.1960 “Truth” Contest ©

  

.1960 “Truth” Contest

 

The Ted Bates Agency prepared Truth Contest advertisements that were sent to newspapers nationwide. The statement contest was known as the Truth Broadcast, Truth-cast and Truth Message. The latter seems to be the term most used and will be the one used in this article.

 

The entrant was to complete the sentence: “I believe the most important thing people behind the Iron Curtain countries should know is....” The postmark deadline for the contest entry was 30 April 1960 with the entry received by 10 May1960. The 1960 Truth Message contest did not ask for one dollar per entry to be considered for one of the free trips to Munich to Lisbon, Paris, and Munich; 50 would receive a complete set of the Encyclopedia Britannica, and 200 would receive a Hallicrafter short wave radio. 

 

Crusade national Chairman W. B. Murphy was quoted as calling the Truth Message program, “One way the individual citizen can take an active part in the fight against Communist aggression. This unique contest is also an opportunity to show 76,000,000 captive people that they have not been forgotten by the free world."

 

The Advertising Council’s 1960 campaign, in cooperation with the Newspaper Advertising Executive Association, included the contest entry blank along with photographs, one showing a young girl and man standing in front of a propaganda poster in Poland as an example of how the Communist regimes especially targeted “children in Red-occupied Europe.” The advertisement went on, “There’s a desperate battle going on in the captive countries behind the Iron Curtain. It’s a battle for men’s minds, for the very survival of their hopes for the future.”

 

Another ad began with the question: “What is our best weapon against Communism? The answer was, “Our best weapon is the truth. The Communists fear the truth because they know it could destroy them. Now you can hit them where it hurts—with the truth! With your own truth!

 

The Advertising Council’s Gordon Kinney, the radio director, put out a fact sheet on the Crusade for Freedom – Radio Free Europe for use by radio stations.  In part, the fact sheet read:

 

SUMMARY -- WHAT TO TELL YOUR AUDIENCE 

 

1. Describe the continuing propaganda assault of Communism against the free world and recall that Radio Free Europe, a private, non-profit, citizen sponsored organization has for 10 years been bringing the truth to the nations behind the Iron Curtain. 

 

2. Explain the importance of preventing the 76,000,000 people of these nations from becoming robots of Soviet aggression. 

 

3. Urge every American to support the Crusade for Freedom and point out that Truth Dollars sent to CRUSADE for FREEDOM c/o their local postmaster are essential to keeping RFE on the air. Radio Free Europe is dependent upon the contributions of the American people for its continued operation.

 

Hotels for Freedom

 

The American Hotel Association (AHA) had mailed 68,000 entry blanks and other written materials (weighing over two tons) about Radio Free Europe to approximately 5,800 hotels of the Association. Vernon Herndon, president of the AHA, earlier had been on a “study tour” of Radio Free Europe and the Iron Curtain, said “The Truth Broadcast program is supported by people of the greatest integrity and is aimed at bringing the truth about the American way of life to people behind the Iron Curtain. I thoroughly subscribe to its objectives.”

 

Reader’s Digest

 

The March 1960 issue of Reader’s Digest carried an advertisement that included a photograph of Nikita Khrushchev, with the message:

 

         IF YOU DISAGREE WITH MR. KHRUSHCHEV ...

 

·   Capitalism is a worn-out old mare while Socialism is new, young and full of energy

·   The so-called free world constitutes the cruel exploitation of millions ... for the enrichment of a handful...

·   Now it is American imperialism which is forcing its way ... to world domination 

·   Your grandchildren will live under Socialism in America.

 

         Here’s how to put your beliefs to work

 

         If you lived behind the Iron Curtain, you would have to “eat” words like those above          about the United States. But you can help give people throughout Europe a better diet   of truth and freedom-in your own words.

         And you may go to Europe to broadcast them personally.

 

         Enter the 1960 RADIO FREE EUROPE Truth Message Contest. Just write what you           think people in Communist countries should know about America or freedom. Winning       messages will be beamed over Radio Free Europe to millions who want to hear what     you, as an American, have to say

The writers of the six best messages would win free trips to Europe for two persons. Other prizes include 50 complete sets of the Encyclopedia Britannica and 200 Hallicrafters Short-Wave Radios.