Cold War Archives - Cold War Radio Museum

Voice of America and Soviet “Democracy”: How VOA Journalists Helped Establish Communist Regimes

Curator — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 00:26:35 +0000

Voice of America, OWI, and the Polish Desk: A Reconsideration The history of the wartime Voice of America (VOA) is most often presented as a story of broadcasting truthful news in defense of freedom and democracy. That description, while not entirely false, is incomplete. In the case of the Polish-language sections of the Office of […]

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Walter Lippmann, the Voice of America, and the Limits of Liberal and Conservative Thought

Curator — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 00:32:34 +0000

A reexamination of Walter Lippmann’s critique of the Voice of America (VOA) in light of wartime propaganda, Soviet influence operations, and the practical realities of Cold War broadcasting—revealing both the insight and the limits of his analysis. Lippmann’s Prestige—and the Context He Carried With Him A Celebrated Journalist in a Contested Information Environment In August […]

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The Breakfast Show: From Institutional Voice to Pat Gates — Voice of America, 1961–1978

Curator — Tue, 24 Feb 2026 20:18:28 +0000

An early preserved recording documenting the program’s beginnings — and the later rise of Pat Gates as one of the Voice of America’s rare internationally recognized broadcasting personalities. The Breakfast Show was a worldwide English-language morning program inaugurated by the Voice of America (VOA) in 1961. Produced in Washington, D.C., it combined international news reporting, […]

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A Paycheck from the “National Committee for a Free Europe”: A Small Document from a Covert Cold War Operation

Curator — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 00:05:46 +0000

A Paycheck from the “National Committee for a Free Europe”: A Small Document from a Covert Cold War Operation Artifact Description Payroll Statement (P/R Statement)Issuer: National Committee for a Free Europe, Inc.Date: Period ending September 30, early 1950sPlace of issue: New York, N.Y.Medium: Printed NCR payroll form on security-pattern paperCollection: Cold War Radio Museum This […]

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Voice of America Polish Service Broadcast – April 23, 1986

Curator — Tue, 04 Nov 2025 18:06:42 +0000

Digitally restored 30-minute archival recording by VOA Central Recording for the National Security Agency (NSA) Introduction In April 1986, amid Cold War tension and the slow but steady rebirth of democracy in Poland, the Voice of America (VOA) Polish Service continued its expanded shortwave schedule—five hours daily—broadcasting from Washington, D.C. to a country still under some martial […]

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Recording of a VOA Polish Service Broadcast – April 21, 1986

Curator — Sat, 01 Nov 2025 22:54:18 +0000

🎙️ The VOA Polish Service in the Cold War Context The Voice of America (VOA) Polish Service broadcast was aired from Washington and hosted by Bogusław Jerke, who read the newscast together with Zdzisław Mikulski. Field reports were read by Sławomir Suss and Renata Lipińska. The program includes a full newscast, a brief VOA Editorial—the short, official segment that states the United […]

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Communist secret police in Poland spied on Voice of America’s Willis Conover to shut down Radio Free Europe

Curator — Tue, 03 Jun 2025 23:24:31 +0000

One of the secret police informants spying on the Voice of America’s (VOA’s) famous jazz DJ Willis Conover during his visit to communist-ruled Poland in 1959 was the mother of Rafał Trzaskowski, the unsuccessful candidate for Poland’s presidency in 2020 and 2025. Trzaskowski’s late mother’s cooperation with the communist secret police, which also involved spying […]

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Did Radio and TV Pioneer David Sarnoff Coin the Voice of America name?

Curator — Tue, 15 Apr 2025 16:50:47 +0000

Summary David Sarnoff, the pioneer of the radio and television industry in the United States and the founder of the NBC network, was most likely the first American with access to the White House to present a comprehensive plan for U.S. government-funded international radio broadcasting and one of the first to suggest for it the […]

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A Voice of America Journal for Promoting Transatlantic Dialogue

Curator — Fri, 21 Mar 2025 04:41:25 +0000

As of March 20, 2025, it is unclear if and when the Voice of America (VOA) radio and television broadcasts and online publications will resume following the implementation of President Trump’s Executive Order, Continuing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy, which affected the agency’s workforce at the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) federal entities, the […]

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Soviet Spy Uncovered Through Venona Project Worked at Voice of America Library

Curator — Mon, 19 Aug 2024 23:55:57 +0000

Ted Lipien for Cold War Radio Museum News reports that Poland, in the latest Russia-West prisoner swap, handed over an alleged Russian spy, who had worked for the Voice of America (VOA) as one of its freelance journalists, exposed some of the methods of Russian spying similar to Soviet spying during the Cold War. One […]

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