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Britain, America and Anti-Communist: The Information Research Department (Cass Series: Studies in Intelligence) PDF

308 Pages·2007·2.77 MB·English
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Britain, America and Anti-Communist Propaganda 1945–53 In the Cold War battle for hearts and minds Britain was the first country to formulate a coordinated global response to communist propaganda. In January 1948, the British government launched a new propaganda policy designed to ‘oppose the inroads of communism by taking the offensive against it’. A small section in the Foreign Office, the innocuously titled Information Research Department (IRD), was established to collate information on communist policy, tactics and propaganda, and coordinate the discreet dissemination of counter-propaganda to opinion formers at home and abroad. This book demonstrates that propaganda was a primary concern of the postwar Governments of Clement Attlee and Winston Churchill, and traces the implementation of Britain’s new propaganda policy at all levels from the Prime Minister to British diplomats in the field. It reveals the formidable array of opinion formers mobilised to support the IRD’s anti-communist campaign including intellectuals, politicians, churchmen, and the BBC, and encompasses British anti-communist activities within NATO and in various Cold War confrontations in South-East Asia, the Middle East and behind the Iron Curtain. It also reveals for the first time the extent of Britain’s involvement with US anti-communist propaganda activities such as Radio Free Europe. Andrew Defty was awarded his PhD by the University of Salford in 2002. He is a graduate of Salford’s MA in Intelligence and International Relations, and has lectured on intelligence, US-UK relations and the Cold War. This is his first book. He has published articles in the journal Intelligence and National Security and is editor of the newsletter of the Security and Intelligence Studies Group (SISG). 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Hugh Wilford Britain, America and Anti-Communist Propaganda 1945–53 The Information Research Department Andrew Defty Britain, America and Anti- Communist Propaganda 1945–53 The Information Research Department Andrew Defty LONDON AND NEW YORK First published 2004 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxfordshire OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Ave, New York NY 10016 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005. “ To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to http://www.ebookstore.tandf.co.uk/.” Transferred to Digital Printing 2005 © 2004 Andrew Defty All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. The publisher makes no representation, express or implied, with regard to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and cannot accept any legal responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions that may be made. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN 0-203-49519-5 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-60953-0 (Adobe eReader Format) ISBN 0-7146-8361-2 (Print Edition) In loving memory of Michael Hodgson Contents List of plates viii Foreword x Acknowledgements Xi List of abbreviations xiii Introduction: historians, the media and British Cold War propaganda 1 1 The origins of Britain’s anti-communist propaganda policy, 1945–47 26 2 Launching the new propaganda policy, 1948 63 3 Building a concerted counter-offensive: cooperation with other powers, 1948– 103 50 4 ‘Close and continuous liaison’: British and American cooperation, 1950–51 144 5 A global propaganda offensive: Churchill and the revival of political warfare 189 6 A new strategy of political warfare 229 Conclusion 253 Bibliography 263 Index 283 Plates 1 Ralph Murray, head of the IRD from 1948 to 1951 130 2 John Peck, head of the IRD from 1951 to 1954 131 3 An IRD basic paper with the removable cover-slip still attached 132 4 A cartoon in the IRD serial, Inside Soviet China 133 5 Strip-cartoon serialization of Orwell’s Animal Farm 133 6 Edward W.Barrett, US Assistant Secretary of State for Public 134 Affairs, 1950–52 7 C.D.Jackson, Eisenhower’s Special Assistant for psychological 134 warfare 8 Gordon Gray taking the oath of office as Director of the 135 Psychological Strategy Board in 1951 9 President Truman dedicating the US Coast Guard cutter Courier 135 10 Truman and Churchill, in the Oval Office in January 1952 136 11 Balloons being released to transport Radio Free Europe leaflets 136 into Czechoslovakia in the early 1950s 12 Foreign journalists on a tour of British defence institutions 137 13 The NATO Caravan of Peace in Portugal in 1954 137 The author would like to thank the following for permission to reproduce photographs: 1 and 2, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office; 3, 4, 5 and 12, the Public Record Office; 6, the Harry S.Truman Library; 7, the Dwight D.Eisenhower Library; 8, 9 and 10, the United States National Archives; 11, Radio Free Europe; 13, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.

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In the Cold War battle for hearts and minds Britain was the first country to formulate a coordinated global response to communist propaganda. In January 1948, the British government launched a new propaganda policy designed to 'oppose the inroads of communism' by taking the offensive against it.' A
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