The President's Echo System How Foreign Policy Is Sold to Americans

A sharp analysis of the propaganda partnerships between US presidents and private organizations that fueled the Cold War and paved the way for the War on Terror.

How do US presidents motivate public support for their foreign policy agendas, which so often start out running counter to public opinion? _The President’s Echo System_ details how successive administrations have collaborated with outside groups to popularize ideas that voters initially reject. Chad Levinson shows how these collaborations have shaped all of the most consequential US foreign policy programs of the past century, from participation in World War II and the establishment of the United Nations to the wars in Vietnam and Iraq.

The relationship between private interests and public officials is typically understood as coercive, with nongovernmental actors using wealth and media access to pressure civic leaders. Upending conventional wisdom, Levinson argues that these relationships are in fact symbiotic. Administrations of both parties have played central roles in cultivating private organizations that share their foreign policy priorities, fostering an ecosystem of influence that endures long after a president’s term.