Is public diplomacy still relevant? This is a question often asked nowadays. [...] In international relations, public diplomacy or people's diplomacy is considered to be a form of communication with foreign public that establishes a dialog designed to inform and influence. "Today's myriad of international journalism outlets makes it increasingly challenging for U.S. government public diplomacy programs to capture global attention,"

This is the early version of what we now call the DIME model of national power — diplomacy, information, military, economic. A July 1945 report from the State Department recognized that the “nature of present day foreign relations makes it essential for the United States to maintain informational activities abroad as an integral part of the conduct of our foreign affairs.” 

The USIA systematically engaged foreign publics by building long-term relationships. Its cultural, educational and exchange programs built networks of mutual understanding. Generations of emerging people of influence first visited the United States as guests of the USIA.

Overseas, U.S. prestige appeared to be a thing of the past. Policymakers and diplomats, hoping to “fix” this problem, used several ways to do so, including turning to public diplomacy (PD), a little-known, among the American public, foreign policy instrument, implemented by the United States Information Agency, established by President Eisenhower (in 1953), at the height of the Cold War, in order to counteract Soviet propaganda.