While Eisenhower had called Japan the “mega-domino” in his domino theory, Graham’s tour locations also addressed concerns about the Bandung Conference in Indonesia that brought together nonaligned nations in Asia and the Middle East, and rejected Israel. As US government officials watched the planning of the Bandung Conference in 1954, Graham was being considered as an export to the region. Graham would land in Korea, as well as the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaya, Burma, India, Ceylon, Pakistan, and Iran. In addition, under private funding Graham could continue to Israel, which was not allowed to join the conference, and was very much on the geopolitical radar. While in Asia, Graham used her “orientalist” techniques to promote the idea of “cultural convergences” for diplomatic purposes. She brought religion and Americana to promote the American message to newly decolonizing nations. In Israel, the tour concluded with her announcement that “faith means repetition, repetition and again repetition, crushing obstacles; it means also faith in having a vision and will.” In many nations, Graham’s modernism again displaced the interwar German “free dance” that had been used in leftist practices, and local folk traditions modernized American folk. Artistic modernism supported ideas of modernization and the fruits of democracy; all cities closed with Appalachian Spring.
The Global Movement for Human Rights Education