Activities Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs

1 man — ociaa poster antonio arias bernal




brazil @ war (1943)

in days, particular concern of ociaa elimination of german influence in south america, , of other axis powers. trade routes europe disrupted following fall of france in june 1940, presenting opportunities both germany , u.s. @ same time, many agents or affiliates of u.s. firms operating in latin america sympathetic european axis powers. office encouraged voluntary program of non-cooperation companies , individuals perceived anti-american. end cooperated secretly british security coordination in new york. though isolated in europe, britain maintained extensive intelligence network in latin america, , happy undermine germany s trade efforts overseas identifying sympathisers , agents. through these efforts, u.s. exporters encouraged drop on thousand accounts in south america during first half of 1941.

the office concerned public opinion in latin america. translated , disseminated relevant speeches president roosevelt, , distributed pro-u.s materials features syndicates in region. carried out audience research surveys , encouraged radio broadcasters targeting these regions improve quality of programming. in order discourage opposing views created proclaimed list , black-list of newspapers , radio stations owned or influenced axis powers. latin american firms wishing business america discouraged dealing these stations. tax incentives used: spending american firms on unprofitable longwave transmission latin america deducted income tax payments. likewise, spending on approved advertising in latin america became deductible corporate income taxes.

walt disney , group of animators had been sent south america in 1941 u.s. state department part of neighbor policy, , guaranteed financing resulting movie, saludos amigos. in 1944, william benton, publisher of encyclopædia britannica, had entered unsuccessful negotiations disney make 6 twelve educational films annually. disney asked make educational film amazon basin , resulted in 1944 animated short, amazon awakens.