39. Memorandum From the Director of the United States Information Agency (Murrow) to the Under Secretary of State (Bowles)1
SUBJECT
- Educational and Cultural Representatives Overseas
I share your views on the importance of having officers of the highest possible quality conduct our educational and cultural programs abroad. We must, I agree, have officers who can keep up with the pace required for the 1960s, who can imaginatively and competently carry on the growing responsibilities of the cultural programs including educational development. The problem is as you know a complex one, and must be tackled on many fronts. I shall be glad to discuss it with you, and welcome your suggestions.
To take a new look at the problem, USIA last April established an Ad Hoc Committee on Personnel Policies regarding Cultural Affairs Officers. The Director of your Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs2 represents the Department on this Committee, which is considering a broad range of questions from recruitment to job classification and training. I expect a report shortly that will indicate some lines for further action.3
In the meantime let me put down a few thoughts on the matter and list some of the steps we are now taking.
Your memorandum (Tab A)4 enumerates the many qualities desirable in our Cultural Officers. It also suggests why we fall short of this high standard in some cases. The requirements for a Cultural Officer are demanding and varied: he should understand and represent well the culture of his own country, be versed in the culture and language [Page 116] of the country in which he works, be skilled in communications techniques, be articulate and strong on personal contacts, and at the same time be a competent administrator of several complex programs.
Obviously it is difficult, often impossible, to find persons with all these qualities; we must seek those who most nearly approximate our ideal, fill in the gaps as far as possible through training and experience, and utilize them in the best ways, taking into account their strengths and weaknesses.
Steps we are taking and plans for the future include:
Career Opportunities and Development
1. While we have not yet succeeded in getting career legislation, a Career Corps was set up by administrative action in July 1960 with full support and encouragement of the State Department. For the long term, a career service will provide USIA, as it does State, with the soundest basis for getting and holding high quality personnel.
2. We now have the policy that in each major post, one of the two top jobs (PAO and Deputy, or next ranking officer) should be filled by an officer with a background of cultural work.
3. In several major posts we have raised the classification of the Cultural Officer job, and are again re-examining the pattern to be sure it adequately reflects the stature and complexity of cultural affairs work.
4. We are seeking to keep our Cultural Officers and other personnel longer at their posts—either for two regular tours of duty, or for one three-year tour.
Selection of Personnel
1. The Junior Officer program, inaugurated in 1954, is bringing excellent young material into our Foreign Service. Last year the examination procedure was modified so that the written exam is very close to that of the State Department for its entering Foreign Service Officers. The growing number of candidates and their high quality are encouraging.
2. USIA always will need to bring in officers from the outside at mid-career and senior levels. This includes both the outstanding representative of some field of American culture who is not willing to make a career of government service but will serve for one or two tours of duty as a Cultural Attaché, and the man at mid-career in some relevant field (the academic world, the arts, cultural organizations) who is willing to move permanently into USIA work. We are actively seeking both. The attached memorandum gives examples of some of the candidates now under consideration.
3. We are also working to improve recruiting methods and expand contacts with universities and other sources of potential candidates.
[Page 117]Training
Our Educational and Cultural Officers, as well as other Foreign Service officers, need far more training than we can now give them. The great problem here is personnel ceilings. At a time when we must open new posts and expand programs in Latin America and Africa, we cannot release officers from active duty for training to the extent that we should. We are, however, taking some steps:
1. A new policy on language proficiency went into effect April 1. It sets more stringent requirements than we have ever had before, and will require considerably more language training.
2. Next year a USIA officer will be assigned to full-time study in American civilization for one year at an American university. This program recognizes the importance of the field of American civilization to Agency work; we plan eventually to assign more officers to it.
3. We are planning a longer training period for Junior Officers in Washington before assignment to their first posts.
4. We have a number of other projects under consideration that we hope to develop as personnel ceilings and budget permit. They include: assignment of Cultural Officers to work with an American university (for example, as foreign student adviser) or cultural institution for one or two years during a U.S. assignment; development of special summer seminars for Cultural Officers to bring them up to date on developments in American cultural life, with special emphasis on American education; study trips to educational and cultural institutions and events throughout the U.S. for officers on home leave, so that they will be better equipped to discuss the U.S. with foreign leaders from first-hand, up-to-date knowledge.
- Source: National Archives, RG 59, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, Office of the Assistant Secretary, Subject Files, 1961–1962: Lot 63D135, Entry A1–5072, Box 5, U.S. Information Agency—1961. No classification marking. Another copy is in the National Archives, RG 59, Central Files, 511.00/7–1161. In an August 18 memorandum to Murrow, a copy of which was sent to Coombs, Bowles thanked Murrow for his memorandum, adding: “It certainly looks as though you are on the right track, and I just wanted to underscore the fact that you have our wholehearted support and encouragement for everything that you are doing.” (National Archives, RG 59, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, Office of the Assistant Secretary, Subject Files, 1961–1962: Lot 63D135, Entry A1–5072, Box 5, U.S. Information Agency—1961)↩
- Saxton Bradford.↩
- Not found.↩
- Attached but not printed. A signed copy is printed as Document 36. Tabs B–E, although not referenced in the text, are attached but not printed.↩