**
**VOA HISTORY**
In 1939, the American playwright Robert Sherwood, who would become aspeechwriter for President Franklin Roosevelt and later, the "father ofthe Voice of America," predicted theimpact of international broadcasting when he said:
"We are living in an age when communication has achieved fabulous importance.There is a new decisive force in the human race, more powerful than allthe tyrants. It is the force of massed thought-thought which has been provokedby words, strongly spoken."
In that year, the United States was the only world power without a government-sponsoredinternational radio service. The Netherlands had been the first countryto direct regularly-scheduled broadcasts beyond its own borders, inauguratingshortwave programming to the Far East in 1927. Seeing radio as an instrumentof foreign policy, the Soviet Union built a radio center in Moscow andwas broadcasting in 50 languages and dialects by the end of 1930. Italyand Great Britain started their respective "empire services" in 1932, followedby France the next year. Nazi Germany built a massive network of transmittersin 1933 and began to beam hostile propaganda into Austria. The same yearBerlin started shortwave broadcasts to Latin America. Meanwhile, Japanwas using radio to promote its national ambitions in the Far East.
Despite the efforts of many prominent figures, including New York CongressmanEmmanuel Celler (who introduced bills in 1937, 1938, and 1939 to createa government station that could respond to German propaganda), the UnitedStates entered the 1940s with no plans to establish an official U.S. presenceon the international airwaves. The United States' shortwave resources consistedof just over a dozen low-powered, commercially owned and operated transmitters.
In 1941, several of these private transmitters were leased by the U.S.Coordinator for Inter-American Affairs (CIAA) to broadcast to Latin America.In mid-1941, President Roosevelt established the U.S. Foreign InformationService (FIS) and named speechwriter Sherwood as its first director. Drivenby his belief in the power of ideas and the need to communicate America'sviews abroad. Sherwood rented space for his headquarters in New York City,recruited a staff of journalists, and began producing material for broadcastto Europe by the privately-owned American shortwave stations. Sherwoodalso talked with officials in London about the prospect for relaying FISmaterial over the facilities of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
With Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and Germany's declaration of waragainst the United States, Sherwood moved into high gear. He asked JohnHouseman, the theatrical producer, author, and director, to take chargeof FIS radio operations in New York City.
In December 1941, FIS made its first direct broadcasts to Asia froma studio in San Francisco. On February 24, 1942--just 79 days after theUnited States entered World War II--FIS beamed its first broadcast to Europevia BBC medium- and long-wave transmitters. Announcer William Harlan Haleopened the German-language program with the words: "Here speaks a voicefrom America." The name took hold, and within a few months, it became thesignature introduction on all Foreign Information Service broadcasts. Fromthat moment, America had found its "voice" abroad. 
**LET THE TRUTH BE TOLD**
From the beginning, VOA promised totell its listeners the truth, regardless of whether the news was good orbad. As John Houseman said later, "In reality, we had little choice. Inevitablythe news that the Voice of America would carry to the world in the firsthalf of 1942 was almost all bad. As Japanese invasions followed one anotherwith sickening regularity and the Nazi armies moved ever deeper into Russiaand the Near East, we would have to report our reverses without weaseling.Only thus could we establish a reputation for honesty which we hoped wouldpay off on that distant but inevitable day when we would start reportingour own invasions and victories."
By June 1942, VOA was growing rapidlyand had a new organizational home--the Office of War Information (OWI).Twenty-three transmitters had been constructed and 27 language serviceswere on the air when the Allied summit took place in Casablanca. 
**THE POST-WAR BLUES**
As the war drew to a close, however, many of VOA'sbroadcast services were reduced or eliminated. Then in late 1945, a StateDepartment-appointed committee of private citizens chaired by ColumbiaUniversity professor Arthur McMahon advised that the U.S. Government couldnot be "indifferent to the ways in which our society is portrayed to othercountries." Consequently, on December 31, 1945, the VOA'sand CIAA's broadcast services to Latin America were transferred to theDepartment of State, and Congress reluctantly appropriated funds for theircontinued operation in 1946 and 1947.
The reluctant support for international broadcasting disappeared in1948. That year, members of Congress were heavily influenced by the escalationof the Cold War and hostile international broadcasting by the Soviet Unionand Soviet-controlled countries. The Berlin Blockade in 1948 confirmedthe need for an American radio voice to the world. The enactment of theSmith-Mundt Act that year permanently established America's internationalinformational and cultural exchange programs, a function VOAhad already been carrying out for the past six years on its own. 
**A VOICE OF FREEDOM OR FEAR**
For the next two years, officials in the U.S. Government debated theproper role of America's official international broadcasting service. Wasit to report the news and reflect America, or was it to be used as an instrumentof U.S. foreign policy and as a "weapon" against the Soviet Union? Congresssaw it increasingly as fulfilling the latter role. With the outbreak ofthe Korean War in 1950, VOA added newlanguage services and developed plans to construct transmitter complexeson both the east and west coasts of the United States.
In early 1953, Senator Joseph McCarthy chaired several weeks of hearingsto investigate programming and engineering practices at VOAand allegations that there were "subversives on the staff guilty of negligencefavoring communism." The inquiry also examined management practices andplans to build new VOA transmitters.While the charges of subversive activity were never proven, widespreaddismissals and resignations followed. In the wake of the congressionalhearings, VOA's budget was reduced, thetransmitter construction program was halted and a number of language serviceswere terminated. 
**A NEW BEGINNING**
Even before the McCarthy hearings ended, however, a commission appointedby President Eisenhower had begun a review of U.S. foreign informationactivities, including the Voice of America.The commission, chaired by former President Herbert Hoover, concluded thatthese programs should be separated from the Department of State. On August1, 1953, the United States Information Agency was established, and VOAbecame its single largest element. A year later, VOAmoved its headquarters from New York City to its present site on IndependenceAvenue, S.W., not far from the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC.
The crises in Hungary and Suez, the beginnings of American-Soviet summitryand the dawning of the space age in the late 1950s and the early 1960soffered new opportunities for VOA toprovide reliable and comprehensive reporting of world events. New and creativeprogramming reflecting America was introduced. In 1959, VOAinaugurated Special English-slow-paced,simplified English broadcasts-to facilitate comprehension for millionsof listeners. 
**THE STAMP OF APPROVAL**
In 1960, USIA Director George Allen endorsed the VOA Charter that hadbeen drafted by VOA staff members between1958 and 1959 to put in writing a formal statement of principles that wouldgovern VOA broadcasts. It reads:
*The long-range interests of the United Statesare served by communicating directly with the peoples of the world by radio.To be effective, the Voice of America must win the attention and respectof listeners. These principles will therefore govern Voice of America (VOA)broadcasts.*
*(1) VOA will serve as a consistently reliable and authoritative sourceof news. VOA news will be accurate, objective and comprehensive.*
*(2) VOA will represent America, not any single segment of Americansociety, and will therefore present a balanced and comprehensive projectionof significant American thought and institutions.*
*(3) VOA will present the policies of the United States clearly andeffectively, and will also present responsible discussions and opinionon these policies.*
In July 1976, Representative Bela Abzug and Senator Charles Percy sponsoredlegislation making the VOA Charter Public Law 94-350. President GeraldFord signed the legislation on July 12, 1976. 
**ACCEPTING THE CHALLENGE**
A complete roster of the men and women who formed and nourished theVoiceof America in its infancy, John Houseman recalled, "would reveal acollection of U.S.-born and foreign luminaries in their various fields-journalists,publishers, executives, actors, directors, economists, philosophers, poets,artists, musicians, educators, and financiers--of such celebrity in theirpast and future lives that it is almost impossible to believe they wereall ever assembled under one 'roof.'"
Twenty-five years later, former Director John Chancellor wrote, "There'sa peculiar sort of ramshackle excellence about the Voice of America. Icame to work there with the standard conceptions and misconceptions ofan outsider. I did think of it as a calm and dignified group of broadcasters.To my surprise, I found that I had misjudged the spirit-indeed, the clamor-thatexists inside the Voice. It was like walking into a stately building tofind the residents holding up the walls with broomsticks while carryingon a terrific argument. There is a fine, antic sense of madness about theplace and after a year and a half of taking my turn at the broomstick,I view the Voice and its employees with a feeling of pride and affection."He continued, "They are, to a remarkable degree, people of spirit and intelligence,whose passion is to represent the United States in the best possible manner." 
**GETTING DOWN TO BUSINESS**
In the 1960s and 1970s, VOA took giantsteps toward becoming the world's leading international broadcaster. Duringthe tenure of Director Henry Loomis from 1958 to 1965, the VOACharter was written, and technical facilities and programming for everypart of the world were expanded.
When NBC newsman John Chancellor took up the reins in 1965, he promisedthat VOA broadcasts "would swing a little."VOA began to produce livelier and more creative programs in both Englishand its language broadcasts. News-gathering resources were increased, makingpossible more live, on-the-scene reporting. In 1969, when Neil Armstrongset foot on the moon, nearly 800 million people were tuned to the Voiceor to the hundreds of stations around the world that were relaying VOA'slive coverage. In 1977, VOA became the first international broadcasterto use a full-time satellite circuit to deliver programming from its ownstudios to an overseas relay station-in this case, the VOA Arabic programsfrom Washington to the Voice transmitters on the Greek island of Rhodes.
During Kenneth Giddens' tenure as director from 1969 to 1977, the longestof any VOA director, VOA dramaticallyenhanced its credibility through its straightforward reporting of two eventsthat traumatized the nation--the war in Vietnam and the constitutionalcrises posed by Watergate. VOA's reporting not only drew praise from theAmerican press, but also from listeners in every part of the world, astens of thousands wrote to express their admiration for VOA's comprehensiveand objective coverage.
The cessation of Soviet and Soviet-bloc jamming, which took place throughoutthe Cold War; an expanding audience in China; and the introduction of newand expanded programming for listeners in Iran, Afghanistan, and Polandwere opening up vast new audiences for VOA.As Giddens had predicted, however, VOA's potential to reach an ever-increasingnumber of the world's citizens was being handicapped by insufficient resources.As the 1970s came to an end, the gap between VOA's extensive programmingrequirements and the level of funding had led to serious deficiencies inboth personnel and facilities. Almost every language service was short-staffed.It was not unusual to find translator-announcers working two and threeweeks without a day off. VOA's antiquatedstudios and master control complex were breaking down with increasing frequencydespite the best efforts of a dedicated technical staff skilled in fabricatingspare parts no longer manufactured.
Listeners in many parts of the world were complaining that VOAsignals sounded weak and distorted. By the early 1980s, many VOA transmitterswere more than thirty years old and some were over forty. Few were capableof producing the 500,000-watt signals being generated by VOA's leadingcompetitors. And the competition itself was increasing. In the mid-1980s,some 160 stations were crowding the international spectrum with upwardsof 25,000 hours of programming a week. 
**NO BETTER TIME THAN THE PRESENT**
In 1983, VOA launched a $1.3 billion program to rebuild and modernizeVOAprogramming and technical capabilities. However, due to government-widebudget constraints at the time, VOA was forced to reduce the funds devotedto this project. Despite less funding, major new and upgraded radio transmissionfacilities were completed in Botswana, Morocco, Thailand, Kuwait, and SaoTome over the next several years. In Washington, nineteen "state-of-the-art"studios were constructed, a new Master Control complex was installed anda Network Control Center was built to coordinate and direct VOA'sdomestic and overseas relay transmitter stations.
In 1985, Congress established a special service to Cuba known as RadioMarti, which broadcast news of that country. Although Radio Marti followedVOA editorial guidelines, it operated separately from the Voice and hadits own Washington studios. A television service, TV Marti, went on theair in 1990, and in 1996, Radio and TV Marti beganto transfer their operations to Miami. The move was completed in 1998.
VOAMandarinand Cantonese broadcasts were increasedin 1989 to bring tens, and perhaps hundreds, of millions of Chinese listenersaccurate reports of the pro-democracy movement that filled Beijing's TiananmenSquare and the streets of dozens of Chinese cities. In the fall and winter,VOAreported the historic changes that were sweeping Eastern Europe and theSoviet Union-changes that some have ascribed, at least in part to the Voiceand other western international broadcasters. And with the arrival of the1990s, VOA Russian covered theattempted August 1991 coup against then Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachevand the dissolution of the Soviet Union at the end of the same year.
Following the formation of the Commonwealth of Independent States (C.I.S.)and the collapse of communist governments throughout Eastern Europe, VOAcontinued a daily flow of news and information to the region. All of thesenewly formed governments have been trying, with varying degrees of success,to embrace democracy and its underlying principles. East European leaderssuch as the Czech Republic's Vaclav Havel asked the West to help them understandhow to establish the infrastructure of democratic institutions. VOAresponded with programming designed to explain how democracy works in theWest and how market economies function.
While there was a great need to maintain VOAbroadcasts to the C.I.S. and Eastern Europe, the Voice of America continuedto provide news and information to people in other parts of the world.On March 25, 1991, VOA launched a 15-minuteTibetanprogram, which the Chinese government promptly started to jam. Kurdish-languagebroadcasts to listeners in Iraq and Iran went on the air on April 25, 1992.Somali broadcasts started on December 27, 1992, but were discontinued shortlyafter the withdrawal of all U.S. forces from that country.
In response to the breakup of the former Yugoslavia into several republicsin 1991, VOA divided its Yugoslav Service into two separate language services--CroatianandSerbian--onFebruary 21, 1993. Both services expanded their broadcast hours to theregion and, along with VOA's SloveneService, maintained a constant flow of news and information to listenersin the Balkans. ABosnian Servicewas added in 1996 and a MacedonianService in 1999.
VOA also established a network of Croatian and Serbian local radio stationsto carry VOA-produced programming. On October 1, 1996, Radio 101 FM beganto carry VOA Croatian, makingit the first station in Zagreb to include programming from an internationalbroadcaster in its schedule. That same year, VOA Serbianincreased its daily broadcasts to two and a half hours when it added a30-minute, medium wave broadcast.
A live 15-minute VOA Bosnian"feed" service, which was transmitted to local radio stations via satellite,was established on April 22, 1996. VOAlater increased the Bosnian-language program to 30 minutes and launchedthe direct broadcasts in Bosnian late the same year.
When the Milosevic government in Belgrade banned broadcasts of RadioB-92 and other independent local radio stations on December 3, 1996, VOAincluded reports on its newscasts from stringers in Belgrade, many of whomalso worked for Radio B-92. Realizing that it could not stifle the flowof information, the Milosevic government allowed Radio B-92 to resume broadcaststwo days later on December 5. On the same day that B-92 resumed its broadcasts,VOAbegan pilot simulcasts on radio and TV of its 11:30 p.m. (Serbian localtime) newscast. The program is relayed by Serbian independent TV stationswith a potential viewership of four million.
On July 15, 1996, the Voice of Americaadded broadcasts in Tigrigna andOromiffa--its49th and 50th languages--for listeners in Ethiopia and Eritrea. Tigrignais one of the working languages of the independent nation of Eritrea, andOromiffa is spoken by the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia. The two languagesjoined VOA Amharic, which has beenon the air since 1982.
On the same day, VOA introduced Kirundi-and Kinyarwanda-language programmingfor listeners in conflict-ridden Central Africa. VOA, which was alreadybroadcasting in English, French, and Swahili to the region, increased itsaudience. With funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development,the two services--VOA's 51st and 52ndlanguages--went on the air on July 15, 1996 with a 30-minute weekday program.The following November they expanded the show to seven days a week andone month later increased their Saturday and Sunday programs to one hour.
VOA also established refugee hotlines in both the Balkans and CentralAfrica in 1996. VOA Serbian andCroatianlaunched their hotline on August 14, and KirundiandKinyarwanda on November 30.VOA language broadcasts to both regions offered listeners a means throughwhich they could be reunited with friends and family separated by war andpersonal hardship.
When citizens in Tirana and other Albanian cities protested the proliferationof illegal financial schemes in February 1997, VOA Albanianbroadcasts were a prime source of news for the people of that country.By March 1997, the crisis had deteriorated into civil conflict, and theAlbanian government cut off VOA Albanian program feeds to local affiliatestations in Tirana, Elbasan, Gjirokaster, Shkoder, and Kukes for a shorttime. VOA expanded its broadcasthours both on shortwave and medium wave at the height of the crisis toprovide the maximum news possible to the people of Albania.
In 1997, an agreement signed between the International BroadcastingBureau and Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company (AsiaSat) gave theVoice of America and other U.S. Government civilian international broadcastersaccess to AsiaSat 2, a satellite with a footprint reaching more than sixtypercent of the world's population. Now, by satellite, VOA, WORLDNET Televisionand Film Service, Radio Free Asia, and Radio Free Europe/Radio Libertyprovide 24-hour, seven-day-a-week service to listeners and viewers in morethan 53 countries in Asia, the Middle East, Australia, and much of theCommonwealth of Independent States. Affiliated stations and listeners andviewers using small satellite dishes are able to receive stereo radio andtelevision programming. 
**THE CHANGING FACE OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING IN THE 1990S**
Starting in 1990, all U.S. Government international broadcasting servicesbegan to work more closely together. That year the U.S. Information Agency,then VOA's parent Agency, established the Bureau of Broadcasting to consolidateits three broadcasting services--the Voice of America, WORLDNET Televisionand Film Service, and Radio and TV Marti--into one cohesive and efficientelement, supported by a single Office of Engineering and Technical Operations.
In 1991, the Bureau created the Office of Affiliate Relations and AudienceAnalysis (later renamed the Office of Affiliate Relations and Media Trainingin 1996) to establish and maintain a network of "affiliated" radio andTV stations around the globe that would broadcast VOA- and WORLDNET-producedprograms. Today, more than 1,200 radio and TV stations receive programmingthrough the Office of Affiliate Relations.
The Office of Business Development was established in 1994 to work withthe private sector on a wide range of ventures, including the possibleprivatization of VOA language services, procurment of corporate underwritingfor broadcasts, co-productions with major broadcast networks and fundraisingfrom various foundations. (These initiatives benefit not only VOA, butalso WORLDNET Television and Film Service and Radio and TV Marti.) From1994 through 1996, the office raised $4 million.
U.S. Government international broadcasting was consolidated even furtherwhen President Clinton signed the International Broadcasting Act (PublicLaw 103-236) on April 30, 1994. The legislation established the InternationalBroadcasting Bureau (IBB) within the U.S. Information Agency (USIA) andcreated a Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) with oversight authorityover all non-military U.S. government international broadcasting. The Voiceof America, WORLDNET Television and Film Service and Radio and TV Marti--thethree federally-funded services of the former Bureau of Broadcasting--alongwith the Office of Engineering and Technical Services, comprise the IBB.The bipartisan BBG includes the USIA Director (ex officio) and eight membersappointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. The first BroadcastingBoard of Governors was sworn in on August 11, 1995.
The BBG oversees VOA, the WORLDNET Television Service, Radio and TVMarti, and the Office of Engineering and Technical Services along withtwo grantee international broadcast services--Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty(RFE/RL) and Radio Free Asia (RFA). (RFA was established under the 1994legislation.) RFE/RL and RFA are private, non-profit corporations thatreceive annual congressionally appropriated grants from the BroadcastingBoard of Governors.
The International Broadcasting Act also centralized the Office of Engineeringand Technical Services within IBB, making it responsible for planning andmaintaining broadcast facilities for VOA, WORLDNET, and Radio and TV Martias well as Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia. Transmittersites that had formerly broadcast RFE/RL programs to the former SovietUnion and Eastern Europe were integrated into a single network operatedby the IBB Engineering.
In 1998, Congress passed and President Clinton signed the Foreign AffairsReform and Restructuring Act (Public Law 105-277), mandating the the BroadcastingBoard of Governors become an independent federal entity on October 1, 1999and giving it supervisory authority over the International BroadcastingBureau, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and Radio Free Asia. The legislationalso abolished the U.S. Information Agency, whose functions were mergedinto the U.S. State Department.
**INNOVATIONS FOR A NEW CENTURY**
Although historically an international radio broadcaster, VOA beganto simulcast programs on radio and TV in the mid-1990s. The first, *ChinaForum TV*, aired on September 18, 1994. This one-hour Mandarin telecastwas beamed into the Peoples' Republic of China by satellite. Two yearslater, VOA's Arabic Branch teamed up with WORLDNET Television Service andthe Middle East Broadcasting Centre (MBC) in London to launch *DialogueWith the West*. The success of these two programs encouraged VOA, withthe assistance of WORLDENT Television, to build the new TV Studio 47 atits headquarters. The first program telecast from Studio 47 on October18, 1996 was a Farsi simulcast. Today, VOA simulcasts programming in Albanian,Bosnian, Chinese (Mandarin), English, Farsi, Serbian and Spanish.
In 1994, the Voice of America became the first international broadcasterto offer its material through the Internet. Initially, the site offeredinformation through two simple text-based formats, and in 1996, VOA addeda Web Page. Today, the VOA Web site offers the VOA newswire, program schedules(times, frequencies, and satellite circuits), VOA Chinese-language programscripts, and background information about VOA language services and othercivilian U.S. Government broadcast services. The site also contains audiofiles for all 53 VOA language services. 
**LOOKING TO THE FUTURE**
VOA will continue to examine new technologies and refine its programmingto reflect the needs of its listeners. One goal remains, however, for thehundreds of professionals who make up the Voice of America-to deliver comprehensive,timely truthful information. The VOA will continue to broadcast the soundsof freedom and serve as a beacon of hope for its millions of listenersaround the world. 
**VOICE OF AMERICA DIRECTORS**
The Voice of America's first organizational home was the U.S. ForeignInformation Service, which later became the overseas branch of the Officeof War Information. FIS' first director was Robert E. Sherwood; JosephBarnes was his deputy and chief of the New York Office.  
JOHN HOUSEMANFebruary 1942 - July 1943
LOUIS G. COWANAugust 1943 - August 1945
JOHN OGILVIESeptember 1945 - January 1946
CHARLES THAYERJanuary 1948 - October 1949
FOY DAVID KOHLEROctober 1949 - September 1952
ALFRED MORTONOctober 1952 - April 1953
LEONARD ERIKSONJuly 1953 - April 1954
JOHN R. POPPELEMay 1954 - July 1956
ROBERT E. BUTTONJuly 1956 - July 1958
HENRY LOOMISJuly 1958 - March 1965
JOHN CHANCELLORAugust 1965 - June 1967
JOHN CHARLES DALYSeptember 1967 - June 1968
KENNETH R. GIDDENSSeptember 1969 - April 1977
R. PETER STRAUSJuly 1977 - October 1979
MARY BITTERMANMarch 1980 - January 1981
JAMES CONKLINGAugust 1981 - March 1982
JOHN HUGHESMarch 1982 - August 1982
KENNETH TOMLINSONDecember 1982 - September 1984
GENE PELLJune 1985 - October 1985
RICHARD W. CARLSONNovember 1986 - September 1991
CHARLES UNTERMEYERSeptember 1991 - January 1993
GEOFFREY COWANMarch 1994 - November 1996
EVELYN S. LIEBERMANMarch 1997 - May 1999
SANFORD J. UNGARJune 199 - to present

**VOICE OF AMERICA LANGUAGE SERVICES**
Today, VOA broadcasts in 53 languages to listeners in every world region.Other language programs are produced for transmission via satellite toforeign stations. Languages that predate February 1942 began under theCoordinator for Inter-American Affairs and the Foreign Information Service.
* indicates a language currently on VOA's broadcast schedule.
** indicates a VOA feed service, which provides VOA-produced programmingto local radio stations
Afan Oromo* 1996 to presentAfrikaans 1942 to 1949Albanian* 1943 to 1945; 1951 to presentAmharic* 1982 to presentAmoy 1941 to 1945; 1951 to 1963Annamese See VietnameseArabic* 1942 to 1945; 1950 to presentArmenian* 1951 to presentAzerbaijani* 1951 to 1953; 1982 to presentBangla* 1958 to presentBosnian* 1996 to presentBulgarian* 1942 to presentBurmese* 1943 to 1945; 1951 to presentByelorussian 1956 to 1957Cambodian See KhmerCantonese* 1941 to 1945; 1949 to 1963; 1987 to presentChinese See Mandarin and CantoneseCreole* 1987 to presentCroatian* 1943 to presentCzech* 1942 to presentDanish 1942 to 1945Dari* 1980 to presentDutch 1944 to 1945English* 1942 to presentEstonian* 1951 to presentFarsi* 1942 to 1945; 1949 to 1960; 1964 to 1966 (radio feed service);1979 to presentFinnish 1942 to 1945; 1951 to 1953Flemish 1942 to 1945French* (to Africa) 1960 to presentFrench (to France) 1942 to 1961Georgian* 1951 to presentGerman 1942 to 1960; 1991 to 1993Greek* 1942 to presentGujarati 1956 to 1958Hakka 1951 to 1954Hausa* 1979 to presentHebrew 1951 to 1953Hindi* 1951 to 1953; 1954 to presentHungarian* 1942 to presentIcelandic 1944Indonesian* 1942 to presentItalian 1942 to 1945; 1951 to 1957Japanese 1942 to 1945;1951 to 1962Javanese See IndonesianKhmer* 1955 to 1957; 1962 to presentKirundi* 1996 to presentKinyarwanda* 1996 to presentKorean* 1942 to presentKurdish * 1992 to presentLao* 1962 to presentLatvian* 1951 to presentLithuanian* 1951 to presentMalayan 1951 to 1955Malayalam 1956 to 1961Mandarin* 1941 to presentMacedonian* 1999 to presentNepali 1992 to 1993Norwegian 1942 to 1945Pashto* 1982 to presentPersian See FarsiPolish* 1942 to presentPortuguese* (to Africa) 1976 to presentPortuguese* (to Latin America) 1941 to 1945; 1946 to 1948 (contractedprivate radio stations to produce and transmit programs to LatinAmerica); 1961 to presentPortuguese (to Portugal) 1942 to 1945; 1951 to 1953; 1976 to 1987;1987 to 1993 (VOA-produced programs for placement on local radio stations)Romanian* 1942 to presentRussian* 1947 to presentSerbian* 1943 to presentShanghai (Wu) 1944 to 1946Slovak* 1942 to presentSlovene* 1944 to end of World War II; 1949 to presentSomali 1992 to 1995Spanish* (to Latin America) 1941 to 1945; 1946 to i 948; and 1953 to1956 (VOA contracted private radio stations to produce and transmit programsfor Latin America); 1961 to present Spanish* (Radio Marti) 1985 to presentSpanish (to Spain) 1942 to 1955; 1955 to 1993 (VOA provided placementprogramming for local Spanish radio stations)Swahili* 1962 to presentSwatow 1951 to 1953Swedish 1943 to 1945Tagalog 1941 to 1946Tamil 1954 to 1970Tatar 1951 to 1953Telegu 1956 to 1958Thai** 1942 to 1958; 1962 to 1988; 1988 to presentTibetan* During 1950s on VOA Mandarin broadcasts; 1991 to presentTigrigna* 1996 to presentTurkish* 1942 to 1945; 1948 to presentUkrainian* 1949 to presentUrdu* 1951 to 1953; 1954 to presentUzbek* 1958; 1972 to presentVietnamese* 1943 to 1946; 1951 to presentWu See Shanghai
**BIBLIOGRAPHY**
Ayish, Muhammad I. "The VOA Arabic Service: A Study of News Practicesand Occupational Values." Gazette, 40, no. 2 (1987): 121-130.
Borra Rajan. "The Problem of Jamming in International Broadcasting."Journal of Broadcasting II, no. 4 (Fall 1967): 355-368.
Browne, Donald R. "The Voice of America Policies and Problems." (JournalismMonographs, no. 43), Lexington, KY, Association for Education in Journalism,1976.
Carlson, Richard W. "No More Static." Policy Review (Winter 1988): 80-83.
Chancellor John. "The Intimate 'Voice.'" Foreign Service Journal (February1967): 19-22.
Coffey, Fred A. "Voice of America: A Viable Communications Instrumentof Foreign Policy and National Security?" Research Paper, National WarCollege, 1977.
Elliott, Kim A. "Too Many Voices of America." Foreign Policy (Winter1989/90): 113-131.
Fitzgerald, Merni Ingrassia. The Voice of America. New York:Dodd, Mead, 1987.
Grey, Robin (pseud.). "Inside the Voice of America." Columbia JournalismReview, 21 (May/June 1982): 23-30.
Handlery, G. "Propaganda and Information: The Case of U.S. Broadcaststo Eastern Europe." East European Quarterly, 8 (January 1975): 391-412.
Houseman, John. Front and Center. New York: Simon and Schuster,1979.
Inkeles, Alex. "The Soviet Characterization of the Voice of America."Columbia Journal of International Affairs, 4, no. 1 (Winter 1950): 44-55.
Jurey, Philomena. A Basement Seat to History. Washington, .D.C.:Linus Press, 1995.
Kelly, Sean. "The VOA Correspondent: Journalist or Diplomat?" ForeignService Journal, 44 (April 1978): 13-15, 39-41.
Kretzmann, Edwin M. J. "McCarthy and the Voice of America." ForeignService Journal, 44 (February 1967): 26-27, 44-49.
Matlack, Carol. "America's Voice." Government Executive, 23, no. 7 (July1991): 10-11, 13.
McKenna, Paul R. "Vagabond Able." ("Vagabond Able" was the S.S. Courier;a Coast Guard cutter stationed in Rhodes, Greece from 1952-1964, as a floatingVOA radio station. It transmitted programs in sixteen languages to theMiddle East and behind the Iron Curtain.) Naval History (Spring 1991):25-29.
Piresein, Robert William. "An International Radio History... the VOA."Foreign Service Journal, 44 (February 1967) 23-25; 50.
Piresein, Robert William. The Voice of America: a History of theInternational Broadcasting Activities of the United States Government 1940-1962.(Originally presented as the author's thesis, Northeastern University,1970.) New York: Arno Press, 1979.
Roberts, Chalmers M. "New Image for Voice of America." New York TimesMagazine (April 13, 1980): 107-112, 114.
Shulman, Holly C. "John Houseman and the Voice of America: AmericanForeign Propaganda on the Air." American Studies (1988): 23-40.
Shulman, Holly Cowan. The Voice of America: Propaganda and Democracy1941-1945. Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1990.
Solzehitsyn, Aleksandr. "The Soft Voice of America." National Review(April 30, 1982): 477-481.
"Voice of America at the Crossroads: A Panel Discussion of the AppropriateRole of the VOA." Panel Proceedings. Washington, D.C., Media Institute(1982): 70.
Washburn, Philo C. "Voice of America and Radio Moscow Newscasts to theThird World." Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, 32, no. 2 (Spring1988): 197-218.
Wada, Hadiza I. M. "Voice of America: an Inside Look at Its Africa Division."M.A. Thesis, University of Kansas, 1989.   
The Voice of America--along with WORLDNET Television and Film Service,Radio and TV Marti, and the Office of Engineering and Technical Services--comprisesthe International Broadcasting Bureau, under the authority of the BroadcastingBoard of Governors. The Broadcasting Board of Governors is a nine-memberboard, eight of whom are presidentially appointed, that oversees the InternationalBroadcasting Bureau and two non-profit grantee corporations-Radio FreeEurope/Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia.  
Produced by theVoice of AmericaOffice of ExternalAffairsWriter/EditorGeorge MackenzieArt DirectorCarmelo CiancioDesignerPat Hutteman
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