USIA files, lot 60 D 322, “1953”
The Director of the United States Information Agency (Streibert) to the President1
My Dear Mr. President: On August 1 of this year, by authority of your Reorganization Plan No. 8 approved by the Congress, the U.S. Information Agency came into being as a separate independent agency reporting to you through the National Security Council.
The operations of the Agency—embracing among others the Voice of America, the U.S. libraries overseas, the motion picture service, and the press and publications service—were all formerly activities of the Department of State. We receive daily foreign policy guidance from the Secretary of State.
Since August 1, we have been engaged in organizing the Agency under the new set-up and reprogramming our activities within the limitations of the present appropriation. The new statement of mission for the Agency, adopted at last week’s meeting of the National Security Council, is a great stride forward. It is of supreme importance to us—and indeed to the American people—because it clearly defines the broad lines within which, I am convinced, our overseas information service can do an effective job.
It reflects the recommendations of the Senate’s Special Subcommittee on Overseas Information Programs chaired by Senator Bourke B. Hickenlooper of Iowa, which proposed on June 15, 1953 certain changes to strengthen the foreign information program.
It also embodies the concept of the President’s Committee on International Information Activities (William H. Jackson Committee).2 This concept is that psychological activities and psychological strategy do not exist apart from official policies and actions.
Under this new mission, avoiding a propagandistic tone, the Agency will emphasize the community of interest that exists among freedom-loving peoples and show how American objectives and policies advance the legitimate interests of such peoples.
[Page 1755]We shall therefore concentrate on objective, factual news reporting and appropriate commentaries, designed to present a full exposition of important United States actions and policies, especially as they affect individual countries and areas.
In presenting facts we shall see to it that they are not distorted and that their selection does not misrepresent a given situation.
We shall make sure that the tone and content of our material is forceful and direct, but we shall avoid a strident or antagonistic note.
This does not, of course, preclude us from making forceful, factual refutations of false accusations such as those that come from the Soviet communist portion of the world.
The new approach will be harder hitting than previous more diffuse approaches because it is based on the idea of getting across a message that will be convincing. Facts, and comment associated with facts, are more compelling than accusations and unsupported assertions on a wide variety of issues.
From here on the Agency will pinpoint its activities on fewer but more vital programs.
As pointed out by the Jackson Committee, the American people share fundamental beliefs and values with millions of other men and women we are attempting to win to our side, which should be made clear to other peoples. These include belief in a Deity, in individual and national freedom, in the right to ownership of property and a decent standard of living, in the common humanity of all men, and in the vision of a peaceful world with nations compromising their differences and cooperating in the United Nations.
We must make every effort to show the mutuality of our interests and goals with the legitimate goals of other peoples. We must explain those goals in ways that will cause other peoples to join with us in achieving them.
I am also pleased that under these more clearly defined objectives there will be greater opportunity for us to use the resources of patriotic private American business and non-Governmental groups in support of the information program. Private groups have given splendid support in the past, and we plan an intensive drive to further increase this support and thus multiply the effectiveness of the program.
The content of the new directive has been transmitted to all our posts in 77 countries throughout the world, so that they may have the immediate benefit of this guidance.
With deep appreciation,
Sincerely,