Project Troy was a research study of

psychological warfare Psychological warfare (PSYWAR), or the basic aspects of modern psychological operations (PsyOp), have been known by many other names or terms, including Military Information Support Operations (MISO), Psy Ops, political warfare, "Hearts and Mi ...

undertaken for the

Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other nati ...

by a group of scholars including physicists, historians and psychologists from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

and

RAND Corporation The RAND Corporation (from the phrase "research and development") is an American nonprofit global policy think tank created in 1948 by Douglas Aircraft Company to offer research and analysis to the United States Armed Forces. It is financed ...

in the fall of 1950. The ''Project Troy Report to the Secretary of State'', presented to Secretary

Dean Acheson Dean Gooderham Acheson (pronounced ; April 11, 1893October 12, 1971) was an American statesman and lawyer. As the 51st U.S. Secretary of State, he set the foreign policy of the Harry S. Truman administration from 1949 to 1953. He was also Truman ...

on 1 February 1951, made various proposals for

political warfare Political warfare is the use of political means to compel an opponent to do one's will, based on hostile intent. The term political describes the calculated interaction between a government and a target audience, including another state's govern ...

, including possible methods of minimizing the effects of Soviet jamming on the

Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is the state-owned news network and international radio broadcaster of the United States of America. It is the largest and oldest U.S.-funded international broadcaster. VOA produces digital, TV, and radio content ...

broadcasts.

History

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

the

United States Office of War Information The United States Office of War Information (OWI) was a United States government agency created during World War II. The OWI operated from June 1942 until September 1945. Through radio broadcasts, newspapers, posters, photographs, films and other ...

(OWI) launched a large-scale information and propaganda campaign both at home and abroad through radio broadcasts, newspapers, posters, photographs, films and other forms of media, but ''psychological warfare'' operations had been run by special military units. After the end of the war President Truman transferred the operations of the OWI as well as control over

overseas radio network to the Interim International Information Service (IIS) within the State Department. The State Department, eager to assert leadership in this area, organized a civilian-sponsored project on new methods and approaches to

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

propaganda, code-named Project Troy. Convened in October 1950 at the State Department's request, it brought together for a period of almost three months a group of twenty-one distinguished scientists, social scientists, and historians, most of whom were academics. It can be assumed that the Truman administration tried to implement plans established by the Project Troy in the project ''Overload and Delay''. The purpose of the latter was to break the

Stalinist Stalinism is the means of governing and Marxist-Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union from 1927 to 1953 by Joseph Stalin. It included the creation of a one-party totalitarian police state, rapid industrialization, the theory o ...

system by increasing the number of input points in the system and by creating complex and unpredictable situations requiring action.

Memorandum on the Troy Report

On 26 March 1951 Robert J. Hooker delivered a memorandum on the Troy Report to the Director of the Policy Planning Staff

Paul Nitze Paul Henry Nitze (January 16, 1907 – October 19, 2004) was an American politician who served as United States Deputy Secretary of Defense, U.S. Secretary of the Navy, and Director of Policy Planning for the U.S. State Department. He is best kn ...

, asserting that the report "deserves the most serious consideration. It lays down principles and techniques for the conduct of political warfare which, with few exceptions, seem worthy of adoption."

References

{{Reflist Political science Psychological warfare United States Department of State Cold War history of the United States