A Pleasurable Exertion: Writing an Immigrant Identity

By the middle of the 20th century, America needed a re-branding. The persistence of racial segregation combined with the tendency of some Europeans to view America as culturally inferior, gave the country an image problem at the beginning of its geopolitical struggle with the Soviet Union. As a result, during the 1950’s, The Common Council for American Unity directed a well-coordinated program to create a new image of America. Recognizing the value of immigrant correspondence in this public relations battle, the CCAU launched the Letters from America campaign, appealing to the 35 million citizens of foreign birth or foreign parentage to correspond with family overseas about life in the United States. The CCAU advised participants that they “just tell the truth”. Letters represented a familiar forum within immigrant communities. Estimates suggest that in 1950 more than 178 million letters were mailed overseas, with 21 million heading into “Iron Curtain” countries. The US wanted to put that correspondence to use during the days of McCarthy and the Red Scare to prove allegiance and to be a “real American”. The CCAU Letters from America campaign is a fascinating look into the intersection of state-sponsored activities and media/cultural production during the Cold War era. This essay will discuss the Letters from America campaign and argue that by leveraging the traditionally private sphere of personal correspondence, the CCAU created a larger public sphere with the pretense of a fully participative discursive arena. It will also raise the question of whether or not the ideological demands of the Cold War actually suppressed deliberative rhetoric within immigrant communities across the United States.