Journal of Transnational American Studies

Leo S. Rowe, before becoming director of the Pan-American Union, came to Argentina to gather information, connect with local intellectuals, and disseminate the basic ideas of an emerging inter-American system of cultural and intellectual cooperation that would be the backbone of Pan-Americanism. This paper deals with the interaction and communication between the Hemispheric Intellectual-Statesman and its local counterparts, focusing on the dynamic of the imperial hegemonic process. Argentine intellectuals failed to accept Rowe’s progressive ideas about modern corporations, government by public opinion, and social reform. But they were quite ready to entertain ideas of inter-American cooperation with the powerful Northern Neighbor, vindicating at the same time their affinity with and belonging to “European culture.”