Foreign Relations of the United States, 1917–1972, Volume VI, Public Diplomacy, 1961–1963

53. Memorandum From the Director of the United States Information Agency (Murrow) to President Kennedy¹

Washington, October 2, 1961.

SUBJECT

• Luncheon for Television Network Executives Thursday, October 5

ATTENDING

• Robert W. Sarnoff, Chairman of the Board National Broadcasting Company, Inc.
• William S. Paley, Chairman of the Board, Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc.
• Leonard H. Goldenson, Chairman of the Board, American Broadcasting Company
• Governor LeRoy Collins, President, National Association of Broadcasters
• Edward R. Murrow

I have informed these gentlemen that the luncheon will be an informal conversation having to do largely with relations between the U.S. Information Agency and the networks.²

Relations between the Agency and the networks have improved considerably and I suggest you might make mention of this fact.

USIA does not have the capability in terms of money or men to engage in large scale production of television or films. It follows that we must take the route of acquisition, adaptation and distribution. We have the distribution facilities pretty well all over the world. We have no desire to compete with the networks in areas where they have the possibility to make commercial sales. What we would like is access to their product in order that we may adapt and distribute it in areas where television is developing, where young stations cannot afford to pay commercial rates.

The networks have a backlog of material which we can put to good use, such as Meet Mr. Lincoln,³ 20th Century,⁴ Eyewitness To History,⁵ Victory At Sea⁶ and many others.

The delay in securing clearance is one of the principal difficulties. If each network would appoint one official to deal with us in regard to both radio and television clearances, the problem would be simplified.

The National Association of Broadcasters has had under informal consideration a project designed to eliminate illiteracy in one country in one year through the combined use of radio and television. We have suggested that Guatemala would probably be the best country for such a pilot project. If you were to suggest that the national interests would be served by such an undertaking, it would be helpful.

American television programs are being exported in increasing volume. The impact of television in some areas is coming to equal, if not surpass, that of movies. The networks regard this export primarily, if not exclusively, in terms of income and disregard the impact. Their salesmen bundle up whatever is available and sell it regardless of content, without regard for the damage it may do the American image abroad. A few words from you might cause them to scrutinize their export in terms of impact as well as income.

You might care to suggest that we could make use of an occasional documentary dealing with this Nation’s accomplishments in such fields as agricultural research, the accomplishments and progress of the American Negro, public health, desalinization of water, and medical research.

What we seek primarily is prompt access to the networks’ output in order that we may adapt and distribute in areas where they have no possibilities of a commercial sale, and that they exercise their own policy control regarding television shows exported abroad to insure a balanced image of the United States.

Edward R. Murrow

1. Source: Kennedy Library, President’s Office Files, Departments and Agencies Series, Box 91, USIA 7/61–12/61. No classification marking. A stamped notation on the first page of the memorandum indicates that it was received in the White House on October 3 at 8:02 p.m.
2. No record of the October 5 luncheon meeting has been found. In a July 24 memorandum to Kennedy, Murrow had proposed that the President “invite the heads of the three networks to lunch” in September or October; at the luncheon “specific plans for closer cooperation” in the overseas use of the networks’ products would be presented. (Ibid.)
3. Broadcast on NBC in 1959, this program depicted Lincoln’s life from his February 1809 birth to his assassination on April 14, 1865.
4. This documentary series hosted by Walter Cronkite on CBS from 1957 until 1970, reported and interpreted major events of the 20th century.
5. Hosted first by Charles Kuralt, then Cronkite, on CBS in 1959 and 1960, renamed Eyewitness in September 1961, the program covered various contemporary issues, including U.S. diplomatic relations.
6. Broadcast on NBC in 1952 and 1953, and later condensed into film, the program depicted naval warfare during World War II.