Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1953-02-15
New Addition Is Urged
For Voice of America
Improvement Expected From
Jackson Board Study
By Eronk R. Kent


Jackson Board Study
By Fronk R. Kent
One war (cold as well as hot) ac-
tivity which concededly has not func-
toned effectively in either Of the two
preceding administrations is the So
called Voice of America. Nor is it
functioning too well now. Best evil
dence Of this is the recent appointment
by President Eisenhower Of q new
board whose declared purpose is to
unity our psychological warfare"
It is understood that this board,
headed by William H. jackson. an
astute gentleman. well experienced in
this field through his CHA and other
services. will also attempt to improve
and integrate" all the information and
propaganda Government agencies. Of
which the Voice of America is the
most pretentious and expensive. Most
of these agencies are now grouped in
the State Department division known
as the Intelligence and Information
Administration (IIA), the old director
of which is soon to be succeeded by
the recently appointed Carl McCardle.
Besides the Voice (upon which We
have expended several hundreds Of
million dollars) and other information
services. the new board will review.
from the intelligence and information
angle, the Central Intelligence Agency,
the Psychological Strategy Board and
the Army's Psychological Warfare
branch. It also will include In its
review the unofhcial National Commit
tee for Free Europe. which operates
it's propaganda machinery from New
York.
The personnel of the new board
seems to guarantee that it will do q
thorough job, and few persons at all
familiar with the facts will question
that that kind Of job is very badly
needed. From its inception, the Voice
of America has been the subject Of
heated controversy. It was born at the
close Of World War II, just before the
ONCE Of War Information (OWD went
out of business. Instead Of disappearing
of the Federal payroll, between 5000
and 5000 of the owl employees were
bodily transferred to the State Depart
ment, where most of them still are.
various heads. has operated the Voice
for the past five years. A great deal Of
criticism has been leveled against them.
For one thing 1t Is contended the
Voice. from the start, has been terribly
over-staffed. For another. the charge
has been made that these thousands
of transferred owl employees consti-
tuted the dregs Of that organization,
which at no period was noted for eff
ciency-even at the top.
When the time came to scrap the
owl, the better grade of employees got
back their positions in private business.
But the bulk of the payrollers.
unable to return to their old jobs, just
went over to State, there to "man" the
Voice. OF course, there had to be
White House authority for this mass
transfer. Those transferred were happy
to hold on-and are still holding. Per-
hapS this is the basic reason the Voice
has never become a virile and vigo-
rouS instrument whose work was gen.
orally recognized as high grade, and
really effective. Considering the cir
cumstances, 1t Is hard to see how 1t
could be. OF course. it is not without
defenders, and one or two Of its direc.
tors have been flrst-class men. How
ever, the question is frequently raised
as to whether the Voice has done more
harm than it has good, and it Is in
creasingly hard to get adequate appro-
priations through Congress to run 1t
properly.
The necessity for Government
propaganda agency to present our point
of view to other nations and counterfeit
the vicious SANDERS of our enemy is
freely admitted. The need for effec-
tive propaganda is too clear to dispute.
but certainly it is questionable whether
the kind emanating from our present
setup is effective. It is not easy to get
at the facts. There is no available or
convincing data to prove that what we
are doing is worth while or the reverse.
Each view is widely and strongly held.
Are we trying to do the right thing in
the wrong way and with the wrong
people? It is time we had the truth.
This is what the jackson board is
supposed to give US. Concededly much
of the stuff which now goes out over the
air from here, picturing America and
explaining the American point of view,
is trivial. Some of 1t is downright silly.
To put it mildly, the whole situation is
unsatisfactory. II the Jackson board
can recommend to the President a
practical plan to do this work well.
improving the quality. strengthening
the personnel and eliminating the
waste. it will have performed notable
national service. With the Eisenhower
support, there seems fair chance that
for the first time this important BUSH
ness Of American propaganda can be
put on sound and decent basis.
IoI1is-le Grand Paris reading az fol.