ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the second group of assessments. The delegates at Bandung, notwithstanding their shared past as colonial subjects, behaved much as one would expect of representatives from different and competing nation states. By providing allies and friends with declassified documents about international communism, the United States hoped to influence the development of the Bandung Conference. American policy makers believed that propaganda could prevent condemnations of the West and also undermine Nehru's efforts to impose a neutralist agenda on the Conference. Thus, the United States actively encouraged discord at the Conference, but antagonisms and conflicting national interests among the participants existed independently of American manoeuvrings. Nevertheless, the Americans, observing that India's brand of non-alignment held little attraction for the participants at the Bandung Conference, convinced themselves of the efficacy of their propaganda efforts. Racial equality, among these issues, posed a significant challenge to US propaganda.
