Statements by-Continued Page Pirnie, Malcolm (chairman, Committee on International Relations of 178. 45 Taber, John (a Representative in Congress from the State of New 185 Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States.. 34, 161 239 26, 33, 35, 57, 61, 73, 88, 92, 104, 129, 131, 155, 239, 240 UNITED STATES INFORMATION AND EDUCATIONAL EXCHANGE ACT OF 1947 TUESDAY, MAY 13, 1947 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SPECIAL SUBCOMMITTEE FOR The subcommittee met at 10 a. m., Hon. Karl E. Mundt (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Mr. MUNDT (chairman of the subcommittee). The committee will come to order. We meet this morning as a subcommittee of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs to consider H. R. 3342, a bill to enable the Government of the United States more effectively to carry on its foreign relations by means of promotion of the interchange of persons, knowledge, and skills between the people of the United States and other countries, and by means of public dissemination abroad of information about the United States, its people, and its policies. The subcommittee is comprised of Mr. Jackson, Mr. Judd, and Mr. Lodge on the Republican side; Mr. Jarman, Mr. Richards, and Mr. Mansfield on the Democratic side. The idea that the State Department and the Foreign Service of the United States should be "salesmen for America" as they pursue their many other duties abroad is not new. Probably the first American Ambassador ever appointed took with him to that first foreign assignment some books, magazines, pictures, and products which typified America and did credit to its prestige and productivity. However, the idea of formalizing and expanding the information services of the Department of State is comparatively new and no substantive legislation authorizing such a world-wide service has ever been enacted into law. It is for that reason that we have H. R. 3342 before us in these hearings-it is our task to determine whether to recommend to Congress the establishment of a permanent and continuing basic authority within the State Department to administer the activities detailed in this legislation. My own interest' in this type of legislation actually antedates my election to Congress in 1938. As a college teacher before that, I had recommended the development of a program of this type and I had advocated it in numerous public addresses in several States. I have always maintained that if American concepts of justice and tolerance are to bring added happiness to additional people in foreign places, the United States must not hide freedom's light under a bushel. On March 1, 1943, I introduced H. R. 2034, which first contained the basic features of the student and cultural exchange program now incorporated in H. R. 3342. But the war was on and Congress was understandably busy with more immediate problems. On January 24 1945, in the next Congress, I introduced H. R. 1740, which expanded the program recommended in H. R. 2034. This bill received a favorable report from the State Department. However, before hearings could be held on H. R. 2034, the San Francisco Conference of the United Nations came into being and spadework was begun on the San Francisco Charter and the Constitution of the United Nations. Consequently, on April 9, 1945, I introduced House Resolution 215, which proposed that the United States take the leadership in creating and joining a United Nations Educational, Cultural, and Scientific Organization equipped to create mutual understanding among people everywhere by the dissemination of truth and the exchange of persons, periodicals, educational material, scientific facts, and similar data. Hearings were held on House Resolution 215 starting on May 10, 1945. The legislation was reported favorably by the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and passed the House on May 22, 1945. Acting with commendable speed, the Senate approved this legislation within 2 weeks and word was telephoned to our American delegates to the San Francisco Conference that Congress had declared itself emphatically in favor of the proposals incorporated in the terms of House Resolution 215. As a consequence, the San Francisco Conference wrote into the United Nations Charter the provisions recommended by Congress, and the result was what is today referred to around the world as UNESCO-the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, with its permanent headquarters in Paris. UNESCO today is using the Majestic Hotel in Paris as its international headquarters, but eventually a new and noble edifice will house this important headquarters. In the meantime, however, it is a refreshing and challenging thought to reflect upon the fact that the old Majestic Hotel, which served first the Nazi High Command and then General Eisenhower as staff headquarters for the bloodiest of all wars is now the staff headquarters for UNESCO-one of the brightest hopes mankind has ever evolved for creating the type of environment essential to the maintenance of peace. To this brief summary of the background of H. R. 3342 should be added the fact that under the able leadership of Mr. Nelson Rockefeller, while he served as Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, the United States established with our neighboring American Republics some of the educational and information exchange services now proposed on a world-wide pattern by this legislation. Our experience in this field as we have experimented with it solely within the Western Hemisphere has been extremely gratifying. Techniques worked out in this one-hemisphere laboratory are certain to prove effective when expanded to include countries anywhere in the world. Our limited experience with just a few of the techniques when we applied them outside the Western Hemisphere as a wartime activity provide convincing evidence to support the foregoing generalization. It is imperative, however, that if the world is to know the truth about the United States we must make the truth available to people eager to be so informed. If UNESCO is to measure up to its full expectations, legislation such as H. R. 3342 is necessary to implement and supplement the programs worked out by UNESCO. And in these postwar days of international short-wave broadcasting, if the world is not to hear only the wrong things about the United States, it is im perative that we broadcast the right things so that the world can come to learn and believe the truth. In an effort to meet the requirements indicated by the foregoing factors and with the desire to expand and extend our friend-making experiences with South America as well as to continue such wartime information services as short-wave broadcasting, the State Department sent a bill to this committee during the last Congress. A subcommittee worked over this proposed legislation for many weeks and we made a great many major changes and additions to the original proposal. Hearings were then held before the full committee, and eventually we reported favorably on substantive legislation which passed the House during the closing days of the Seventy-ninth Congress. The proposal was approved too late, however, for consideration by the Senate. H. R. 3342 has profited mightily by the evolutionary experiences and processes which I have just described. It is not a duplicate of any previous bill, but it is, rather, an effort to include in one piece of legislation the recommendations growing out of both the discussions and the experiences stemming from earlier efforts along this line. It includes provisions, also, which are designed to correct some of the errors revealed by past experience and to eliminate some of the criticisms attached to earlier efforts. As we conduct these hearings, it is expected the testimony of many witnesses will help this subcommittee develop still additional safeguards and amendments so that the establishment of a comprehensive program such as is now recommended by H. R. 3342 will produce the greatest possible dividends of peace and good will and the truest possible picture abroad about our American concepts of freedom, private enterprise, constitutional authority, tolerance, and decency to the end that more and more people will come to understand what America actually is and how Americans live. I have made this statement about the background out of which H. R. 3342 has been evolved so that captious critics may not denounce it as being a completely untried idea grasped out of the fanciful realms of theory. Quite the contrary, it is a realistic approach to the practical problems of our times and it encompasses the teachings of experience and the recommendations of many constructive critics. The complete text of H. R. 3342 will now be inserted in the transcript at this point. (The bill is as follows:) [H. R. 3342, 80th Cong., 1st sess.] A BILL To enable the Government of the United States more effectively to carry on its foreign relations by means of promotion of the interchange of persons, knowledge, and skills between the people of the United States and other countries, and by means of public dissemination abroad of information about the United States, its people, and its policies Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, TITLE I-SHORT TITLE, OBJECTIVES, AND DEFINITIONS SHORT TITLE SECTION 1. This Act may be cited as the "United States Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1947." OBJECTIVES SEC. 2. The Congress hereby declares that the objectives of this Act are to enable the Government of the United States to correct misunderstandings about the United States in other countries, which constitute obstacles to peace, and to promote mutual understanding between the people of the United States and other countries, which is one of the essential foundations of peace, by means of— (1) the interchange of persons, knowledge, and skills; (2) the rendering of technical and other services to other countries on the basis of mutual cooperation; and (3) the dissemination abroad of public information about the United States, its people, and the principles and objectives of its Government. DEFINITIONS SEC. 3. When used in this Act, the term (1) "Secretary" means the Secretary of State. (2) "Department" means the Department of State. (3) "Government agency" means any executive department, board, bureau, commission, or other agency in the executive branch of the Federal Government, or independent establishment, or any corporation wholly owned (either directly or through one or more corporations) by the United States. TITLE II-INTERCHANGE OF PERSONS, KNOWLEDGE, AND SKILLS PERSONS SEC. 201. The Secretary is authorized to provide for interchanges between the United States and other countries of students, trainees, teachers, professors, and leaders in fields of specialized knowledge or skill. The Secretary may provide for orientation courses and other appropriate services for such persons from other countries upon their arrival in the United States. BOOKS AND MATERIALS SEC. 202. The Secretary is authorized to provide for interchanges between the United States and other countries of books and periodicals, including government publications, for the translation of such writings, and for the preparation, distribution, and interchange of other educational materials. INSTITUTIONS SEC. 203. The Secretary is authorized to provide for assistance to schools, libraries, and community centers abroad, founded or sponsored by citizens of the United States, or serving as demonstration centers for methods and practices employed in the United States. In assisting any such schools, however, the Secretary shall exercise no control over their educational policies. ENGLISH-LANGUAGE TEACHING SEC. 204. The Secretary is authorized to provide for the development and demonstration of better methods for teaching the English language abroad. TITLE III-ASSIGNMENT OF SPECIALISTS PERSONS TO BE ASSIGNED SEC. 301. The Secretary is authorized, when the government of another country is desirous of obtaining the services of a person having special scientific or other technical or professional qualifications, from time to time to assign or authorize the assignment for service, to or in cooperation with such government, any person in the employ or service of the Government of the United States who has such qualifications, with the approval of the Government agency in which such person is employed or serving. Nothing in this Act, however, shall authorize the assignment of officers or enlisted men of the United States Army, Navy, or Marine Corps for service relating to the organization, training, operation, development, or combat equipment of the armed forces of a foreign government. STATUS AND ALLOWANCES SEC. 302. Any person, while assigned for service to or in cooperation with another government under the authority of this Act, shall be considered, for the purpose of preserving his rights, allowances, and privileges as such, an officer or employee of the Government of the United States and of the Government agency |