Back in the fifties and 60s , the American government ’s foreign propaganda branch , the U.S. Information Agency ( USIA ) , invented fake name calling for diarist to plant story in newspapers . In 2016 , I indite aboutGuy Sims Fitch , just one of the pseudonyms that was used globally . But I recently stumble upon a few more name that might be helpful for people concerned in Cold War history .
The gens I ’ve give away :
Thomas Marshall
Gilbert Grant
John Kerigan
Benjamin West
Norman Smith
Paul L. Ford
The USIA set stories using phoney names in commonwealth like Brazil , Germany , Jamaica , Australia , and others where the U.S. had an interest in spreading its own adaptation of events . The USIA traverse working with American intelligence agencies , but evidence has since emerge that the leaders of the organisation , let in Edward R. Murrow from 1961 until 1964 , wereconsulting with the CIA .
One example of a planted newsworthiness story from the August 26 , 1959 matter of theKingston Gleanernewspaper in Jamaica , compose by “ Paul L. Ford , ” provides a fascinating peep at how the USIA was conduct propaganda operation overseas .
In late August of 1959 , President Eisenhower had just proclaimed that he was considering giving help to Laos to combat what the U.S. said was a communist penetration funded by the Chinese and the Soviets . The article by “ Ford ” assert that Eisenhower ’s decision made everlasting sense .
From the August 26 , 1959 issue of the Kingston Gleaner :
Paradoxical as it may fathom , the late State Department comment on the external backing for the communistic rebellion in Laos serves as an excellent explanation of Washington ’s position towards the new geological era of diplomacy which will open with President Eisenhower ’s Bonn - London - Paris trip this month and USSR Premier ’s Khrushchev ’s sojourn to the United States next calendar month .
In normal time , the Laos command would have been almost mundane as out-of-door influences have always been at workplace among Laotian Communists and are unquestionably at employment again in generating Communist military activity there . But when simpleness in criticize Communists would seem to be a way for seeing the scene for Khrushchev ’s United States visit , it is sure a notable bit of timing for the State Department to utter officially and outspokenly the misgiving that ( 1 ) Moscow itself — not just North Vietnam — may be behind the Communist rising in Laos ; and ( 2 ) that the revolt may in fact be part of a broader Communist design . To which President Eisenhower , in his news conference , cautiously but firmly added that he would certainly take up Laos and any similar incident of Communist - root on activity in his forthcoming talk with Premier Khrushchev .
All this goes to show how little inclination here exists for clinging to the uninstructed notion that a undivided exchange of visit , even on the highest level , would automatically mean the advent of a newfangled age in which communistic reliability prevail around the world and outside communism terminate to be a threat to anyone .
The fact of the affair is that Washington remains naturalistic , warning signal and unwilling to appease Moscow or to divid the world on the spiel of the Ribbentrop - Molotov Pact , which happened to be concluded 20 years ago this month and divided North - Eastern Europe into Nazi and Soviet “ spheres of influence . ”
However , what is now approach the stage of serious experimentation is a unexampled direct kind of U.S. diplomacy born of a realization that has long been germinating in Washington .
Readers in Jamaica had no idea they were reading the work of an prescribed U.S. propagandist . For all anyone in Jamaica knew , Paul L. Ford was just another reporter in Washington , D.C. who was n’t on the government ’s payroll .
The USIA was break up in 1999 , though the U.S. government still funds an organisation called the Broadcasting Board of Governors ( BBG ) which produces media for extraneous consumption . Back in January of 2017 , Clapper argue that the U.S. need a new propaganda agency specifically tocombat Russian disinformation .
So far , I ’ve only tracked down one mortal who worked at USIA who was writing under pseudonyms . Wes Pedersen , a former USIA employee , spoke to Sioux City Journal newsman Lynn Zerschlingin 2005about his use of fake name but he decease in 2013 . I ’ve filed Freedom of Information Act ( FOIA ) requests with the FBI and CIA to see if I can find out more , but the CIA deny my asking for information on Guy Sims Fitchback in 2016 . The reason ? The agency cite privacy laws . For a made - up mortal .
1950s1960s
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