Soviet Union Archives - Cold War Radio Museum

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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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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John Houseman, Howard Fast, and the Pro-Soviet Voice of America

Curator — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 07:11:05 +0000

Houseman’s Role in VOA Propaganda John Houseman, long mythologized as the “first director” of the Voice of America (VOA), was in reality its first chief producer — a man of the theater rather than a journalist. Editorial policy was shaped by Joseph F. Barnes, a pro-Soviet fellow-traveler newspaper reporter and close associate of Walter Duranty, […]

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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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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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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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Vice President George H. W. Bush’s 1987 Visit to Poland – Religion in Voice of America Broadcasts

Curator — Thu, 06 Jun 2024 03:54:26 +0000

Ted Lipien for Cold War Radio Museum On Sunday, September 27, 1987, Vice President and future U.S. President George H. W. Bush, who visited Poland at the request of President Ronald Reagan, took part with his wife, Barbara Bush, and the American delegation in a Catholic mass in the St. Margaret church in Łomianki, a […]

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Howard Fast – Voice of America’s First Chief News Writer and Editor and Future Stalin Peace Prize Winner Goes to Prison

Curator — Sat, 06 Apr 2024 23:56:07 +0000

by Ted Lipien for Cold War Radio Museum On June 8, 1950, American novelist and Communist Party USA (CPUSA) activist and journalist Howard Fast, a former Voice of America’s (VOA) chief news writer and editor in the wartime United States Office of War Information (OWI), began serving his three-month prison sentence at Mill Point Federal […]

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Envelope from a Letter Addressed to the BBC Polish Service in 1940

Curator — Wed, 27 Mar 2024 04:58:41 +0000

One of the newest exhibits of the online Cold War Radio Museum is an envelope addressed to the news department of the BBC Polish Service, posted in Great Britain in March 1940. The envelope has the inscription “PASSED BY CENSOR,” indicating that the British military censorship had reviewed the letter sent from Plymouth, and […]

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