Cold War Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Beginnings of NATO and Radio Free Europe=== {{Main|NATO|Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty|Eastern Bloc media and propaganda|Propaganda in the Soviet Union}} [[File:Truman signing North Atlantic Treaty.jpg|thumb|President Truman signs the [[North Atlantic Treaty]] with guests in the Oval Office.]] Britain, France, the United States, Canada and eight other western European countries signed the [[North Atlantic Treaty]] of April 1949, establishing the [[NATO|North Atlantic Treaty Organization]] (NATO).{{sfn|Gaddis|2005|p=34}} That August, the [[RDS-1|first Soviet atomic device]] was detonated in [[Semey|Semipalatinsk]], [[Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic|Kazakh SSR]].{{sfn|LaFeber|1993|pp=194β197}} Following Soviet refusals to participate in a German rebuilding effort set forth by western European countries in 1948,{{sfn|Miller|2000|p=18}}{{sfn|Turner|1987|p=23}} the US, Britain and France spearheaded the establishment of the [[West Germany|Federal Republic of Germany]] from the [[Bizone|three Western zones of occupation]] in April 1949.{{sfn|Bungert|1994}} The Soviet Union proclaimed [[Soviet occupation zone of Germany|its zone of occupation]] in Germany the [[East Germany|German Democratic Republic]] that October.{{sfn|Byrd|2003}} Media in the [[Eastern Bloc]] was an [[Eastern Bloc media and propaganda|organ of the state]], completely reliant on and subservient to the communist party. Radio and television organizations were state-owned, while print media was usually owned by political organizations, mostly by the local communist party.{{sfn|O'Neil|1997|pp=15β25}} Soviet radio broadcasts used Marxist rhetoric to attack capitalism, emphasizing themes of labor exploitation, imperialism and war-mongering.{{sfn|Wood|1992|p=105}} Along with the broadcasts of the [[BBC|British Broadcasting Corporation]] (BBC) and the [[Voice of America]] to Central and Eastern Europe,{{sfn|Puddington|2003|p=131}} a major propaganda effort begun in 1949 was [[Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty]], dedicated to bringing about the peaceful demise of the communist system in the Eastern Bloc.{{sfn|Puddington|2003|p=9}} Radio Free Europe attempted to achieve these goals by serving as a surrogate home radio station, an alternative to the controlled and party-dominated domestic press in the Soviet Bloc.{{sfn|Puddington|2003|p=9}} Radio Free Europe was a product of some of the most prominent architects of America's early Cold War strategy, especially those who believed that the Cold War would eventually be fought by political rather than military means, such as George F. Kennan.{{sfn|Puddington|2003|p=7}} Soviet and Eastern Bloc authorities used various methods to suppress Western broadcasts, including [[radio jamming]].<ref name="Hearings">[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=pst.000013679477;view=1up;seq=414 Voice of America and Liberty: Strange Policies.{{in lang|en}}] // Hearings on Federal Government's Handling of Soviet and Communist Bloc Defectors before the United States Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Washington, D.C., October 8, 1987.Β β P. 6 {406}.</ref><ref>''Bamford, James''. [http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/04/books/books-of-the-times-the-labyrinthine-morass-of-spying-in-the-cold-war.html]{{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171109023149/http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/04/books/books-of-the-times-the-labyrinthine-morass-of-spying-in-the-cold-war.html}}<span> Books of The Times; The Labyrinthine Morass of Spying in the Cold War.</span>{{in lang|en}} // ''[[New York Times]]''.Β β July 4, 2003.</ref> American policymakers, including Kennan and [[John Foster Dulles]], acknowledged that the Cold War was in its essence a war of ideas.{{sfn|Puddington|2003|p=7}} The United States, acting through the CIA, funded a long list of projects to counter the communist appeal among intellectuals in Europe and the developing world.{{sfn|Puddington|2003|p=10}} The CIA also [[Secrecy|covertly]] sponsored a domestic propaganda campaign called [[Crusade for Freedom]].{{sfn|Cummings|2010}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page