Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976, Volume XXXVIII, Part 2, Organization and Management of Foreign Policy; Public Diplomacy, 1973–1976

91. Memorandum From Michael Guhin of the National Security Council Staff to the President’s Deputy Assistant for National Security Affairs (Scowcroft)¹

Washington, September 5, 1973.

SUBJECT

• Cultural Presentations Program

Per your request, Tom Pickering has sent you a paper on State’s program of sending performing artists abroad (Tab A).² The main points are described briefly below.

—Field posts advise State on whether a given country should have a cultural presentation project and, if so, what type.

—State turns to advisory panels composed of private experts in various art forms for advice on specific attractions. Attractions not endorsed by panels do not receive financial assistance.

—Cultural presentations constitute a small part of the programs under the Fulbright–Hays Act³ and only 1.6% of the CU Bureau’s budget in FY73. In FY73, 21 performing arts attractions received $720,000 as full or partial support from State.

—Sponsorship of performing artist groups is concentrated in countries which are largely closed to other types of programming. Groups going to the USSR under the Exchanges Agreement⁴ accounted for about 65% of the program. The second area of emphasis is Eastern Europe. State is funding about 50% of the cost of the first artists group to go to China, the Philadelphia Orchestra.⁵

—There are only limited funds for use elsewhere. State encourages and relies heavily on private sector sources of funding for most of the programming outside the USSR and Eastern Europe, but some high priority countries in other parts of the world can be serviced only rarely.

1. Source: Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Kissinger Papers, Box CL 39, Chronological File. No classification marking. Sent for information. Sent through David Elliott of the NSC Staff. A copy was sent to Richard Kennedy of the NSC Staff. Forwarded to Kissinger by Eagleburger under his September 10 memorandum, Document 92.
2. Attached but not printed are an undated memorandum from Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs William K. Hitchcock to Deputy Executive Secretary Harry G. Barnes, Jr., describing the process for selecting and funding performing artists for inclusion in the State Department’s Cultural Presentations Program, and Pickering’s August 31 memorandum forwarding it to Scowcroft.
3. The Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act of 1961 (P.L. 87–256), also known as the Fulbright–Hays Act, consolidated the legislative underpinnings of U.S. cultural and educational exchange programs.
4. On April 11, 1972, the United States and the Soviet Union signed in Moscow a new Agreement on Exchanges and Cooperation in Scientific, Technical, Educational, Cultural, and Other Fields in 1972–1973. The eighth such agreement between the two nations, it provided for exchanges in science and technology, agriculture, public health and medicine, education, performing arts, publications, exhibits, culture, sports, and other fields. Secretary Rogers hailed the “increased contact and cooperation between our two peoples” as a “critical factor in the maintenance and enhancement” of Soviet-American relations. For the text of the agreement, see Department of State Bulletin, May 15, 1972, pp. 707–713. In NSDM 215, “U.S.-Soviet Bilateral Issues,” May 3, 1973, Nixon “directed that the United States explore with the Soviet Union the possibility of augmenting” the agreement. NSDM 215 is Document 103, Foreign Relations, 1969–1976, vol. XV, Soviet Union, June 1972–August 1974.
5. In a visit facilitated and partially funded by the Department of State, the Philadelphia Orchestra toured the People’s Republic of China September 12–23, the first American orchestra to play in that country since 1949. (Department of State Bulletin, October 1, 1973, p. 428) The 106-person orchestra, conducted by Eugene Ormandy, gave six performances in Beijing and Shanghai. For an early account of the tour, see Harold Schonberg, “Philadelphians a ‘Big Success’ in Their First Concert in China,” New York Times, September 15, 1973, pp. 1, 19. Kissinger announced during his February 22 news conference after his return from China that the Chinese Government had invited the orchestra to perform. Such expanded contacts marked the movement of relations “from hostility toward normalization,” Kissinger said. (Department of State Bulletin, March 19, 1973, pp. 313–317)