The Second Crusade for Freedom campaign was a very creative campaign used to rally Americans to support Radio Free Europe and Radio Free Asia.
The use of the word “freedom” was widespread in the campaign, as we have read about the Freedom Train, Freedom Motorcade, Marathon for Freedom, Winds of Freedom, and Freedom Belles.
Then actor Ronald Reagan narrated both the 1950 movie The Big Truth and the August 27, 1951, released shorter version that was used for television advertising, in which he said this about RFE:
This station daily pierces the iron curtain with the truth, answering the lies of the Kremlin and bringing a message of hope to millions trapped behind the iron curtain. Grateful letters from listeners smuggled past the secret police express thanks to Radio Free Europe for identifying Communist quislings and informers by name.
In the summer of 1951, “All this We Know” was one of the most popular Radio Free Europe programs to Czechoslovakia. RFE broadcast names of “known informers and spies” in that country. The Advertising Council in its Crusade for Freedom newspaper kit used the following graphic and text, for example to describe a murder in Czechoslovakia:
In the darkness of night, the blackest of crimes was recently committed in Nemsova, Czechoslovakia. A Catholic priest, on his way to administer the last rites to a dying member of his parish, was ambushed by a gang of Communist thugs ... stabbed in the back ... murdered! Who was guilty of this horrible crime? Within a few hours the people of Nemsova knew.
Early the next evening these words were broadcast to all of Czechoslovakia:
This is Radio Free Europe speaking. All Czech patriots' remember this name. Frano. Red Deputy Frano of Lednicke Rovne. He has long been the terror of the entire Trencin region. He is personally responsible for the murder of a Catholic priest in Nemsova, at 2:15 A.M. this morning. He sent one of his agents to the parish to advise the priest that a man was dying in the neighboring village. Naturally, the priest left immediately to administer the Last Sacraments. Other agents of Frano—following instructions—were waiting on the road, knife in hand.
Remember this well. Frano will not escape punishment, even as the other, communist-fascist criminals will not escape punishment.
Another Ad Council advertisement used the same photograph of Frano for a secret police agent identified as named Stefan Stupinsky.
Attention! Radio Free Europe calls on Presov. Citizens of Presov -- in your town, the national manager of the Cafe Cergov, Stefan Stupinsky, is a dangerous agent of the Communist State Police. Do not be misled by his simulated friendliness, by his anti-Communist talk. Stupinsky takes advantage of the people who dine in his care -- trying to draw things out of them to report to the State Police.
Both photographs, according to the advertisements, were “posed by patriotic Americans.”
The Crusade for Freedom put together a long playing (33 rpm) record to be played at local Crusade fundraising meetings and, possibly, by local radio stations. Listeners could have heard about both Stefan Stupinsky and Comrade Frano.
The record was just digitalized by the Hoover Institution, Stanford University and put on-line with the description:
Side One: "What Do They Really Think of Us"
Narrated by NBC commentator Ben Grauer, it uses emotional interviews with East European refugees who dislike America to justify the need for RFE as well as testimony from displaced persons who praise the U.S. for bringing the message of freedom to those behind the Iron Curtain. Lucius D. Clay, National Chairman of the Crusade for Freedom, praises the Radio in the American Sector (RIAS) Berlin as a model for RFE and appeals for contributions to buy additional transmitters. The Freedom Bell in West Berlin is heard at the end of the recording.
Side Two; "The Radio Free Europe Story"
RFE Director Robert Lang describes the RFE broadcasts to Czechoslovakia from Munich that started on May 1, 1951. The program schedule includes newscasts, messages from relatives in the West, "Date with Eva" - an early DJ program, a program naming alleged regime collaborators and spies, and religious services. Messages from Free Europe Committee chairman C.D. Jackson and RFE Czechoslovak Service chief Ferdinand Peroutka are read. The recording ends with a singing of the Czechoslovak national anthem and ringing of the Freedom Bell.
Robert (Bob) Lang can be heard saying on side two, “We quite openly sow the seeds of terror and suspicion among the Communists, both the Russian intruders and the home-grown variety. And in so doing, save many of our listeners’ lives.”
The record can be heard in full on the Hoover Institution's RFE/RL "Collection Highlights" page: http://hoorferl.stanford.edu/RFE/collectionHighlights.php.
And on the Hoover Institution's Channel on youtube.com:
Kenneth Campbell wrote in The New York Times on May 23, 1951: "The highly personalized chill of terror that comes from being denounced by name over the radio -- a form of terrorism heretofore considered a special weapon of Communist and Fascist nations -- is being served back with interest to at least one Iron Curtain country in Europe by Radio Free Europe."
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