Acteurs et mouvements sociaux - séance 5

07 Mars 2024, 14h30-16h30 

A Tale of two trains: Franco-American Friendship, Gratitude, and Material Culture in the Early Cold War

Ludivine BROCH 
(University of Westminster)

 In 1947, a Friendship Train full of food was sent from the American people to the people of Western Europe who were still suffering acutely from the ravages of war. A year later, the people of France sent over 52,000 gift-objects to thank Americans for their humanitarian aid. The gifts were packed into 49 antique boxcars and included vases, handkerchiefs, books, drawings, ceramic figurines, dolls, knitted baby hats, silk wedding dresses, military medals, smoking pipes and much, much more. This Gratitude Train, as it was known, arrived in New York City in February 1949. It immediately drew in large crowds of politicians, journalists, and civilians across the country. Celebrations were organised to welcome the boxcars in every state capital, and the state boxcar and objects were displayed there for several weeks, sometimes travelling to different towns within the state. Afterwards, the gift objects were distributed to the public or preserved by state museums and archives.

The Friendship and Gratitude Trains raise important questions about the role of civilians in Cold War politics. They show how the collective but also intimate emotions of individuals and communities in France and the United States mattered to international alliances and relations. Through this tale of two trains, we explore how non-state actors hoped to shape the post-war world by mobilising, performing, or sometimes even abstaining from specific emotions.

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