BOONE—For a brief time in the 1960s and ’70s, exhibits about the Appalachia region were sent to Finland and Latin America with subtle messages about the U.S. government’s expectations of foreign leaders.

Dr. Michael Krenn, a professor of history at Appalachian State University, has written a chapter about American public policy and Appalachia in the recently published book “The United States and Public Diplomacy: New Directions in Cultural and International History.”

“In the mid-1960s, the socialists were gaining strength and the United States feared that Russia would move into Finland,” Krenn said. “The government wanted Finland’s president to take a stand against communism.”

But Finnish leaders were focused on the country’s social and economic problems and weren’t interested in building the country’s military force to help the United States with its Cold War efforts.

An exhibit of cornhusk dolls, corncob pipes, musical instruments and other artifacts was assembled by the Smithsonian and the U.S. Information Agency with the hopes of imparting the subtle message that a great country could do both.

“Domestically, the early 60s were a time when America sort of ‘discovered’ the Appalachian region,” Krenn said. “You had TV shows like ‘Andy Griffith’ and ‘The Beverly Hillbillies’ and suddenly the Appalachian region was OK to talk about. Before, the region had been seen as a dark place with moonshiners and family feuds.”

President Lyndon Johnson used Appalachia as the setting to launch his Great Society program – a series of domestic programs to improve economic and social conditions throughout the United States, and in the Appalachia region in particular.

“We sent musicians, artifacts and films about the region to Finland all trying to show the federal government stepping in to help Appalachia without destroying the region’s cultural identity,” Krenn said. “One of the messages of the exhibit was that a great society can defend itself against communism and take care of its social problems. So there was a not-so-subtle message that if we can do it, Finland can do it.”

But, in spite of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on the exhibit, the message to Finland failed. Finnish reporters dubbed the exhibit “interesting.”

An exhibit sent to Latin America in the early 1970s symbolized a change in U.S. domestic and foreign policy under Richard Nixon, and that the days of government handouts were over. Instead of offering a helping hand, the government’s approach was to let the free enterprise system take care of social and economic problems, domestically and internationally.

This time, the Appalachian exhibit focused on the need for economic modernization and “self sufficiency” in the mountain region. The exhibit received a mixed reaction from its audience, and was considered a curious anthropological exhibit. “The message was so subtle it failed,” Krenn said.

“The government used Appalachia to send a message about what America is and what the world should be,” Krenn said.

“The two exhibits were reflections of rapidly evolving and changing American public perceptions of a particular issue and a particular region: poverty in Appalachia. In both instances, the economic hardships, the people, and the culture of the Appalachian Mountains were viewed as excellent fodder for the U.S. overseas propaganda machine,” Krenn writes in his chapter.

Cultural diplomacy programs ended in the 1980s and 1990s, but they have seen a revival following 9-11. In addition to cultural exchanges, sports envoys such as U.S. professional snowboarders, figure skaters and former professional baseball players are participating in U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs programs.

This time, the target audience is the youth of various nations.

“We want to reach young people with the message that America is a good place; that are a cultured, responsible, friendly nation and we don’t wish ill will on anyone,” Krenn said.

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