ABSTRACT
This chapter will look at the US State funding of the exhibition and the broader political context for the support for culture during the beginnings of the Cold War. Italy at Work organizers were keenly aware of the official nature of this exhibition, visible in both logistical choices and ideological ones. This state funding influenced the language used to describe the included works and their creators. American interventionism was presented a sparking “renaissance in design today,” while the Italian producers became symbols good labor. These ideas were informed by still developing ideas of the good democratic citizen under Western capitalism, one who worked without labor union and sought a better standard of living, akin to their Cold War allies.
