(Freedom) House That Propaganda Built: Origins and Antecedent Organizations
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Western Michigan University ScholarWorks at WMU Dissertations Graduate College 8-2016 The House that Propaganda Built: Historicizing the Democracy Promotion Efforts and Measurement Tools of Freedom House Emily A. Zerndt Western Michigan University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/dissertations Part of the Political Science Commons Recommended Citation Zerndt, Emily A., "The House that Propaganda Built: Historicizing the Democracy Promotion Efforts and Measurement Tools of Freedom House" (2016). Dissertations. 1940. https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/dissertations/1940 This Dissertation-Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate College at ScholarWorks at WMU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at WMU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE HOUSE THAT PROPAGANDA BUILT: HISTORICIZING THE DEMOCRACY PROMOTION EFFORTS AND MEASUREMENT TOOLS OF FREEDOM HOUSE Emily A. Zerndt, Ph.D. Western Michigan University, 2016 Democracy promotion has been an overt objective of American foreign policy ever since Woodrow Wilson declared it the goal of WWI. This dissertation examines the influence of Freedom House on those policy decisions as well as academia. Freedom House was created in 1941 with the “quiet encouragement” of both Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt to combat the pervasive isolationism in the United States. Erected as the Western counterpoint to the Braunhaus, the Nazi propaganda center, Freedom House has distinctly political origins. Over the course of its institutional life, Freedom House has evolved from keeping a “balance sheet” on the level of democracy across the globe to being a major manufacturer of statistics aimed at measuring its practice. Using archival documents, this dissertation traces the development of those scores, which were first published in the Comparative Survey of Freedom in 1973. Findings reveal that the creation of the Comparative Survey involved the opinions of only two men and resulted in a fuzzy, inexplicit ranking system disguised as objective and scientific merely because it involved sets of numeric values. Conceived by Freedom House Executive Director Leonard Sussman and carried out by political scientist Raymond Gastil primarily behind closed doors, these scores are now the most widely used indicators of democracy. During the pivotal time period surrounding the creation of the Comparative Survey, this dissertation finds that a dramatic shift occurred in the concept of democracy that Freedom House promoted. This change was accompanied by a decrease in the transparency of the organization’s reporting, and a determined campaign on the part of Executive Director Leonard Sussman urging the United States government to use the Comparative Survey in foreign policy decision-making. By 2013 over 88 percent of its nearly $32 million budget came from the U.S. government, despite Freedom House’s insistence that it is an independent organization. Ultimately, this dissertation serves as a reminder to historicize such tools, rather than see them as independent entities. As is the case with the Freedom House Survey, these seemingly objective numeric indicators have a long, obscured history that, given the power they wield, should be brought to light. THE HOUSE THAT PROPAGANDA BUILT: HISTORICIZING THE DEMOCRACY PROMOTION EFFORTS AND MEASUREMENT TOOLS OF FREEDOM HOUSE by Emily A. Zerndt A dissertation submitted to the Graduate College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Political Science Western Michigan University August 2016 Doctoral Committee: Emily Hauptmann, Ph.D., Chair Jacinda Swanson, Ph.D. Priscilla Lambert, Ph.D. Ido Oren, Ph.D. Copyright by Emily Zerndt 2016 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation was a daunting, and at times seemingly impossible, task. However, a few individuals made it less so and I would like to express my gratitude to them. First, to my committee chair. I owe a debt beyond measure to Emily Hauptmann for the professional and personal guidance she has given me over the years. It is not an understatement to say that I could not have done this without her. Her thoughtful comments on multiple drafts of this dissertation have pushed me to become a better writer and academic. The knowledge that someone I admire so deeply had faith in my project was alone what sustained me on the darker days of this long process. I would also like to thank the rest of my committee for the contribution of their time and expertise to this dissertation. Jacinda Swanson’s overall enthusiasm and encouragement meant a great deal to me, as well as her willingness to discuss various aspects of the project whenever I asked. I also want to thank Priscilla Lambert for providing the viewpoint of a comparativist familiar with datasets – this dissertation is the better for it. And lastly, to Ido Oren. Though we have never met, I have long admired your work. I consider it a great honor that you agreed to serve on my committee. To my parents, who have long supported and believed in me. A simple “thank you” seems gravely inadequate. For as long as I can remember you have fostered my love of learning, and this achievement is a result of that nurturing. Mom, you are the ii Acknowledgements – Continued most amazing mother on the planet. You never stopped believing in me, even when I was plagued by self-doubt. The world would be a better place if everyone saw it as you do. And because you know me better than I know myself it is my sincere hope that you understand the depth of what I feel for you. I could not have done this without you. Dad, thank you for your advice and for always being a beacon of calm in an otherwise chaotic period in my life. And lastly, thank you to my husband Jordan. Your unwavering support has seen me through. You never pressured me about the completion of this project, and were amazingly able to discern when to ask about my work – and when not to. I love you more than words can say. There’s no one else I’d rather brave this world with. Emily A. Zerndt iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...................................................................................... ii LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................. x LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................ xi CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................... 1 ARGUMENT OF THE DISSERTATION ........................................ 1 THE INFLUENCE OF FREEDOM HOUSE .................................... 6 OVERVIEW OF CHAPTERS ........................................................... 14 II. THEORY AND METHODS: FREEDOM HOUSE SCORES, DEMOCRACY PROMOTION AND POLITICAL SCIENCE ................. 22 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................. 22 FREEDOM IN THE WORLD: THE ANNUAL SURVEY ............. 24 METHODOLOGICAL LITERATURE ON FREEDOM HOUSE SCORES ............................................................................................ 25 HISTORICIZING DEMOCRACY PROMOTION AND ORGANIZATIONS ........................................................................... 27 PROPAGANDA AND DEMOCRACY ............................................ 46 TWENTIETH CENTURY U.S. POLITICAL HISTORY ................ 49 METHODS AND SOURCES............................................................ 51 The Interpretive Approach to Research .................................... 52 CONCLUSION .................................................................................. 59 iv Table of Contents – Continued CHAPTER III. THE (FREEDOM) HOUSE THAT PROPAGANDA BUILT: ORIGINS AND ANTECEDENT ORGANIZATIONS ............................................... 61 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................. 62 THE SOCIAL SCIENCES, U.S. WARTIME PROPAGANDA AND DEMOCRACY ........................................................................ 63 ANTECEDENT ORGANIZATIONS ............................................... 69 The Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies (CDAAA) .................................................................................. 70 Fight for Freedom (FFF) ........................................................... 73 LEADERSHIP AND KEY PLAYERS ............................................. 76 William Allen White ................................................................. 78 Herbert Agar ............................................................................. 80 Robert Sherwood ...................................................................... 84 Archibald MacLeish.................................................................. 89 George Field.............................................................................. 91 EARLY ACTIVITIES ....................................................................... 94 Freedom House and Rex Stout on the Radio: “Our Secret Weapon – The Truth” ............................................................... 95 The Annual Freedom Award .................................................... 98 THE FREEDOM HOUSE BUILDING ............................................. 101 CONCLUSION .................................................................................. 104 v Table of Contents – Continued CHAPTER