On November 3rd, 30 Texas State students had the opportunity to attend a book presentation by Dr. Mark Pomar, a senior fellow at scholar at the University of Texas at Austin’s Clements Center for National Security. Drawing on his experience as a former assistant director of the Russian Service at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, director of the USSR Division at the Voice of America, and executive director of the Board for International Broadcasting, his book, Cold War Radio: The Russian Broadcasts of the Voice of American and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, explores how the United States used public diplomacy and international broadcasting to help bring the Cold War to a successful and peaceful ending. Dr. Pomar recounted anecdotes from his time in the Soviet Union and Germany in the 1980s, including interactions with the Soviet Communist Party leaders, as well as explained the key role played by Radio Free Europe and Voice of America in bringing truthful news accounts to the people living under government censorship in the Eastern bloc.
Aaron Holland, political science graduate student, observed that “anyone with an interest in researching the role that broadcasting can have with regards to influencing international relations should read Dr. Pomar’s book.”
An interesting sidelight is that one of the department’s long-time faculty members, Dr. Arnold Leder, has extensive experience in the world of international broadcasting having served as Senior Policy Analyst for Islamic and Turkic Peoples of the Caucasus, Turkey, and Central Asia for Radio Liberty at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in Munich, Germany (now located in Prague, The Czech Republic), and as Chief of the Azerbaijani Service of The Voice of America in Washington D. C. Indeed, he worked with Dr. Pomar while at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
