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Documents

October 25, 1956

Guidance for Radio Free Europe Broadcasts

CIA/International Operations Division guidance for Radio Free Europe at the outset of the Hungarian Revolution calls for extensive use of President Eisenhower’s September 23 statement on maintaining the spirit of freedom and for caution in pre-judging Imre Nagy.

July 3, 1956

National Security Council, NSC 5608, Draft of “US Policy toward the Soviet Satellites in Eastern Europe”

Staff draft of NSC 5608, concluding that ferment in the Communist world provides new opportunities to challenge Soviet control. A draft annex called for “encouraging evolutionary change” and defined as tasks of RFE and RL (and other USG-funded media) “avoiding any incitement to premature revolt” while “seeking to maintain faith in the eventual restoration of freedom.” Redacted document 76, FRUS, 1955-1957, XXV, unredacted document 12, Csaba Békés, Malcolm Byrne, and János M. Rainer, The 1956 Hungarian Revolution: A History in Documents (Budapest: Central European University Press, 2002.)

March 28, 1956

Budapest Legation Dispatch No. 372, Radio Free Europe Hungarian Broadcasts Appraised

In Budapest Legation Dispatch No. 372, two Hungarian-speaking officers appraise the content and reception quality of Radio Free Europe (RFE) Hungarian broadcasts. They rate newscasts higher than commentaries and features

July 22, 1954

US Government Policy for Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty

An annex to the Operations Coordinating Board (OCB) “169 Study” on U.S. international communications reviews the goals and effectiveness of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty.

November 20, 1951

CIA-State Department “Summit” Limits Scope of Radio Free Europe

Assistant Secretary of State Edward Barrett reviews Free Europe Committee plans with Allen Dulles and other officials. The State Department vetoes startup of Radio Free Europe Baltic broadcasting on grounds that it would duplicate Voice of America broadcasts and insists that the Crusade for Freedom be toned down. Dulles subsequently rejects the latter point in a handwritten annotation.

June 24, 1957

Minutes of the Meeting of the CPSU CC Plenum on the State of Soviet Foreign Policy

The Soviet leadership discusses the state of Soviet foreign policy after the Hungarian crisis and Khrushchev’s visit to the US. Molotov criticizes Khrushchev for recklessness in foreign policy direction. Soviet inroads in the Middle East and the Third World are analyzed. The effects of the crises in Eastern Europe are placed in the context of the struggle against US imperialism.

August 4, 1971

Minutes of the Joint Meeting of the Central Committee and the Ministers’ Council

These notes discuss foreign policy issues related to China, Hungary, the Soviet Union, and Romania. To quote the document itself, it "was a bilateral discussion of the internal situation of fraternal Parties and countries, and later an exchange of opinion on contemporary foreign policy questions and the problems of the international workers’ movement."

June 2007

Counter-Intelligence Protection, 1971. Folder 97. The Chekist Anthology.

Information on KGB counter-intelligence surveillance of Soviet tourists vacationing in other socialist countries who had contact with foreigners. The document states that Western intelligence services organized “friendship meetings” through tourist firms to meet Soviet citizens, gauge their loyalty to the USSR, and obtain political, economic, and military intelligence. KGB counter-intelligence paid particular attention to Soviet citizens who were absent from their groups, took side trips to different cities or regions, made telephone calls to foreigners, or engaged in “ideologically harmful” conversations in the presence of foreigners. Mirokhin regrets that the KGB underestimated the strengths and methodology of Western intelligence services. He concludes that the KGB should have adopted some of the same methods, and targeted Western tourists visiting socialist countries.

November 22, 1978

Meeting of the Political Consultative Committee of the Warsaw Treaty Member Countries

Meeting minutes taken by Romanian Ambassador Vasile Sandru at sessions of the Warsaw Treaty Political Consultative Committee, taking place in Moscow on 22-23 November 1978. Session I contains a speech by Leonid Brezhnev in which he discusses détente, Warsaw Pact economic cooperation, disarmament, national liberation movements, and relations with China, the Western countries, and Japan. In Session II and III political leaders of the other Warsaw member countries respond to Brezhnev’s speech. Session IV features a report by Commander-in-Chief Viktor Kulikov on the United Armed Forces. He recommends an increase in military expenditures. All of the leaders agree, except for Nicolae Ceausescu of Romania.

June 16, 1981

Memorandum of Conversation with Ricardo Uilock, Nicaragua's Ambassador to Bulgaria

Memorandum highlighting recent developments in countries of Central Latin America. The information has been received from the Nicaraguan Ambassador to Bulgaria, after a visit to Budapest where he has met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nicaragua. The document summarizes political developments that have taken place in the following countries: El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, and Nicaragua.

Pagination