Instead of 'Selling' Its Policies, America Should Change Them

Summary

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The United States has had arguably three of the nation's ablest communications gurus heading up the State Department's public diplomacy efforts over the past six years -- Charlotte Beers, Margaret Tutwiler and, most recently, Karen Hughes. Yet all three failed because they were trying to fix a public diplomacy problem with public-relations solutions.

Hughes came in as the game changer in 2005. President Bush had put his most trusted communications expert in charge of improving the United States' image overseas. What set her apart from her predecessors was her relationship with the president: She could call him up and make things happen and was seen as directly representing the president.

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Extract

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Instead of 'Selling' Its Policies, America Should Change Them

Early in her term, while visiting the Gaza Strip, Hughes was able to react instantly to a request by a delegation of Palestinians for a meeting with the president and receive immediate presidential approval. Finally, we had the right pers...

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