Evening star., 1953-03-29
The Voice.
Twill Never Be the Same Again
After This Newest Rash of Probes
By Cecil HoIIond

On February "a, 1912, with this
country at war for less than three
months, an announcer standing be-
fore a microphone in a small and
improvised New, York studio began
broadcast by saying, "This Is the
Voice Of America :"
That was the modest beginning Of
the multimillion- dollar radio prof.
ect now known throughout the world
as the Voice Of America-the gar
gantuan propaganda effort current
ly under Senate investigation, one
Of the throbbing headaches Of the
State Department and the new Re-
publican administration.
The Voice passed its infancy in
the war years under the direction
Of the ONCE Of War Information.
When the agency went out of exist
ence at the end Of the war it was
absorbed by the State Department.
The 1913 Smith, -Mundt Act raised it
to the level Of big-time operation
for promoting abroad an under
standing and trust Of the United
States"
IS Tronsmitters
In the intervening years the
Voice, if it has never quite reached
maturity as a cold war" instru-
mentality, has become a brawling
adolescent spewing forth daily $685.
600 words of American propaganda
in 46 languages. It employs about
1000 persons, mostly In New York,
and operates IS transmitters-42 in
the United States and 80 abroad.
Its programs are beamed to areas,
friendly as well as antagonistic,
where there is a possible audience
Of 800 million persons. It is only q
guess as to how many Of them ac-
tually hear the programs.
Since coming under the direction
Of the State Department the Voice
has developed steadily. II some
times it has seemed confused, in the
way Of adolescents, that has been
attributed to growing pains and Of
fered no reason for worry.
But lately the Voice has come up
on troublesome days. It.has fallen
a victim to that well-known Wash
ington malaiSe sometimes called
Mccarthy jitters-itis," with COM
plications of organizational dis
orders of unknown extent.
The ailments are regarded as
serious enough to require the min
istrations of two separate Senate
subcommittee, two executive COM
missions and last, but by no means
least, the personal services of DR..
Robert johnson, college president
and eminent authority on govern
mental bodies. DR.. johnson recently
took over as head Of the State De-
partn1ent's international Informa-
ton Administration which super
vises the Voice operations.
As of this writing, the prognosis
is for satisfactory. if gradual, re-
covery. But it seems safe to pre-
dict that owing to the, nature of
its present malady and the treat
ment. the Voice will never be the
same again. a8F ISL
~a Budget requests { for the entire
International program, "a including
the Voice, are usually in the hands
Of Congress by this time. But. they
have been delayed until the gov
ernmentai studies have been COM
pleted. They probably will not be
submitted until mid-May along with
some definite announcement about
the Voices future and its role, an
admittedly important one. in the
''cold war" effect.
What is of more immediate con-
cern to the Voice supporters in
the Government and out is the
treatment the propaganda effort is
receiving from the Senate Investi-
cations subcommittee headed by
Senator Mccarthy, Republican, Of
Wisconsin.
Many regard the Senator's an