Editor's Note

This issue begins with an article by Toby Rider, who examines the U.S. State Department's efforts in the early 1950s to promote successful performances by U.S. athletes in the Olympic Games as a means of enhancing the country's “soft power.” Until the Cold War began, U.S. officials had generally avoided any federal involvement in the U.S. Olympic team's activities. The Soviet Union for its part, had stayed out of the Olympic Movement until 1951, when it applied to join and was admitted by the International Olympic Committee in time to compete in the 1952 Winter and Summer Games. After the Soviet regime decided to take part, the Truman administration attached much greater political importance to the Games, seeing them as an important forum in which to pursue the Cold War rivalry. U.S. officials established ties with U.S. Olympic representatives and promoted a counterpropaganda campaign in line with President Harry Truman's...