Louis Armstrong's role as a cultural ambassador during the Cold War

Louis Armstrong, widely acclaimed as the biggest musician in the 1950s, became a symbol of American music and a potential tool for the United States in the Cold War. The government started sending American jazz musicians, including Armstrong, on goodwill tours abroad to counteract Soviet propaganda about America's treatment of African Americans. In 1960, Armstrong embarked on a 27-city tour of Africa, stopping in the newly independent Republic of Congo amidst a civil war. His concert in Leopoldville (now Kinshasa) was a temporary respite from the conflict.