No CrossRef data available.
Article contents
The Role of Public Opinion in United States Policies Toward the United Nations
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 May 2009
Extract
The development of the United Nations has been, and doubtless will continue to be, dependent to a high degree on the support of its largest contributor and most powerful member, the United States. The place of the UN in United States foreign policy is in some degree dependent on the public opinion process. To the extent that knowledge of the role of public opinion can be increased, the potentialities for the growth of the UN can be more accurately judged. Many current proposals—revisions of the Charter, the establishment of armaments control machinery, the founding of new social and economic programs—need to be evaluated in terms of the political possibilities of obtaining American support. What role will public opinion play in formulating United States policy on issues which are crucial in the strengthening of the UN?
- Type
- Articles
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © The IO Foundation 1957
References
1 Cory, Robert H., Communicating Information and Ideas About the United Nations to The American People, New York, Carnegie Endowment, 1955Google Scholar, is in large part based on the working papers and summary reports of these seminars.
2 The United Nations; The Public View (due for publication in 1957). References in this article are taken from the preliminary draft (1955).
3 Wagenen, Richard W. Van, Research in the International Organization Field: Some Notes on a Possible Focus (Pub. No. I, 1952)Google Scholar; Buchanan, William, Krugman, H. E., and Wagenen, R. W. Van, An International Police Force and Public Opinion: Polled Opinion in the United States, 1939–1953 (Pub. No. 3, 1954)Google Scholar; Guetzkow, Harold, Multiple Loyalties: Theoretical Approach to a Problem in International Organization (Pub. No. 4, 1955)Google Scholar.
4 The United Nations: The Public View, cited above, Chap. 10.
5 Bruner, Jerome, Smith, H. Brewster and White, Robert M., Opinions and Personality, New York, John Wiley and Sons, 1956Google Scholar.
6 Scott and Withey, cited above, p. 40.
7 Ibid., p. 217.
8 Ibid., table 9; data from six N.O.R.C. surveys, two A.I.P.O. surveys and one by the Survey Research Center. Variations from a median of 78 percent do not indicate any significant trend.
9 Ibid., p. 7, 211.
10 Ibid., Chap. III.
11 Ibid., p. 214.
12 Roper, Elmo, “American Attitudes on World Organization,” Public Opinion Quarterly, Winter 1953 (Vol. 17, No. 4). P. 405–442CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
13 While there is a large amount of hortatory literature on the desirability of attempting to change the attitudes of the student generation through public school education about the United Nations, only a minority of schools have made a serious effort in this direction. Vested interests in existing curricula, hesitancy in the face of community opinion, and lack of appropriate materials may, among others, be reasons for this. Exploration is needed on the question of the ability of individuals to carry over into adult roles attitudes which may prove irrelevent or maladaptive to new relationships. No careful evaluation, plotting changes over the years of transition from school to adult life, has been undertaken. For comments on current educational projects see Cory, Robert H. Jr., Uniting Nationals in Support of the United Nations (Unpublished thesis, Harvard University, 1951Google Scholar) and Arndt, C. H. and Everett, S., Education for a World Society, Promising Practices Today, New York, Harper and Bros., 1951Google Scholar.
14 Frye, William R., ‘Press Coverage of the UN,” International Organization, 05 1956 ( Vol. 10, No. 2 ), p. 275–281CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
15 For a description of the organized opposition see Uhl, Alexander, The Assault on the United Nations, Washington, D. C, Public Affairs Institute, 1953Google Scholar; also R. H. Cory, cited above, Chap. III.
18 Note the failure of the 1948 Cincinnati campaign on behalf of the United Nations as reported in: Star, S. A. and Hughes, H. M., “Report on an Educational Campaign: The Cincinnati Plan for the United Nations,” American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 55, No. 4, 01 1930Google Scholar, and in Hyman, H. H. and Sheatsley, P., “Some Reasons Why Information Campaigns Fail,” Public Opinion Quarterly, Fall 1947 (Vol. 11, No. 3), p. 412–423CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
17 Buchanan, Krugman, and Van Wagenen, cited above, p. 34.
18 Scott and Withey, cited above, table 15.
19 University of Michigan, Survey Research Center, Interest, Information and Attitudes in the Field of World Affairs, Ann Arbor, 1949, p. 28Google Scholar.
20 Scott and Withey, cited above, p. 166–167.
21 Cohen, Bernard C., Citizens Education in World Affairs, Princeton University Center of International Studies, 1953, p. 77, 80Google Scholar.
22 The ideologies of these groups are discussed in R. H. Cory, cited above, Chap. II; for analysis of personality types most susceptible to these appeals see Adorno, T. W. et al. , The Authoritarian Personality, New York, 1950Google Scholar. The extensive literature on race relations indicates the close relationship between race prejudice and xenophobia.
23 Adler, K. P. and Bobrow, D., “Interest and Influence in Foreign Affairs,” Public Opinion Quarterly, Spring 1956 (Vol. 20, No. 1), p. 89–101CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
24 Truman, David, Patterns of Influence in United States Policy Concerning the United Nations, New York, Carnegie Endowment, 1954Google Scholar. This mimeographed working paper is drawn upon in Chap. IV of the R. H. Cory, cited above. On this topic see also: Dexter, Lewis, “What Congressmen Hear: The Mail,” Public Opinion Quarterly, Spring 1956 (Vol. 20, No. 1), p. 16–27CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
25 .Richardson, Channing (“The United States Mission to the United Nations”, International Organization, 02 1953 [Vol. 7, No. 1], p. 25–34)CrossRefGoogle Scholar suggests that the Mission's public relations staff is “engaged in explaining the policies of the Department and not in giving interested Americans the raw materials of foreign policy out of which they might construct their own alternatives.” If, however, policy planners shape their programs in the light of their own views of ‘what the public wants’, interested Americans may indirectly effect policy, if they anticipate what decisions are about to be made.
26 Westerfield, H. B., Foreign Policy and Party Politics, Pearl Harbor to Korea, New Haven, 1955, p. 11–12Google Scholar.
27 Among the recent evaluations of the prospects of international organizations, see Claude, I. L., Swords into Plowshares, New York, Random House, 1956Google Scholar, and Hoffman, Stanley, “The Role of International Organization:Limits and Possibilities,” International Organization, 08 1956 (Vol. 10, No. 3), p. 357–372CrossRefGoogle Scholar.