Culture or propaganda? Fascism and Italian culture in the United States

This essay analyzes a neglected historiographical topic, that is the Fascist 'cultural diplomacy'. After outlining the historiographical framework, this essay focuses on the United States as a case study. The political action of the fasci (the branches of the Italian National Fascist Party) in the United States had turned out to be a failure by the late 1920s. As a result, during the following decade, the Fascist regime promoted to the full extent the spread of the Italian language and culture in the 'Little Italies' as tools to preserve the Italianness of the Italian immigrant communities. The purpose of this Fascist project was to shape the new Italian-American generations, whose members were American by citizenship but spiritually tied to Fascist Italy by linguistic bonds. Such a strategy was carried out in cooperation with the Italian-American press, the promimenti (ethnic leaders), the Italian schools in the United States, and cultural associations such as the Dante Alighieri Society. At the same time, the Fascist regime, supported by the Italian-American lobby, endeavored to create Italian language and culture courses in U.S. educational institutions spanning from high schools to universities. Furthermore Mussolini encouraged prominent U.S. citizens, Italian Americans, and mostly youngsters of Italian ancestry, who were often guests of the Fascist summer camps, to visit Italy on propagandistic trips in order to show them the 'achievements' of Il Duce's regime. Finally, this essay examines the response of the new Italian-American generations to the Fascist propagandistic message.