‘Don't Mention the Soviets!’ An overview of the short films produced by the NATO Information Service between 1949 and 1969

Abstract

This paper offers an examination of the short movies produced by the NATO Information Service (NATIS) between 1949 and 1969. It demonstrates that the material reflected NATO's changing priorities and strategic scope. Moving away from the strictly defined military themes of the early 1950s, the death of Stalin and the following climate of detente led NATIS to explore new themes, including economic and political cooperation, and to address new audiences.

Notes

Linda Risso is a Lecturer in Modern European History at the University of Reading. Her research interests focus on the history of European integration and history of the Cold War. She is currently writing a monograph on the NATO Information Service during the Cold War for Routledge.

 [1] Hixson, Parting the Curtain; Stonor Saunders, Who Paid the Piper?; Rawnsley, Cold War Propaganda; Taylor, Global Communications and Munitions of the Mind ; Scott-Smith and Krabbendam, The Cultural Cold War in Western Europe and The Politics of Apolitical Culture ; Aldrich, ‘Putting Culture into the Cold War’; , Freedom's War and ‘Beyond Freedom’; Caute, The Danacer Defects; Aubourg, ‘Organising Atlanticism’; Osgood, ‘Total Cold War’; Shaw, Hollywood's Cold War; and Cull, The Cold War, to mention just a few.

 [2] Aubourg et al., ‘Organising Atlanticism’; Risso, ‘“Enlightening Public Opinion”’.

 [3] Copies of most of the NATO short films are kept at the Imperial War Museum, Lambeth Road, London, SE1 6HZ, UK.

 [4] ‘The NATO Information Service’, 20 November 1950, NATO Archives, DD/186.

 [5] ‘NATO Conference on Information Policy: Development of Information since 1950’. Report by the Director of Information, 24 January 1955, NATO Archives, AC/87-D/6; and ‘NATO Functions in the Field of Propaganda and Counterpropaganda’. Report by the Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs, 29 November 1952, NATO Archives, CM(52)115. For a detailed reconstruction of the origins of NATIS, see Risso, ‘“Enlightening Public Opinion”’.

 [6] ‘Information Policy Working Group: Position of NATO Information Officials to Member Country Capitals’. Note by the Secretary. 22 September 1952, NATO Archives, AC/24-D/11.

 [7] Among the best examinations of these changes are Zubok and Pleshakov, Inside the Kremlin Cold War; and Gould-Davies, ‘Logic’.

 [8] ‘Summary Record of a Meeting of the Council held at the Palais de Chaillot, Paris, on Wednesday, 1 July 1953’, 2 July 1953, NATO Archives, CR(53)33; ‘Committee on Information and Cultural Relations: Note by the Chairman’, 26 August 1953, NATO Archives, CM(53)118; and Committee on Information and Cultural Relations, ‘Proposed NATO information activities in 1954’. Note by Director of Information, 29 September 1953, NATO Archives, AC/52-D/17.

 [9] Henry Peter Krohn Pooley (1912–96) was editor of Radio Newsreel (1940–43) and Editor Overseas News Talks (1943–47); he later became Associate Producer at the Crown Film Unit (1949–51). He was Assistant Director of Information at NATO between 1951 and 1977.

[10] ‘Countering Soviet Propaganda Themes’, 26 April 1960, NATO Archives, PO/60/502.

[11] ‘Conference on National Information Officials’, 1 March 1960, NATO Archives, RDC/60/44.

[12] ‘Information Programme for 1956’. Report by the Chairman of the Committee on Information and Cultural Relations, 20 February 1956, NATO Archives, CM(56)18.

[13] ‘Counterpropaganda and Action against Subversive Activities’. Memorandum of the Greek Delegation, 13 June 1952, NATO Archives, CM(52)32.

[14] Alliance for Peace was updated in 1956. Some frames were changed; The Netherlands, for example, was represented by views of the Dutch dams. The new version also included the accession of West Germany with footage of Chancellor Adenauer signing the membership agreement.

[15] Around this Table was updated in 1959. The new version included more tailored information on the member states, the new script is also available in Committee on Information and Cultural Relations, ‘Tenth Anniversary of NATO’, 19 July 1958, NATO archives, AC/52-D(58)25/2.

[16] ‘NATO Conference on Information Policy’, Summary Record of a Conference held at the Palais de Chaillot, Paris, from 25 to 28 January 1955, 8 February 1955, NATO Archives, AC/87-R/1.

[17] See for examples data available in Committee on Information and Cultural Relations, ‘Tenth Anniversary of NATO: Tenth Anniversary Film Project’, 19 July 1958, NATO Archives, AC/52-D(58)25/2.

[18] ‘NATO Conference on Information Policy’, 8 February 1955, NATO Archives, AC/87-R/1; ‘NATO Conference on Information Policy: Development of Information since 1950’, Report by the Director of Information, 24 January 1955, NATO Archives, AC/87-D/6.

[19] ‘NATO Conference on Information Policy’, 8 February 1955, NATO Archives, AC/87-R/1.

[20] ‘Summary Record of the 34th Meeting of the Council held at the Palais de Chaillot, Paris, on Wednesday, 17 November 1954’, 19 November 1954’, NATO Archives, CR(54)43. For a detailed analysis of the budget, see Aubourg, ‘Creating the Texture of the Atlantic Community: The NATO Information Service, Private Atlantic Networks and the Atlantic Community in the 1950s’, in Aubourg et al., European Community, 390–415.

[21] Committee on Information and Cultural Relations, ‘Proposed New Atlantic Community Series’. Note by the Director of Information, 24 November 1961, NATO Archives, AC/52-WP(61)49/2.

[22] ‘Conference on National Information Officials’, 1 March 1960, NATO Archives, RDC/60/44.

[23] ‘NATO Conference on Information Policy’, Summary Record of a Conference held at the Palais de Chaillot, Paris, from 25 to 28 January 1955, 8 February 1955, NATO Archives, AC/87-R/1.

[24] Committee on Information and Cultural Relations, ‘Proposed 1962 Information Programme, Note by the Director of Information’, 11 September 1961, NATO Archives, AC/52-WP(61)49.

[25] Committee on Information and Cultural Relations, ‘Information Policy: Proposed General Lines to be Followed in Information Activities in 1965’. Note by the Director of Information, 15 April 1964, NATO Archives, AC/52-D(64)1.

[26] Titles include UK Tour 1960, France Tour 1960, Italy Tour 1960, Belgium Tour 1960, Greece Tour 1960 and so on.

[27] Committee on Information and Cultural Relations, ‘Information Activities during the First quarter Of 1960, Report by the Director of Information’, 23 April 1960, NATO Archives, AC/52-WP(60)17.

[28] Committee on Information and Cultural Relations, ‘Information Policy: Proposed General Lines to be Followed in Information Activities in 1965’. Note by the Director of Information, 15 April 1964, NATO Archives, AC/52-D(64)1.