With Americans and Communists each attempting to exert influence on the Third World, the cold war was heating up. In an effort to win the trust and respect of the Third World governments, the State Department hit upon the idea of sending American athletes on goodwill tours abroad to display U.S. athletic excellence and spread the message of democracy. In 1955 the State Department found in Althea Gibson the perfect ambassador-athlete. Racial tensions in the United States had fed the Soviet propaganda machine, and U.S. government officials were anxious to show off to the world a successful black in order to prove that American democracy was moving toward racial equality. Although Gibson understood that the government aimed to exploit the color of her skin, she agreed to take part in the goodwill tour. She never regretted her decision: while in...