93. Memorandum From the Special Assistant to the Director of the United States Information Agency (White) to the Director (Marks)1
SUBJECT
- Clarifying the Cultural Mission of USIA
I recommend the following:
(1) A letter from you to PAO’s (with a copy to all Assistant Directors) giving your views on the cultural mission of the Agency. A suggested draft is attached.
(2) A new statement of mission for USIA (draft attached).
(3) A revised instruction on the Country Plan (CA–1195 of October 21, 1964)2 which makes clear that posts may include aspects of the American image as Psychological Objectives. The present wording suggests that this is not so, and many posts have eliminated these from their Country Plans. (For example, half of the posts in Western Europe have no Psychological Objective relating to the U.S. image although a major part of their programs is devoted to it.)
[Page 280](4) The name of USIA should be changed. The name we use in the United States should indicate that we operate abroad; and the word “cultural” should be included in our name both at home and abroad. Because USIS as a title is already well known overseas, I suggest the minimum change in this.
Possible names:
In the U.S.
OICA (Overseas Information and Cultural Agency)
or
IICA (International Information and Cultural Agency)
Abroad
USICS (U.S. Information and Cultural Service)
or
USCIS (U.S. Cultural and Information Service)
These titles should be checked with the Area Directors to be sure that the initials do not have a bad connotation abroad.
(5) At an appropriate moment, the President might announce both the new name for USIA and his redefinition of our mission. This could be done casually, at a time when he is making several other announcements, without calling special attention to it.
(6) In connection with the new statement of mission, each of the media services should prepare a statement of its role in carrying out this mission. The VOA Charter does this adequately for IBS, but we have no comparable documents for the other three services. These statements need not be made public, but would serve a useful purpose in clarifying thinking within the Agency on what we are supposed to be doing.3
[Page 281]- Source: National Archives, RG 306, General Subject Files, 1949–1970, Entry UD WW 264, Box 311, CUL CULTURE (GEN). No classification marking. A copy was sent to Chernoff. Attached but not printed is a copy of the January 25, 1963, USIA mission statement. For text, see Foreign Relations, 1961–1963, vol. XXV, Organization of Foreign Policy; Information Policy; United Nations; Scientific Matters, Document 144. There is no indication that Marks approved the draft or that any further action was taken.↩
- Not found.↩
- An unknown hand drew a vertical line in the left-hand margin next to this paragraph.↩
- No classification marking. No drafting information appears on the draft statement.↩
- No classification marking. No drafting information appears on the letter.↩
- The word “twentieth” is crossed out and “20th” is written above it in an unknown hand.↩
- Printed from a copy that bears Marks’ typed initials.↩