Britain, America and Anti-Communist Propaganda 1945-53: The Information Research Department

by Defty; Andrew

• ISBN13: 9780714654430
• ISBN10: 0714654434
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-09-24
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

In the Cold War battle for hearts and minds Britain was the first country to formulate a coordinated global response to communist propaganda. In January 1948, the British government launched a new propaganda policy designed to 'oppose the inroads of communism' by taking the offensive against it.' A small section in the Foreign Office, the innocuously titled Information Research Department (IRD), was established to collate information on communist policy, tactics and propaganda, and coordinate the discreet dissemination of counter-propaganda to opinion formers at home and abroad. This book demonstrates that propaganda was a primary concern of the postwar governments of Clement Atlee and Winston Churchill and traces the implementation of Britain's new propaganda policy at all levels from the Prime Minister to British diplomats in the field. It reveals the formidable array of opinion formers mobilized to support the IRD's anti-communist campaign including intellectuals, politicians, churchmen and the BBCand encompasses British anti-communist activities within NATO and in various Cold War confrontations in South-East Asia, the Middle East and behind the Iron Curtain. It also reveals for the first time the extent of Britain's involvement with US anti-communist propaganda activities such as Radio Free Europe.

Table of Contents

List of plates	xi
Foreword	xiii
Acknowledgements	xv
List of abbreviations	xvii
Introduction: historians, the media and British Cold War propaganda	1	(25)
The origins of Britain's anti-communist propaganda policy, 1945--47	26	(37)
Launching the new propaganda policy, 1948	63	(39)
Building a concerted counter-offensive: cooperation with other powers, 1948--50	102	(36)
`Close and continuous liaison': British and American cooperation, 1950--51	138	(44)
A global propaganda offensive: Churchill and the revival of political warfare	182	(40)
A new strategy of political warfare	222	(24)
Conclusion	246	(10)
Bibliography	256	(21)
Index	277