Evening star., 1949-08-07


enterprise. for freedom Of informa-
N we have.
,quent query on why the Voice of
in the State Departments S
you've told us why the Voice.
but you haven't yet told us what
| it is"
1t might be worthwhile. there
fore, for me to take. advantage of
this guest column to try to ex-
plain as clearly as I can Just what
the Voice of America is.
| The Voice of America is the
title given to each of the 35 or
more radio programs sent out each
day. in 20 languages. to various
parts of the world by short-wave
tranSmitterS.
In 1912, shortly after Pearl Har-
Dor. the seven corporations and
private individuals who owned
short wave broadcasting transmit
terS in the United States sent
representatives to Washington to
place their facilities at the dis
posal of the Government for the
war effort.
In 20 Languages
They owned Is short wave
transmitters. the only ones capable
of broadcasting programs from
the United States which could be
heard overseas, but equally i'm
portant. each Of these trans
mitters had an established and in
ternationally recognized wave
length in the restricted short
wave spectrum. These valuable
wave-lengths were also offered
freely to the Government.
After good deal of discussion
among various officials in Wash
ington.. the President finally de-
cided to establish two wartime
agencies, the Office of War In
formation, under Elmer Davis.
and the Office of Inter- American
Affairs, under Nelson Rockefeller.
to take charge of all of the Ameri-
can Governments efforts to win
support among foreign peoples for
the United States and our war
effort.
Mr.. Rockefeller's Office was re-
sponsible for this work in Latin
America and Mr.. Davis Office
everywhere else.
Wartime Activity
The two offlces took over the
short wave facilities, and, in addi-
ton, constructed 20 powerful
Government-owned transmitters:
But the radio operation. while
perhaps the most widely known,
was by no means a major part of
the total operations of these two
Offices. They established some
10 or 80 Offices overseas, including
posts in each of the neutral and
friendly capitals of the world. All
the principal means of mass COM
munication (press, radio and mo-
ton pictures) were used in an
effort to tell foreigners about the
United States and explain to them
our war effort. Libraries and read
ing rooms were set up in the key
cities abroad. In addition an
educational exchange program
was established. under which we
encouraged and, to a limited ex-
tent. gave financial assistance to
enable foreign students, journal
lists, technicians and other key
persons to visit the United States.
A number of American professors,
lecturers and technicians were
sent abroad to tell foreigners
about the United States and to
assist certain foreign countries
with our technical know-how in
the fields of agriculture, health,
education. metallurgy and other
subjects of direct Importance to
the war effort. An added purpose
was to build good will and
harmony among the Allies.
The only regular means by
which our information could
reach the enemy peoples of Ger
many, Italy and Japan was
through short-wave broadcasts.
In the theaters Of military oper-
ations. such as North Africa, Italy
and France, the radio broad
casts, from temporary or mobile
transmitters, were directed not
only toward enemy countries, but
also toward the local populations
in areas where American troops
were stationed. In these theaters
the owl activity was placed un-
der direct control of the military
commanders and became an inn
portant arm of military opera
tions.
Functions Transferred
A large majority Of these broad
casts were in foreign languages.
AS means of clear identified
ton. in an atmosphere filled with
broadcasts. the speakers began
and ended each program with
the announcement, This is the
Voice of America. do not know
who thought up the name, but
1t was a natural. and it has stuck.
When the war was over, the
functions of both owl and OIAA
were transferred to the State De-
partment, and Secretary Byrnes
was given the job of deciding what
to continue and what to liqui-
date. William Benton, appointed
Assistant Secretary of State, found
himself serving as executor and
executioner. In two years he re-
duced the number Of employees
from $4,000 to 1000. At one point
Congress suddenly cut OF all
further appropriations, with hum
dreds of employees still overseas.
While the Voice Of America
never actually went off the air,