1955 Report on US-USSR Agricultural Exchange Visits

7/30/2019 1955 Report on US-USSR Agricultural Exchange Visits

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0 ",ce Memorandum . uNITED sTATEs GovERNMENTTO

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Colonel Kintner DATE: November 3, 1955

SUBJECT: US-USSR Agricul tural Exchange Visits

The attached report points up the considerable advantage gainedby the Soviets in the agricul tural exchange vis i ts .An obvious impllcation is that any fur ther exchanges , a t Leastimportant ones, should be most careful ly planned. We should plan

them prec1sely like a mili tary campaign - - set our object ives , se lec tthe most effecnve force, establ ish mos t effect ive log is t ics , e t c e t e r a .

Attachtnent:lntelhgence .ReportNo. 6884, October l71955. ,

JW Lydrnan:EMU'


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RO UT S H . . i : ~ TRuth

(Number!Routing NI.ME!Barrows ., Roberta

Drain, Richard .0 .-1 lHanks , NancyIrwin, Don M.

!Kenne dy, John R..t( e rs ten, Char les J .1\.intne r , Col. Wm. R.Livermore , ShawLydman, Jack w.Matti son, Natal ie B.May, StacyMitchellt Donna R.

P a r Gen. T. Vv .Rockefeller , Nelson A .Scheperle , Ruth A .Solomon, AnnaL.vl i l l iams. Nadia

ApprovalComment/ evaluationFile or proper disposi t ionInformationNecessary actionNote ana file

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D.ATE: l l/10/55Init ials &

Room Date2033122062122033203152.15214 -2102152042153)3-1/2103-1/2al3-l/2312Note and return.Noted and re turnedPrei>are replyRecommendat ionaeply direc tSignature

-R :t:MARKS: This report received l a s t vreek r ~ g to1r . L:ydr:an wh o routed i t to Col . K i n ~ n e r 11/3/55II - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ~ - - - - - - - - ~

cc - Mr . Elmer Staats , OCB.

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1 Soviet Gej.n.s freta

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DEPABTMBNT OP STATE

1'BE UNDEit SECRETARYU/OP

Mr. Nelsoo A. Rocke f e l l e r /1( r. Reuben B. Robertson, J r .w.r. AJJ en wDull.es:Mr. Theodore c. Streibert! !r. Jdln B. Hol l is terMr. Dillon Anderson

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November 8, ~ 9 5 5

Fran: B i s h o p ~ -Subject: 'Intelligence Report, No . o884 - nos and Soviet ae; DB t"P.Agriccl. nra l Exchange"-

Mr . Hoover ha asked t.bat the intel l igence reportabove ( copy o f ltlich 1.8 attached) be brought ' to yaor attenticm

Encl.

eo - l l r . EJmer Staats, reB.


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No. 6884 October 17, 1955

Off ice of lntell irence Resea rchU3 AND SOVIET GAINS FROM AGRICULTURAL EXCROOE

AbstractOn balance th e tB-t5SR agricul ur a1 exchange appears tohave been to th e Soviet advantage . The tB gained some in te l -

l igence on specific Soviet agricul tural institu"ttiQilS and operations , but acquired vir tual ly noth in g on the over-al.l Sovietagricultln'al situation . 1'he American delegates made a favorableiMpres sion on those Soviet citizens who saw them, but the Sovietpress gave considerably less at tent ion to the viSi t than did theAmerican press . In cont ras t , the Soviet delegatea, whosei t inerary vas far more elas t ic , gained quickly 8 l enormousamotmt of information, both first-hand and in reports, and wi l lbe in a pos i t ian to a"PJl].y this knowledge in th e USSR, s ineethey high-level c f icials }.foreover, the vis i t affordedthe USSR an opportunity w1 thin the tB to soften the image o f atruculent Soviet hosti l i ty .

I . OPPOR'rUNITIES AFFORDED BY EXCHANGEThe exchange afforded the USSR the oppor tuni ty to acquire f i rst-bamlmowledge of American agricultural production lmow-how and to obtain

expert cr i t iques on Soviet agricultural shortcomings The W at t i tu ie'Was marked by a 'Willingness to advise and aBsist the USSR in overcomingproduction di ff icul t ies, without any expectat ion of g ~ 1 n i n g s im1l ar bene-f i ts from Soviet agriculture . 'l'be tS delegation vas a t a serious diaad

v a n ~ in gaining information on Soviet agriculture p! l r t ly becauseS ~ v 1 e t control was s t r ic t and part ly because the d e l ~ g a t i o n members CD the~ ~ ! e were lmfam:iliar with Soviet agricul tural conditions. Both sidesd 1 aftCI'ded th e chance to make a popular impact but again the Soviete egation was at an advantage '

THIS IS AI IITELUG ~ - AND NOT A STAT 1JfPARTifiiTAL PILICYS:mRET

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I : I .! . tS Reactim

m account of ~ t and polls shows that the a g r i c u l t ~ a ;excbange received general approval or n E n e p a p e z s ~ coeal!entators, &ns Aspublic at large 1n the IS (Department of State , Special Report aD+.w-1Pubi l Opinivas exeeedjngly effective in h is public relat ions role 1 pointed out inhis formal stat.errents tha t the experience of three wars taught theRt;Ssian t:eop1e the hor1ors o f var. Fteely referr ing to tJJe cunentSovie-t efforts to expand agricultural productiCil, the delegatee assertedthat pezu:e was essential in achieving th is goat In addit ica, tbe dele-e

~ t e s every effort to epresa a fee l ing of friend] 1ness tovardAmerie.EmA.B. Soviet Reac-tion

There i s , of course, no way of assessing accurately Sovie t publicreaction to th e exchange, but some general. notion of i t s impact can becanjeetured . The Americans vere gree ted in a f r iendly 1'ash1ca throughout. the t r ip , ana sometil!f!S by sizeable crowds , vhich probably, as inthe 00 , inclmed many motivated by curiosity. Undoubtedly some of t.beaegatherings vere off icial ly inspired. There vas only moderate coverage,by Sovi e t stmdards, o the t r ip in the national neYSpapers and l l t tJ .ein th e local pri!as. Pravda am Izveat in de voted an average ot m l7 sixeol u"*' inches dajly to the tS vis i t and carr ed longer art icles m l y a tt.he tr ip 's end. The sjngle dai ly which accorded extensive ta e t tothe exchanre \ISS the Specialized Ministry or Agriculture organ SelskpfeKhoztaistvo. The Soviet radio broadcast a l a rge number (158) of c t-arles on the exchange but ne\IS broadcasts ga ve it m ly rout ine attenticm .A.lmost all conzent.arie"S c o n c e ~ n e d the tB delegation 1n the OOSR, but oftbe total on]Y three were beamed to the Soviet a,mieoce Wil1' Soviet new coverage or 1'.be t r i t s stressed the atmosphere of goalth e peace as pirations of botb peoples; th e desirabili ty of fur ther


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exchangeS; th e freedom of the ffi delegation to t ravel a t YillJ funericanpraise of Soviet agricul.ture; and the "exhaustive" answers" fwhich were notpr inted) of Sovi9t representat ives to Anerican questions. Suppressed orsoft-pedaled were suggestions of lS superiority; lB cri t ic ism of excessivebanqueting ; Sovie t insistence tha t Anericans adhere r ig id ly to th e originalitinery; direc t r efe-rence to Soviet biologis t Lysenko; 1mansverad 00. tsfor information .C Reaction 1n Other Areas

The l i t t l e evidence ava i lable indicates tha t the exchange had smallimpact in Europe or Asia. A few Brit ish and European ne\ISpapers printedaccounts D. Public Relations B,alance Sheet

The exchange appears to have had more of an impact in the t5 than inth e \JSSR ; certainly U3 commmications media devoted more at tent ion to itthan did the Sovie t . In addition, the Soviet t rea t vas eareful.lytai lored to re inforce certain stereotypes 'Which the regime ha s investedmncb effor t in implanting in the Soviet m:Jnd. t5 media coumunica ted thea i r of r,ood fellowship and friendliness exu:led in the U) by the Sovietdelegation. In contrast , Soviet n:edia generally confined themselves tofoTIDB.l acoounts largely devoid of human in teres t material Final ly thevis i ts supplied Soviet propagandists with a fresh example of p r o f e s ~ e dCommunist desires to encourage a f reer exchange of people and :Informationwi b the rest of th e world

IV.chan .e The tSSR appears to have made greater gains than the W from the ax--

a l . t h ~ ~ h b ~ ~ ~ ~ c i u ~ r ~ ~ useful infQrmation and m creating a public impact,g . d ac m e USSR is diff icul t to assess accurately Theal.II1e sorne useful inf t i \Pfavorable impression ~ ~ ~ on ~ ~ ~ d o u b t e d l y the US delegation created acontrolled press and r ad ose w w Olll it came into contact 'i brough i tscontrol over the im io ' the USSR 'WSS in a position to exert considerablewith considerable dlsto r.lade by the delegation and to ut i l ize , someti.Imseven more completel ~ ion' statements of delegates I t could ccntrolfact that th e d e l e g ~ t i r can intell igence gains ' l imited in any case by thein Soviet agriculture o n ~ Scomposed mostly of men who wre not specia l is tsed to maximi ze the b e ovie t delegation' on the other hand waB select -agrieul ure. I t ~ : ~ ~ ty o; deriving 1nformation applicable ' to Sovieta useft'.l public relat i . i s a m relentles sly . In addition, it performedopportunity afforded b n ~ h ~ o b for th e USSR , taking advantar.e of thefavorable stereotypes the ; : o r a d t5 conmnmications media to build up

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On February 10,1955, the Des Moipe! RegiStet issued a public in -vitation "to any delegation wich KhruShchev would lfke to select" to v i s i tagricultural establishments in tbe s ta te of Iowa. The invitation includeda promise "not to bide any of ou r secrets" and a proposal that Iova agri cultural special is ts in retuxn vi s i t the U3SR. Tbe invitat ion vas prauptedby Khrushchev's pra is e in fal"ry at American agricultural teclmiques, 1nconnection vith a decree to embark on a gigantic corn ra ising progr Both the Soviet and tbe American press reacted favorably to theinvitation and en March 10 the Mnistry of Foreign Affairs sent a note to

the American fhbassy indicating official Soviet approval andabout the attitu:le o the W t. Early in M:ly the USthe Sov ie t Foreign Office of i t s vlllingnese to part icipate in an exchange,but stated tl1at Soviet visitors would have to comply 'Wi tb legal entrancereq,li rements imposed an a ll nonofficial visa holders. 'l'h1s vould haverequixed fingerprinting, to Wich the Kremlin objects, but tM prob i vas re solved when the Soviet t cooferred off ic ia l status em i tsdelegation . Other minOT problems , such as tbe a t t a:hrent ot interpretersand newspapeuoon to the delegations and the timing or the visi t s , vera-worked out through discussion . The American delegation vas not mofficial one, although Goverwment departments participated in i ta select1011.Each of the delegations ~ t e d of twelve men, a l l vell acquaintedvith s ome phase of' agriculture. The Soviet group, beaded by the FirstDeputy Minister of Agriculture of th e USSR , included high-ranking officials

and ':'ell-qna] ified specialists bent on gaining informaticm about se lec tA m e r ~ c a n agricu1tural. practices . '!'he American delegation ccmtrastingl7~ e l no t officials I t was com}r i sed largeiy d successrui1: :rs m;.t ai:o numbered three college professor s . All had a good knowSovieto g r ~ ~ : a n n practices' but cmly one was lmowledgeable em

S im1] ar procedures vere followed in d.nv1ntwo trips . Each country indicated g up i t ineraries tar th einterest of i ts delegation 8 d t h e ~ primary subjects and a r e a = ~ otvis ite d on this bas1s n u : , ~ oats then selected tbe s i tea to beallowed to make vh te . d i g th e tota'B, the Soviet delegation Valla ver version 1t 'WiBbed t r the bary; contrastingl.J:i the Ameri d om esta: l:Uhed it1neresplanned tour despite can elegation W'88 held s t r ic t ly to thetiona s u f f e r ~ f'rom o v e r i O : ~ ~ s = e ~ depart from it. Both delega-


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Tbe t r i ps took place concurrently, covering about five weekS.Travel in the tG centsred in the Midwst, part icularly in Iowa, but avisit was also made to tv o ci t rus regions in California . In the USSR,the tour extended through the Ukraine, into the Kuban region armmd Rostovover to the Central Asia cottm f ields, and up to the virgin lands otSib er i a . en both t r ips the longer j1m1e were by air , tbe shorter b7surface transportaticm.

State FD, Wash .,OO


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N o w t m h ~ Zl . 1955

Tlrl ia to acknowld& the -randum from Max BlehOp of No"mber qW,lD. Wbl c:h -. calls to my atteatioa JMelliCeacReport N o ~ 6884 - "U.S.. a .t SoYMtrom Agl'ieultural Exc e. u

l t la aD excelleot eummy 1moet h e l p f U l ~ I appreciate your i tto roe.

SlBCuely,'laj, , elson A. R o o k e t e ~

NeleoD A.Special A

The HoDOr-&DlaHerbert ROOTer. Jr.UDder Secretary of State

W a e h h ~ a t o l l ZS, D . C.

NAR.:DM

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1955 Report on US-USSR Agricultural Exchange Visits

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