‘Enlightening Public Opinion’: A Study of NATO's Information Policies between 1949 and 1959 based on Recently Declassified Documents

Abstract

Based on recently declassified documents of the NATO archives, this article examines the foundation of the NATO Information Service and of the Committee on Information and Cultural Relations and offers an insight into the organization's activity in the fields of counter-propaganda and prevention of subversive activities. This article demonstrates how their intergovernmental nature allowed both agencies to act as forums for the exchange of views on anti-communist propaganda and prevention of subversive activities between the organization's members. The study of their activities thus leads to a more advanced understanding of the western response to communist opposition both at the national and supranational levels.