Spain, From Shunned to Enchanted: C.W. Post Expert Publishes
on Franco’s Image Rehab After World War II

Brookville, N.Y. -- How did Spain under leader Francisco Franco go from impoverished pariah at the end of World War II to American ally and magnet for American tourism and investment two decades later? Franco undertook a marketing campaign for his country’s image – cheered on by American Express, Hilton Hotels and Trans-World Airlines – and it worked. In 1946, Spain was on the verge of expulsion from the United Nations for its ties to Hitler. By the early 1950s, ads were running in Time magazine for “enchanted Spain” with its “festive gaiety and charm.”

“The result was a potent synergy between American travel, tourism and entertainment business entrepreneurship and Spanish political-economic ambitions in an altered international relations environment,” writes Neal M. Rosendorf, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of History at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University and expert on U.S. foreign policy and international relations.

Dr. Rosendorf chronicles Spain’s post-war image campaign and its effect on international relations in “Be El Caudillo’s Guest: The Franco Regime’s Quest for Rehabilitation and Dollars After World War II via the Promotion of U.S. Tourism to Spain,” an article in the June 2006 issue of Diplomatic History, the journal of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations. The article demonstrates that it is possible for other countries to make use of American popular and consumer culture for their own political as well as economic purposes.

Dr. Rosendorf, a resident of Manhasset, N.Y., holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University. He has authored numerous book chapters, articles and reviews and spoken on popular culture, globalization, the Cold War, Middle East politics and other topics.

Posted: June 7, 2006