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Unidentified Speaker (0:01) Our final speaker needs no introduction. For not only is he a North Carolinian come home, if only temporarily, but he is also, of course, the director of the United States Information Agency, Mr. Edward R Murrow.Edward R Murrow (0:21) Honorable members of the House of Representatives, honored guests, ladies and gentlemen, I stand here as the spokesman of many heads and hands and hearts. What you see around you is the culmination of three years of arduous effort and twice as many years of dreaming and planning. For those who have spent the endless and tireless hours of piloting and sweating this ground station to completion, theirs is the reward of accomplishment for us, the citizens of this state and this country, ours is the reward of benefit for this radio is designed for no parochial purpose. The Voice of America is not lightly named. This voice speaks in the name of the people of this land. It speaks to the many other peoples of other lands. It talks their languages. It speaks of their dreams. It dwells on our ideals, and it says, and will say, that together, in the service of peace, all men share that happy horizon of bright hopes for tomorrow. The Voice of America is the radio arm of the United States Information Agency. This agency is in the delicate but difficult art of telling America's story to the world. We seek to make the policy of this land everywhere intelligible and wherever possible, palatable. Further, we seek to convey to an eager and curious world some conception of who it is that lives here. To do this, we use all the modern means of communication. Radio is one of our most important. Americans, insulated by two vast oceans, have difficulty understanding the importance of international radio for on many continents, political boundaries are not state lines, but international borders. In a world plagued with mass illiteracy, those who cannot read can listen and the arithmetic of international radio is impressive. In 1950 there were some 5000 hours of international broadcasting. Today there are over 17,000 hours. In 1950 there were 80 million radio receivers in the world. Today, there are over 200 million receivers, and the figure is rising rapidly. In my travels abroad, I have been witness to the impact of the small transistor receiver in the small village to an area where no road nor cable exists, a radio can still speak. It can mold the unity of a people. It can create confidence. It can also stir to violence. Some perceptive future historian may one day observe that the advent of the transistor radio receiver was one of the most significant steps in the chronology of communications. This new Greenville facility will double our short wave power in places where once our voice was dim, it will now be strong. In places where our voice is jammed, it will now be clearer. This represents the greatest single unit of our new expansion, but it is only the first of a new series of transmitters being built around the world. As Mr. Loomis has told you, their purpose is to enable the ear of the world to catch the sound of the Voice of America. Yet let us make no mistake about where we stand against our competition in this implacable war we wage, we are still third, behind radio Peking and the distant lead of Radio Moscow. But this imbalance, we shall redress. The heritage of this broadcast voice and of the entire US Information Agency is the heritage of freedom. This radio speaks the creed that of all principles which a principled people can muster, the greatest surely, is truth. This is one of the greater virtues we have to offer a world sorely in need of great virtues. And it is upon truth that this land, and the US Information Agency as well, have built their striving for more perfect performance. Communication systems are neutral. They have neither conscience nor morality. They will broadcast truth or falsehood with equal facility. Man communicating with man poses not the problem of how to say it, but more fundamentally, what is he to say? The task of the Voice of America has been the task of saying to the world What manner of man it is that resides on these shores. As we are not perfect, so does this radio reflect our imperfection. As we are idealistic, so does this radio reflect our ideals. As we have a diverse nation, unified in common cause, so does this radio reflect our unity. And as we are a free people, so does this radio reflect our freedom. But it is a freedom not shared by much of the world. Our posterity will record that in this generation, our planet was governed not everywhere by men of goodwill. There are those who would debase mankind, defame truth, and brutalize the very name of humanity. For them, communications is an instrument of power. To live, they use it to propagate dogma and disseminate untruths. To survive, they must smother information and truth. They can never stand the full light of fair disclosure. Theirs is the society of the monolith. They have one goal, only. Power. They have only one instrument, control. They have only one means, repression. Power. Control. Repression. This is the fate of truth in the halls of the untruthful. State power defines truth. State Control is paramount over its dissemination. State repression awaits those who question. We seek only to speak our point of view. We seek to suggest new ideas, to offer competing thoughts. To reflect on competing values. This, our adversary fears. A new idea may insult his power. A competing thought may weaken his control. A competitive value may question his repression. To survive in his present form, our adversary has no alternative but to debase the truth. The world can have but one conclusion to this fear of truth, any government that fears its people judging the truth must necessarily fear the judgment of its people. Truth will go wherever curiosity beckons it, and so in fact, will radio. Practitioners of the broadcast art, at least share this in common with truth. National borders are no barrier. The Voice of America thus carries a mortal responsibility its burden of truth is not easy to bear. It must interpret to a curious and sometimes suspicious world why we are what we are and why we do what we do. It must tell them of our belief in man, of our regard for right, of our reverence for truth. We are willing to test our democratic truths against the dogmas of political forces and nations who contend their way is virtue and our way is vice. But such a test is not welcomed by the closed society. This generation has an opportunity of awesome dimension to share its knowledge. We seek to share it with all. And those who impede the free flow of ideas work to the detriment of all mankind. We live amid a time of ideas. For the many around this globe who seek to elevate their lives from a crushing way of existence, these ideas can light their tomorrows. Theirs is the generation of change. Ours is the generation of challenge. If challenge be our charge, then let boldness be our guide. And if the spotlight of history is focused on this land, let us say with pride that when free ideas were under assault, we took our stand on the side of truth. And now I have a most pleasant duty to perform, one that does not appear on the schedule. One of the difficulties in the government agency or organization is to reward excellence and at least impede the progress of the incompetence. It was suggested by those who work for Mr. Henry Loomis that he be given today the highest award the agency has to offer, and it gives me great pleasure to hand it to him now. I would like to emphasize, as I said, that this award was not suggested or recommended by the top brass or the front office. The people who work for you, Henry recommended, and we joyfully agreed that this should be yours. In the private sector, excellence is rewarded by money, by bonuses, by stock options. The rewards in government come from the respect of your colleagues. The citation reads: For distinguished service, inspiring dedication to duty, and especially for his demonstration of remarkable foresight, knowledge, and outstanding leadership in making the Voice of America a more effective instrument of national policy.Henry Loomis (11:31) Thank you very much.ERM (11:34) And now to the charge and the responsibilities that you have heard described, we dedicate This new instrument of the United States Information Agency.[End of Recording]