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Radio Free Europe cuts through state silence; first uncensored signal reaches Czechoslovakia

More than 16 million Americans funded the effort, raising $1,317,000 through a campaign fronted by Dwight Eisenhower for the CIA-backed National Committee for a Free Europe.

By 1950, every newspaper and radio station in Czechoslovakia answered to the state, and Moscow controlled what its version of the truth looked like. On July 4, 1950, a new signal cut through that silence: Radio Free Europe, built by the National Committee for a Free Europe, a CIA front organization, began broadcasting uncensored news into the country. More than 16 million Americans had already funded the effort, giving $1,317,000 through a campaign fronted by Dwight Eisenhower. The Cold War had found a new battlefield: the airwaves…

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More from July 4

Congress votes: these colonies are free and independent states

Jefferson's declaration passes without dissent; Dunlap's print shop runs off copies tonight for readings across the region.

West Point opens; the republic trains its own officers at last

A small class of cadets enrolls under superintendent Jonathan Williams on ground above the Hudson the Continental Army has held since 1778.

50-star flag rises over Fort McHenry; Hawaii's star joins the banner at last

Eisenhower ordered the new design the moment Hawaii's admission was official last August, and the flag now flying above Baltimore carries the pattern for all 50 states.

A 22-year-old seminary student wrote the stanzas in half an hour after spotting the melody of "God Save the King" in a German songbook.

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More from Cold War America

Apollo 11 splashes down in the Pacific; Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins are home

Eight days after leaving Kennedy Space Center, the crew that walked on the Moon returns to Earth's ocean.

Supreme Court rules 8-0: Nixon must hand over the tapes

Executive privilege has limits, Chief Justice Burger writes, and the special prosecutor gets his subpoena.

A geyser of radioactive water rises 6,000 feet over Bikini Lagoon

Ninety feet down, the Baker device throws a column of sea into the sky and drenches the target fleet in fallout no one had planned for.

Armistice ends the fighting in Korea; the peace that follows is only a truce

Two years of talks end in a tent at Panmunjom, but South Korea's own president will not put his name on it.

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