and becoming the face of the 20th century, he was supreme allied commander in Europe in World War II, supreme commander of NATO, and twice president of the United States. He even had time to slip in several years as president of Columbia University.
He was horrified by the carnage of WWII. His experience was not only to witness death and destruction firsthand, but also to shoulder the grave responsibility of sending young men into battle to kill and to be killed.
Eisenhower also witnessed the horror of Nazi death camps. Troops under his command liberated Buchenwald and Dachau. He deliberately visited Ohrdruf, a camp associated with Buchenwald, on April 12, 1945, to see with his own eyes scenes that he described as “beyond the ability of the human mind to comprehend.” He ordered extensive photographic documentation and, in one case, ordered nearby German villagers to visit the camp and view the corpses so that they could never deny what had happened.
Eisenhower’s Public Diplomacy as President
With the power of the presidency, Eisenhower undertook several historic steps in the history of public diplomacy.
First, he pulled together various operations, civilian and military, including notably the Voice of America, and in 1953 established the United States Information Agency—thus formally putting the United States in the forefront of the modern global struggle for hearts and minds.
Second, also in 1953, he delivered his “Atoms for Peace” speech at a meeting of the General Assembly of the United Nations. University of Southern California Professor Nicholas Cull—the master chronicler of American public diplomacy—called it a “splendid piece of political theater.” It had everything—diplomacy, public diplomacy, public relations, public affairs, national security, foreign policy, balance of power politics, marketing, branding, spin, psychological operations, and strategic communications. It addressed a domestic audience and a global audience; it addressed the present generation as well as future generations.
Third, through all this, Eisenhower did not forget the importance and the centrality of human authenticity and thus of exchanges. He convened a remarkable conference in 1956—in fact, on 9/11 of that year—in the Red Cross building in Washington, DC, and launched what he called the People-to-People Program. He reached out to the broadest possible community, inviting the director of the Philadelphia Philharmonic, but also the head of General Mills; a director of the National Gallery of Art, but also the CEO of American Express; the cartoonist Al Capp and also the president of the AFL-CIO; the head of the American Legion as well as the boxing commissioner of New York. One invitee was shown on the White House invitation list simply as “Faulkner, William – writer.”
President Eisenhower told the assembled “the purpose of this meeting is the most worthwhile purpose there is in the world today: to help build the road to peace, to help build the road to an enduring peace.” The specific questions the president posed on that day are still today’s questions—ones that many leaders grapple with every day:
- How do we dispel ignorance?
- How do we present our own case?
- How do we strengthen friendships?
- How do we learn of others?
While the questions remain the same, we now have the advantage of knowing the answers. Decades of hard-won experience have shown that public diplomacy focused on “information”—be it labelled strategic communications, branding, psy-ops, disinformation and counter-disinformation—is not the answer. The answer lies in international networks of people-to-people engagement. They are the key element of soft power. They are the high ground of soft power. While it may seem at times like a Sisyphean labor—and while it may, in fact, be a Sisyphean labor, given the contradictions of human nature—the bedrock of American public diplomacy is and will remain a decent respect to the opinions of mankind expressed through human authenticity.
(This article is adapted from remarks made at a forum on the anniversary of President Eisenhower’s Atoms for Peace speech hosted by the USC Annenberg Center on Dec. 8, 2025)
Rick Ruth served as a US Information Agency (USIA) exhibit guide in the Soviet Union. He subsequently joined the Foreign Service and later served in the Senior Executive Service. He was deputy chief of staff to the last four USIA directors and, with the integration of USIA into State, served as the chief of staff to the first undersecretary for public diplomacy and public affairs (R). He was the senior official in R on 9/11. After moving to the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA), Rick oversaw development of the Bureau’s capabilities in alumni engagement, evaluation, and cultural heritage protection and was instrumental in the move of American Spaces and American Speakers into ECA. In response to the 9/11 attack, Rick originated the USG’s first high school exchange program for the Arab and Muslim world (now known as the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study Program).