page_title: Crusade for Freedom
section_title: Freedom Bell
hierarchical_section_title: Crusade for Freedom / Origins / Freedom Bell
caption_attribution_description: For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. Berlin: "Schöneberger Sängerknaben" singen Weihnachten unter der Freiheitsglocke im Schöneberger Rathaus
context_page_description: The Crusade for Freedom was an American propaganda campaign operating from 1950–1960. Its public goal was to raise funds for Radio Free Europe; it also served to conceal the CIA's funding of Radio Free Europe and to generate domestic support for American Cold War policies.
  General Dwight D. Eisenhower inaugurated the Crusade for Freedom on 4 September 1950. The first chairman was Lucius D. Clay, Eisenhower's successor as military governor of occupied Germany. The Crusade for Freedom, officially managed by the National Committee for a Free Europe, had direct ties to the Office of Policy Coordination, the State Department, and the Central Intelligence Agency.
  One of the Crusade's first actions was to create a Freedom Bell, designed after the American Liberty Bell. This bell traveled around the United States, along with a Freedom Scroll for people to sign, and was then sent to West Berlin, where it was dedicated by Clay on 24 October 1950. Crusaders also organized rallies, parades, and contests to mobilize support from ordinary Americans.
context_section_description: Washburn and Crabtree's Freedom Bell in West Berlin was designed by Walter Dorwin Teague in New York. Written on the bell were words from Abraham Lincoln: “That this world Under God shall have a new birth of freedom.”
  The bell was created in England and shipped to New York City for a parade following Eisenhower's speech. Traveling by truck, it made a circuit around the country and returned to New York by 8 October. It arrived in West Berlin on 21 October and was officially dedicated by Clay on 24 October 1950.
caption: School children pose beneath the massive Freedom Bell in West Berlin in December 1958.
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