COMMUNICATIONS AND THE NATIONAL FUTURE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01365R000100360001-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 16
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 17, 2013
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: June 10, 1960
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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COMMUNICATIONS AND THE NATIONAL FUTURE
by
Donald H. McGannon
Liberty Bell Award
The Television and Radio Advertising
Club of Philadelphia
June 10, 1960
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.i..aoerry .tsen .awara
TRAC - June 10, 1960
Bob Pryor and other officers of The Television and
Radio Advertising Club of Philadelphia, honored guests, friends
of broadcasting and advertising:
It is difficult for me to express to you adequately
the great feeling of warmth and pride that Westinghouse Broad-
casting Company enjoys as a result of the honor you've conferred
upon us today. It is superfluous for me to point out the close
feeling we have for Philadelphia as a community. We welcome
this occasion as the chance to renew old acquaintances and make
new friends. What you have done has justified everything we
undertook over the past several years. Obviously, my involvement
is a limited one and I share the honor at this moment with the other
members of the management of WBC and its stations.
The past several months have held so much for broad-
casting and the related industry of advertising that it seems that
every statement uttered has related in some measure to these
far-reaching and important happenings. Virtually every important
point of view has been expressed and I hardly consider myself
qualified to add anything new for you in this connection.
I'd like to talk to you today not about where we have been but
perhaps in the context of where we are going -- where we are
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i..aDerty zen. Award
TRAC - June 10, 1960 2.
going in areas of opportunity over the next several years.
A highly respected national magazine -- LIFE -- and
the equally respected NEW YORK TIMES, are currently distributing
an editorial series in which many leading Americans are featured,
commenting upon our National Purpose. I assume most of you
have come across these outstanding articles. I have had occasion
to study them and have been impressed. In fact, WBC has under-
taken to have these articles by prominent Americans reduced to
a radio program using the voices of these same people. As you
know, they include Archibald MacLeish, David Sarnoff, Adlai
Stevenson, Jim Reston, John Jessup, and others. I would like to
address myself to this series.
The premise upon which these articles are based is,
in effect, an inquiry into whether or not we, in this country, have
lost sight of the objectives which once lead us to create the greatest
haven for free men in the history of man. More importantly, the
articles query as to whether we have, in fact, lost the delineation
'of a purpose, goal, or objective. As the opening article indicated,
in quoting Walter Lippmann:
"The critical weakness of our society is that for the time
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TRAC - June 10, 1960 3.
being our people do not have great purposes which they are
united in wanting to achieve. The public mood of the country is
defensive, to hold on and to conserve, not to push forward and
to create. We talk about ourselves as if we were a completed
society, one which has achieved its purposes, and has no further
great business to transact...."
It is obvious to all of us, I am sure, that the Soviets
have created a vital industrial, economic, and social system,
however much we may deplore their political methods. They
have kept it going at a rapid pace not alone through dictatorial
control exercised by the State under the Communist system, but
by taking advantage of the fact that they are engaged in a new
pursuit and possess a strong sense of nationalism and national
purpose. It was in an effort born of freedom but similar in its
vigor to the Soviet's that some years ago we fought our way
back through a revolution to cast off the controls of monarchical
rule. Thus were we engaged in this very city two centuries ago
when our nation's leaders at that time drafted the basic document
that spelled out the American pattern of liberty.
Having struggled through the intervening generations
with great spirit and greater energy, to the summit among nations,
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TRAC - June 10, 1960 4.
the question today is do we find ourselves content to rest and con-
template, in utter complacency, the struggle of others and thereby
perhaps dissipate the very spirit that brought us, as a nation, to
this greatness. These, generally, are the questions that are being
posed in this printed series ... and I believe the management of
LIFE and THE NEW YORK TIMES should be congratulated for
focusing the attention of their readership on these questions.
Today, at this meeting, and in no effort to hold myself
forth as an expert in these complex areas involving a national
conscience, I would like to talk with you as a communicator
about the responsibilities we have to the public of this nation
and thus to ourselves to examine more closely what might be
the peril in a potential national lethargy. It might be appropriate
that we study this matter with some intensity in a form that is
devoted to the Liberty Bell itself and which is the keynote of
this meeting.
The recent weeks have seen events and happenings that
are without precedent in diplomacy. The import and impact of
these have yet to be precisely determined. Whether the gyrations
of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Soviet
Socialist Republic in these events are in fact manifestations of
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TRAC - June 10, 1960 5.
internal Russian politics, or whether they are mere boasts in the
power-play struggle for control of the sensitive Berlin situation,
or whether, in fact, they portend the ultimate unleashing of atomic
forces that will annihilate much of mankind, are beyond our ability
to ascertain. Certainly the U-2 and the role it played in this
recent situation demonstrates clearly the seriousness of the
international problem this country faces in the area of propaganda.
It is a proud fact that the medium of radio was the device by which
the captive peoples of Central and Eastern Europe were told our
side of the story through the facilities of Radio Free Europe and
Voice of America. It is equally significant to observe the phenomenal
and homogeneous reaction of our public to President Eisenhower's
action and demeanor at the Summit meeting.
But I am concerned -- I am concerned that now that the
actual activities are concluded we have as a nation gone back to a
sedentary posture. I am concerned that perhaps we are so
constituted as human beings in this country and in other free
countries throughout the world that there must be heard the clear
sound of gunfire before we respond to the imminence of danger.
Are we ? as communicators -- doing enough to clarify, to
balance, and to present for the people of our countries, the great
issues that exist between statism and democracy? To be specific,
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Liberty Bell Award
TRAC - June 10, 1960 6.
if we have brought -- if we could bring to the citizens of this
nation a realistic appreciation of the U-2 and the Summit situations,
then an important contribution would be achieved in the area of
public awareness and, hopefully, response. This right, this need,
this obligation, to inform and be informed, springs from the basic
document written in this city almost two hundred years ago. I
was re-reading the other day the Bill of Rights and some of the
history concerning its adoption. These Rights were spelled out as
amendments because there was wide disturbance among our nation's
leaders and citizens in those days that the Constitution itself,
without such limiting language as the Rights express in certain
areas, might permit authoritarian control by the government.
As a matter of fact, the Preamble to the Resolution offering the
proposed amendments by Congress stated:
"The conventions of a number of the states having
at the time of their adopting the Constitution,
expressed a desire, in order to prevent miscon-
struction or abuse of its powers, that further
declaratory and restrictive clauses should be
added, and as extending the ground of public
confidence in the government will best insure the
beneficent ends of its institution, be it resolved...."
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Liberty Bell Award
TRAC - June 10, 1960 7.
This Bill of Rights consisted of ten amendments dealing
with the very basic considerations of protecting the people against
such centralized control as is represented in the Communist
philosophy today and has been seen in our own lifetime in the
Fascist states as well. It is interesting to note the total number
of words in these ten articles is 462. And a similarly important
document -- the Gettysburg Address -- contained but 271 words.
It would seem almost that democracy as we conceive it is best
explained and is best expressed when treated with brevity.
Without this Bill of Rights and its limitations that in
turn are placed on our Governors, there would be little to stand
between our form of government and the possibility of the emergen ce
of a dictatorship within our own nation.
But one sometimes wonders whether the complexities
that surround our current economic and social growth have, in
fact, taken on the form of an Iron Curtain of our own in which our
conscious minds no longer comprehend the fundamental values of
these original concepts. And it is possible that we've become so
desperately entangled in the complications of daily living in a highl y
organized society that the simple truths have vanished from our
vision.
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Liberty Bell Award
TRAC - June 10, 1960 8.
Civilization has been called, "The victory of persuasion
over force." One of the most skilled professional pursuits in
the American way of life today is advertising. In a period of
less than 100 years, the advertising man has become a symbol
of salesmanship and he is a central figure in the whole panorama
of our society.
His business is persuasion.
It is his purpose and objective to devise means through
words and pictures to persuade vast numbers of people to act in
purchasing goods or services or in adopting ideas.
But what is the most saleable product that America has
today to sell ? what is the most significant ingredient of our?
society in the second half of this century? It is truth.
And the greatest single truth in America today is the
fact of freedom -- that it does exist in the absence of oppression,
that we are a nation under law and that individually we may aspire
to greater heights and seek them upon our own initiative. If
that truth goes by default ? is lost either to the invasion of a
conflicting ideology -- or, more aptly, through the erosion of
neglect, it can be no fault other than that of the people themselves,
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Liberty Bell Award
TRAC - June 10, 1960 9.
who created the opportunity for freedom in the first place.
Every socialistic approach, whether obviously or overtly made,
finally gets around to basing its theories on some concept of
individual security above all other factors. In our country
today, security is the one major element in our day-to-day
search for happiness. This, strangely enough, was of rather
minor concern to those who fought in the War of Independence.
This flows from the fact that there was something more
important than security -- that was (and is) this freedom
which is the keystone of democracy.
We in broadcasting during the past year have had an
opportunity to prove that we hold security more dear than we
do basic rights that are guaranteed to us in the charter of our
system of living. We have permitted, without aggressive
defense, manypeople to excoriate us publicly in a campaign
based upon limited evidence of shortcomings or indiscretions.
To me, the most disturbing aspect of this hell-fire
that we have been getting from numerous sources is not alone
implicit in the wrongdoing which has been acknowledged, and
I believe corrected, but in the attitude of "sweet surrender"
with which most of the industry has accepted such public condemnation.
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.1..a.uerty .ftwara
TRAC - June 10, 1960 10.
I mention all of this here today and before you men and
women because it is my conviction that, if we are willing to
undertake the task, the American broadcasting industry can
take up an elusive but vital challenge of restating the fundamentals
which many believe we have forgotten or at least neglected.
Through the combination of the creative talents available in
advertising and those available in broadcasting, we could mount
on commercial radio and television a veritable campaign,
educational in its design, but fully appealing in its content,
that would re-assert in this period of history when ideals are
most surely needed, the basic qualities of the American national
character and creed.
Perhaps there is no better time to undertake such a
task then during this critical election year when some of these
issues are so difficult to define. How we go about doing this in
our individual ways is not as important as is the firm resolution
to do something. The areas of action are many. For example,
this past week, the President of our country, in addressing the
graduates at Notre Dame University, uttered remarks that I
believe will be among the most significant of his public life.
Some of these remarks -- which I will quote in a moment --
represent great leadership and pointing of the way not just to
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y w ct?L-
TRAC - June 10, 1960 11.
that small handful of graduates receiving their degrees in South
Bend but, hopefully, also to the mass of this great country.
The President was talking about the American attitude toward
politics. He pointed out that over a long period the view was
developed that political life is somewhat degrading and that
politics is primarily a contest with the spoils to the victor and
the public paying the bill. The President acknowledges some
justification to this during periods of our history and in certain
local situations, but decries the fact that our most highly
talented people have, as a result, refrained from entering
into public life because of these factors.
Let me now quote liberally from President Eisenhower's
Notre Dame address last Sunday:
. But times have changed, and the change includes
the character of government. The first major party platform
drafted in 1840 required only 500 words; in the last national
election each major party used over 15,000 words to deal with
the highlights of the principal issues. This thirty-fold growth in
political platforms is illustrative of the increase of governmental
influence over all our lives.
"The need for the best talent in positions of political
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EICLL riwara
TRAC - June 10, 1960 12.
responsibility is not only great, but mounts with each stroke of
history's clock.
"A few years ago government represented only a small
fraction of the total national activity. Today, to support our
national, state and local governments, and to finance our
international undertakings, almost one-fourth of the total
national income is collected in taxes. In every phase of life,
government increasingly affects us -- our environment, our
opportunities, our health, our education, our general welfare.
"Government is, of course, necessary, but it is not
the mainspring of progress. In the private sector of American
life, commanding as it does the productive efforts of our citizens,
is found the true source of our nation's vitality. Government is
not of itself a part of our productive machinery. Consequently,
it s size, its growth, its operations can be justified only by
demonstrated need. 11 too dominant, if too large, its effect
is both burdensome and stifling.
"Only an informed and alert citizenry can make the
necessary judgments as to the character and degree of that
need...."
And further in the speech the following:
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i_auerty Ii.wara
TRAC - June 10, 1960 13.
H....Though we recognize this vast change -- and though
most persons in public office are selfless, devoted people -- we are
still plagued by yesterday's concept of politics and politicians.
"Too many of our ablest citizens draw back, evidently
fearful of being sullied in the broiling activity of partisan affairs.
"This must change. We need intelligent, creative,
steady political leadership as at no time before in our history.
There must be more talent in government -- the best our nation
affords. We need it in county, city, state and Washington.
"Human progress in freedom is not something inscribed
upon a tablet ? not a matter to be shrugged off as a worry to
others. Progress in freedom demands from each citizen a daily
exercise of the will and spirit, and a fierce faith; it must not be
stagnated by a philosophy of collectivity that vainly seeks personal
security as a prime objective...."
Here, dramatically, we have had set forth before us
an opportunity of national dimension and importance to engage us
as people but more importantly to engage us as broadcasters. As
people, we must subscribe to the idea that conviction in this world
today is more important than comfort, that free enterprise itself is
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Laderty Zen. Award
TRAC - June 10, 1960 14.
a product of freedom not alone measurable in material resources
but strongly oriented and related to the spirit of rugged endeavor
which made this nation what it is today.
It was Lincoln who said, "If destruction be our lot, we
ourselves must be its author...."
By the same token, through intelligent and constructive
use of the vast talent and facilities available to us, we can help
immeasurably in further vitalizing this nation, in re-emphasizing
the verities of spiritual and social wellsprings, and in re-echoing
the words of wisdom left to us by the men and women who made these
gifts possible. It was Goethe who said, "There appears to be a
correlation between affirmation and the rise of nations, between
negation and their decline."
In such a direction lies the greatest and most abundant
opportunity offered to those of us privileged to be in this dynamic
field of communications. If we grasp the opportunity and do
something about it, the impact upon the future of our country is
almost without comprehension .... and to us will be the greatest
reward of all -- the satisfaction of having served others.
P ragmatically, in such knowledge and in such action now and in
the future, we will be united and militant in the defense of the free
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i_auerty Deiits.wa.ra
TRAC - June 10, 1960 15.
concept of broadcasting in the United States which, after all, is
the defense of the freedom of the people themselves.
This is the challenge -- it is one of many.
This is the opportunity -- it is but one of a score.
Through such efforts and undertakings can broadcasting
and advertising achieve heights and dimensions hitherto unknown
and insure its unfettered and respected position within the society
of our times and of the future.
Thank you.
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