Crusade Report -1951

Genre: Educational

Format: 16mm

Sound: sound

Description: The "Crusade for Freedom" was sponsored by the "National Committee for a Free Europe, Inc"., an organization which operated Radio Free Europe as an independent counterpart of the government operated Voice of America. The Campaign was launched by General Eisenhower on Labor Day, 1950, with General Lucius D. Clay, former military governor of Germany, as its national chairman. The purpose of the Campaign was to offer all Americans an opportunity to play a personal part in a demonstration of the "free world's determination to resist Communist aggression."Activities sponsored by the Campaign include a drive to secure signatures on a Freedom Scroll, which was enshrined in the Crusade's Freedom Bell in Berlin; fund raising for Radio Free Europe; and "Winds of Freedom," an operation which launched thousands of balloons carrying millions of leaflets into Czechoslovakia and Poland.However, the "Crusade for Freedom" was later publicly discovered to be conduit for the Central Intelligence Agency to both secure & launder money for their radio networks, as well as provide a positive spin and its activities in eastern Europe. Although the Crusade for Freedom never raised enough money to actually fund Radio Free Europe (it could only finance a third of its budget), its advertising slogans such as "Help Truth Fight Communism," along with parades, public forums, and other events, served to mobilize support for America's cold war policies.At some point during the group's time, the organization produced, as an award of sorts, small sections of barded wire, encased in lucite, from 'The Iron Curtain' to present to donors and others associated with their activities. This is one of those lucite displays. It reads: " This authentic barded wire from The Iron Curtain is awarded in recognition of distinguished service to Crusade For Freedom".