Alvin Snyder (March 31, 1936 – January 28, 2019) was an American journalist, author, and former Director of TV and Film Service at the

United States Information Agency The United States Information Agency (USIA), which operated from 1953 to 1999, was a United States agency devoted to " public diplomacy". In 1999, prior to the reorganization of intelligence agencies by President George W. Bush, President Bil ...

Early life

Snyder was born on March 31, 1936 in

Trenton, New Jersey Trenton is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. It was the capital of the United States from November 1 to December 24, 1784.

Career

Snyder started his career at

CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio service CBS. CBS News television programs include the '' CBS Evening News'', '' CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs '' CBS News Sunday Morning'', '' 60 Minutes'', and '' 4 ...

in New York in 1959 as a news producer and was an editor on a documentary on

Edward R. Murrow Edward Roscoe Murrow (born Egbert Roscoe Murrow; April 25, 1908 – April 27, 1965) was an American broadcast journalist and war correspondent. He first gained prominence during World War II with a series of live radio broadcasts from Europe f ...

that won a Grammy award in 1967. He was later recruited by the Nixon

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...

and appointed Deputy Special Assistant by

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

to run TV operations in the newly established Office of Communications. Alvin Snyder was featured on

David Frost Sir David Paradine Frost (7 April 1939 – 31 August 2013) was a British television host, journalist, comedian and writer. He rose to prominence during the satire boom in the United Kingdom when he was chosen to host the satirical programme ...

's series ''

Playhouse Presents ''Playhouse Presents'' is an anthology series of self-contained TV plays, made by British broadcaster Sky Arts. The series started airing on 12 April 2012, on Sky Arts 1. Each episode is written by a different writer and stars a different cast. ...

''. "Nixon's the One," a reenactment using verbatim dialogue from the

Nixon White House tapes The Nixon White House tapes are audio recordings of conversations between U.S. President Richard Nixon and Nixon administration officials, Nixon family members, and White House staff, produced between 1971 and 1973. In February 1971, a sound-a ...

, featured actor Ryan McLuskey as Snyder opposite

Harry Shearer Harry Julius Shearer (born December 23, 1943) is an American actor, comedian, writer, musician, radio host, director and producer. Born in Los Angeles, California, Shearer began his career as a child actor. From 1969 to 1976, Shearer was a member ...

's Nixon during the President's resignation address. Nixon_Resignation_Speech_1974_with_Alvin_Snyder

USIA and KAL 007 role

Later he became a Director of TV and Film at the US Information Agency in Washington as an aide to

Charles Z. Wick Charles Z. Wick (October 12, 1917 – July 20, 2008) was director of the United States Information Agency (USIA) under President Ronald Reagan (1981–1989). As USIA director, Wick launched the first live global satellite television netw ...

. A key contribution for Snyder at the USIA was documented after the downing of

Korean Air Lines Flight 007 Korean Air Lines Flight 007 (KE007/KAL007)The flight number KAL 007 was used by air traffic control, while the public flight booking system used KE 007 was a scheduled Korean Air Lines flight from New York City to Seoul via Anchorage, Alas ...

. Snyder was credited with producing the video shown to the

UN Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...

in 1983 that uncovered more evidence of Russia's role in the downing of the civilian aircraft.

Writing career

Later as a fellow at the

Annenberg Foundation The Annenberg Foundation is a family foundation that provides funding and support to non-profit organizations in the United States and around the world. Some of the Foundation's core initiatives are the Annenberg/ Corporation for Public Broadca ...

, he published a widely used text on the use of propaganda by the US Government. Snyder also served as a Senior Fellow for the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

Center for Public Diplomacy. Snyder is also well-known for writing the book ''Warriors of Disinformation: American Propaganda, Soviet Lies, and the Winning of the Cold War'' (1995). In his 1995 memoir, he wrote that "the U.S. government ran a full-service public relations organization, the largest in the world, about the size of the twenty biggest U.S. commercial PR firms combined. Its full-time professional staff of more than 10,000 spread out among some 150 countries, burnished America‘s image and trashed the Soviet Union 2,500 hours a week with a tower of babble more than 70 languages, to the tune of over $2 billion per year", and "the biggest branch of this propaganda machine" was the USIA.August 8, 1977
''Broadcasting Magazine''.

Later life

Snyder died at the age of 82 in

McLean, Virginia McLean ( ) is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Fairfax County in Northern Virginia. McLean is home to many diplomats, military, members of Congress, and high-ranking government officials partially due to its prox ...

.Community deaths
''The Washington Post''. March 18, 2019.

Publications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Snyder, Alvin 1936 births 2019 deaths People of the United States Information Agency Writers from Trenton, New Jersey