Press Release July 3, 1950, on the first broadcast of Radio Free Europe July 4, 1950

Press Information

For Release July 3, 1950

 

“Radio Free Europe” to Penetrate 

Iron Curtain Tomorrow

 

The American people, and the exiled leaders of Eastern Europe, will speak to the enslaved peoples behind the Iron Curtain tomorrow with a new and powerful voice as Radio Free Europe takes to the air using its newly completed European transmitters.

 

Owned and operated by the National Committee for Free Europe, Inc., a group of private American citizens, Radio Free Europe will broadcast the true story of freedom and democracy to the eighty million people living in communist slavery between Germany and Russia. Freed of diplomatic limitations, the broadcasts will be hard-hitting.

 

“A prime objective of Radio Free Europe will be to bring to these peoples the voice of their democratic leaders, who have been driven into exile by Communist oppression,” said Dewitt C. Poole, President of NCFE. “At the end of the war we joined the United Kingdom and the USSR in promising these peoples that they should solve by democratic means their pressing political and economic problems. This promise has not been kept. Instead, the voices of the democratic leaders of these countries have been stilled by death, imprisonment, and exile.

 

“Now through Radio Free Europe, the numerous democratic leaders who escaped and have survived in exile will be heard by their own people once more. They will speak to the imprisoned countrymen in their own language, in the familiar tones as in a family reunited. They will give the lie to Communist propaganda and tell their listeners of the underlying struggle to ensure freedom everywhere.”

 

The Fourth of July, Independence Day, was deliberately chosen for Radio Free Europe’s first broadcast, according to Frank Altschul, Chairman of the NCFE Radio Committee.

 

“Throughout the world, ‘The Fourth’ is a pivotal date in the long history of man’s struggle for freedom, “ said Mr. Altschul. “During the ‘audience building’ period of broadcasts, from the fourth to the fourteenth – another pivotal date – the programs will consist of announcements of the station’s plans and purposes. On the fourteenth, the anniversary of the fall of the Bastille and the start of the French Revolution, full broadcasting will begin.”

1953 Presidential Committee Report on International Information Activities ©

On June 30, 1953, the Presidential Committee on International Information Activities, under the chairmanship of William Harding Jackson, former Deputy Director for Central Intelligence, submitted a report to President Eisenhower. The  Presidential Committee first met on January 30, 1953. Over 250 witnesses were interviewed, including many representatives of government departments and agencies. The Committee also consulted with members of Congress, studied classified material furnished by various agencies, and received a large volume of correspondence both from government officials and from members of the public and private organizations.”  

In addition, surveys and evaluations of both Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty were included. Specifically, on Radio Free Europe, the report read:  

 

In the original plan, the various national councils were to be responsible for broadcasts over RFE facilities to their respective countries. Since the complexities and rivalries of émigré politics made the organization of national councils difficult, it was decided to set up RFE on a non-political basis. Emigré staff were hired for competence rather than political affiliation, and programs to various countries are now identified as the Voice of Free Czechoslovakia, Poland, and so on. 

 

Although this reason for the national councils no longer exists, they do have potential value in exile relations. If the émigré leaders are prepared to create national councils of their own volition, NCFE should assist them to engage in such propaganda activities as they may be qualified to conduct. Primary attention, however, should be given to the broadcasting phase of NCFE activities. The Committee recommends that the rest of these activities be reviewed by CIA to determine whether they should be continued or modified. 

 

Some specific issues arose in connection with NCFE activities, particularly RFE. There is first the question of cover. It has been suggested that, because the present cover has worn thin, RFE's official connections be freely admitted. However, such a course would vitiate the principal reason for the existence of RFE as a separate organization. So long as its government connections are not officially admitted it can broadcast programs and take positions for which the United States would not accept responsibility. The Committee believes that the present cover is adequate for this purpose.  

 

The recommendations for radio in Chapter 4, Operations against the Soviet System, included:

 

·      All broadcast material to the Soviet system for which the United States government does not wish to accept responsibility should be handled by Radio Free Europe (RFE), Radio Liberation or other covert channels. 

·      The American Committee for Liberation from Bolshevism, Inc., should concentrate on the improvement of Radio Liberation and reduce expenditures on the émigré coordinating center. 

 

The Commission's recommendations on Radio Liberation (Liberty) included:

·      In a situation short of war, the project can probably make its greatest contribution by de-emphasizing its political activities and devoting its major effort to the improvement of broadcasts from Radio Liberation. 

·      This station should use Soviet émigrés in an effort to weaken the Soviet regime and should concentrate on the Soviet military, government officials, and other groups in the population, which harbor major grievances against the regime. 

·      The American Committee for Liberation from Bolshevism, Inc., should concentrate on the improvement of Radio Liberation and reduce expenditures on the émigré coordinating center.

 

For more detailed excerpts of the Committee Report, see Appendix E on RFE and Appendix F on Radio Liberty respectively in