894 



During the early part of the 1950's the Fulbright program became 

 increasingly subjected to the vagaries of international politics. Ac- 

 cording to Philip Coombs, a former director of the cultural exchange 

 programs of the Department of State: "In this new cold war context, 

 the educational exchange program was soon outranked by the in- 

 formation _ program and increasingly became its handmaiden." ^^ 



He continues : 



Emphasis shifted to grants and exchanges which could have a "quick impact." 

 A State Department reorganization — -aimed at giving the information program 

 greater freedom from the Department's hobbUng bureaucratic constraints — 

 classified exchange of persons programs ... as "media services," in the same 

 category as radio, press, and motion pictures.*^ 



According to Coombs, one of the most severe threats to the inde- 

 pendence of educational and information activities came in 1953 

 ". . . when all overseas information activities were transferred from the 

 State Department to a new semi-independent United States In- 

 formation Agency." In the process, he continues, "the educational 

 exchange programs were all but forgotten. Only by the intervention of 

 an influential group, headed by Senator Fulbright and including 

 Senators Mundt and Hickenlooper, were they kept from being placed 

 under the new information agency." ^° 



Although the educational programs were not placed under the U.S. 

 Information Agencv (USIA),"*^ its establishment brought about the 

 beginning of a division of responsibilities which lends a possible 

 political connotation to overseas administration of the program since 

 the staff of the USIA handle overseas day-to-day administration of 

 U.S. educational and cultural exchange programs.*^ The USIA 

 Cultural Affairs Office (CAO), who as part of the United States 

 Information Service (USIS) team handles these programs overseas, 

 reports directly both to the USIA and to the Department of State. 

 Thus, according to Speakman, the program "has two masters in 

 Washington." *^ 



Origins of the Fidbrighf-Hays Act: The Need To Improve Existing Pro- 

 grams To Meet Political and Practical Objectives 



In 1901 the Congress passed the Mutual Educational and Cultural 

 Exchange Act, Public Law 87-256, approved September 21, 1961. 

 This statute, commonly known as the Fulbright-Hays Act, is the 

 original authorizing legislation for current educational and cultural 

 exchange programs. The Act had wide support in the Congress; it 

 passed by a vote of 79 to 5 in the Senate and 378 to 32 in the House. 



The Fulbright-Hays Act revised existing legislation by repealing 

 and gathering under its authorit}^ the previously enacted statutes on 

 educational and cultural exchange: the Finnish Educational Ex- 

 change Act, the International Cultural Exchange and Trade Fair 



3' Coombs, The Fourth Dimension of Foreign Policy, op. cit., p. 33. 



3' Idem. 



« Idem. 



" Called "United States Information Service" overseas. 



'- Binational commissions establish annual and long-range program plans and generally have final au- 

 thority in selecting grantees. This theme is developed below on pages 34 and 35. 



*' Speakman, International Exchange in Education, op. eit., pp. 35-6, citing an authoritative study on USIA 

 and administration of the program: Charles Frankel, The Neglected Aspect of Foreign Affairs (Washington, 

 D.C.: Brookings Institution, 1965) 156 pp. 



