The Untold Story of Franklin Book Dhaka: In the Shadow of the Cold War

A neglected section of postcolonial South Asia's cultural diplomacy In the 1960s and 1970s, a cultural front of the Cold War was being fought in the quiet streets of Dhaka with books, ideas, and influence rather than weapons. The Franklin Book Program was a modest but potent institution at the center of this conflict. Book Programs on Franklin's Birth The Franklin Book Program, founded in the United States in 1952, was an ambitious Cold War-era cultural initiative. What is its objective? to support educational publishing in the Global South and translate American texts into local languages in order to spread American values and ideas through books. Funded indirectly through U.S. government aid agencies and private foundations, it operated in over 30 countries, from Egypt to Indonesia.

The Dhaka chapter opened in the late 1950s in East Pakistan, which is now Bangladesh, and quickly became a cultural powerhouse. Franklin Book Dhaka: More Than Just a Publishing House

Franklin Book Dhaka was merely a source of information for the general public. It helped translate reference materials, books for children, and textbooks into Bengali and Urdu. However, behind its academic appearance was a carefully planned strategy to counter the ideological influence of China and the Soviet Union in South Asia and establish American "soft power." By making American literature accessible in local languages and encouraging the growth of local publishing infrastructure, Franklin aimed to shape the minds of students, educators, and policymakers. Local intellectuals, writers, and translators frequented its offices in Dhaka because they saw an opportunity to promote literacy and education, but also because they sometimes became participants in an ideological battle between superpowers. a nexus of academics, intellectuals, and diplomats Franklin Book Dhaka worked with educators, writers, and printers from East Pakistan. The program gave grants, trained local editors and publishers, and delivered thousands of books to schools and universities. Prominent Bengali scholars worked with the program, giving it local credibility. However, at a time when political sentiments in the region were volatile and becoming increasingly anti-imperialist, the selection of books frequently reflected Western ideals, emphasizing democracy, capitalism, and individualism. Caught Between Ideologies: Franklin in Political Turmoil

The political unrest in East Pakistan grew in tandem with the escalation of the Cold War. The intellectual environment in which Franklin Book Dhaka operated was influenced by the language movement of 1952, the mass uprising of 1969, and finally the Liberation War of 1971. Despite its apolitical public image, Franklin could not stay detached. There were times when its connection to American interests raised suspicion. After Bangladesh's independence in 1971, many local publishers and writers began questioning the ideological motives behind foreign-funded literary projects.

By the late 1970s, with shifting U.S. foreign policy priorities and growing local resistance to perceived cultural imperialism, the Franklin Book Program began to fade. A legacy that few will ever remember was left behind when the Dhaka chapter quietly disbanded. Re-discovery and the Legacy Today, few Bangladeshis know about Franklin Book Dhaka. Some of the books it produced still linger in school libraries and second-hand bookstores—faded, yellowed, and often anonymous. Yet its impact remains: it played a subtle role in shaping the reading habits, educational materials, and even political discourse of a generation.

Scholars and historians have recently begun to uncover this buried past. Franklin Book Dhaka is now viewed not only as a publishing initiative but also as a Cold War soft power tool that demonstrates how ideological conflicts were fought through literature, education, and language. Final Thoughts: Books as Fields of War We are reminded by the story of Franklin Book Dhaka that the Cold War was not just between Washington and Moscow. It unfolded in classrooms, libraries, and publishing houses across the world. It took the form of American picture books with smiling children and translated textbooks in Dhaka. In the shadow of geopolitical rivalry, a generation grew up reading stories that were part education, part persuasion. The legacy of Franklin Book Dhaka is a testament to how culture can be both a bridge and a battleground in the quest for influence.