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July 12, 1950
SARNOFF SPEARHEADS APPEAL FOR LOUDER WAR "VOICE OF AMERICA"
Among the first persons asked by the subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee to discuss a resolution offered by Senator William Benton, of Connecticut, to strengthen the Voice of America last week, was Brig. Gen. David Sarnoff, Chairman of the Radio Corporation of America. General Sarnoff1 s recommendation that a ring of powerful broadcasting stations should be built around the Iron Curtain countries at a cost of $200,000,000, hit the front pages of many newspapers of the country.
In line xvith this, Assistant Secretary of State Edward Barrett, in charge of the Voice of America, told the Senators that President Truman would submit a plan this week for expanding the Voice of America and a request for $100,000,000 funds to Congress.
In his broadcast last Sunday night over ABC, Drew Pearson advocated a special Voice of America Commission to report directly to President Truman. He suggested that some such person as Nelson Rockefeller should head it.
In his plea for a louder Voice of America, General Sarnoff was followed by Lieut. Gen. Walter Bedell Smith, Commander of the First Army and former Ambassador to Russia, Bernard M. Baruch and others.
General Sarnoff said that the Soviet Union and its satel¬ lites were putting out to the world 832 hours of programs a x^eek, the United States 192 hours.
"I am informed", he said, "that in the past two weeks Russia has stepped up its service to North America to twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. These Russian programs are in Eng¬ lish."
The timing of this Russian action corresponds roughly with the invasion of the Republic of Korea by the North Korean Communists.
The United States, General Sarnoff testified, was partic¬ ularly weak in stations between Tangier and the Philippines in the Mediterranean area and in Arabia and India.
Especially required, he declared, were both medium and short-wave stations of high power in Greece, Arabia, Iran, India, Pakistan, the Philippines, Japan and possibly on Okinawa, and short¬ wave stations in Alaska beamed toward Siberia.
When the $200,000,000 figure was mentioned, Senator Elbert D. Thomas (D), of Utah, observed that he disliked in such "an ideal¬ istic atmosphere" to ask such a question, but that nevertheless he wondered whether the American commercial radio industry would lobby against such heavy Government interference in radio work.
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