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

96. News Release by the United States Information Agency¹

Washington, January 4, 1974.

USIA REPORTS TO CONGRESS ON OVERSEAS OPERATIONS

Washington—The U.S. Information Agency has reported to Congress that initiative, innovation and projection of ideas rather than ideological confrontation now characterize the Agency’s field operations in support of American foreign policy.

The report was the first semiannual report submitted to Congress by USIA Director James Keogh who was nominated by President Nixon to head the Information Agency last January. Required by law, the report reviews USIA’s operations from January 1 through June 30, 1973.²

During the period, USIA placed greater emphasis on cultural programming and exchanges to reflect the American people and their support of a foreign policy that has brought détente and wider communication with the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China, U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam, an even-handed effort to find a solution to the problems in the Middle East and proposals to adjust the economies of the world to new realities.

The Agency introduced two new techniques—electronic dialogues and videotape recordings—to increase its communications capabilities abroad.

And it expanded its exhibits programs, particularly in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, to gain larger audiences.

With détente, the report stated, USIA envisioned the development of more intensive mutually beneficial and reciprocal exchanges of ideas throughout the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe even though considerable obstacles inevitably remain.

The report said that East European members of the Warsaw Pact, caught up in the quickening pace of East-West relations, became increasingly receptive to ideas and information from the United States.

Recognizing that the Soviet Union remains as the major strategic competitor of the United States, USIA reported that the relaxation of East-West tensions, nevertheless, has apparently persuaded many East European and Soviet leaders that they can to a certain extent tolerate ideas from outside their societies and thereby safely indulge the desires of their citizens for ideas from the U.S. and other countries.

USIA found that differences in political system and style need not bar the free flow of information and ideas among peoples, as demonstrated in the communist but non-aligned nation of Yugoslavia.

Turning to Western Europe, the report noted that abundant coverage of the United States is provided that area by the commercial news media.

The task, therefore, for USIA in Western Europe was concerned as much with correcting the distortions whether willful or unintentional of the American image as with filling gaps in popular knowledge about the United States.

Thus, USIA gave priority in Western Europe to cooperative programming with TV networks, providing speakers and lecturers, film showings and exhibits and to intensive personal contact with educational and media representatives by USIA officers.

The primary objective of USIA in the Middle East was to keep the record on U.S. policy straight and free from distortion and to maintain communication on matters of mutual importance and interest with as wide a variety of opinion leaders as possible.³

In explaining and supporting foreign policy objectives, USIA stressed the basic soundness and strength of the American economy and began working toward a major effort to lend information support to U.S. export and tourist promotion programs.⁴ Full support also was given to U.S. efforts to gain the cooperation of other governments in bringing international drug traffic under control.

Among other issues of interest to overseas audiences and included in USIA programming were civil rights, U.S. achievements in science and space technology,⁵ the environment, energy, air piracy and hijacking and territorial water negotiations.

USIA cultural programming during the first half of 1973 included several international exhibitions designed to convey the ideas, initiative, concepts, habits, skills, and institutions of the American people. The major exhibit was “Outdoor Recreation—USA” which opened a year-long tour of six Soviet cities in Moscow on May 21.

“Electronic dialogues” and “videotape recordings” gave the Agency a new dimension in communications.

Electronic dialogue permits at relatively low cost an authoritative review of American policies by an expert, from government or the private sector, who normally would be too busy to visit an overseas post to present his views in person.

The technique presents to a carefully selected audience a previously filmed exposition by such an American authority on a topical issue of concern to that audience. Immediately after the film showing, the American speaker is put in touch with his overseas audience via an amplified telephone connection. Questions can be asked and answered directly and simultaneous translation is provided.

Videotape recordings gave USIA’s posts abroad a new method for rapid communication on U.S. positions on critical international issues. Here again, the expertise of qualified Americans drawn from all segments of U.S. society is utilized for special programming designed for selected audiences.

These new techniques augmented the traditional communication by the Voice of America, the broadcasting arm of USIA, the worldwide radio-teletype service, motion pictures and television, libraries and speaker programming.

1. Source: National Archives, RG 306, Records of the USIA, Historical Collection, Subject Files, 1953–2000, Entry A1 (1006), Box 14, Policy, 1974.
2. The report is ibid., Policy, 1974–1975.
3. USIA’s next semiannual report to Congress, undated but covering the period from July 1 to December 31, 1973, focused on the agency’s handling of U.S. policy vis-à-vis the Middle East. USIA programs supported “U.S. initiatives to assist in a peaceful settlement in the region,” the report stated, adding that stress “was placed on the avoidance of direct super-power military intervention in the area.” As for the energy crisis, USIA output “concentrated on the need for international cooperation and consensus building among consumers and producers to resolve the oil problem. This effort was tied closely to U.S. peace initiatives in the Middle East.” The report is ibid.
4. See footnote 6, Document 90.
5. In an April 13 memorandum, Kissinger informed Nixon that NASA and the Department of State had arranged a 4-week tour of 11 countries by the Apollo 17 astronauts. Nixon wrote “good” on the memorandum. (National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, White House Special Files, President’s Office Files, President’s Handwriting, Box 21, April 1973)