The Polish Radio Fee Europe section in Polish and US politics in the 1950s. XX century

In the article, the author set a goal to consider US policy regarding the Polish section of Radio Free Europe. As sources in the work were used documents of American and Polish special services, as well as memoirs of the director of the Polish section - Jan Nowak-Jezioranski. The main task of the radio station was to convey to the population of the countries of the socialist camp an alternative, non-Soviet point of view on events taking place in the world. Over time, this should contribute to the formation of the Eastern Europeans' opposition to the communist regimes and in the future lead to the dismantling of these regimes. The history of each of the five national sections of Radio Free Europe is unique in its own way. However, perhaps the most interesting case is the history of the Polish section of the radio station, which had a rather large influence on the political development of its country. To date, more and more researchers have recognized that Radio Free Europe at various stages of the Cold War had played a significant role in the changes that have taken place in Poland's domestic political life, and had also repeatedly been the subject of bilateral Polish-American negotiations. Having arisen later than other radio stations broadcasting in Polish, in a few years it managed to become the first western radio station to be the most popular among Polish radio listeners. Of course, this state of affairs could not but represent a threat to the ideological monopoly of the Polish United Workers' Party. The attempts made by the communist regime to create a system of jamming and counter-propaganda gave only a partial effect. Then, under the influence of the riots in Bydgoszcz and Szczecin, Warsaw decided to abandon the suppression of Western radio stations and to fight Western propaganda mainly through diplomatic methods. The United States in response to the events in Hungary and the protests of Polish politicians also decided to reconsider their policies. In particular, the State Department tried to soften the RFE propaganda by tightening control over the content of the programs. At a certain stage, under the pressure of the Polish side, even the possibility of dissolution, the Polish section of the radio, was considered. Separate US officials believed that this was a reasonable price for improving relations with official Warsaw. However, after several consultations, the responsible persons decided to save the section. Thus the author concludes that official Washington showed an increased interest in propaganda pressure on the communist countries. This was largely due to the lack of other serious leverage by the United States on the situation behind the Iron Curtain.

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