WASHINGTON REPORT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP74-00297R000900090045-8
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 28, 2013
• Sequence Number: 45
• Publication Date: November 26, 1957
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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Declassified and Approved For Release @ 50-Yr 2013/10/29: CIA-RDP74-00297R000900090045-8
(Only for papErs purchusin; Liwis column. OthErs must not use.)
(Cautions Advance LEwis column for rElEasE WEdntsday, NovEmber 27,
A.M. and P.M. papErs. Must not bE publishEd bEforE that data')
Washington REport
By Fulton Lrwis, Jr.
Copyright, 1957, King FEaturEs SyndicatE, Inc.
Washington, Nov. 26--Thi public, which puts up thE money, is ,
given to bEliEvE that Radio FrEE EuropE and its affiliatEd operations
pErform the mission of dissEminating propaganda Of hoWand freedom..
behind thE Iron Curtain.
. This is d.worthy objEctivE, Its ObjECtiVIS go, but pErfOrmanceS
arE not always ae advErtisEd.
Young Mr. SamuEl S. WalkEr, Jr., is in chargE Of that 'branch of
thg PrEE EuropE opErLltions which sEnt propaganda balloons to
CzEchoslovakial Hungary and othEr ratEllitE countriEs until thE
opEration was tErminatEd on ordErs from Waihington.
HE now has sEt up 'sEvEral nEw vEnturEs without balloons* Among
them is what hE calls thE "Asian Contacts Program."
' This i&bEing carriEd on in various Far EastErn and Middle
Eaattrn nations and from Mr. WalkErfs Explanation to mE, it consists
chiEfly of displaying a moving picturE film, callEd "Hungary Aflamg,n
Tht picturE is a "documEntary" Of thE tragEdiEs of Budapgst in thE
? blood baths of OctobErt 19564
? ThE opErating 4r3onnEl is intErEsting. One Paul Tigrid, a
CzEchoalavakian who somEhow.has not takEn thE troublE to bEComE
naturalizEd, was di:q.atchEd to J3pan and Hong Kong,. and exhibited
"Hungary AflamE" at a lEading MEU1S club in Tokyo, which the Free
FilrorE torsidF ^nnsiAErs a malor coup,
4 ,
Declassified and Approved For Release @ 50-Yr 2013/10/29: CIA-RDP74-00297R000900090045-8
Declassified and Approved For Release @ 50-Yr 2013/10/29 : 61A-RDP74-00297R000900090045-8
Shut Two LEWIS for 1./Ldnisday-11/27, x x x major coup.
As of thE, last time I chEckEdl, hE still,Ison thE roads with
salary. and ExpEnsE accoUnt,..tio ? '2416?44'4"4.
Two.othErs, REyman and Gabor? wErE tojaavE gone to India but
WErE unablE to gEt' visas to EntEr thE country.-ThEy. WEE sent
ElsEwhErE, instEad. REyman has just bEcomE an AmErican.citlzens
'Gabor is not.
A. third, NEnoff, also not a citizEn, Is a formEr mEmbEr of thE
e
sEcrEt policE,in Bulgaria. Kovacs, a Eunbarian, also wEnt to japan.
There is on AmEripan, Williadjgaff, thE.?Aubi-Ect of considerable
controvErsy.
Last May, in a gEsturE to cut down staff bEcausE the balloon
opEration had bEEn abandunEd, thE 31-yEar-old WalkEr fired 30 low..
saliriEd rEfugEE EmpluyEEs, and hirEd Pfaff at 49,600 a year as an
"Editorial consultant." ro thin Salary of courst, is added his fUli
travEl ExpEnsEs, whilE ht .is tourini; thi, Eastern world.
In addition to thg CoUntriE0 nahid, the-Asian-COntaCts.Program
covers Burma, Thailand, Aalaya, Pakistan, Syria, LEbanon, Tunlsias,.
Egypt and Jordan. And uthEr countries too, I ,undErstand, but I havt
no Specific knowledgL of thEsc.
How all this fits into .3 pattErn of hopE and freedom propaganda
0
9 el
to enslavtd millions Ehind thE Iron Curtain in Europe is difficult
for of to undErstand. This, actuAly, is propagandizing thE peoplt
of the FrEE World, outsisk.thg iron Curtain, and I question thE
benefits to bE derived.
It BEEms to be a cunsidErablE dEparturE from thE big-namt.studdEd
"Crusade For FrEEdom," which collEcts thE "Truth Dollars" which go to.
support the Fr EE Europe opErationt;.
(wre)
mind nnrrwAri For Release a 50-Yr 2013/10/29 : CIA-RDP74-00297R000900090045-8
Declassified and Approved For Release @ 50-Yr 2013/10/29 : CIA-RDP74-00297R000900090045-8 -
? ?#
* 43.
ci
Shut Three LEwis for WEdnEsday 11/27 x x x operations.
WalkEils Explanation is as follows:
ft ?
?
"WE feel that there are two, basic ways of helping thE apart4:1;pi;
a 4, ?
? .1
people of BastErn Europe.
"One is by keeping thE story of Soviet oppression in Ulla'
before the eits of world pub1ic.ppinipA_BEshing that can btAnam-
to make thE-SoviEt policy of opprEssion morE unpopular thrlugh4;.
? ca . aci?
thE Free World and moll ExpEnsivE to abstain might EvEntuallp-help
cause the Kremlin to adopt-a lEas opprEssivE policy.
? "IP:other, the Contacts Prorram constitutes a good potentihl. ?
source of news itEms, for usE.in broadcasting to thE Eastern Etupopaan
audiences who might find EncouralEuEnt in thE fact that the frat.
peoples of thE world have notoforgottEn thE.!
Ail of this already is bEing donE by the U.S. Information
? ?
Ott the world at a cost of 490,000,000 a yEar and more,
(End) 11/24/57
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Declassified and Approved For Release @ 50-Yr 2013/10/29 : CIA-RDP74-00297R000900090045-8 jj