Warriors of Disinformation: How Charles Wick, the Usia, and Videotape Won the Cold War

by Alvin A. Snyder

Have you ever thought about what really goes on behind the walls of the White House or the Pentagon? Particularly in times of political upheaval, it often seems that the government and the media work together to keep the voting public confused and distracted. In Warriors of Disinformation, Alvin A. Snyder, a former director of USIA’s Television and Film Service, reveals the various propaganda campaigns sent out by the United States during the Cold War, one of the most strained, uncertain times in American political history.
Snyder examines the “shady” billion-dollar dealings dedicated to “an exaggerated version of the truth,” and how President Reagan deceived the Soviets with well-plotted plans of fabrication. Readers will be shocked by the lengths that our government went to in order to hide the truth, and to consistently lie to not only the Soviets, but also to the American people about what was going on in the “land of the free.”

Warriors of Disinformation is an incredible look inside the government from someone who was on the front line. Hear stories that were never supposed to leave confidential meeting rooms and find out firsthand what went on behind closed doors. Snyder has a story to tell you, and you’d be crazy not to listen.

Genres: History, Politics, Espionage

382 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 15, 1995

Reviews

[Marius Aguinaldo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alvin A.Snyder was an insider during these crucial years. He was a former executive with CBS and NBC. He did a lot to win hearts and minds. Probably the main character because of the fact that he was able to run the satellite TV service + being on the front lines of some of the agency’s pitched battles.They don’t feel real to me because I haven’t heard of a person like this one before who was handling multiple hard stuff at once pretty good. It is hard to guess how he started doing these hard jobs, like he has probably learned, studied and even practiced a lot of them until after he graduates, he is finally able to do what he wants. My favorite part of the book is when I saw that Snow White and The three Stooges combined into 1 film as a collaboration. Wick is named co-chairman of the $8,000,000 presidential inaugural balls and had to handle the arrival of Reagan supporters in Washington after Reagan’s victory.
Something I dislike about this book is that I constantly see some of the same 3 capitalized letters throughout the whole chapter. Maybe after a few chapters, but only once because I want to read a book that would explain every bit of detail throughout the entire story. This theme explained throughout the whole book is unlike anything I’ve read before so I’ll have to learn more about it. I think that anything here is possible to achieve, like taking over for as long as they believe that they can.

[Vlad · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some interesting snippets of information on how the USA used propaganda to fight the USSR. There are some examples of foul play by the US agencies, but mostly both sides were using similar methods, and the USA started winning when the USSR economy was unable to catch up. I think it could've been 30% shorter without losing a lot, still an interesting and rare insight into the inner workings of the USA propaganda during the Cold War.