To win without war, State Department reform is necessary

The US must take a comprehensive approach to foreign policy that prioritizes persuading and empowering the people of other nations.

Dr. John Lenczowski is founder, president emeritus and chancellor of the Institute of World Politics. He served as President Ronald Reagan’s principal adviser on Soviet affairs. He is the author of "Full Spectrum Diplomacy and Grand Strategy."    

Some presidencies have held public diplomacy, relations with foreign people, to be a major priority. For example, President Reagan bore moral witness to the sufferings of people under communism. He connected with them – so they no longer felt alone with no moral support in their opposition to communist tyranny. He elevated the U.S. Information Agency (USIA) in the hierarchy of foreign policy agencies. He bolstered the Voice of America (VOA), Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty with an infusion of $2.5 billion ($8.17 billion in today’s dollars). He delivered speeches and interviews to the peoples of the captive nations. He told the truth about oppressive communist tyrannies and showed the captive peoples that communist power was no longer so great that it could get U.S. Presidents to censor themselves. It was that public diplomacy – and the associated political and ideological warfare strategy against communism – that provided much of the explanation of why a million people could demonstrate in Moscow for radical political change.