Publishing American values: the Franklin Book Programs as Cold War cultural diplomacy

Later that same year, Smith attributed Franklin success thus far to holding to its commitment to local values and participation. He described the company, just four years old, as being "most unusual." Its personnel consisted of seven Americans, nine Egyptians, eight Iranians, six West Pakistanis, six East Pakistanis, and five Indonesians who ran the religious gamut from thirty-two Muslims to five Protestants, two Catholics (one of whom was Egyptian), and two Jews (one American, one Iranian). He held to an optimistic forecast in spite of the Suez crisis, food riots in Pakistan, and communist-led upheaval in Indonesia. Only in Ivan, where there was a police state, were things "relatively quiet." Smith concluded that a "time of political troubles, when other sorts of contact between the U.S. and the local population are difficult or impossible, seems to us to be precisely the time when Franklin can make its greatest contribution." (21)

Although political troubles seemed to be the order of nearly every year, so did a variety of publishing ventures. USIA money was gradually replaced with Agency for International Development (AID) funds, as publishing began to be viewed as economic development as well as cultural diplomacy. A small assortment of foundations also contributed funds. Major funding came from the national governments of the countries in which Franklin worked and from money owed to the U.S. government through the Food for Peace (P.L. 480) program, which allowed payment for food commodities in the local currency. This local currency, which frequently was not easily exchanged, could be expended for projects to enhance economic development.

P.L. 480 payments were used to support Franklin's efforts in textbook publishing. This was especially true of the countries in which large textbook projects--especially Iran, Afghanistan (where Franklin had a ten-year contract to publish texts), and Pakistan--were carried out. These projects often involved training of local publishers in textbook design, graphics, and publishing techniques. In several countries school libraries were started with small sets of books. A children's magazine called PAIK, similar to Weekly Reader, was supported in Tehran in the 1970s; this little magazine enjoyed a circulation of 7.5 million every two weeks in a country of thirty million, according to then president John Kyle. (22)

By that time, as successful as Franklin felt it had been in providing translations, stimulating book production, and establishing a positive American presence in Muslim countries, especially in the Middle East, it was floundering financially. As early as 1968 it experienced difficulties, but the problems only grew worse. By 1976 Franklin was prepared to spin the largest and most successful office, Tehran-Franklin, off into an independent organization. The board recognized that times had changed, both internationally and domestically, and it decided that Franklin should try to "leave a capability behind" rather than simply perpetuating itself. (23) By 1977 Franklin had decided to ask Datus Smith to resume the role of president in order to take charge of its transition to another phase or to provide an orderly dissolution.