Foreign Relations of the United States, 1917–1972, Volume VI, Public Diplomacy, 1961–1963

149. Memorandum From the Ambassador at Large (Thompson) to the President’s Special Assistant for National Security Affairs (Bundy)¹

Washington, October 24, 1963.

Yesterday Dobrynin orally protested the activities of some of our unofficial radio broadcasts and although he did not mention RFE,² the timing of the protest will make them particularly sensitive to the President’s remarks.³

I have suggested a few minor changes but there is not much that can be done to mitigate the effect. However, in view of their own attitude on ideological matters, I do not think the effect of the speech will be too serious. My main concern is that they might resume jamming. One suggestion might be to insert after the first paragraph a few sentences in justification of these activities along the following lines:

“The free world is entirely open to communist propaganda and argumentation and we have no fear of engaging in a battle of ideas. But the communist world is largely closed to information and to Western thought and receives a one-sided view not only of ideological matters but even of factual developments throughout the world. Radio Free Europe attempts to redress this unfair imbalance.”⁴

Llewellyn E. Thompson ⁵

1. Source: Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Subjects Series, Box 306, Radio Free Europe. Confidential.
2. See Document 148.
3. On October 25, the White House released a statement by Kennedy on Radio Free Europe. For the full text, see Public Papers: Kennedy, 1963, p. 814.
4. Drawn in an unknown hand, presumably Bundy’s, is a bracket in the left-hand margin next to this paragraph and the capital letter “A.” Kennedy’s statement incorporated Thompson’s suggested language as follows: “The free world is entirely open to Communist propaganda and argumentation and we have no fear of engaging in the battle of ideas. But the Communist world is largely closed to information and to Western thought and receives a one-sided view not only of ideological matters but even of factual developments throughout the world. Radio Free Europe attempts to redress this imbalance.” (Ibid.)
5. Thompson signed “Tommy” above his typed signature.