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1956 ALL THAT ... U. S. PUBLIC DIPLOMACY AND KHRUSHCHEV’S SECRET SPEECH
MAR 30, 2006 - 1:49AM PST
Posted by Nicholas J. Cull
All posts by this author

"[T]hrough the press section of USIS that the Communist parties themselves represented at the Moscow Congress have come to know one of the most serious and dramatic documents in the Communist literature of the world." --Pietro Nenni, Secretary General, Italian Socialist Party, 1957 Given coincidence of the current on-going debate over the future of US public diplomacy and the fiftieth anniversary of Khrushchev's denunciation of Stalin, it is a good moment to note the role that the organs of US public diplomacy played in heightening the impact of the speech around the world. The case is yet another set piece example of the importance of a solid investment in international communication, and more specifically inter-agency cooperation and sound direction from the top. US public diplomacy was at this time the responsibility of the United States Information Agency. As of January 1956 USIA was approaching its third birthday. It had been created in August 1953 from elements of the State Department, wartime and Marshall Plan information apparatus to resolve a perceived crisis in U.S. international propaganda. The jewel in its crown was the shortwave radio station Voice of America. Other players in the field included Radio Liberation (later Radio Liberty) and Radio Free Europe, a group of stations staffed by émigrés and covertly funded by the CIA which aimed to serve as surrogates for free media in the Eastern bloc. The whole apparatus was overseen by the so-called Operations Coordinating Board of the National Security Council. Eisenhower took a personal interest in operations and conducted regular meetings with his USIA director, former-media executive Ted Streibert. 1956 began quietly enough for USIA. The agency had four key objectives for the year: 1) promoting the unity of the freed world as the "best chance to reduce the Communist threat without war." 2) Exposing local Communist parties as expressions of global "Red Colonialism" directed by the U.S.S.R. or People's Republic of China. 3) Communicating the message that: "The United States champions peace and progress through peaceful change" and 4) Atoms for Peace, a program by which the United States sought to disseminate nuclear technology for peaceful uses. But in the next few months, new and dramatic opportunities opened. It began in secret, at midnight on 24-25 February 1956. In a seven-hour secret session speech to the Twentieth Communist Party Congress in Moscow, Communist Party General Secretary Nikita Khrushchev made a full and damning case against his predecessor Joseph Stalin. He denounced Stalin's cult of personality, his mismanagement of the economy, and legion brutalities. The U.S. ambassador in Moscow, Bohlen, picked up a rumor of the speech at a French embassy reception on 10 March. CIA director Allen Dulles briefed the NSC on its likely contents on 22 March. While the CIA began frantic attempts to get hold of the complete text, the beginnings of a de-Stalinization campaign around Eastern bloc gave USIA more than enough material to exploit the growing crisis of faith in communism. Measures included the end of Cominform. In May the…... FULL TEXT
 
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Read Comments:

Carol Doerflein on April 8, 2006 @ 12:27 pm:
I worked for USIA for 20 years, including 6 years in USSR/NIS affairs and never heard this story; fascinating. Thank you so much for contributing it.

Tim Cooney on January 18, 2008 @ 6:08 am:
How can I receive copies of the discussions between Ted Streibert and President Eisenhower?

Ken B on February 5, 2008 @ 10:29 am:
Very good brief. I understand the contribution English VOA had at the time, however it shouldn't over shadow the impact Polish & Russian broadcasts RFE & RL had at the same time. The dropping of Polish jamming had benifits to both organizations.

Kaustav Chakrabarti on May 1, 2011 @ 9:21 pm:
Dear Sir
I would be obliged if you kindly post the full text of the De-Stalinization Speech on line

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