Alexander Badenoch, Andreas Fickers, Christian Henrich-Franke. Airy Curtains in the European Ether: Broadcasting and the Cold War. Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlag, 2013. 375 S. ISBN 978-3-8329-7225-7. Richard H. Cummings. Radio Free Europe's "Crusade for Freedom": Rallying Americans Behind Cold War Broadcasting, 1950–1960. Jefferson, NC: McFarland Publishers, 2010. 265 S. , , ISBN 978-0-7864-4410-6. A. Ross Johnson. Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty: The CIA Years and Beyond. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2010. xii, 304 S. $55.00, cloth, ISBN 978-0-8047-7356-0. A. Ross Johnson, R. Eugene Parta. Cold War Broadcasting: Impact on the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. A Collection of Studies and Documents. Budapest: Central European University Press, 2010. xxv, 586 S. , , ISBN 978-1-4416-7708-2. Reviewed by Friederike Kind-Kovács Published on H-Soz-u-Kult (October, 2013) The Iron Curtain has been approached as a ans the Iron Curtain is also approached as an in‐ political, ideological, mental as well as psychologi‐ formation border that aimed at the disentangle‐ cal border; from the perspective of media histori‐ ment of the Cold War world by means of its media H-Net Reviews systems. Yet, this “information curtain” (Johnson, dio Liberty. The CIA Years and Beyond. Although p. 184) was unable to entirely seal off the Soviet having been part of the former radio industry Bloc societies from the so-called West: books, himself, Johnson does not recount the story of newspapers, television and radio perforated this RFE and RL in an autobiographical narrative, but Cold War border. Radio was a particularly power‐ instead relies on – until now – inaccessible, be‐ ful tool to reach audiences that appeared as other‐ cause classified, Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) wise inaccessible. In the last decade, research on sources to rewrite the history of the frst two radio during the Cold War has produced three dif‐ decades of the radios’ existence. While the CIA- ferent types of retrospective narratives: insider funding of the radios until 1971 represents a high‐ accounts, document collections and post-Cold War ly problematic and controversial matter in their narratives. Already since the implementation of history, this work aims at identifying the CIA per‐ Radio Free Europe (RFE) and Radio Liberty (RL) in spective, mostly by means of the CIA’s own the early Cold War, key fgures and employees of sources. Johnson decided to especially draw on the radios themselves, and later on so-called radio declassified CIA materials to evaluate the particu‐ veterans, have produced a great amount of cele‐ larly central role of the CIA in establishing the ra‐ bratory recollections of their professional experi‐ dios and keeping them running in the frst two ences at the radios in which they stressed and still decades of their existence. Using archival material stress the radios’ power as ambitious instruments from the RFE/RL Corporate Records at Hoover of this ‘Cold War of the ether’. A number of for‐ and the Central Intelligence Agency Archives, mer insiders have given us an up-close and per‐ Johnson aims at examining the role of RFE and RL sonal look at the everyday functioning of Western as means of U.S. foreign and security policy. The radio stations, providing much-needed knowledge book’s main purpose is to draw fnal conclusions about the internal structures of the stations and about the efficiency of the radios to fght and ‘win’ their extensive interdependencies with politics this propaganda war. It particularly aims at un‐ and intelligence. See for this: Cummings, Radio derstanding the place of the radios in the various Free Europe’s Crusade for Freedom; Arch Pud‐ national crisis situations throughout Central Eu‐ dington, Broadcasting Freedom: The Cold War Tri‐ rope, reevaluating the ambivalent stance of the umph of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty. radios during the 1956 Hungarian Revolution as Lexington 2003; George R. Urban, Radio Free Eu‐ well as the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia in rope and the Pursuit of Democracy: My War with‐ 1968. Acknowledging the institutional crisis of in the Cold War. New Haven 1997; James RFE after the crushing of the 1956 Hungarian up‐ Critchlow, Radio hold-in-the head: Radio Liberty: rising, which resulted from the encouragement an insider’s story of Cold War Broadcasting, that the US would also support the Hungarian rev‐ Washington D.C. 1995; R. Eugene Parta, Discover‐ olution militarily, Johnson argues that the radios ing the Hidden Listener: An Empirical Assessment carried a “special responsibility to avoid encour‐ of Radio Liberty and Western Broadcasting to the aging violence” (p. 243). They only had “soft pow‐ USSR During the Cold War. Stanford 2007; Gene er” at hand in this media competition, instead of Sosin, Sparks of Liberty. An Insider’s Memoir of actually representing powerful means of “psycho‐ Radio Liberty, Pennsylvania State University Press logical warfare”. Suggesting that “propaganda” 1999. was originally understood in positive terms, as a Recently, A. Ross Johnson, former director of means to “promote freedom” and not “false‐ RFE between 1988 and 1991 and former director hoods”, the monograph reproduces the often-for‐ of the radio’s research institute until 1994, pub‐ mulated aim of the radios. Meant as surrogate lished a monograph on Radio Free Europe and Ra‐ broadcasts for unfree countries (p. 242), Johnson 2 H-Net Reviews suggests, the radios’ main task was to reinforce scribes in perfect detail how this national fund and to amplify the independent voices inside the raising campaign succeeded in gaining “moral repressive societies (p. 243). In targeting and try‐ andfnancial support” (p. 58) among the average ing to remain credible to its “skeptical audiences” American people. By means of its multimedia ap‐ in the Soviet Bloc, the radios could never have proach (as well as its very many advertising cam‐ been “an overt or covert voice of the United paigns (via TV, Radio, Newspapers, Journals, Free‐ States”. Yet, its ideological independence was only dom Trains), the Crusade managed to raise an im‐ possible through the CIA-funding. Thus, Johnson mense amount of money to “Help Truth Fight concludes that only the overt oversight and fund‐ Communism”, as the main propaganda slogan ing of RFE and RL by the CIA “made possible the went (p. 87). In concrete this meant that the raised investment in their capabilities that allowed them funds were used to establish radio stations later to contribute much to the collapse of the So‐ throughout Europe behind the Iron Curtain and to viet Union” (p. 245). Only by means of their fnan‐ fund their everyday expenses. As a means to cial (in-)dependence could they maintain objectiv‐ prove the successful investment of the funds, ity. Frances Stonor Saunders, and many others af‐ “[p]rominent Americans were fown to visit Radio ter her, seriously questioned this kind of ap‐ Free Europe (RFE) locations” on so-called “study proach, according to which “the CIA’s substantial trips” (p. 124). After their return, the “trippers” financial investment came with no strings at‐ (as the participants would be called) were to re‐ tached”, which served to inscribe a “myth of altru‐ port on the work of the radios that was much ism” to the CIA’s sponsoring. Frances Stonor Saun‐ needed to prevent the further spreading of com‐ ders, Who Paid the Piper. The CIA and the Cultur‐ munism. By portraying the Crusade for Freedom al Cold War, London 1999, p. 4. Thus, it seems publicly as the apparently only funding campaign more appropriate to assume that fnancial aid of behind the radios, the radio’s CIA funding could such sort surely affected the ideas and projects of be perfectly concealed from the American public the radios to a great extent. for a very long period. Although not specifically The second type of insight into the history of addressing this very central issue from a theoreti‐ the radios is provided through commented and cal point of view, the author accomplishes to un‐ contextualized document collections, which allow cover one of the central cover actions of this us to see radio veterans and scholars engage with fundraising Cold War and thus sets the historical materials of the time. Richard H. Cummings, the record straight. former director of security at RFE, gives an in‐ Another, more elaborate and extensive vol‐ sight into the everyday (propaganda) work of Ra‐ ume, entitled Cold War Broadcasting by Ross dio Free Europe’s “Crusade for Freedom” in the Johnson and R. Eugene Parta, serves as a compen‐ 1950s. Although the reader is – particularly in the dium of documents of the time as well as of to‐ introduction – looking in vain for any research day’s narrative of (mostly) former employees of question or theoretical approach to the following Western radios. The volume, however, does not assembled source material, the volume serves only deal with RFE and RL but also includes stud‐ well in introducing the reader chronologically to ies on VOA and the BBC. Especially the fnal chap‐ the activities of the Crusade for Freedom. Citing ter, entitled “Cold War International Broadcasting immensely from and presenting many excerpts of and the Road to Democracy”, rewrites the success unpublished sources, Cummings gives a detailed stories of RFE and RL (p. 347), concluding, that record of the radio’s early fund raising activities, “Western broadcasting contributed to fostering of which the Crusade appears to have been democratic change within the countries of East‐ among the most successful one. The volume de‐ ern Europe and the USSR” (p. 350). The preceding 3 H-Net Reviews 16 chapters by former RFE or RL employees and sources from East European Soviet archives, historians, divided into four parts (Part 1: Goals of serves ideally the purpose to introduce students the Broadcasts, Part 2: Jamming and Audiences, and young researchers to the archival responses Part 3: Impact of Western Broadcasts in Eastern to the broadcasting activities.