CONGRESSIONAL RECORD APPENDIX

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP60-00321R000400020006-0
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 10, 2013
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: May 8, 1957
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2013/06/10 :CIA-RDP60-003218000400020006-0
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p~programs are getting through-and general
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD listener reaction ? ? ?.
A young Russian, now a political refugee
APPENDIX 1n the West, reports that he heard Radio
Liberation while he was a soldier with the
Soviet occupation forces in East Germany.
Together with two other members of his
8 May 1957 tank crew, he listened over the tank's~re-
ceiver
Another Soviet soldier, now also in the
Nest, heard Radio Liberation while stationed
Page A3498 -99 in Hungary. The station had been guarded-
ly talked about by other members of his
unit ? ? ?.
Sparks Into the U. S. $. R. In Vilna, the' capital of soviet-annexed
~ Lithuania, a number of people listen to Ra-
dio Liberation. This is the testimony of an
EXTENSIQN OF REMARKS elderly woman whom the Soviets recently
of permitted to emigrate.
Sometimes anti-Soviet individuals hear
HON. WILLIAM H. BATES of Radio Liberation from the soviet police
itself. One man, recently freed from acon-
oF MASSACHUSETTS centration camp in Soviet Moldavia, reports
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES that his police interrogator 'was the first to
Wednesday, May 8, 1957 ask him if he had ever heard of the station.
When he replied that he was glad it existed,
Mr. BATES. Mr. Speaker, under leave he was given 3 Gays' special punishment.
to extend my remarks in the RECORD, I Soviet concentration camp inmates par-
include the following: titularly welcome Radio .Liberation's pro-
grams and take comfort and hope from them.
SPARKS INTO THE U. S. S. R.-THE STORY OF A German recently released from the notori-
RAnIO LIBERATION ous Vorkuta camp in the Arctic Circle has re-
Radio Liberation began its work on March ported that since the strike some prisoners
1, 1953, from studios in Munich and by means are allowed to visit outside the camp zone
of one 10-kilowatt transmitter in Lamper- and consequently could hear some foreign
theim, Germany. At first, there was one 20- broadcasts. The German was told by a Rus-
minute program, repeated 12 hours a day. scan prisoner who had begun to enJoy the
In the last 3 years, Radio Liberation has visiting privileges that he had heard Radio
upped its transmitting facilities to it at Liberation and found its programs well in-
diverse spots on the globe to blanket the formed on conditions in the Soviet
U. S. S. R. and its total daily (transmitting) Union
time to 228 hours, to be available to Soviet The German's report confirmed and elab-
citizens whenever and wherever they dare orated on one made in 1954 by a Greek who
sand can listen. From broadcasting only SII had also been confined at Vorkuta. The
the Russian tongue, Raadio Liberation has testimony of the German and the Greek to-
branched out to speaking in 17 languages gether indicate that Radio Liberation had
used in the U. S. S. R.: Russian, Ukrainian, been heard almost continuously for at least
Byelorussian, Georgian, Armenian, Azerbaid- a year and a half in that explosive prison
janian, Tatar, Uzbek, Kazakh, Kirghiz, Turk- camp.
. men. Ossetin, Adyge-Kabardin, Karachay- Not onlq at northerly Vorkuta, but in con-
Balkar, Chechen-Ingush, Avar and Kumyk. centration camps deep in Soviet central Asia,
Ten minutes after it went on the air, Radio Radio Liberation seems to be a force. A
Liberation was jammed by the Soviets As Hungarian released from a camp in Kazakh-
Radio Liberation stepped up its activity, the stan described how he and Russian inmates
heard the station completely free bf Jam-
Soviets responded with ever-heavier Jam- ming, although there was occasional fadin
wings: Today hundreds of Jamming stations, g?
spreading from the western edges of Czecho- Hearing anti-Soviet broadcasts, the prisoners
declared, was like being treated to a glass of
slovakia and Poland eastward over the entire vodka.
Communist orbit to Siberia, try to black out In Stalin's own home territory, in Soviet
the message of Radio Liberation.? On the
whole,.they fail. Georgia, Radio Liberation is well known, ac-
cording to borders crossers into Iran.
Radio Liberation has combatted. the Jam- A 26-year-old bear tamer, Viktor IlJinsky,
mers through technical improvement of traveling with a Soviet circus in West Europe,
antenna design and through flexible trans- escaped from the circus train at Aachen, Ger-
mltter operation. To,its transmitting facili- many, January 26, 1956, and told of listening
ties in West Germany ft has added nightly to Radio Liberation after the show as
transmitters in the Far East. Radio Libera- the circus traveled.
tion has blanketed the U. S. S. R. from several Letters have been arriving for several gears.
directions, weaving in between the jammers. This alone is noteworthy.
This policy has paid off. Extensive long- The volume of letters is not large. Certain
range monitoring from a half a dozen points trends, however, stand out clearly.
on the periphery of the U. S. S. R. has Some letters reflect the official Soviet prop-
demonstrated that Radio. Liberation delivers aganda line. There are warnings: "'You are
an intelligible signal to almost all parts of traitors to the Russian people and it is none
the vast country. And direct confirmation of your business to bemoan Russia," writes
of this fact has come from Soviet citizens a locksmith from Tambov. "If you traitors
themselves. ? ? ' are thinking of again fighting the country
Here is some of the evidence: of the Soviets, you will be given what you
From time to time, travelers with a knowl- deserve. This time we shall be merci-
edge of the Russian language come to Radio less." " ? ?
? Liberation to volunteer their impressions of On the anti-Soviet side, one group of let-
the country and its people. Most often they_ ters is cautious and only establishes contact.
are prompted to contact Radio Liberation ~.An anonymous post card came in from Minsk,
because they have happened upon persons hailing one of Radio Liberation's humorous
' who have reported to them that listening to commentators on Soviet life. Others ask
Radio Liberation and other Western broad- Radio Liberation for signs that their cryptic
casts is a daily habit. The Western travelers message has arrived: "If you receive this
to the U. S. S. R. provide the stall of Radio tter, I beseech you urgently to sing to me
Liberation with valuably tnfgrmation-how ur favorite song, We Met by Chance." ? ?
1 any listen in theme .Soviet lrTnion=low .the Ukrainian livin~* ~n l?olariiY~~vril:es to the
l..
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churchesuthat have been defaced~andade-
stroyed. A woman from the Baltic sadly In-
fers that her father and mother have been
liquidated. A loquacious youngster from
Kharkov describes the misery of peasants on
the farms, hints that a new aristocracy of
privilege is waxing fat in the U. S. S. R.,
makes fun of Soviet propaganda films, and
prophesies that a man of his political lean-
ings will probably wind up In Siberia. And
a man writing from Lvov discreetly warns
Radio Liberation staff members that "they
had better not succumb to the blandish-
ments of the Soviet redefection. Life here
goes on as before, and nothing new has been
added since you left." ? ? ? "Many thanks
for your dear letters," reads a post card.
"Your relatives will be very grateful that you
are young and strong enough to do intensive
work for yourself and the everyday good,"
says a letter evidently approving the political
programs of Radio Liberation.
All told, some 150 former residents of the
USSR conceive, organize, and present Radio
Liberation's programs to its vast and se-
cretive audience. Each staff member has a
personal history-and a profound personal
insight based on that history-which enables
him to speak in terms and tones convincing
and compelling to listeners in U. S. S. R.
Hundreds more contribute to the programing
as free-lance writers and speakers.
These key members of Radio Liberation's
Munich staff receive assistance from a small
group of Americans who have an expert
knowledge of the U. S. S. R. and a background
of experience in information work. Radio
Liberation's technical staff in Europe and
the Far East is in a position to draw on the
services of a group of American technical
specialists in communications who have
helped to design, set up, and operate the
elaborate transmitting equipment which
carries the words and spirit of the emigre
broadcasting staff deep into the U. S. S. R.
WHO'S BEHIND IT1-THE HISTORY
Radio Liberation got its start in 1950.
That year a group of eminent Americans
surveyed the cold war scene and found an
appalling instance of neglect: No major or
concerted attempt had been made to enlist
the loyalties and passions of the anti-Soviet
exiles from, and the anti-Soviet residents in,
the U. S. S. R. against the Kremlin. An al-
most inexhaustible reservoir of political
energy lay untapped, stagnant. No singie-
minded effort had been launched to appeal
to the spirit that had led millions of
U. S. S. R. citizens to desert from the Soviet
Army and administration during World War
II, and to choose the most desperate of
alternatives-temporary alliance with Hit-
ler-because they so terribly needed and
wanted an alternative, any alternative at all
to sovietism.
All the free world's energy fn the cold war
had been spent either on containing Soviet
power or on encouraging aloofness from it, as
In neutralism. The representative cast of
characters in the cold war drama had not
been assembled; the restive peoples of the
U. S. S. R. had not been asked to choose. If
they were offered an alternative to straight
Soviet domination, how would they decide?
Like the millions who deserted to the Vlasov
cause in World War III The initiators of
Radio Liberation were determined to find out
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whether what they believed was true-that
many citizens of the U. S. S. R. would, even u
only by listening to foreign-originated and
forbidden broadcasts, take their chances on
freedom.
Out of this determination grew the Ameri-
can Committee for Liberation, with head-
quarters at 6 East 45th Street in New York.
AmComLib, as it quickly became known,
undertook two major efforts: First, to rally
the emigration from the U. S. S. R.; and;
second, to enable the emigration to speak
to its countrymen in the II. S. S. R.
plex preparation not encountered by the
ordinary broadcasting operation. The emi-
gration from the U. S. S. R., scattered over
many nations, had to be brought into co-
operation with the venture, in order to give
the broadcasts authority. The ablest emi-
gres in the writing and broadcasting fields
had to be located and teamed up as a station
stall in order to give the programs quality.
Negotiations had to be pursued with foreign
governments for the location of studio and
transmitter facilities on their soil.
Radio Liberation's effort has inevitably
appeared to parallel that of the old Free
Europe Committee, even though AmComLib
is and always has been a completely inde-
pendent venture and there is no duplication
of mission or effort in their respective ac-
tivities. The Free Europe Committee spon-
sored Radio Free Europe, which broadcasts
to the Eastern European satellites in their
languages, but not to the U. S. S. R. Am-
ComLib, however, is the sponsor of Radio
Liberation, which broadcasts to the peoples
of the U. S. S. R. in their many tongues.
RADIO LIHEaATION'S HACKERS TODAY
President of AmComLib is Howland H.
Sargeant, a well-known American public
servant and former Assistant. Secretary of
State for Public Affairs.
Mr. Sargeant is assisted by a small Ameri-
can staff of experts in Soviet affairs, broad-
casting, radio engineering, and administra-
tion.
The trustees of AmComLib represent a
spectrum of American business, scholarly
and professional interests. They include:
Mrs. Oscar Ahlgren, former president of the
American Federation of Women's Clubs;
John R. Burton, New York banker; William
Henry Chamberlin, author of Russia's Iron
Age, and other books on the Soviet Union,
contributor to the Wa11 Street Journal, and
other newspapers; Charles Edison, former
Secretary of the Navy and former Governor
of New Jersey; J. Peter Grace, chairman of
the board, W. R. Grace & Co.; Allen Grover,
vice president, Time, Inc.; H. J. Heinz II,
president, H. J. Heinz & Co.; Isaac Don
Levine, authority on Soviet affairs anal
author of the first major biography of Stalin;
Eugene Lyons, author of Assignment in
Utopia and Our Secret Allies, profound stud-
ies of the Soviet Union, and senior editor of
Reader's Digest; Dr. John W. Studebaker,
former United States Commissioner of Edu-
cation; Reginald T. Townsend, former vice
president and director of the advertising 8rm
of Lennen & Mitchell; William L. White, edi-
tor, author, and publisher of the Emporia
Gazette; Philip H. Willkie, president and
attorney of the Rushville (Ind.) National
Bank, onetime member of the Indiana Legis-
lature.
UNIVERSAL ~SD'PPORT FOR RADIO LIBERATION
To those who may wonder whether a posi-
tive American contribution to foreign af-
fairs is often only the work of a few dedicated e
individuals, without genuine backing from
the United States public, and especially
. without agreement from the thinking pub-
lic Sn most of the lion-Communist world's
countries, it may be heartening to know that
Radio Liberation has received wide support
from distinguished individuals from many
countries, not only the United States, but
from churchmen, teachers, scientists, labor
leaders, journalists, and statesmen every-
where.
United States Vice President RICHARD
NIxON and the United States Republican
floor leader in the Senate, WILLIAM F. $NOw-
LAND have spoken over Radio Liberation to
the peoples of the U. S. S. R.
So has Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt.
So have United States Gen. Omar Bradley,
Argentine publisher Alberto Gainza Paz, and
American publisher Bennett Cerf. Russian-
born Alexandra Tolstoy and many other well-
Liberation's microphones.
So has the chief of the British Labor Party,
Hugh Gaitskell.
Here are others, from many countries:
Andre Latond, France; Ahmed Ben Salah,
Tunisia; Mohammed A. Khatib, Pakistan;
Igor Gouzenko, U. S. S. R.-Canada; Henry
Peyre, France-IInited States of America;
Rene Fuelop-Miller, Hungary-United States
of America; Ignazio Silone, Italy; Albert
Gamus, France; Jacques Maritain, France-
United States of America; Eiler Jensen, Den-
mark; Robert Bothereau, France; Sir William
Lowther, Great Britain; W. H. Auden, Great
Britain-United States of America; T. Nishi-
maki, Japan; John T. Tettegah, Gold Coast;
Itallo Viglianese, Italy.
Harold Willis Dodds, president of Prince-
ton University; Henry T. Heald, former
chancellor of New York University, now
president of the Ford Foundation; George
N. Shuster, president of Hunter College:
Millicent C. McIntosh, president of Barnard
College; and many other outstanding Amer-
ican educators have addressed messages to
the peoples of the U. S. S. R. over Radio
Liberation.
Among the scientists who have spoken
over the- station are Vannevar Bush, Nobel
prize winner H. J. Muller (who worked at
Moscow University from 1933 to 1937); No-
bel prize winner Wendell M. Stanley; bridge
designer David B. Steinmann; biologist Con-
way Zirkie, aeronautical pioneer Igor
Sikorsky, and many more.
Among labor leaders whose voices have
been heard in the U. S. S. R. through Radio
Liberation are George Meany, president
AFL-CIO, Jacob Potofsky, of the Amalga-
mated Clothing Workers; David Dubinsky,
of the International Ladies' (}armertt Work-
ers' Union; Charles J. McGowan, president
of the Boilermakers, Blacksmiths, and Ship-
builders International; Walter Reuther, etc.
American writers whose messages have
been used by Radio Liberation are too
numerous to permit more than mere
sampling of their names: John Dos Passos,
Joseph Wood Krutch, and Lionel Trilling.
Among the American Journalists who have
endorsed Radio Liberation, David Lawrence
singled out the unique feature when he
wrote: "Unlike those broadcasting on other
projects which (in the U. S. S. R.) are rec-
ognized as 'foreign,' the speakers on Radio
Liberation use such terms as 'we Russians'
or 'we Ukrainians' and when they criticize
the Soviet system, they do it as members of
the family and fellow citizens-not as out-
siders."
Roscoe Drummond declared: "Radio Lib-
eration carries the story of freedom where
freedom is in chains. This group counts
itself the greatest possible friend of the
Russian people because it is 'dedicated to
the liberation of all mankind from the
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