Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs

"We Fight for the Freedom of All" — OCIAA poster by Edward McKnight Kauffer, promoting inter-American solidarity

The Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, later known as the Office for Inter-American Affairs, was a United States agency promoting inter-American cooperation (Pan-Americanism) during the 1940s, especially in commercial and economic areas. It was started in August 1940 as OCCCRBAR (Office for Coordination of Commercial and Cultural Relations between the American Republics) with Nelson Rockefeller as its head, appointed by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.[1][2]

The Office of Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs in the Executive Office of the President was formally established and enacted by US Executive Order 8840 on July 30, 1941, by President Roosevelt[3][4] who named Nelson Rockefeller as the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs (CIAA).

The agency's function was to counter Italian and German propaganda in the region. The FBI trained the secret police of friendly nations. German sales to military forces was displaced by American aid. Pro-German newspapers and radio stations were blacklisted. Government censorship was encouraged, while Latin America was blanketed with pro-American propaganda. The OCIAA grew to be a large Federal agency with a budget of $38 million and 1,500 employees by 1943. 1942.[5][6]

It was later renamed the Office of Inter-American Affairs (OIAA) with slightly changed powers by Executive order 9532 on March 23, 1945.[7]

  1. ^ Thomson, Charles Alexander Holmes, Overseas information service of the United States Government, The Brookings Institution, 1948. Cf. p. 4.
  2. ^ Dissonant Divas in Chicana Music: The Limits of La Onda Deborah R. Vargas. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 2012 p. 152-155 ISBN 978-0-8166-7316-2 OCIAA (Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs), FDR's Good Neighbor Policy, CBS, Viva America, La Cadena de las Americas on google.books.com.
  3. ^ "Executive Order 8840 Establishing the Office of Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs. | The American Presidency Project". www.presidency.ucsb.edu. Retrieved March 26, 2019.
  4. ^ "1941: Executive Order 8840", Federal Register, 1941.
  5. ^ Gerald K. Haines (1977). "Under the Eagle's Wing: The Franklin Roosevelt Administration Forges An American Hemisphere". Diplomatic History. 1 (4): 373–388. doi:10.1111/j.1467-7709.1977.tb00248.x. JSTOR 24909904.
  6. ^ Anthony, Edwin D. (1973). Records of the Office of Inter-American Affairs (PDF). Vol. Inventory of Record Group 229. Washington D.C.: National Archives and Record Services - General Services Administration. pp. 1–8. LCCN 73-600146.
  7. ^ "1945: Executive Order 9532", Federal Register, 1945.