Boxcar Diplomacy

Boxcar Diplomacy

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  • By Jane Sweetland.
  • WWII was over, but in 1947, the challenge of rebuilding France had just begun. Fields were still pock-marked with ordnance and weather had so decimated the crop yield that there was not enough food to feed the population. Stalin was sweeping eastern bloc countries under an "iron curtain" that was dividing Europe between the eastern communist states and the western democracies. In this scenario, food was a tool of persuasion and the nationally syndicated columnist, Drew Pearson, thought Americans should know what was happening. In his October 11 column, Pearson wrote that while the Russians were sending much less than the Americans, they were doing so with great fanfare: "When a shipment of Soviet wheat sailed into Marseilles, there were street parades and a municipal holiday. Meanwhile, several thousand tons of America's wheat was unloaded efficiently and unostentatiously." America, in short, was losing the propaganda war. Pearson's idea was both modest and audacious. He was not asking the government to create a new foreign aid project, nor was he asking that the international community join in a massive new humanitarian effort. In fact, he insisted, the government would not be involved at all. A "Friendship Train" could cross the U.S., collecting food for Europe at every stop.
  • Published by BookBaby 2019.
  • 206 pages, paperback.
  • ISBN-10:1543960448.
  • 6 in. x 0.5 in. x 9 in.
  • From the Old Idaho Penitentiary's Souvenir Confinement store.
  • Log in as an Idaho State Historical Society Member to save 15% on all purchases!

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