' The Ugly American, And William J. Lederer's The Ugly American

The Cold War ended with its final years lasting through the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. By the end of the Cold War, the Soviet Union had lost its place as a major superpower and the threat of a communist empire had dissipated. The novel The Ugly American, by William J. Lederer and Eugene Burdick, stands as a warning to the United States; a reminder that communism had almost conquered much of the world and seemed unstoppable. Moreover, the vignettes in The Ugly American are parables that portray U.S. foreign dignitaries who fall in two distinct categories: as arrogant fools who disregard local customs and make irreparable damages to rapport or as patriots who understand the environment and represent U.S. interests very well. Similarly,

Finian epitomizes several of the SOF Imperatives in the chapter called “Nine Friends.” The first imperative he embodies is to anticipate and control psychological effects. ADRP 3-0 defines this as “commanders must consider and incorporate the potential psychological effects and impacts of messages and actions into all their activities, anticipating and countering adversary information, as needed, to allow for maximum control of the environment.” This SOF Imperative is extremely difficult to put into action as one needs to view the action required objectively and detail out any possible contingencies that could arise. Furthermore, this requires the USSF soldier to analyze any action that he may perform or say in painstaking detail. After analyzing the act, he needs to be able to address or control the effects (to include the second and third order effects) while anticipating all potential

He brilliantly begins the conversation with the Burmese men gently manipulating the talks to achieve the end state that he desired. He assessed that the natives needed to conclude by themselves how to battle the Communists without forcing his end state upon them. Instead of engaging in violence with the much larger communist threat, the Burmese patriots and Father Finian anticipate and control the psychological effects by beginning a successful propaganda campaign. The newspaper gains more prominence and eventually erodes the communist legitimacy in the region. Every move was calculated and meant to sway the populace and make fools of the communists. They used Marxist and other communist writings to expose the true intentions of the communist regime. The writings mention how the communists intend to suppress the peasants; that they exploit the common people and view them as the considered unthinking masses. The psychological effects upon the indigenous people and the communists are profound. The communists make multiple mistakes culminating in an embarrassing audio of a Russian dignitary. This was a huge success and is a major victory for the anticommunists in Southeast