REACHING THE EUROPEANS THROUGH PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP83M00914R002100110003-8
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 24, 2008
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: March 2, 1982
• Content Type: MEMO

Approved For Release 2008/06/24: CIA-RDP83M00914R002100110003-8
t.uivr ilir'iv.rlAL
MEMORANDUM FOR: THE PRESIDENT
MAR 2 1984
FROM : Charles Z. Wick
Director
SUBJECT Reaching the Europeans
Through Public Diplomacy
During my travels. in Europe I was impressed by
the progress made in gaining European public
understanding of U.S.. policies. However, we
need to do more through public diplomacy. High
on the list of European concerns are the arms
race and the economy. All too often your words
and other U.S. policy statements reach European
audiences in distorted'form after instant analy-
sis by media commentators here and abroad.
A significant exception was your November 18
speech on arms reduction for peace. That
speech, which ICA satellited directly to Europe,
told the Europeans exactly what they wanted to
hear and met with near unanimous approval.
Your upcoming trip to Europe presents opportuni-
ties to add momentum to your peace initiative.
The points you made on November 18, and others,
need to be reiterated to those Europeans who
remain dubious, poorly informed 'and fearful
about U.S. policies.-'At the same time, the
importance of fostering and. preserving unified
Western actions in opposition to the repression
in Poland and Afghanistan should be stressed.,
While building up an adequate. Western defense
against the Soviet threat, the United States
must keep talking peace to reassure our Allies,
muster support for our positions, and energize,
other Western governments to make better efforts
in public diplomacy3 especially with the suc-
cessor generation.,
State Dept. review completed.
Charles Z. Wick
GDS
March 2,.1988
Approved For Release 2008/06/24: CIA-RDP83M00914R002100110003-8
 Approved For Release 2008/06/24: CIA-RDP83M00914R002100110003-8
CONFIDENTIAL
(2)
Following are three specific recommendations for
you to build on your November initiative.
RECOMMENDATION 1
----INTERVIEWS WITH-KEY-PRINT AND TELEVISION
CORRESPONDENTS FROM THE COUNTRIES YOU WILL
VISIT.
To set the scene for. your trip and to reach
Europeans directly without passing through the
filter of media commentators, I recommend your
granting here in Washington in mid-April a half-
hour to forty-five minute interview to a group
of four senior correspondents from Italy (I1
Tem o), Great Britain (The Economist), France
(Le Monde) and the Federal Republic (Die Welt).
The specific topics for discussion .(the economy,
arms control, the Atlantic Alliance, East-West
relations and U.S. Policy in Central America)
should be agreed upon in advance. In addition
it will be requested that each journalist submit
his questions in advance.
A second half-hour interview with senior tele-
vision correspondents from the same countries
should be taped for broadcast just prior to your
trip. Each journalist's questions will be sub-
mitted in advance.
RECOMMENDATION 2
A MAJOR FOREIGN POLICY SPEECH-IN LONDON ON
THE SUBJECT OF PEACE AND SHARED WESTERN
VALUES
4t an appropriate historical site in London you
should deliver a major policy address on U.S.-
European relations before a substantial and sym-
pathetic audience. Such a major address, care-
fully focused on two or three basic themes,
would have great weight and resonance.
CONF fD ENT IAL
Approved For Release 2008/06/24: CIA-RDP83M00914R002100110003-8
 Approved For Release 2008/06/24: CIA-RDP83M00914R002100110003-8
%.vlvr 1LGVd1 .LL U
(3)
The timbre of your voice, the quality of your
body movements in combination with an overall
aura that you generate, communicates' an inner
warmth and sincerity which is truly confidence
building. There is very little lost despite a
simultaneous translation of your words and/or
subtitles. Your speech would be televised live
in the U.K. and throughout Europe.
The overall theme for such an address should be
our ardent desire and search for peace. While
it is important to make the point about the need
for adequate defense to guarantee peace, we must
not lose ground to the Soviets, who hammer away
at the peace theme while steadily and quietly
beefing up their forces.
The U.S. has, perhaps, spoken too loudly about
the need for nuclear force modernization, defen-
sive chemical weaponry and arms increases. The
emphasis on arms has tended to drown out our
peace-seeking voice, which is the one the
Europeans most want to hear.
In this speech you might challenge the Soviets
to a "Race for Peace" instead of a race for
war. After all, the United States represents
the real "peace movement". We seek to conquer
no territory and are willing to discuss genuine
arms control and reduction.
For this "Race for Peace" to be effective, how-
ever, the Soviets need to go beyond their empty
rhetoric and begin to demonstrate more re-
strained international conduct. They must not
be permitted, through their propaganda, to
undermine the sound and proven values uniting
the free world.
A second important theme is the bond of shared
values which unites the Western democracies.
individual liberty and the freedom of self -ex-
pression'are cherished rights which we and our
CONFIDENTIAL
Approved For Release 2008/06/24: CIA-RDP83M00914R002100110003-8
 Approved For Release 2008/06/24: CIA-RDP83M00914R002100110003-8
CON?' TENTIAL
(4)
forefathers earned through sacrifice and dedica-
tion. Continued vigilance is required to pro-
tect these rights, which we must not take for
granted. At the same time we-cannot stand
mutely by when other people and nations, as
close-as Poland and Afghanistan and as far away
as Kampuchea, struggle for their human rights
and national independence. This therne'would_be
particularly relevant to the 'successor genera-
tion" of Europeans who did not experience the
carnage of World War II.
RECOMMENDATION 3
TRIBUTE TO THE MARSHALL PLAN AND REMARKS ON
THE NEED FOR JOINT EFFORTS TO OVERCOME OUR
ECONOMIC DIFFICULTIES.
While in Paris on June 5, the 35th anniversary
of the Marshall Plan, we recommend you visit the
headquarters of the OECD, which is a direct and
lasting outgrowth of the European Recovery
Plan. This would be a highly appropriate site
for positive remarks by you recalling joint
European-American achievements under the
Marshall Plan and stressing the need to rededi-
cate ourselves to the principles of cooperation,
hard work and determination in meeting the eco-
nomaic challenges of today.
The mutual benefits which we and.the Europeans
derived from the Marshall Plan should serve as
an example to us of the wisdom..of--joint"endeav-
ors by nations which share the same basic prin-
_.ciples -and 'love of freedom.
This tribute to the Marshall.Plan would'serve
two useful purposes. It woulb rewind older
Europeans of our successful common efforts to
reconstruct war-torn Europe and inform younger
Europeans.about the post-war recovery period, an
era with which many of then are unfamiliar.
Approved For Release 2008/06/24: CIA-RDP83M00914R002100110003-8