why was the conflict called the cold war america most successful weapon in the cold war

Here was a music of democracy and freedom. The music of jazz, which was structured around improvisation within a set of commonly agreed-upon boundaries, was a perfect metaphor for America in the eyes of the State Department. Jazz bands had toured abroad independently for years, but State Department support allowed the music to reach geopolitically strategic locations lacking real profit incentive.

Gillespie’s first tour was a great success, and provided the blueprint for a whole host more in the following decades. “America’s secret weapon is a blue note in a minor key,” proclaimed the New York Times. No time was wasted, and by 1956 the first jazz ambassador, Dizzy Gillespie, was blowing America’s horn in the Balkans and the Middle East.

“They were in fierce competition to win the hearts and minds of the world.” Adam Clayton Powell Jr., a congressman with close ties to the jazz community, first suggested sending jazz musicians around the world on state-sponsored tours in 1955. and the USSR both saw themselves as models for developing nations,” says Penny Von Eschen, a professor at Cornell and an expert on the jazz ambassador program. The State Department had first realized jazz’s potential as a cold war weapon just three years before the Brubeck family found themselves in Poland. “It is the first sign of a return to freedom.” “No dictatorship can tolerate jazz,” he said. His father, who was moved by the dedication of Polish jazz fans, would often address the crowd at his performances.

Why was the conflict called the cold war america most successful weapon in the cold war