PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE
By
Saul K Padover
Psychological Warfare first gaines“eurreney during World War
II and has been used since then, especially in connection with the
"gold war." Essentially, the tom covers the same ground as the
older word "propaganda" and dgseripes the current world-wide
practice of using words, iaéas and slogans as weapons against an
opponent. ‘The phrase "Payfchological Warfare" has not gained uni~
versal acceptance, The’ British, for example, prefer to use the
term "Political savas The Russians and the Communists in gene~
ra] use the simple jord "Propaganda" to deseribe their activities.
During the Presidential campaign of 1952, American Psychological
Warfare activities came in for a good deal of attention. deneral
Eisenhower évoted an important part of a speech toa criticism of
the need rae te Psychological Warfare program. In his
speech af San Franoiseo, General Eisenhower salds
"In 'cold war! we do not use an arsenal of arms and armaments.
Rather we use all means short of war to Lead men to believe in the
values that will preserve peace and freedom. ‘Our alm in 'eold War!
is not the conquest of territory or subjugation by force. Our adm
is more subtle, more pervasive, more complete."
General, Eisenhower ‘stressed the idea that effective Psychological
Warfare involved more than the mere use of words, "Many people,"
he said, "think ‘Psychological Warfare' means just the use of pros
paganda like the ‘controversial-Voice of America, Certainly, the use —
of propaganda...1s an essential part of winning other people ‘to your
side. But propaganda is not the most important part of this struggle."
ile pointed out that the world-wide Ldeologiead struggle required \
& proper coordination between actions and words, He advocated
a unified American strategy wherein all acts in the field of foreign
policy would be united and coordinated for the achievement of eare~
fully planned objectives, “Rvery significant act of Government,"
he said, "should be so timed and so directed at the prinetpal target.
and 80 related to other governmental actions that 1+ will produce
the maximum effect,"
Feeling that the Truman Administration had failed to coordinate
its polley and-had not been "able to grasp the full dmport ofa
psychological effort," General, Eisenhower, after hig eleotion in
; November, 1952, took steps which he hoped would correct the situation.
Early in January, 1953, ten days before hig inauguration, he appointed
W,C.Jackson. to head a Commission of inquiry into America's Psychological
Warfare program, The Jackson Commission's report to the President
is expected to lead to a reform in United States propaganda activi-
thes.
American Psychological Warfare practices and organizations
remained fundamentally unchanged in 1952, ‘The main propaganda
activities continued, as theretofore, to be carried out by the
Defense Department, the State Department, the Central IngeLligence
Ageney and, on a lesser seale, by the Mutual Seourity Administration.
Psyehi ‘te, 2: r » This Board, operating under the
National Security Council, was charged with the task of coordina»
ting the propaganda activities of the above-mentioned four agencies,
Its divector, appointed by Erewident Truman dn 1992 to sueseed Dr.
Raymond B,Allen, was Alan G.Kirk, former Ambassador to the Soviet
Union. The weap ate of the Board consisted of General Walter
Bedell Smith, chiet of the Central Intelligence Agendy (and at
present Président Eisenhower's Under-Seeretary of State); David
K.E.Byéee, Under-Secretary of State; and William ¢.Foster, Deputy
Dixéctor of the Department of Defense,
The Psychological Strategy Board suffered from three short
comings. Pirst, 1t had no power to order or direct any agency
to do what it considered necessary. Tt could only advise, Secondly,
“4% had neither a budget nor a staff with which to operate: Thirdly,
its component members occupied important administrative positions in
their respective departments and could not, therefore, give much time
ithe
)
or care to the Board. The members met with elite. at Lunch
every Thursday, but there is no indication that anything deaisive
was accomplished thereby. . Final decisions and actions remained, as
always, with the four. executive agencles acting more or less indepen-
dently.
Office of International Information. As-in-previous years, so
also in 1952 this Office (Orr); a part of ‘the Department of State,
‘was the most ‘ative and important Psychological Warfare ageney of
the United States Government. It constituted, indeed, the biggest
single division of the Department of State, employing nearly one«
fourth of State's personnel (9,200 ont of 38,800 employees) and
uging up about one=third of its budget. For fiseal 19535 Congress ‘
granted the Office of International Information $96 5173255.
OIT pursued its customary activities in 1952-along three main
lines: «~ those involving individuals, publications, and radio.
Educational Bxohange. The OII's Rdueational Exchange progran
continued to be one of the largest and perhaps most ambitious unders
takings of its kind ever attempted by any country. It involved the
interchange of students, scholars, artists, businessmen, journalists
and techniclans between the United States and foreign countries. of
the 35,000 foreign students studying in the United states in 1952,
2,800 did so at the expense of the State Department, These t.8,
Government=stipported students came from 65 nations, the largest
number of them from Germany. In 1952 there were 977 German students
in American colleges. Well over one thousand German nonestudents i
oe journalists, farmers, ‘labor leaders -~« also visited the United
States in 1952. At the same time 31 American teachers and 133:
|
leaders were sent to Germany. The total amount of money expended _
on this educational exchange program in 1952 was $4,500,000 -«- as
against $6,000,000 in 1951. ,
Publications, OI continued its publications program abroad,
although on a somewhat reduced seale. Its two most successful,
publications, both in German, were Der Monat and Die Neue Zeitung. {
Der Monat, as the name implies, 1s a monthly of the type of the
Atlantic or Harper's, containing highly intellectual and literary
articles and making its main appeal to students and the intellie .
gentsia in general, Among its contributors are some of Burope's
foremost anti-Communist writers, such as Koestler and Silone, There |
is an underground route through which Der Monat 1s being smuggled
_, into the Soviet zone of Germany, Die Neve Zeitung, subtitled "the
American Newspaper for Germany," is a highly respected datlys
‘Founded in 1945 goon after Hitler's defeat, Dhe Neve Zeitung has
always frankly reflected American policy and opinion, and at the
samo time knew how to speak to Germans, Recently, the University
of Muenster's Institute for the Seience of Journalism reported that
Die Neue Zeitung is the most frequently quoted dally newspaper in
Germany »
One of the serious Losses during 1992 has been Amerika, a Life-
type illustrated monthly magazine in the Russian language. “It wasy
es. fies & a “
'
by treaty agreement between Washington and Moscow, the only United
States publication permitted in the Soviet Unions Originally it
had an eagerly+bought cireulation of 0,000 but more and more
Amerika aiapleased the Kremlin, which put every hindrance in the
way of its circulation inside Russia, In December, 1952, the
State Department suspended Amerika, as well as a number of other
foreign publications, and thus the only printed American volee ‘in
the Soviet Union was unfortunately silenced,
Votoe of Ameriga. The Voice continued its operations i gga
without any serlous alterations of program or organization over
the previous year, Its budget was around $41,000,000 and it
broadeast, through its own ‘transmitters and. others leased abroady
in nearly 50 languages ‘all ever the world, including the tongues
spoken by relatively obscure Soviet minorities, Nobody elaimed
any partioular suecess for the Volee in 1952, Tt was subjeat to
the same criticism as in preceding years, namely lack of an
integrated and inspiring program and an ingufficient realization
of the needs and ideas of its world-wide Margot,” The only
innovation of the Voice was the setting up of a unit, with a budget
of $110,000, to work out a television program. It was estimated:
that there is a potential and growing audience of 12,500,000
television viewers in 17 foreign countries,
Korea. The U.S.Army's Psychological. Warfare Section of the
Far East Command waged its propaganda dampaign on the Koréan front
mainly with leaflets, although radio appeals were not ignored,
Thirteen U,S.radio transmitters, often operating fourteen hours daily,
were aotive on the Korean front. U.S planes and artillery dropped
more than 180,000,000 surrender and anti«morale leaflets over Chinese
and North Korean troops, there were well over 1,000 different varieties
of leaflets, hammering away at the basic theme that the Chinese and
North Koreans were being used and sacrificed for purely Russian inte«
rests. The aim of this tactical offensive, in the words of Goleds
Woodall Greene, chief of the Psychological Warfare Gection, was "Ke
deteriorate Communist fighting ability and lower their morale."
The Communists reacted with. the now=notorioug charge that the U.S.
had violated international law by using "Germ Warfare" in Korea, This
accusation was taken up by Communist propaganda throughout the worldy
including the United Nations, Photographs purporting to show germ’
bombs, infected insects and bacteria, all supposedly of dnerioan ‘origin,
were published in the Chinese and other Communist newspapers. A Com
muniet-appointed Commission of International Association of Demoeratie
Lawyers spent 16 days (March 3 to 19, 1952) in Korea and came out with
‘a "Report on War Crimes in Korea," accusing the U.d.of having used
“ghemical weapons and of having committed "massacres, murders and other
atrocities st
The free world, including the U.S,dovernment, vigorously denied
the charges, rejecting them almost with contempt as typical Comm-.
nist propaganda. It was pointed out that among the 8 members of the
Commission there was not one single solentist and not an individual
of shy standing, Scientists of world reputed rejected the Communist
charges on obvious sclentificetechnical grounds «= among others, for
example, that the photographs of the bacteria were fakes, that the
insects shown in Communist pictures were harmless ones, and that the
human flea (the supposed germebearing weapon) is rarely a disease
: carrier and ¢an be reaved in laboratories only with the utmost dif}
fieulty. .
viet Psychological Warfare, “Communist world-wide propaganda,
directed fran Moscow, was more active in 1992 than in 1951, - Under
the leaderstia of Peter Pospelov, a Marxist theoreticlan, the pro-
paganda war, aN
The main instrument of Soviet propaganda continued to be Agltpron,
the Agitation and Propaganda seotion of the Central Committea of the
Communist Party. Agitprop 1s dlreatly under the Polithure, which
rules the Soviet Union a ia makes policy for Gommunism throughout the
olally the "Hate America" campaign,was stepped up.
world.
AgdtPon and its satellites spent more than $1,400,000,000 on
"propaganda in 1952, A little over half of ‘that sum was expended on
domestic propaganda, $48,000,000 went for the training of propagan«
dists and agitators, $40,000,000 wae spent on books and pamphlets,
and the test was. somehow disbursed abroad, The training of Communist
agitators and organizers continued on a large scale, It is estimated
that in 1952 about 325,000 students were
ganda schools in the Soviet Union. In addi ‘Lonny three higher insti~
nrolied in Communist propa-
‘tutions gave special training to a select number of students, No
fewer than 64900 students were enrolled in the Wcademy of Social
SeLences and the Higher Party Sehool, each giving yfroe-your coursed,
and the Correspondence Department, conducting a nine-month QOUrSe»
The wha satellite countries, especially China, duplicated this exten-
give ohool system for the training of propagandists and agitators,
Abroad, the vast Communist propaganda apparatus operated with
fenewed vigor and efficiency. The Moscow spadlo continued Lis broad~
casts in 38 languages; it was rewenforeed by the transmitters of its
satellites in China, Poland, Czechoslovakia and other captured nations.
Soviet fllms were shown to millions se people in all parts of the
world. Communist magazines, ee and books kept pouring out in
',@ steady stream in numerous langydges. In crucial countries such as
India, nearly 90% of the Literate population bought and read welle
printed and low-priced Communsist magazines like the weekly Seviet
Union, the fortnightly New Mmes, thé monthly Soviet Literature, and
the bimonthly Soviet Homan’ Lenin's Selected Works, a book of 600
wolleprinted and welL~boyina pages,could be bought for the equivalent
of 40 cents in India. An Bombay one bookshop sold, in a period of
‘a ‘s .
6 months, 30,000 sopiés of Stalin's biography, published by Moscow's
sett a Nipple Institute. "Books on communism," one report quoted
ombay y
from, sim
Books ‘on dsnioargey and from the free wordy on the other hand, ane were
"are jhe cheapest political writings available in ‘ridia."
omenaive and hard to obtain throughout Asda,
f
the maith ph snore of ‘this enormous flood of Communist propaganda
all over/' the globe tx/not primarily to win gonverts or party members.
rt wag/pethor, acdording to a report from Washington, “to persuade
\ Gonfined mainly to information about Britain.
‘in the flelds of culture and education,
#10-
people to ‘think shout problems asthe Soviet Union would iike then
to, and oe tae that will promote Soviet aims."
In 1992, the free world was still on the defensive in the face
of the SovietCommnist psychological offensive against it. Lon+
don's operations (BBC and the British Couneil) were, as usual,
“The French (Radiow
diffusion Francaise) pursued their. customary foreign sotivities
Radio Free Europe, a prix
vately supported agency with headquarters in the U.S.but operating
largely out of Munioh, did effective work, but it was limited only
to the satellites, such as Czechoslovakia and Hungary.
Secretary of State Dulles has eitovenave
his sorirsabden that an effective american Psychological Warfare
in a
strategy could stip up enough anti«Communist sentiment in the satele
lite countries to shake Soviet strength and help to throw Moscow on
the defensive, :
