Lobistas, assessores de imprensa e relações-públicas norte-americanos que serviram o Estado Novo (1942-1974)

Abstract

In 1938, the US Congress passed the Foreign Agent Registration Act (Osgood, 2002, p. 245), commonly called FARA, which obliged all US companies and agents to work for governments or foreign companies to file an annual statement of their activity with the Department of Justice. It was through these records that we could verify that, in addition to the 'Casa de Portugal' in New York, the Portuguese regime registered, between 1938 and 1974, a set of five entities / individuals that provided communication services, articulated with the SNI and the New State political elite, with the goal of trying to shape American public opinion. We propose, therefore, a longitudinal diachronic study, in which we attempt to describe and interpret the work of these propagandist agents in promoting the image of Portugal, the regime and its main leaders - Salazar and Marcello Caetano.