July FMF - The First Target Audiences: The Public Diplomacy of the Founders

How did a fragile coalition of thirteen colonies win the hearts, minds--and wallets--of European superpowers? Long before the term "public diplomacy" was coined, America's Founders were master practitioners of the art. Confronted with a global superpower, they recognized that winning independence required more than battlefield victories: It demanded a sophisticated campaign to shape public opinion and secure foreign alliances abroad. Martha Bayles, author of Popular Culture, Public Diplomacy, and America's Image Abroad (2014); Caitlin Schindler, author of The Origins of Public Diplomacy in US Statecraft: Uncovering a Forgotten Tradition (2018); and Eric Weiner, author of Ben & Me (2024) joined PDCA for an insightful panel discussion examining the innovative methods used by leaders such as Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams. From Franklin's calculated celebrity in the salons of Paris to the strategic international distribution of the Declaration of Independence, our panelists will explore how early American leaders leveraged their values-based public discourse to secure crucial foreign support--and how these foundational strategies continue to influence American statecraft today.