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

46. Memorandum From the Director of Planning, Office of Plans, United States Information Agency (Anderson) to the Director (Murrow)¹

Washington, August 18, 1961.

SUBJECT

• Suggestion for Meeting to Hear Report from a Freedom Rider

On Tuesday of this week several USIA officers met in Mildred Marcy’s office to hear a first-hand report from Shirley Smith, Director of the Women’s Africa Committee, on her recent experiences as a Freedom Rider.²

Glenn Smith has suggested to Jim Moceri that a meeting be held so that you, Don Wilson, Tom Sorensen, plus perhaps a few others, might have an opportunity to hear her also. I propose, if you agree, to ask Mildred Marcy to set up a small meeting on Saturday morning, September 9 or, failing that, Saturday morning, September 16.³

Miss Smith’s presentation shed light on several points which should be of interest to the Agency:

Who are some of the Freedom Riders? What have been the motivations and convictions which impelled them to join this demonstration? What personal sacrifices have they undergone? What treatment was accorded them?

What effect have the Freedom Rides had on public opinion in the South? Among negro and white segments of the population? Among conservatives and moderates?

Shirley Smith is a blonde, white, Republican, Presbyterian from Michigan. Many of her friends and acquaintances are diplomats from African countries accredited to the United Nations. What have been their reactions to the discussions she has had with them? What image of America is thus being projected abroad?

Has the story of the Freedom Rides and other methods being used to erode the practices of segregation been adequately told in the American press and to the world?

Bill Gausmann, our Labor and Minorities Advisor, who was present at the meeting with Miss Smith concurs in Mrs. Marcy’s suggestion. He knows personally Mrs. Helene Wilson of Washington, another Freedom Rider, who would be willing to come along at the same time as Miss Smith, and tell us of her experiences and impressions. She spent five and a half weeks in the county jail and the State prison, and has some shrewd observations to make about the leadership of the “direct action” section of the civil rights movement, and particularly about the attitudes of its young Southern Negro members, who are very skeptical of white leaders, Northern as well as Southern.

1. Source: National Archives, RG 306, Office of Plans, General Subject Files, 1949–1970, Entry UD WW 151, Box 289, Director’s Correspondence—1961. No classification marking. Drafted by Mildred Marcy. Printed from an uninitialed copy. There is no indication that Murrow saw the memorandum.
2. In an August 17 memorandum for the files, Marcy summarized the August 15 meeting, writing: “All who heard her [Smith] were impressed by her sincerity and earnestness as well as fascinated and moved by her analysis of this important facet of the social revolution which is taking place in America. All the group appeared to feel that we have got to find ways and means of using (not necessarily in overt USIA output) the experiences of people such as Miss Smith.” (Ibid.)
3. There is no indication that such a meeting took place.