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Article: Tennis
- Article from:
- American Decades
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 The Gale Group, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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TENNIS
TENNIS AND THE COLD WAR
With Americans and Communists each attempting to exert influence on the Third World, the cold war was heating up. In an effort to win the trust and respect of the Third World governments, the State Department hit upon the idea of sending American athletes on goodwill tours abroad to display U.S. athletic excellence and spread the message of democracy. In 1955 the State Department found in Althea Gibson the perfect ambassador-athlete. Racial tensions in the United States had fed the Soviet propaganda machine, and U.S. government officials were anxious to show off to the world a successful black in order to prove that American democracy was moving toward ...
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Article: Althea Gibson opened tennis doors here in 1952; ...
Miami Times;
April 1, 2003 ;
700+ words
... ... The young Althea Gibson became a member ... Association's New York State Tournament ... that year, Althea Gibson entered the Forest Hills, New York, national ... being made by Althea Gibson, who went ... Forest Hills in New York City. For ...
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