The Problems of Public Relations: Eisenhower, Latin America and the Potential Lessons for the Bush Administration

Author: Sewell, Bevan

Source: Comparative American Studies, Volume 6, Number 3, September 2008 , pp. 295-312(18)

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Abstract:

Accompanied by intense media interest, President George W. Bush visited Latin America in March 2007. The trip, it seemed, was a rather obvious attempt to try and improve inter-American relations by demonstrating that the US did care about is neighbours to the South; to counter the seemingly endless bad press and repair some of the damage done to the American brand by Bush's policies and the influence of Venezuelan president, Hugo Ch�vez. As this article will demonstrate, though, this was reminiscent of another era: that of the 1950s and the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower. Throughout his eight years in office, Eisenhower would consistently use public relations operations as a way of improving inter-American relations. However, the intense problems that this eventually brought about suggest that the present administration may have been misguided in its attempts to follow a similar path to its Republican predecessor's.

Keywords: PROPAGANDA; PUBLIC RELATIONS; BUSH; EISENHOWER; ECONOMICS; LATIN AMERICA

Document Type: Research Article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1179/147757008X330212

Publication date: 2008-09-01

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