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During the cold war, the U.S. State Department sent musicians all over the world to create positive impressions of the U.S. and its foreign policy. Scholars have studied the plans and purposes of these cultural programs, but a thorough assessment of their outcomes has not yet been achieved. I have gathered extensive archival documentation and conducted oral history interviews with musicians and diplomats to reveal the intended and unintended consequences of state-sponsored musical performances abroad. Musicians' tours were not simply one-way propaganda: they built subtle social and political relationships on a global scale, changing the attitudes of Americans as well as their target audiences. The book resulting from this research will contribute to musicology, diplomatic history, and globalization studies. Much of the research for this book has already been accomplished: I would use the NEH Fellowship to fund a year's leave from teaching to write the book, August 2011-August 2012.