Winning Hearts and Minds

This chapter examines how Charles E. Ives emerged as a Cold War icon, and more specifically as a champion of the liberating powers of individualism, during the period 1947–1965. It begins with a discussion of Lou Harrison's role in pushing Ives from the modernist peripheries of the American musical world toward its center, and in helping the composer win the Pulitzer Prize in 1947. It then considers how Ives and his music were drawn into a discussion about the nature of freedom against the backdrop of the Cold War. In particular, it explores how Ives's music was programmed on concerts designed to promote the artistic products of “cultural freedom,” citing the presentation of his work at an arts festival in Paris that was held under the auspices of the Congress for Cultural Freedom. It also looks at Henry Cowell's book Charles Ives and His Music, written in collaboration with his wife Sidney, and concludes with an assessment of Ives's musical legacy as a function of his commitment to transcendentalism.