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The Cold War Triumph Of Radio Free Europe And Radio Liberty
The University Press of Kentucky
May 2003
On Sale: May 19, 2003
408 pages
ISBN: 0813190452
EAN: 9780813190457
Paperback
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Non-Fiction
" Among America's most unusual and successful weapons during
the Cold War were Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty.
RFE-RL had its origins in a post-war America brimming with
confidence and secure in its power. Unlike the Voice of
America, which conveyed a distinctly American perspective on
global events, RFE-RL served as surrogate home radio
services and a vital alternative to the controlled,
party-dominated domestic press in Eastern Europe. Over
twenty stations featured programming tailored to individual
countries. They reached millions of listeners ranging from
industrial workers to dissident leaders such as Lech Walesa
and Vaclav Havel. Broadcasting Freedom draws on rare
archival material and offers a penetrating insider history
of the radios that helped change the face of Europe. Arch
Puddington reveals new information about the connections
between RFE-RL and the CIA, which provided covert funding
for the stations during the critical start-up years in the
early 1950s. He relates in detail the efforts of Soviet and
Eastern Bloc officials to thwart the stations; their tactics
ranged from jamming attempts, assassinations of radio
journalists, the infiltration of spies onto the radios'
staffs, and the bombing of the radios' headquarters.
Puddington addresses the controversies that engulfed the
stations throughout the Cold War, most notably RFE
broadcasts during the Hungarian Revolution that were
described as inflammatory and irresponsible. He shows how
RFE prevented the Communist authorities from establishing a
monopoly on the dissemination of information in Poland and
describes the crucial roles played by the stations as the
Berlin Wall came down and the Soviet Union broke apart.
Broadcasting Freedom is also a portrait of the Cold War in
America. Puddington offers insights into the strategic
thinking of the RFE-RL leadership and those in the highest
circles of American government, including CIA directors,
secretaries of state, and even presidents.
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