The result, Amerika, modeled itself on LIFE magazine, the oversize, picture-heavy glossy that was an American newsstand hit throughout the mid-20th Century. in the belief that displaying America’s virtues was better than attacking the Soviet system. Averell Harriman, then the ambassador to Moscow, argued for permission to distribute an illustrated magazine about the U.S. government’s first crack at Amerika came in 1945, when the Cold War was replacing World War II as the great international conflict. was allowed to print just 50,000 Russian copies a month for most of its run, the magazine helped shape Soviets’ views of the supposed arch-enemy in subtle but meaningful ways.

Today, the information war between the former Cold War superpowers occupies center stage in our national security conversation, and it looks vastly different: Russian hackers interfere directly with American politics and media, and an American-built tech platform like Twitter can instantly spread the inspiring anti-Putin speeches of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to a global audience.īut the indirect, “soft power” pitch of Amerika speaks of a different era when citizens rarely encountered each other in person, never mind having hip-pocket access to their social media posts. In return, the USSR got to peddle the - by most accounts - drab and text-heavy Soviet Life to the U.S. It took them backstage to tour the radically interracial new show called “Sesame Street” provided peeks into the lives of Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald, explored both Superman and everyman and served up an exclusive interview with the United States’ first foreign-born poet laureate, the Russian dissident Joseph Brodsky. diplomats scattering copies on Soviet public transportation - delivered admirable aspects of America to an eager audience of Soviet citizens.

government in Manila, and distributed most colorfully by U.S. It was the latest stratagem in the near half-century publishing history of a magazine that - although now largely forgotten and rarely seen by actual Americans - played an underappreciated role in piercing the Iron Curtain and pushing through Western influences.Īmerika - published primarily in Russian, printed by the U.S.

POLITICO Weekend delivers gripping reads, smart analysis and a bit of high-minded fun.

Why was the cold war called cold