An Analysis Of U.S. Escapee Program (1951-1960)

During the cold war, to achieve the national objectives by methods other thanwar, American Government resorted to psychological warfare. By using thepsychological methods, U.S. government planned to reduce the power and influenceof the communist countries, and to strengthen the orientation toward the United Statesof the non-communist authorities and the people all around the world. Pursuant toNSC86/1, the Truman Administration designed and implemented the EscapeeProgram. The general objectives for this program were to place the maximum strainon the communist governments through encouraging defections to the West, to exploitthe psychological values and the intelligence values of the escapees, and to denyvaluable personnel to communist countries. When Eisenhower came to power, theEscapee Program was inherited and further developed.For years, the Escapee Program was disguised by U.S. government as ahumanitarian program to assist the refugees from Soviet and Eastern Europeancountries. By examining a good deal of documents declassified by AmericanGovernment and other kinds of materials, this study traces the development ofEscapee Program during the Truman Administration and the EisenhowerAdministration, and discusses the scheme and the content of this program, theimplementation of this program, and the effect and impact of this program. Finally,this work reveals that the Escapee Program was an anti-communist psychologicaloperation.In order to analyze the Escapee Program, this thesis consists of four parts.The first part is an introduction. It will introduce during the early years of thecold war, how the Truman Administration realized the potential values of escapeesfrom Soviet Union and Eastern European countries.The second part will tell that during Truman Administration, pursuant to NSC86/1, how Escapee Program was contrived, what were the main scheme of thisprogram, how this program was implemented, and how U.S. government derived thevalues of escapees.The focus of the third section will be the development and modification ofEscapee Program during the Eisenhower years. The last part, the Conclusion, will review the effects of Escapee Program and thecauses of the effects. It will also examine the troubles for U.S. government made bythis program. In addition, it will pay attention to the sufferings of escapees during thedefection.