Radio propaganda
"[6] It was clear that large numbers of civilians could be mobilized for a massive war effort through persuasive techniques derived from the emerging disciplines of behavioral psychology and social sciences.
When the United Kingdom was at the time the only remaining nation opposing Germany in the autumn of 1940, Murrow covered the Battle of Britain and particularly the nightly bombing raids on London.
"[10] Historians believe the moment when American radio made its debut as the preeminent means of foreign news was the Munich Crisis in September 1938.
Early that month, Hitler began implementing his plans to dominate Europe by demanding self-determination for Germans living in a region of Czechoslovakia known as the Sudetenland.
High-level negotiations ensued, during which Britain's Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, journeyed to Germany three times in less than three weeks in a desperate attempt to save the peace.
[11] Fearful that a European war would once again entangle them, Americans became glued to their radios for daily and sometimes hourly updates and interpretations of the latest developments of the crisis.
Even before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. government's Office of the Coordinator of Information began providing war news and commentary to commercial American shortwave radio stations for use on a voluntary basis.
The day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Roosevelt delivered his famous Infamy Speech to the United States, which was broadcast to the American people.
The DJs continuously encouraged GIs to stop fighting and constantly made false claims of American defeats and Japanese or Nazi victories.
[19] At Radio Tokyo, Toguri met captured Australian Major Charles Cousens and his associates, American Captain Wallace Ince and Filipino Lieutenant Normando Reyes.
[20] Since their capture and conscription into Radio Tokyo, the Allied POWs had waged a covert campaign to sabotage the Japanese propaganda effort through the use of on-air innuendos, satire, and sarcastic, rushed or muffled readings.
[21] After the war, the Army Counter Intelligence Corps, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the press continued to refer to Toguri by that name as she was taken into custody and brought to trial.
Those defending Toguri stated that she was clearly "forced" to broadcast for the Japanese and was always a loyal American, shown by her many attempts to return home, which were continuously rejected.
"Axis Sally" was the pseudonym of Mildred Gillars, an American broadcaster employed by the Third Reich in Nazi Germany to proliferate propaganda during World War II.
He only had one solid lead: Raymond Kurtz, a B-17 pilot shot down by the Germans, recalled that a woman who had visited his prison camp seeking interviews was the broadcaster.
Through his broadcasts, the Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda attempted to discourage and demoralize British, Canadian, Australian, and American troops and the British population within radio range to suppress the effectiveness of the Allied war effort through propaganda and to motivate the Allies to agree to peace terms leaving the Nazi regime intact and in power.
Soviet authorities began to install Communist regimes in liberated territories of Eastern Europe, a direct violation of the provisions in the Teheran and Yalta Conferences.
In East Germany, broadcasts included news, commentary, and cultural programs that were unavailable in the controlled media of the German Democratic Republic.
However, after the collapse of the Warsaw Pact and the Soviet Union, interviews with participants in anti-Soviet movements verified the effectiveness of VOA broadcasts in transmitting information to socialist societies.
It reflected the belief that the Cold War was an ideological, psychological, and cultural contest for hearts and minds that would be won or lost on the plain of public opinion.
However, these components of propaganda were put on hold with the Bay of Pigs scandal, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the abrupt end of the Kennedy Administration.
[49] Few were believed to have been influenced by her propaganda work and the soldiers often mocked her tactics, but they were also impressed by her military intelligence, especially when she mentioned the location of their own unit or listed specific U.S.
At least six EC-130E Commando Solo aircraft were used to jam local radio transmissions and transmit replacement propaganda messages even before the United States invaded Afghanistan.
[53] The idea is to counter the Taliban-sponsored stations, so called "Mullah Radios," that operate mainly in the tribal areas along the Pakistani border and broadcast propaganda that helps turn public opinion against foreign troops and the pro-Western Afghan government.
[54] During the Iraq War, the U.S. implemented "black propaganda" by creating false radio personalities who disseminated pro-American information, but were supposedly supporters of Saddam Hussein.
[55] However, the tone of Radio Tikrit's programs began to change dramatically; one show reportedly described Iraqis as being so poor that they had to sell their windows and doors.
Another broadcast reported to have encouraged Iraqi soldiers to refuse the "orders of the tyrant" and to "be brave before it is too late," suggesting that the United States may have infiltrated the station.
[60] On 12 July 1976, the principles were signed into law by President Gerald Ford: Today, the VOA operates shortwave radio transmitters and antenna farms at one site in the United States close to Greenville, North Carolina.
Since many listeners in Africa and other areas still receive much of their information via radio and have only limited access to computers, VOA continues to maintain regular shortwave-radio broadcasts.
[64] The United States, acting through the Central Intelligence Agency, funded a long list of projects to counter the Communist appeal in Europe and the developing world.
