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Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty corporate records
2000C71  
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Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Access
  • Use
  • Acquisition Information
  • Preferred Citation
  • Alternate Forms Available
  • Appendix I: Known Pseudonyms
  • Historical Note
  • Scope and Content of Collection
  • Arrangement Statement
  • Related Collection(s)

  • Title: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty corporate records
    Date (inclusive): 1945-2006
    Collection Number: 2000C71
    Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
    Language of Material: Languages represented in the collection: English, German, Russian, Polish
    Physical Description: circa 4000 linear feet (4000.0 Linear Feet)
    Abstract: The records of the American radio broadcasting organization operating Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) include correspondence, memoranda, reports, financial and legal records, technical specifications, opinion survey data, serial issues, other publications, and microfilm relating to operations of Radio Free Europe in broadcasting to audiences in Eastern Europe and of Radio Liberty in broadcasting to audiences in the Soviet Union, as well as non-broadcast operations of RFE/RL's predecessor, the Free Europe Committee, Inc. Digital copies of select records also available at https://digitalcollections.hoover.org. 
    Creator: RFE/RL
    Physical Location: Hoover Institution Library & Archives

    Access

    The collection is open for research; materials must be requested in advance via our reservation system. If there are audiovisual or digital media material in the collection, they must be reformatted before providing access.

    Use

    RFE/RL welcomes the re-use, republication, and redistribution for research and educational purposes of audio, video, text, and graphic content produced by RFE/RL, Inc., its legal predecessor organizations, and its constituent language Services. Users of RFE/RL content from this collection must include in their work the information: "Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty content, including but not limited to recordings of broadcasts, program scripts, graphic and video content and web-based content, is protected by U.S. and international copyright laws. Used with the permission of RFE/RL, Inc., 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington, DC 20036, USA. www.rferl.org."
    Users of RFE/RL content cannot alter the meaning, name or integrity of the content. The sale of RFE/RL content is strictly prohibited. Some of the RFE/RL content within this finding aid may contain content created by outside parties ("Third-Party Content"). Before using any RFE/RL products containing Third-Party Content, you must first obtain permission from the owner of the rights to the Third-Party Content.
    Unlimited reproduction for institutional or other use of RFE/RL content found within this finding aid is not permitted without the express written permission of RFE/RL. Learn more about the Terms of Use for RFE/RL content on the RFE/RL website. Inquiries about copyright permission involving materials in RFE/RL archival collections should be emailed to: Martins Zvaners, RFE/RL Deputy Director of Communications.

    Acquisition Information

    Acquired by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in 2000 with subsequent additions.

    Preferred Citation

    [Identification of item], Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty corporate records, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives

    Alternate Forms Available

    Digital copies of select records also available at https://digitalcollections.hoover.org. 

    Appendix I: Known Pseudonyms

    The Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty corporate records at the Hoover Institution Library and Archives includes extensive correspondence between Free Europe Committee (FEC) and American Committee for Liberation from Bolshevism (AMCOMLB) officials and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officials. From 1949 to 1959 this correspondence was conducted using pseudonyms. Thereafter, until CIA oversight ended in 1971, it was conducted anonymously between "The President" [FEC or AMCOMLIB] and "The Executive Committee," "Advisory Committee," or "Board of Trustees" [CIA]. This appendix provides the identification of the FEC officials who wrote in pseudonym and the identification of those CIA officials responsible for FEC and AMCOMLIB issues whose true names and pseudonyms have been released by CIA. Identification of persons referenced in the correspondence indicates their organizational role and authority and helps in assessing the significance of the documents.

    Free Europe Committee Officials

    PSEUDONYM
    REAL NAME
    John Free
    DeWitt C. Poole
    William Freely
    Frederic R. Dolbeare
    William L. Digby
    Spencer Phoenix
    Merton T. Stone
    Frank Altschul
    Kenneth J. Walters
    Robert E. Lang
    Frank C. Kilday
    John Schroeder
    Charles Dempsey
    Herbert Gross
    Albert Robinson
    William E. Griffith
    H. Adams
    Alfred W. Held
    Michael J. Peters
    J. Barry Mahool
    Ray D. Tarlston
    Ray E. Millard
    Thorne E. Minett
    Ray E. Millard
    James C. Hayden
    James R. Burton
    Thomas E. Marschal
    Thomas E. Myers
    Michael E. Thompson
    Thomas E. Myers
    John L. Damewood
    H. Gates Lloyd
    Marc Petticord
    John Leich
    John L. Waterfield
    C. D. Jackson
    Bischop E. Dodge
    Lewis Galantiere
    Dorothy J. Lucker
    Ann Hester
    Sam E. Teslove
    Nancy Viccellio
    Leonard I. Stamm
    Admiral H. B. Miller
    Thaddeus Z. Abernathy
    Abbot Washburn
    Walter Edson
    Edward Welch
    Martin C. Johnson
    J. Clayton Miller
    Paul Dexter
    Stetson S. Holmes
    James W. Nicholson
    Konrad Kellen
    Douglas Neich
    Theodore C. Augustine
    David Powers
    Samuel S. Walker
    Whiting Stratton
    Levering Tyson
    Bruce Farmer
    Bernard Yarrow
    Judith Flint
    Irene Hood
    Daniel Church
    Whitney Shephardson
    Robert C. Newton
    George P. E. Cesar
    William Melville
    Richard M. Hunt
    Joseph P. Bradford
    Lawrence E. De Neufville
    Mrs. Ruth D. Cobedent
    Barbara G. Bowen
    John J. Sullivan
    Joseph F. Glennon
    Frank Lloyd
    Frank Wright
    Owen Taylor
    Thomas E. Brown Jr.
    Travis A. Albery
    Robert F. Kelley
    Martin L. Cantwell
    Robert F. Kelley
    Carey Metcalfe
    W. J. Convery Egan
    Franklin Woorham
    Frederick T. Merrill
    James P. O'Brien
    Robert F. Byrnes
    Robert G. Bixley
    Francis M. Hand
    Walter P. O' Dwyer
    Willis D. Crittenberger

    CIA Officials Overseeing RFE and RL (Partial List)

    PSEUDONYM
    PERSON
    Robert A. Ascham
    Allen Dulles, Director of Central Intelligence
    Harold S. Witting
    Frank Wisner, Deputy Director for Plans
    not released
    Tom Braden, Chief, International Organizations Division (IOD), 1951-1954
    not released
    Cord Meyer, Chief, IOD, 1954-1957
    William D. Playton
    Tracy Barnes, Chief, Political and Psychological Warfare Division
    Eliot B. Judane
    Emmons Brown (IOD)
    Philip D. Abramson
    Emmons Brown (IOD)
    not released
    Robert "Bob" King (IOD)
    not released
    Harry Reis (IOD)
    not released
    John C. Richards (IOD)
    not released
    Arthur Cox (IOD)
    not released
    James "Jim" William Brown (IOD)
    not released
    Ernest I. Harrison (IOD)
    not released
    Arne Ekstrom (IOD)

    Historical Note

    American radio broadcasting organization operating Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty.

    Scope and Content of Collection

    The complexity of this collection for the researcher as well as the archivist is manifold. The most salient fact characterizing the RFE/RL materials is their sheer volume, which necessitated their breakdown into two collections: the corporate records, consisting of the organizational and administrative documentation of RFE/RL (including its supervisory, subordinate, and affiliate organizations), and the broadcast archive, consisting of sound recordings of broadcasts, scripts, and associated documentation.
    Each of these units therefore has its own register. This register describes the corporate records only.
    Acknowledgements
    This register could not have been compiled without the participation of a large group of individuals. They are listed here in alphabetical order: Suzanne Ament, Rodica Claudino, Laura Cosovanu, Venera Djumataeva, Jack Doran, German Dziebel, Lenka Fedorova, Irene Franks, Lechoslaw Gawlikowski, Ilja Gruen, Alyssa Haerle, Polina Ilieva, A. Ross Johnson, Snetu Karania, Dev Kumari Khalsa, Mikolaj Kunicki, Lijuan Li, Natalya Mislavskaya, Andrew Moore, Dmitry Morozov, Ekaterina Neklioudova, Blanka Pasternak, Natalia Reshetova, Victoria Saenz, Mike Schaefer, Anatol Shmelev, Nick Siekierski, Sandra Staklis, Catalin Stoica, Quincy Tanner, Dennis Trapido, Ema Vyroubalova.

    Arrangement Statement

    The RFE/RL Corporate records have been broken into two record groups, one for the Washington Office and one for the Munich-Prague Office. Under each there are multiple sub-groups and series within. As of 2022, the finding aid is currently undergoing conversion out of its existing individual PDF format and being transferred to a fully searchable EAD-encoded finding aid for the first time since it's acquisition. During navigation of this finding aid, researchers will still notice some Sub-Groups still in PDF format, while others have already completed conversion.

    Related Collection(s)

    Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty broadcast records, Hoover Institution Library & Archives Sig Mickelson papers, Hoover Institution Library & Archives Arch Puddington collection, Hoover Institution Library & Archives

    Subjects and Indexing Terms

    Radio broadcasting -- Soviet Union
    Radio broadcasting -- Europe, Eastern
    Radio Liberty
    Radio Free Europe