This event is part of the series New Work in the Arts & Humanities: American Classics.

Exploring the Italian-American relationship during the Cold War, Projecting Americanism Abroad, raises new questions with regard to Italy, a vital front in the conflict that has been much neglected. Geography made Italy a critical front in the international conflict. Italy’s borders, directly facing Tito’s Yugoslavia, placed the peninsula at the intersection of East and West; of the free market and communism; of atheism and Christianity. The rise of communism there would have profound repercussions on the Middle East and the future of oil; and it would deny the United States and NATO the use of Italy as a major site for military bases essential for the strategy of deterrence. Rome also possessed a unique cultural and religious importance whose resonance was especially strong because of the history of immigration. The State Department, the CIA, the American labor movement, and the embassy intervened massively in Italian internal affairs through such measures as economic assistance, cultural diplomacy, subsidies to friendly political parties, and extensive covert action. The conference will take a multidisciplinary and international look at Americanism and its impact on nuclear policy, science, the trade union movement, architecture, film, jazz, literature, music, photography, and cultural diplomacy.

All talks will be in English. You can watch this event livestreamed at https://livestream.com/aarome.

Organizers: Martin Brody, Wellesley College, and Frank Snowden, Yale University.