After World War II, the American need for foreign acceptance and the “exporting” of its national character (e.g., the idea of “American righteousness”) to the world at large intensified. This strategy engendered many U.S. economic programs, such as the Marshall Plan, that saved Europe and other nations, and subsequently laid the foundations for the cultural programs that followed.

Cultural exporting calculated to win over foreigners met with mixed success. For example, it was difficult to convince Austrians of the existence of a “serious” American culture, as reflected in an Aaron Copland tour sponsored by the U.S. State Department, when Wolfgang Mozart, Gustav Mahler, and other cultural heroes of that nation represented values seemingly undisturbed by World War II. For its part, the United States failed to introduce pluralistic elements of the culture into the occupied zones because its agents tried to be “better Europeans” than the Europeans. Furthermore, U.S. government personnel were reluctant to draw from cultural sources other than their white European heritage. As a consequence, the success of jazz and rock “n” roll in Europe and other continents was more due to the GI’s leisure activities in the occupied zones than to official U.S. promotion.

A typical manifestation of such feeling occurred in the Philippines, following the assassination of opposition leader Benito Aquino. A coalition opposed to President Marcos (the National Alliance for Justice, Freedom, and Democracy) emerged expressing strong “anti-American” overtones towards a U.S.-Marcos dictatorship.

Anti-Americanism can even be discerned in the actions and attitudes of our northern neighbor, Canada. Most notably, it has been reflected in a particularly hostile form of anti-American caricatures, particularly from politicians attempting to appeal to latent nationalistic feelings. Nevertheless, this agenda is often undermined by cultural, regional, partisan, and individual differences in viewpoint.

The French are especially known for their anti-American attitudes toward “America the colonizer.” The initial opposition to Euro Disney, outside Paris, as a popular tourist attraction emanated from French perceptions of the Disney theme park as a cultural blight created by Americans to make money off the French.

During the height of the Cold War, the term “ugly American” came to symbolize the anti-American feelings of foreigners in reaction to the intrusive behavior of Americans, particularly their frequently overbearing attitudes and manners. The word still connotes a rather unpleasant individual who has harbored resentment from the local foreign population.