Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976, Volume XXXVIII, Part 2, Organization and Management of Foreign Policy; Public Diplomacy, 1973–1976

87. Memorandum From the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (Ash) and the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger) to President Nixon¹

Washington, March 26, 1973.

SUBJECT

• Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

The Commission chaired by Milton Eisenhower which you appointed last year to study RFE and RL has submitted its final report (Tab C).²

Conclusions of the Report

1. U.S. Government support for the radios should be continued.

2. A public “Board for International Broadcasting” should be established to administer funding and provide oversight.

3. Transmitting facilities should be modernized (estimated cost $30 million).

4. European Government funds should be solicited for research but not operations because the latter would dilute U.S. control.

5. Private fund raising in the U.S. and Europe should be resumed.

Congressional Reaction

The House should go along with the Commission’s recommendations, but Fulbright has told Eisenhower he will continue to oppose funding the radios. Other Senate criticism of the report will probably center on its failure to recommend that European governments be approached for operating funds.

Next Steps—Scenario

We concur in Dr. Eisenhower’s recommendation that the report be published and sent to the Hill.

The White House will at the same time release your statement endorsing the proposition that the radios deserve continuing U.S. Government financial support. The proposed statement does not include an endorsement of the specific recommendations of the report.³

Both the letters to the Congress (Tabs A and B) have been coordinated with Dave Gergen. Bill Timmons concurs in the above scenario.

Establishment of the Board

This is the sole aspect of the Commission’s recommendation on which we do not have a joint position. Since current congressional authority for support of the radios expires June 30, we need to prepare very soon new legislation that either reflects the Commission’s recommendations or another alternative.

As proposed by the Commission, the Board would consist of five members appointed by the President with Senate confirmation and two non-voting representatives of the radios. It would defend budget requests before the Congress, allocate funds to the radios, evaluate their performance, and assure that they operate in a fashion “not inconsistent with” U.S. foreign policy.

Pros and Cons

State and USIA support the Commission’s arguments that establishment of a Board would (a) minimize the impact on our foreign relations of complaints from foreign countries to whom the radios broadcast; (b) meet the radios’ apprehensions that their credibility might be compromised by a direct connection with a U.S. foreign policy agency; and yet (c) provide for appropriate foreign policy guidance.⁴

Henry Kissinger believes that these are strong arguments and recommends that you support the Commission’s recommendation.

Roy Ash points out that, during the past two years, first USIA and now State oversight of the radios has produced no significant adverse effects on either of those agencies or the radios’ independence. He believes that the fact of U.S. Government financial support, rather than the particular agency through which funds are administered, is likely to be the decisive criterion when the USSR and Eastern European governments consider whether to retaliate against radio broadcasts; and he points out that the proposed Board will be a U.S. Government agency. Domestically, in Ash’s view, the Board might well tend to repeat the consistent pattern of independent agencies and commissions which take on a life of their own, lobby for increased funds, and become program advocates. In such a case, effective management control and any future decision to reduce or terminate U.S. funds would be severely hampered. Finally, he notes that Congress a year ago failed to enact a similar Administration-backed organizational proposal. He recommends continuation of the present arrangement of State Department responsibility for the radios.

Recommendations

1. That you approve the Next Steps as outlined above.⁵

2. That you decide between the following two organizational alternatives:

Accept the Commission’s recommendation and establish the new Board (Kissinger and Timmons recommend).⁶

Continue current State Department responsibility (Ash recommendation).

3. That you sign the letters to the Vice President and Speaker Albert at Tabs A and B.⁷

1. Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, White House Special Files, Subject Files, Confidential Files, 1969–1974, Box 26, Federal Government (FG) 352, Presidential Study Commission on International Radio Broadcasting [1971–74]. No classification marking. Printed from a copy that neither Ash nor Kissinger initialed. A stamped notation at the top of the page reads: “The President Has Seen.”
2. The five members of the Presidential Study Commission on International Radio Broadcasting—Milton S. Eisenhower, President Emeritus, Johns Hopkins University; Edward W. Barrett, Director of the Communications Institute, Academy for Educational Development; John A. Gronouski, Dean of the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, University of Texas; Edmund A. Gullion, Dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University; and John P. Roche, Professor of Politics, Brandeis University—forwarded the Commission’s final report to Nixon on February 5. Tab C, the report entitled “The Right to Know,” is attached but not printed.
3. Nixon issued a statement from Key Biscayne, Florida, on May 7 endorsing “wholeheartedly the conclusion of the Commission that these voices [RFE and RL] of free information and ideas serve our national interest and merit the full support of the Congress and the American people.” The statement continued, “the free flow of information and of ideas among nations is a vital element in normal relations between East and West and contributes to an enduring structure of peace.” (Public Papers: Nixon, 1973, p. 520)
4. Eliot’s February 26 memorandum to Kissinger and Keogh’s February 23 memorandum to Davis outlining Department of State and USIA views on the Commission’s study and recommendations are in the National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 380, Subject Files, Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty (1972), Vol. II [1972–Jan 1974] [1 of 1].
5. Nixon initialed his approval.
6. Nixon initialed his approval of this alternative. The Board for International Broadcasting Act (P.L. 93–129), October 19, 1973, created the Board as an independent Federal agency to fund and oversee Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty, tasks performed by the Department of State since the revelation in 1971 that the radios were secretly supported by the CIA. (Congress and the Nation, Vol. III, p. 880, and ibid., Vol. IV, p. 856) Documentation is printed in Foreign Relations, 1969–1976, vol. XXIX, Eastern Europe; Eastern Mediterranean, 1969–1972.
7. Nixon initialed his approval. His signed May 7 letters to President of the Senate Agnew and Speaker of the House Albert forwarding the Commission’s report to Congress are attached at Tabs A and B but not printed.