The Early Years of Radio Liberty, 1953–60

Abstract

One of the differences between British and American propaganda efforts was the centrality of private-public partnerships to US propaganda operations. Among the most famous of these were the Congress of Cultural Freedom, Radio Free Europe (RFE), and Radio Liberation/Radio Liberty (RL), all of which were part the CIA’s “liberal conspiracy” launched by the Office of Policy Coordination (OPC) under the leadership of Frank Wisner.¹ As noted in Chapter 2, Britain’s Cultural Relations Department (CRD) and the IRD did foster public-private anti-Communist organizations but these operations were never central to British propaganda strategy. In the US an entire division of the CIA, the International Organization Division (IOD), which was formed after OPC propaganda operations were brought under the control of the CIA in 1952, was devoted to gray propaganda operations. These operations were designed to influence European intelligentsia on both sides of the Iron Curtain.²