Cultural diplomacy is an essential element in America’s foreign policy.  Nothing in ‘smart power’ is ‘smarter’ than cultural diplomacy: it bridges language barriers, opens lines of communication, and connects people to one another in a way that is both lasting and immediate.
–Ann Stock, Former Assistant Secretary of State, U.S. Departemt of State

As a nation made up of people from every single, race, religion, faith, and culture, America will persist in promoting peace among different peoples and believes that democracy and individual empowerment need not come at the expense of cherished identities…Our long-term security will come not from our ability to instill fear in other peoples, but through our capacity to speak to their hopes.
–National Security Strategy, 2010

As part of a broader overhaul of its public diplomacy effort, the United States should…support active cultural programming…America's best players in public diplomacy have always been its people and its ideas.
–Former U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN), in a February 2009 article in Foreign Policy