Project Kingfish 1951-1967
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world (1-2). The “U.S. Astronaut Orbits the Earth” exhibit also underscored the
Agency’s focus on space race propaganda. Consisting of seven unmounted panels
printed in color, 2,000 copies were shipped to Agency posts around the world in
advance of Glenn’s orbital flight. The posts made them ready for display as soon
as word of Glenn’s safe landing on February 20, 1962 was received. The Agency
also produced a thirty-panel, free-standing exhibit with seven models called “U.S.
Progress in Space Sciences,” which was displayed in Rome, Sao Paulo, Tokyo,
and in four cities in Portugal (USIA, 1963, 2).
From 1951 to 1965, Kingfish devoted about one-third of its weekly content to
stories selected to interest various regional audiences. For example, the Middle
East edition took care to exclude material offensive to Muslim sensitivities. In the
neutralist edition, care was taken not to incorporate items too strident in tone, and
in the anti-Communist edition, the USIA excluded items, which would be per
ceived as too innocuous (USIA, 1966a, 10).
A now declassified USIA report acknowledges the Agency’s omnipresent role
in shaping the Associated Newsreel content, stating:
It appears that there has always been sufficient provision made for Agency
control of a selection of material.. .or for the coverage, at increased cost, of
specific items which would serve Agency interests, but which normally
might not warrant commercial newsreel coverage. (USIA, 1966a, 10)
Underscoring the Agency’s interest in using the newsreel as an instrument to
carry U.S. foreign policy objectives to audiences overseas, the report adds that a
USIA officer “was always present during the make-up of the reel, and checked the
narrations” (10).
Throughout Project Kingfish’s history, a number of USIA officials urged cau
tion in overloading the overseas newsreels with too mu