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This article will provide a more complete account of the impact of Radio Free Europe’s broadcasts on Soviet decision making during the crisis, draw...
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This article will provide a more complete account of the impact of Radio Free Europe’s broadcasts on Soviet decision making during the crisis, drawing on documents released from Russian, Hungarian, and U.S. archives in recent years. It will be argued that early balloon and leaflet operations during reformist Imre Nagy’s first term as Hungarian prime minister (1953-1955) - namely “Operation Focus” - both antagonized Nagy and spawned a stern neutralism (later, hostility) toward him among US diplomats and RFE broadcasters during the crisis. This, in turn, caused Soviet leaders to doubt Nagy’s managerial skills, fear the power vacuum in Hungary, and conclude that a second military invasion was necessary. Specifically, one can conclude that RFE’s broadcasting was a key causal factor in the Soviet crackdown for at least three distinct, but interrelated, reasons: 1) the broadcasts contributed to Moscow’s lack of faith in Nagy’s ability to control the situation; 2) they aroused Soviet fears of Hungary’s withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact long before Nagy himself announced it; and 3) the broadcasts contributed to the disbandment of the Hungarian security police (ÁVH), thus convincing Soviet (and Hungarian) communist leaders that Soviet troops were needed to fill the security vacuum in Hungary.
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