Remarks at Voice of America Archive Handover Ceremony

Ambassador John A. Cloud
February 22, 2008
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Vilnius, Lithuania

When the Voice of America went on the air in February 1942, following the attacks on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, announcer William Harlan Hale signed on in the inaugural broadcast with these words:  "Here speaks a voice from America. Everyday at this time we will bring you the news... The news may be good. The news may be bad. We shall tell you the truth."  These words greeted a German audience during World War II to give them an unbiased source of news in the face of misinformation.  VOA remained a balanced source of information throughout the war and its popularity grew.

However, as the war drew to a close, many of VOA's broadcast services were reduced or eliminated.  But with the escalation of the Cold War and hostile international broadcasting in the Soviet bloc, VOA expanded its programming to reach out to countries occupied by the Soviets.  At this time some in the U.S. government envisioned a new role for the Voice of America and so our government debated whether the VOA should continue to simply report the news and reflect America, or whether it should be used as an instrument of U.S. foreign policy and as a "weapon" against the Soviet Union.  Despite these uncertainties and the charged political climate in the United States at the time, the original mission to present the truth was preserved and the broadcast services of the VOA continued. 

Less than ten years after the initial program, on February 16, 1951, VOA beamed its broadcasts into Lithuania for the first time.  The programs in Lithuania were meant to provide access to news about world events, uncolored by misinformation.  I hope that many people, including perhaps some in this room, can attest to the fact that VOA certainly kept its promise to broadcast the truth to Lithuanians. 

I, myself, have seen exactly how the Voice of America touched people here in Lithuania.  Several people I have met here have recounted stories of their family members gathering around the radio and leaning in close as a father or uncle tried to pick up the VOA frequency.  Despite the fact that the Soviets tried to jam the signal, people all over Lithuania tuned in to hear the Lithuanian-language broadcasts, learn about world events, and most importantly, hear news about the resistance movement. 

It is through the VOA broadcasts that Lithuanians first learned they had a friend and ally in the United States, and that the United States government refused to recognize as legitimate the Soviet occupation of Lithuania.  It is over the airwaves that the enduring bond between the United States and Lithuania was first born.  As President Adamkus stated on the 85th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the US and Lithuania, it is because of Voice of America programs that Lithuanians, who at times lost hope in the face of unlawful occupation, were given inspiration by encouraging statements from Washington.

It is with pride in knowing the role that Voice of America played in the lasting friendship between our two countries that today I present the Government of the Republic of Lithuania with the archives of Lithuanian-language broadcasts on the Voice of America.