The Chicago School in the American Cultural Propaganda in Spain

Abstract

In the 1950s, Spaniards could hardly afford the expenses of traveling abroad, and Spanish architects scarcely read foreign architectural magazines because of their expense. Surprisingly, even at this time when everything else failed, the Chicago school still reached the Spanish architects over unexpected, winding pathways. In 1953, the United States and Spain signed a political agreement that offered US military and economic aid in exchange for an alliance against Russian communism. However, the Spanish population was prejudiced—reason enough for the American Embassy in Madrid to develop a propaganda program in order to improve the perception of the United States and help (although under political oppression) with the renewal of agreements in upcoming years. One of the main points of the propaganda program was the culture. The US used architecture as a cultural weapon. At the time, architecture was one of America’s strengths because of the migration of European masters the US, the development of new materials and techniques, etc. Thanks to the work of the “Casas Americanas,” information about American architecture spread to several cities in Spain. In this article, we will study the dissemination of the Chicago School in the main periodical publications of the “Casas Americanas.” As we will see, they were sent to an important segment of the Spanish population— the architects.