The Return of the "Ugly American"
For most of my adult life I have been involved in citizen diplomacy. In 1960 my father was the mayor of a small town in Oregon. He was intrigued by President Eisenhower’s People-to-People program and established a sister city connection with a town of similar size in Italy, Alba in the region of Piemonte. He picked this town because he understood Eisenhower’s goal of bringing people together. At that time many American cities were pairing up with potential trade partners. My father wanted it to be about people and not about commerce. He visited our sister city nine times before his death. On the fiftieth anniversary of the cities coming together, Alba honored my late father by naming a beautiful street after him.
I lived in Alba for several months after leaving the Navy and have visited my friends there eight times. I have hosted dozens of friends from Alba and many strangers who quickly became friends. I helped organize our first exchanges of high school students and saw how they were impacted by their first experience of living in another culture. Eisenhower very correctly understood that the best way to rid America of the “Ugly American” syndrome was to let people of other counties meet as equals and experience life in their homes and with their families. Hundreds of students from both cities have had their lives changed very positively through this experience. Some have returned as teachers escorting another generation of students.
Today Donald Trump revoked the Visa Waiver program that lets Americans and citizens of many other counties visit participating countries without having to apply for visas. He has used fear as the basis for making contact between people of the world much more difficult. At the same time, he is causing friendly nations to question our country’s role in world peace and our commitment to their sovereignty. We will likely see retaliatory travel restrictions. I don’t think Trump has thought through the impact on trade and I am certain he has no concern for citizen diplomacy. Sadly, in his first week in office, Trump brought back the “Ugly American”, a term that fits him so perfectly.
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