The Urgent Whisper: Broadcasting with "Barbara" ©

 Greenwood Project

 

UMPIRE as a Special Procedures Group (SPG) project was CIA's first psychological warfare project that provided for the production and dissemination of covert propaganda against the Soviet Union and East European countries behind the Iron Curtain using radio broadcasts and printed material. The project designation was later changed on 1 December 1948 to EDUCATOR and then to QKDEMON. The Special Procedures Group became the Office of Policy Coordination (OPC) in August 1948, which then took over the SPG projects, including UMPIRE. The Greenwood Project was a sub-project of UMPIRE

The first OPC radio broadcasting site was at Lampertheim, Germany – located midway between Heidelberg and Darmstadt. Elements of the U.S. Army Security Agency (ASA) constructed the site under the cover of a "Communications Ionosphere Research Unit." The military unit cover designation was: "7989 Special Technical Unit, Weinheim Sub-post, Heidelberg, Germany."   

By November 1948, construction at the transmitting site in Lampertheim was completed on two-class "E" rhombic transmitting antennas bearing 70 and 112 degrees. "The antennas were complete with transmission lines and dissipation lines. Also completed was the erection of masts for class "E" rhombic transmitting antennas bearing 130 degrees and two folded dipoles bearing 70 and 120 degrees. No additional work was done to these antennas due to lack of material for the rhombic and lack of frequency information for folded di-poles."  

The offices for the broadcasting site headquarters were set up at No. 4 Bobostrasse, Weinheim, by converting the living space into offices. A file room included three-combination, cabinet-type safes for classified documents. The Quartermaster, Heidelberg Military Post, provided the office furniture, including desks, chairs, tables, etc.  

ASA built and then loaned to OPC 15 radio towers, 63 and 90 feet tall, to the project. They were loaned to OPC with the understanding that they would be returned to ASA or replaced when new ones from the U.S. arrived. Reportedly, "Tower directional pattern permits broadcasting to all major satellite areas." Electricity was provided by a 50 KW generator and two transformers connected to a 20,000-voltage line 4 kilometers away.  6

By December 1948, the main building of the transmitting site consisted of:

 

·      transmitting studio. which took up one entire end of the building

·      sleeping rooms 12 sq. m., 

·      one large shower room, 

·      dining room and 

·      kitchen

 

The blueprints of the main building were entitled "Lampertheim Project. Five guards were protecting the installation, including the buildings, towers, and antennas.  Project UMPIRE was discontinued on 1 December 1948 and succeeded by projects EDICT and EDUCATOR."  

On 20 December 1948, OPC Washington sent a message to OPC Karlsruhe: "Recommend return to towers to ASA as soon as possible with thanks and appropriate explanation. Retain other Greenwood property for future use."   

On 23 February 1949, OPC Karlsruhe advised Policy Coordination that Lt. Colonel Walker, ASA, said, "He was willing to forget whole dismantling project if we agree to replace masts and wire borrowed from his unit as soon as placatable." 9. On 14 March 1949, OPC headquarters informed Karlsruhe OPC and Heidelberg OPC branches: "Unless dismantling not already underway, leave entire installation in place. We will supply ASA with replacements for all equipment. If dismantling in progress, use your best judgment as to whether it can be halted diplomatically." Dismantling did not begin. 

The Karlsruhe OPC office sent a message on 17 March 1949 to OPC headquarters: "Lt. Colonel Walker agreeable to allow site to remain intact as his outfit was not looking forward to dismantling. Would appreciate some indication of shipping date of replacement as he is planning new construction for coming summer and replacement items scheduled for this new site." On 31 March 1949, Karlsruhe OPC sent this message to Washington: "Wire borrowed from ASA did not comprise complete rhombic antenna kits. ASA willing to accept three antenna kits minus transmission line, dissipation line, and pole line kits and consider the matter closed. No other items required."  

In an internal memorandum to ADPC Frank Wisner dated 4 February 1949, an OPC officer wrote about the negative developments of the project:

 

The ill-coordinated and frequently ill-advised series of moves resulted in the premature establishment of OPC's activities in Germany and a consequent series of operational misfires.

 

It is true that the unfortunate series of circumstances surrounding the Greenwood Project caused a certain amount of hard feeling in the theater, but this was primarily at the level of the functional commands which did a lot of work on this project without being fog, aware of the reasons for having started it in the first place or for later abandoning it. Inasmuch as General Walsh supported the concept of the old UMPIRE operation and was, to a large extent, for the rush orders, which went out for Greenwood.  

 

U.S. Air Force General Robert LeGrow Walsh was director of intelligence of the European Command, Office of Military Government at Berlin, Germany. 

 

Mobile Transmitting Equipment

 

On 9 June 1949, OPC headquarters sent a message to Heidelberg OPC on the subject of Mobile radio operation -- EDUCATOR Project, which was an answer to a message from Heidelberg OPC, 29 April 1949 (copy not available): 

 

1.     The essential reason for the delay in answering your dispatch of 29 April enclosing the plan for mobile radio operation is due to the fact that we have given a considerable amount of study and discussion to the proposal. It is a well-thought-out paper. 

2.     There are a number of considerations that enter the picture and a number of questions we should like to put to you with reference to it, but we think this is not the time for it since the entire policy of black radio is still under review here. We know that the technique is being used by the opposition forces, but the advisability of our engaging in the work is still faced with some doubt.

3.     The plea, which you propose, will be brought out again for consideration when a determination of policy is made here. In the meantime, thanks for submitting it. You will be advised at once when policy is laid down. 

 

A 29 December 1949 CIA memorandum makes mention of mobile broadcasting equipment in storage:

 

1.     The Chief of Communications has requested that he be advised as to the foreseeable requirements, which would necessitate the use of the mobile broadcasting equipment procured and built under the Project UMPIRE, 

2.     The equipment has been on a 10-day call since it was built, and the maintenance under such condition is such that two men are required hall time, and considerable warehouse spew/ is allocated for it. 

3.     The cost of maintenance and the use of the space is justified if there will be an urgent need for the equipment at some future time, but (redacted) informs me that UMPIRE is dead, and if the equipment is needed by him in the future, it will be known at least one month in advance. 

4.     Therefore, if there is no immediate existing need for the equipment, it is suggested that the Chief of Communications be notified and be allowed to have the equipment mothballed and stored for future use.  

 

The mobile broadcasting equipment, referred to in this exchange, probably was the mobile unit "Barbara" used to broadcast Radio Free Europe's first program on 4 July 1950 to Czechoslovakia. "Barbara" was not one vehicle but a set of seven vehicles: studio van, the transmitter van, generators, a fuel supply truck, jeep and trailer, camping and housekeeping equipment, and a flatbed truck for the antenna towers. 

Beginning 4 July 1950, the first programs to Czechoslovakia only consisted of music and spot announcements advising the listener that complete programming of news and commentary would start on 14 July 1950.  On that date, "Barbara" also sent its first broadcast to Romania. In August 1950, shortwave broadcasts began to Hungary, Poland, and Bulgaria. It is doubtful that anyone heard the first programs due to the relatively low power of the mobile transmitter. Thus the idea was borne for a powerful medium-wave transmitter south of Munich for Czechoslovakia, a new transmitting site at Bibis, Germany, and a vast transmitting site in Gloria, Portugal, outside Lisbon. 

Time magazine reported on 17 July 1950, under the rubric "Urgent Whisper": 

 

This week Czech and Rumanian radio listeners could hear music, plays, and satires forbidden by their Communist masters—as well as the voices of men long exiled. These forbidden broadcasts came from a Radio Free Europe transmitter deep in Western Germany. 

 

RFE's lone 71⁄2-kilowatt transmitter is only a whisper compared to the worldwide-station network of Voice of America. But RFE, a branch of the National Committee for a Free Europe founded last year by a group of private U.S. citizens, expects to make up in pungency for its lack of volume. Explains Banker Frank Altschul, chairman of RFE: "Unhampered by diplomatic restrictions, we can slant our programs in a more definitely anti-Soviet way than the Voice." 

 

Welcomed by the State Department as a freewheeling, free-speaking ally in the propaganda war, RFE plans to boost its power with five transmitters now on order. It intends, eventually, to speak strongly to every Communist satellite from the Baltic to the Black Sea. 

 

The New York Times reported, "New'  Voice' Talks to Europe Like Member of the Family." Some grass-root newspapers in the United States printed this editorial about Radio Free Europe, and it's secret-location transmitter: 

 

Many wise statesmen have been appealing insistently to the free world to exert greater effort to the grimy "struggle for men's mind." They have pounded repeatedly on the idea that it isn't enough to combat Russian Communism with economic and military measures: that freedom must be shown to be a great cause, is really a way of life eminently superior to the slavery imposed by Moscow. 

 

The first Imaginative stride in this direction has now been taken. From a secret radio transmitter in Europe, a new series of programs is being beamed to the countries behind the Iron Curtain. [...] Radio Free Europe, as the new transmitter is called, is the product of the National Committee for Free Europe, which was organized about a year ago by outstanding American citizens. 

 

We must make plain to decent people everywhere that the language of Communism is the language of falsehood, that Russia's words can never be believed because words to the Soviet Union are simply weapons in the psychological theater of war.

 

Initially, the first Radio Free Europe broadcasts were prepared in RFE's New York studios and air transported to Germany, but this was time-consuming. Soon, the entire broadcast operation would be moved to Munich, Germany. The administrative and editorial offices were located at Sieberstrasse 4, in Munich, where there were two studios, two newsrooms, a tape library, a recorded music library, a control room installed in the kitchen, offices for the staff, and the workers found space in the passageways of the building. 

On Labor Day, 4 September 1950, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, then President of Columbia University, passionately called for an American Crusade for Freedom in a nation-wide radio broadcast from Denver, Colorado, covered by the four major radio networks (ABC, CBS, NBS, and Mutual): 

 

I speak tonight [...] about the Crusade for Freedom. This Crusade is a campaign sponsored by private American citizens to fight the big lie with the big truth. It is a program that has been hailed by President Truman and others as an essential step in getting the case for freedom heard by the world's multitudes. [...] We need powerful radio stations abroad, operated without government restrictions, to tell in vivid and convincing form about the decency and essential fairness of democracy. These stations must tell of our aspirations for peace, our hatred of war, our support of the United Nations, and our constant readiness to cooperate with all who have these same desires. [...] One such private station, Radio Free Europe, is now in operation in Western Germany. It daily brings a message of hope and encouragement to a small part of the masses of Europe.   

 

Jonas Kukauskas-Kukis aka “Jack“ – Lithuanian Cold War Hero or Villain?

Jonas Kukauskas-Kukis aka “Jack“ – Lithuanian Cold War Hero or  Villain? 

 

In February 1938 Kukauskas at that time a student in Vilnius, then under Polish suzerainty, attempted to cross the Polish border into Lithuania to deliver information to the Lithuanian Intelligence Service. He was apprehended by the Polish counter-intelligence, interrogated, and brought to trial. He was released because his act was determined to have been that of an irresponsible boy, rather than sponsored by an intelligence service.

 

In 1944 he crossed Poland and arrived in Berlin. He later studied and the university in Frankfurt. In October 1946, he was recruited by the Operations Chief of Vlik for a mission organized by French intelligence. At Pfullingen, Germany, he was trained in communications until May 1947. 

In May 1948,  he was taken to Paris where he was given intelligence training, including jump techniques by the French. There had, been no contact with French representatives except their instructors, administrative matters being handled by Dr. Backis, the Lithuanian representative in Paris. In April 1950 when the French dispatch failed to materialize, Kukauskas was dismissed by the French case officer and were escorted by a French representative to Strasbourg. He was met by a representative of VLIK who sent him on to Munich. Jonas Kukauskas-Kukis' "Jack", was recruited by OSO sometime in Spring 1950.

 

Kukauskas was recruited by OSO sometime in Spring 1950. 

 

He was dispatched on 18-19 April 1951 into Kaunas area of Lithuania with Butenas for the purpose of

 

a. Establishment of contact with the underground resistance forces in Lithuania.

b. Reorganization of the underground resistance forces along more effective lines.

c. Establishment of reliable w/t and s/w communication between Lithuania and the American Zone of Germany.

d. Procurement of positive and operational intelligence.

 

Kukauskas was in the forest bunker with Butenas on May 21, 1951, and surrendered to the Lithuanian security forces. He then agreed to cooperate with them in a radio game with CIA. Kukuskas continued to send messages as part of the “radio game” that had been initiated in 1949 (Volna—Wave) and 1950 (Lyes – Forest).  Reportedly his KGB operational pseudonym was “Balandis.”

Kukauskas made contact with resistance leader Luksa (and CIA agent) and got him to agree to a meeting in Pabartupis village forest near Kaunas. The meeting never took place as Luksa was killed or committed suicide during an ambush by Lithuanian security forces. 

 

Jack sent his first message on 15 June 1951 and continued sending sporadically until 29 November 1951. He reported again for the first time since his silence in April 1952 with the excuse that his silence was due to a faulty generator. The last message received from jack to date as on 27 December 1952. One CIA report stated, " It is not definitely established that Jack is under control but his long silence during the winter and the content of his messages seem to indicate that control is likely." 

 

CIA reviewed the failed Lithuanian operations and stopped them in 1952, when it was estimated that only 700 partisans wee in Lithuania. In 1956, Adolfas Ramanauskas (Vanagas), the last partisan leader, was arrested and hanged in Kaunas. 

 

Julijonas Būtėnas: A Lithuanian Cold War Martyr ©

 

On April 18-19, 1951, for the second infiltration, the CIA doubleton team of Julijonas Būtėnas  (“Steve”) and Jonas Kukauskas-Kukis (“Jack”) were dropped into the Kaunas area Lithuania. Their mission was, 

• Establishment of contact with the underground resistance forces in Lithuania.


• Reorganization of the underground resistance forces along more effective lines.


• Establishment of reliable wireless transmission and secret writing communication between Lithuania and. the American Zone of Germany.


• Procurement of positive and operational intelligence. 

Būtėnas was the “jumpmaster” for the parachuting of the first three agents in October 1950 He had been a journalist in Lithuania. After WWII, he was in a displaced persons camp in Würzburg, Germany, home of VLIK. He became the head of the VLIK information office and also taught English to Lithuanian refugees.

Būtėnas was recruited for intelligence work in September 1949 through officials of VLIK. He had been living in an IRO camp in Pfullingen, Germany. He was originally recruited to act as a translator and agent instructor. From 1949, Būtėnas lived in a safehouse in Munich with Luksa.  Later, from about May 1950, he lived with all the agents who were being trained for CIA dispatches, including Jonas Kakauskas-Kukis. It was not until 28 August 1950 that he was assigned to a team for dispatch

After they landed in Lithuania, Būtėnas separated from Kukauskas-Kukis and contacted the underground headquarters in the Tauras Region. As the story goes, Būtėnas and Petras Jurkšaitis (Beržas),  the commander of the underground unit were killed in a farm house in the village of Altoniskiai, by Lithuanian security forces on or about May 21, 1951. The farmer was supposedly drunk and gossiped with his neighbors, one of whom informed the security forces. 

Another version of his death is that he bit into the cyanide pill and killed himself.  However, in April 1956, the Lithuanian language newspaper "Teviskes Ziburiai" (The Lights of Homeland) published in Toronto, Canada, reported that Butenas was alive and in a forced labor camp after being caught by security forces, put on trial, and sentenced to 25 years imprisonment. 

In any event, he was buried in an unmarked grave. There is a memorial cross with a parachute in Kazlų Rūda, Lithuania. On May 19, 1999, Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus posthumously awarded Būtėnas the Order of the Vytis Cross, 3rd degree. 

"Trippers" to the Curtain. ©

“Trippers” to the Curtain

 

Starting in October 1954, and for the next seven years, prominent Americans were flown to Europe to visit Radio Free Europe (RFE) locations in Germany and Portugal, the Czech-German border, and the cities of Berlin and Paris. This was in conjunction with the domestic fund raising activities of the Crusade for Freedom in support of RFE. Those who participated in these “study tours” were given the nickname “Trippers” and were expected to brief their respective state and local Crusade chapters and national organizations on “Radio Free Europe’ role in the fight against Communist propaganda.” Below we briefly will look at some of these trips.

 

The First Trip

 

The first trip was October 20 – 29, 1954, when seventy-two “Trippers,” made a whirlwind trip to Europe. The group included Crusade for Freedom state chairmen and national organizations representatives, including the National Council for Catholic Women, Disabled American Veterans, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Campfire Girls and the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW). 

 

The American Heritage Foundation, with Henry Ford II as Chairman, was the sponsor of the 1954-1955 Crusade for Freedom.  Thomas D’A. Brophy, president of the American Heritage Foundation sent a letter, to each “Tripper”, in which he wrote, 

 

            We are confident that Radio Free Europe will inspire you, as it did us,

            and that you will feel impelled, as we did, to communicate your enthusiasm

            with others.

 

            When you return, I think you will agree that supporting this vital undertaking

            will help better the chances for peace, prosperity and well being for all America

            and the Free World.

 

Prior to their departure, they were hosted at a buffet dinner in the Keystone Room of the Hotel Statler in New York City, with Thomas D’A. Brophy as the keynote speaker. 

            

The flight time from New York to Munich was 19 hours on a chartered Pan American DC 6B airplane—The Yankee Clipper. The first night in Munich included a two-hour buffet reception at the American Consulate.  The next morning the Trippers went on a two-hour tour of Radio Free Europe’s headquarters building.  In the afternoon, they were individually photographed sitting in front of a microphone marked RFE and making a short statement for broadcasting to RFE’s target countries (Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Bulgaria and Romania).  

            

On Saturday afternoon, they visited the Radio Free Europe transmitting site outside Munich at Holzkirchen and later that day the large RFE monitoring station at Schleissheim, north of Munich.  Sunday was an all-day tour by car to the German-Czechoslovak border for a personal look at the Iron Curtain, followed by a visit to the one of Free Europe Press balloon launching sites, where they lofted helium-filled balloons containing propaganda leaflets.  

            

On Monday they finished the tape recording of broadcast messages, signed Freedom Scrolls and flew to Berlin, where they met the Mayor of Berlin, Ernst Reuter, and saw the Freedom Bell in Schoenberg City Hall. On Tuesday, they were briefed by the Commanding General at the headquarters of the U.S. High Commissioner as well as a staff member of the Eastern Section of Radio in the American Sector (RIAS).  In the afternoon, they went on a bus tour of the Soviet Sector of Berlin. 

            

The “Trippers” flew to Paris, where General Alfred Gruenther and other officers at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers in Europe (SHAPE) briefed them.  After a sightseeing trip of Paris, they flew back to New York to begin the domestic phase of their support for Radio Free Europe by making public appearances and giving media interviews about their experience in Europe. A 14-½ minute film about trip was made for television distribution “How Your Truth Dollars Fight for Freedom” and was distributed to over 200 television stations in the Untied States.

 

A striking example of post-Study trip activity is that of Edwin (Ed) L. Haislet, who was Minnesota co-state chairman of the Crusade for Freedom and executive secretary of the University of Minnesota Alumni Association.  The February 1955 issue of Minnesota Alumni Voice on “Freedom and Democracy” was dedicated to the Crusade for Freedom.  The feature article was “I pierced the Iron Curtain” by Ed Haislet, in which he detailed his experiences in Europe. The article including a photograph of him, standing under the Freedom Bell in Berlin, at the Czech-German border as well as his sending of a balloon over the Iron Curtain.  Haislet wrote: "The people of the United States, by supporting Radio Free Europe, are fulfilling their own obligation to decency, proving to their own belief in the essential dignity of the individual human being, the fundamental equality of all men and their inalienable  rights to freedom justice and a fair opportunity."

 

General Lucius D. Clay’s Call to Action to American Women ©

 

General Lucius D. Clay’s Call to Action to American Women

 

Radio Appeal September 8, 1951

 

General Lucius D. Clay gave a radio address that was broadcast by radio station WNBC at 10:15 p.m., September 8, 1951. The New York Times, for example, headlined the speech on September 9, 1951: “CLAY OPENS APPEAL TO AID RED 'SLAVES.” In part, Clay said:

 

The free people were unwilling to believe in 1945 that aggression was again on the march; that Stalin had replaced Hitler. When they learned this lesson, they rallied.  For two years they have resisted the Soviet attempt to enslave more people, while concurrently slowly but surely rebuilding their own strength and their abilities t maintain freedom in areas where it is threatened. The day approaches when they will aid in the restoration of freedom where it has been lost.

 

Then when stability comes, as the armed potential of the West has been mobilized to match -- to more than match – Soviet might, demands which cannon be resisted will develop in the satellite countries for free elections, in which Communist rule will be overwhelmingly defeated.

 

If we truly want a free world, then each and every one of us must be willing to play a part in bringing it about. It is not our way to leave our problems entirely resolved by government. It is our way as a people to join together in doing those things, which we believe worthwhile. The Crusade for Freedom presents the opportunity to each American to take a personal part in the struggle for freedom. 

 

 

Call to Action to American Women

 

There was also a nation-wide newspaper coverage of Clay’s appeal, in the best Cold-war rhetoric, to the women in the United States to support the Crusade, an urgent Call to Action:

 

Last year we accomplished much. With the money contributed to the CRUSADE FOR FREEDOM in 1950 we built a new radio station – the most powerful in Europe. This station of Radio Free Europe broadcasts daily messages of hope and courage to the captive peoples.

 

Now where do we go from here? The answer is, we go on! We need at least two more Powerful radio transmitters in Europe. We need funds to begin work at once on a Radio Free Asia to halt the spread of Communism in the Far East.

 

The CRUSADE FOR FREEDOM is our means, as private citizens, of insuring that the voice of liberty will be heard. Radio Free Europe is our personal instrument for adding our voice to the voices of truth penetrating the Iron Curtain.

 

This struggle (against Communism) reaches into every American home. It involves you and me. It affects the way of life of our children and our grandchildren. 

 

Therefore I call upon the women of America to join in the CRUSADE FOR FREEDOM. I ask you to take this positive action now.

 

The CRUSADE FOR FREEDOM and Radio Free Europe are one of the
means, one of the powerful weapons that can be brought into play against the forces of tyranny – powerful because through them American citizens can dispel the chill blackness of evil ideas with the clear warmth and light of truth. 

 

By helping to win the battle for men’s minds, we thereby help to keep this cold war from developing into a hot war.

 

This is the primary reason why it is urgent for every woman in this nation to enroll in the CRUSADE FOR FREEDOM.

 

 

 

Operation PROSPERO: Combining Spoken and Written Words ©

 

Operation PROSPERO

 

PROSPERO was the code name for the balloon program in the summer 1953, when over four days, 6,500 balloons with over 12,000,000 Free Europe Press leaflets were launched into Czechoslovakia.  16 The balloon launching started approximately at midnight July 13, 1953, in the Bavarian town of Tirschenreuth. This was the first time balloons were launched in conjunction with specific Radio Free Europe programs. RFE attacked the regime's new currency reforms and dropped a leaflet in the form of a banknote and an aluminum replica of a newly introduced Czechoslovak coin bearing the Freedom Bell and the inscription, "All Czechs and Slovaks for Freedom--all the Free World for Czechs and Slovaks."

 

At the July 14, 1953, NCFE Meeting, Spencer Phenix showed the other directors samples of the leaflets and read translations of the message texts.  Reportedly, the NCFE “expressed great interest in the operation and pleasure at the dynamic content of the printed message.” 

 

There was coverage of the balloon launchings throughout the United States.  For example, on July 22, 1953, the Reno Evening Gazette newspaper published a photo of a balloon launching with this caption:

 

            ON THE WINDS OF FREEDOM—A German student prepares to

            launch a huge balloon filled with messages to residents of Soviet controlled

from a secluded farm close to the Czech border in project sponsored by Radio Free Europe and known as "Winds of Freedom." Man in             foreground is using counting device to tally the balloon, one of 8000, which were released carrying news of the June 17 riots in East Berlin and the ouster   of  Laventy P. Beria.

 

The regime responded to PROSPERO by using military aircraft and anti-aircraft weapons

along the border to shoot down the balloons the day after the first launching. In fact, on July 15,

the FEP staff saw the military aircraft shooting down the balloons as they first crossed the border

into Czechoslovakia. Police cars in Prague and elsewhere used loudspeakers ordering citizens to

turn in all the leaflets. 

 

Both the Czechoslovak and Soviet media attacked this balloon program.

Because of the violent reaction and the media attacks, RFE inadvertently discovered that the

balloon program was more successful than first planned. It paved the ground work for even

greater balloon efforts with specific programming in the following years. For the first time,

PROSPERO proved the value of combining the spoken word of RFE and written word of FEP

for effective propaganda.

"Mr. and Mrs. Murderer" in Romania: Cold War Rhetoric at its best ©

 

The original plan for advertising for Radio Free Europe, written in 1949, contained the point: "To create emotion, personalized – dramatic headlines ... written in terse simple words that speak directly to the average man." 

 

One heavy-hitting early 1950s Advertising Council newspaper fund-raising advertisement for Radio Free Europe and Radio Free Asia was "Mr. and Mrs. Murderer." This ad is a perfect example of not only using emotion to rally Americans behind Radio Free Europe, but also how the American press was used to hide the CIA's sponsorship of the Radio Free Europe and Radio Free Asia. 

 

The advertisement, full of Cold War rhetoric and imagery, was carried nationwide in newspapers ranging from The New York Times to small-town newspapers. For example, in The Gettysburg Times (Pennsylvania), January 5, 1953, the text read, in part,

 

Until 10 A.M., December 27th (1951), they were simply Mr. and Mrs. Margineanu. distinguished citizens of Blaj- respected and admired by the entire community and then -- Radio Free Europe is telling all of Romania about this blood-thirsty couple and their secret torture chamber

 

This is Radio Free Europe. People of Romania, listen to this information we have received from the underground at Blaj. Among the foremost aides of the Chief of the Security Police are a young married couple named Margineanu. Together with other members of the governmental gang, the patronize blood orgies nightly

 

Those freedom-loving Romanians not in sympathy with the Communist regime are dragged before them and beaten to death. While the torture goes on, the wine bottle is passed around — there is much toasting and singing. The names of other regular participants are as follows ...

 

Slowly but surely the true fate of Communism is being exposed and the cold war is being won. But Radio Free Europe urgently needs more help from its sponsor -- You!

 

Readers in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, read an editorial in the Cedar Rapids Tribune on December 4, 1952, urging support of Radio Free Europe and Radio Free Asia. 

 

No money from any government agency or department is used by either Radio Free Asia or Radio Free Europe.

 

As distinct from the Voice of America, the official radio voice of the U. S. government, neither the Free Asia nor Free Europe operations are tied to official American foreign policy. Observers say this fact, as well as a generous use of imagination in programming and writing, makes both of the private systems more effective than the government sponsored Voice. To thinking people behind the curtain anything that smacks of government is automatically suspected.

 

The full force of Radio Free "Europe and Radio Free Asia lies in its shrewd evaluation of life under a dictatorship. Using intelligence reports and accounts of refugees to guide them, the stations can reach behind the curtain and hand out news which is as local as the front page of the home-town paper.

 

Take the case of Mr. and Mrs. Margineanu, citizens of good standing in the Romanian city of Blaj. The Margineanus were in league with the Romanian secret police and apparently enjoyed watching the Reds strong-arm information out of unwilling political prisoners. On Dec. 27,1951, the following message reached Blaj on Radio Free Europe channels: (as above).

 

The editorial concluded:

 

Using all the best weapons of psychological warfare, Radio Free Europe and Radio Free Asia are slandered daily by every media the Communists control. There couldn't be a better measure of their effectiveness or a more demanding reason for their continued operation.