Edward R. Murrow, John F. Kennedy, and the Cold War by Gregory
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The Fishbowl World: Edward R. Murrow, John F. Kennedy, and the Cold War by Gregory Michael Tomlin B.A. in Government, May 2001, The College of William and Mary in Virginia M.A. in History, May 2010, The George Washington University M.Phil. in History, January 2012, The George Washington University A Dissertation submitted to The Faculty of The Columbian College of Arts and Sciences of The George Washington University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy May 19, 2013 Dissertation directed by James G. Hershberg Professor of History and International Affairs The Columbian College of Arts and Sciences of The George Washington University certifies that Gregory M. Tomlin has passed the Final Examination for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy as of March 27, 2013. This is the final and approved form of the The Fishbowl World: Edward R. Murrow, John F. Kennedy, and the Cold War dissertation. Gregory M. Tomlin Dissertation Research Committee: James G. Hershberg, Professor of History and International Affairs, Dissertation Director Eric Arnesen, Professor of History, Committee Member Chris Tudda, Historian, Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State, Committee Member ii © Copyright 2013 by Gregory M. Tomlin All rights reserved iii Acknowledgements Forty miles west of the Glen Arden Farm, in Pawling, New York, which Edward R. Murrow operated as a gentleman’s farm, sits the Ogden Estate, also once a dairy farm, although it has been decades since the last cows grazed its lush meadows. From the colonnade of the Ogden farmhouse, I invested two years of my life to researching and writing this dissertation. The Doric columns of the front porch are oriented east towards Pawling, and I occasionally paused from my typing to look in the direction of Murrow’s beloved sanctuary. In his last hospital stay in April 1965, Murrow begged to be released so that he could die at home in lieu of a clinical ward for the terminally ill. For those who have completed a dissertation on a historical figure, you may appreciate how the character of your study can consume you. Months spent pouring over every personal scrap available in an archive can make you feel like you understand the individual, and landmarks in that person’s life can become important to you as well, simply because of your familiarity with their former significance. If only to keep my sense of humor during this process, I convinced myself that working from my own upstate New York dairy farm made Ed Murrow and me kindred spirits. My affinity for the landscape aside, I have striven fervently in this dissertation to remain critically objective in my analysis of Murrow’s service as director of the U.S. Information Service (USIA) from March 1961 to January 1964. A tremendous group of mentors, colleagues, and friends have encouraged me through this endeavor, and I am proud to thank many of them at the forefront of this completed tome. Dr. James Hershberg, my master’s thesis and doctoral dissertation advisor, taught my first foreign policy course in graduate school at the George iv Washington University (GW) in 2008. His encyclopedic memory of U.S. foreign relations, the intimidating size of his biography on James Conant, and the demands that he placed on us, his students, in writing research papers did not deter me from seeking his counsel on more advanced projects. I am grateful for the guidance that he has given me in un-muddling timelines, locating the most recently declassified sources, and refining the arguments made in these ten chapters. Although always pushing me to dig deeper, his enthusiasm for this project and his invitations to the International Graduate Student Conference on the Cold War (2010) and the National Security Archive’s conference on the fiftieth anniversary of the Cuban missile crisis (2012) made the dissertation process personally gratifying and worthwhile. The other members of my dissertation committee also provided unfailing encouragement during the process. Dr. Eric Arnesen’s mentorship began in graduate school at GW with his stimulating readings course on twentieth-century United States. His detailed feedback greatly improved my writing, and his passion for social and labor history has inspired me to explore intriguing angles into American history that I would not have pursued on my own. Dr. Steven Livingston, from GW’s School of Media and Public Affairs, provided the refreshing eye of a political scientist (and fellow artilleryman), and he urged me to make this study relevant to people beyond the community of diplomatic historians. Dr. Chris Tudda, from the Office of the Historian at the Department of State, wrote the book on public diplomacy during the Eisenhower administration, The Truth is Our Weapon, thus providing me with a valuable example on how to approach this topic during the Kennedy years. v Throughout my three-year enrollment in the GW doctoral program, I had the incredible fortune to be associated with another superb History Department in my fulltime job as assistant professor at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Every evening and weekend hour invested in the dissertation process made me a better instructor for cadets, both in the classroom and in my feedback on their written work. The freshmen in the American history survey and the upper classmen in the Cold War America elective offered questions and perceptions that helped me to hone of my own interpretations about U.S. foreign policy and political and social history. Lieutenants Grant Kirkpatrick and Patrick Moesta joined me in a yearlong exploration of American public diplomacy through their senior colloquium and thesis. Their demonstrated maturity and scholarship, as well as their impressive performance on a conference panel with graduate students at Columbia University, leave no doubt in my mind that the U.S. Army has been enriched by commissioning them into the officer corps in May 2012. If it were not for Dr. Robert and Christine McDonald’s warm reception in July 2005, I may never have even considered graduate work in history. The McDonalds welcomed me into their home and introduced me to the West Point History department at a time when I thought about applying to the academy’s Social Sciences department. Spending time with the McDonald family will certainly remain one of the highlights of the Tomlin family’s time in New York. The department’s leadership, Brigadier General (Retired) Lance Betros, and Colonels Matthew Moten and Ty Seidule stalwartly supported this endeavor and trusted me with a variety of other opportunities unique to working at West Point, to include leading the Cold War staff ride to four European countries for three consecutive summers. Lieutenant Colonel Gail Yoshitani, the head of vi the American history program, has been the best boss that an academic or army officer could ask for. Beyond her help in improving my teaching, she read every dissertation chapter and provided valuable feedback for how to strengthen their quality. Articulating my thoughts onto paper greatly benefited from several academic conferences that permitted me to introduce themes or topics from the dissertation. Dr. Andrew Preston of Cambridge University and Dr. Anders Stephan of Columbia provided helpful comments on two of the chapters. Dr. Victoria Phillips of Columbia introduced herself after I gave a presentation on USIA World Fair pavilions at the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations, and she has since become a marvelous friend. Her dissertation work on Martha Graham as a U.S. cultural ambassador helped me to expand my understanding of what comprises public diplomacy, and it has been a privilege to discuss teaching techniques with her over the past two years. Most impressively, she took the initiative to organize a conference on cultural diplomacy in April 2012 that brought West Point cadets and faculty together with graduate students and faculty from Columbia’s Blinken European Institute and History department. Victoria has done much it improve civil-military relations! Completing the research for this work took me to five states and overseas. A fellowship from the General of the Army Omar Bradley Foundation and a generous research grant from the GW History department greatly helped to offset the costs of the travel. Several archivists helped me to maximize my limited time in their reading rooms, especially Patricia Albright at Mount Holyoke College, Barbara Cline at the Johnson Library, and Dr. Stephen Twigge at the British National Archives. Dr. Susanne Belovari, who has worked with legitimate Murrow biographers, not only shared her own insights vii into Murrow’s background, but she also introduced me to Charles Casey Murrow, Ed’s son. Casey generously gave of his time during a memorable interview in Vermont, where he shared his personal memories and showed me several of the Murrow family’s treasured keepsakes from their three years in Washington, D.C. As with my first book, my family proved exceptionally supportive and interested in this writing process. When they were not asking, “How’s the dissertation coming?” they were tolerant of my absences from activities and outings. My brother Michael hosted me the night that I arrived in Virginia from South Korea to begin graduate school in 2008, during weeks of summer research in Washington, D.C. and College Park in 2011 and 2012, and the night before my dissertation defense in March 2013. So you can say that this academic adventure began and ended on the army cot in his Arlington apartment. My parents, Professor Harry and Donna Tomlin, remained enthusiastic about the project, but they also knew when to caution me to slow down. Saving the most extraordinary for last, I cannot thank my wife, Elizabeth, enough for her patience, support, and love throughout this process.