 The greatest weapons, coupled with the fighting skill of the American soldier, stand ready on the alert all over the world to defend this country, you, the American people, against aggression. This is The Big Picture, an official television report to the nation from the United States Army. Now, to show you part of The Big Picture, here is Sergeant Stuart Queen. Today, the free world and the communist world are locked in a peculiar struggle for the minds of men. They have launched a subtle war of diplomatic maneuver, propaganda, deception and calculated intimidation. It is a war of incidents rather than campaigns. It is a war in which a carefully timed show of force can be more effective than a pitched battle. It is an economic, political and psychological struggle. It is the sort of war which is new to the American army. Yet the stakes are the highest in history. They are the whole world in the freedom of all mankind. In this cold war, perhaps even more than an enormous war, understanding the communist enemy is terribly important. It was to help further this end that Senator Henry Cabot Lodge sponsored the alien enlistee program of 1950, now generally called the Lodge Act. Under the provisions of this legislation, political refugees from any country behind the Iron Curtain were given the opportunity of enlisting in the United States Army for a period of five years. At the end of this time, if their record was honorable, they could become American citizens. Today, their first-hand knowledge of communism is an invaluable asset to your army in this strange battle called the Cold War. Right now on The Big Picture, I'd like you to meet some of these Lodge Act soldiers. Commanding officer of one group is Lieutenant Colonel G.E. Hartel. Colonel, I wonder if you would introduce your men to our Big Picture audience. I should be very glad to, Sergeant Queen. We have with us today Sergeant Ritter, who was born and brought up in the Ukraine in Soviet Russia. And on my right, we have Corporal Falkevich, who was reared in Poland, which is now occupied by the Soviets. Colonel, could you tell our Big Picture audience briefly what the purpose of the Lodge Act is? One of the many purposes is of course to use a Lodge Act soldier's knowledge of communism. But he's also used as a linguist and a skilled craftsman. How do these men join the American army? Once these men are across the Iron Curtain, it is relatively easy for them to enlist in the U.S. Army. We have some army films which were taken earlier, which show how these men enlisted in Europe. You are now at the barrier leading into an American Army replacement center somewhere in Germany. The year is 1951. Those five civilians are soon to be the first Lodge Act soldiers. They've come from many places behind the Iron Curtain. They've risked their lives to be here now, but they have won the first round in their battle with communism. They have crossed through that Iron Curtain. They are free men. Once inside the replacement center, they are sworn into the American Army. That's my point of two minutes for enlistment. Very well. We're very happy to have you with us today. Thank you, sir. Are you ready to be sworn in? Yes, sir. You raise your right hand, please. You repeat after me. I, Archbishop Rudovsky. I, Archbishop Rudovsky. I, Carol Caris. I, Carol Caris. Do solemnly swear. Do solemnly swear. That I will bear true faith and allegiance. That I will be, be a true faith and allegiance to the United States of America. Though their English may be poor, these men are fully aware of the responsibilities which they have undertaken. But there are opportunities, too. As they shake hands with the Colonel, they know that for the first time in many years, there is hope in their future. Now, American soldiers, they get acquainted with G.I. Shoes. Ike jackets sometimes present a fitting problem. From Germany, the Lodz Act soldier is transferred to the United States for training. This is an important moment. For the first time in many years, he can speak without fear. Where are you from? I'm from Przakczyk, Slovakia. I am from Poland. What's your name? My name is Michael Daraden, Russian-born. What is your name? Thomas Fandoza. Where is your home? I was born in Romania, but I was a Hungarian. After their initial interview, the Lodz Act soldiers are taken to Camp Kilmer, New Jersey. Here, it is Senator Lodz himself who greets them on behalf of the United States. He tells them that he is proud of the hand he had in helping them to freedom. He tells them that they are American soldiers now with all the opportunities open to every American soldier. Five years after their enlistment, they become citizens. Is that correct, sir? They will be citizens, and you will not find better citizens anywhere. These men have experienced perfect slavery, and they will accept democracy and freedom with all its imperfections. I'm afraid too many of us take our liberties too much for granted. One of our biggest jobs is to acquaint the American soldier with how the communist soldier lives and what he's like. We feel that as a natural byproduct, this will result in a greater appreciation of our democratic ways of life. Well, what about this communist soldier, Colonel? What is he like? Let's ask those who can speak from experience. You may be surprised that Corporal Falkevich speaks excellent English. He acquired this in European schools. To find out about the communist soldier, I think it's best to go back to the time when he's a young boy. He may live in the city or in the country. It doesn't really make much difference. Life is hard everywhere. When the time comes for him to go to school, he will be indoctrinated from the beginning and without usually knowing it with the strict communist party line. His mind, in fact, will already be molded to the shape that the communists wanted to be in. Just what do you learn in school? Well, from the very earliest stages, you learn about the communist party, its history, its principles, about its leaders. Lenin, for instance, in particular, is quite important. What other activities except work and school are there for the young communist? When you're quite young, you join pioniere, which means pioneers. It looks like the Boy Scouts on the surface. Actually, it's a political and almost paramilitary organization. From then on, when you're about 16 years of age, you would join the Consomor, which is the young communist league. Life in the Consomor is made to be clean and powerful. And you like that because your experience is of dirt and poverty. And you're beginning to like it more and more. So you see, even at the very beginning of your life in your very youngest years, you are already following a very military pattern of life. We have some film clips which demonstrate what Corporal Thalkevich has just described. This is a Soviet motion picture film showing actual contemporary scenes of life on a communal farm. It is spring planting time. Note the highly organized, almost military aspect of the whole operation. Upon command, a tractor team is dispatched by radio. Under such a system, there is little chance for individual initiative, for every move is rigidly controlled. With the harvest, there is another pseudo-military operation. There is work for everyone, but most of it is hard, backbreaking labor. Women as well as men take part in this heavy field work. With the harvest in, there is a celebration in town. Everybody attends. As is due his position, the local commissar arrives by automobile. The people have come to witness the awarding of prizes to those who've served the party best during the year. The local commissar acts as MC. But the giveaways here aren't refrigerators or sewing machines. They are medals, dozens of medals to reward the hard and diligent worker. One already be-meddled woman receives another, only reward for much hard labor. This is pioneer training. With military fanfare, little boys and girls raise the red flag. For some, there is a definite lack of enthusiasm. With the flag up, training begins. This pretty teacher is leading a class of pioneers in calisthenics. Massed exercises such as this are important in Soviet training. They serve two purposes. They develop the bodies of the young pioneers, but over extended periods of time, they also tend to condition their minds to almost automatic responses. The goal is a controlled pattern of behavior. This aim is furthered in school, where all children wear a simple uniform. Boys have their heads shaved. School is a serious business for the young communist. There is so much to be learned, but mostly by memory. Discipline is strict, and teachers are firm. There are three here questioning this little girl. The rest of the class pays close attention. They may be next. Word for word, the passage is recited. There is little joy in school. Life is taught to be a sobering experience. For ordeal over, the little girl sits down. The faces on those school kids tell the story better than anything else. Life shouldn't be that gloomy when you're only six or seven. Well, you see, these children are subjected to a pattern of political and military training, which they should not really have at that age. There isn't much joy in life like that. But the communist state, you will find, prefers it that way. Life generally is unpleasant. As long as life is unpleasant, you can always make promises of better things to come. Promises are easy, and people will always go for them. Does this policy of making things difficult on purpose extend into the army also? Could we ask that question of Sergeant Ritter, who's had extensive experience in how the Communist Party controls the army? Well, Sergeant, I could tell you, it does. During the training, you won't get easily a pass, not talking at all from a three-day pass. Movies, you won't find at all on the post. The training is divided in two main parts. It's the summer training and the winter training. Summer training is hot. You have prolonged marches, runs, you're not swimming. The winter training is the same. You have to stay overnight, cold weather outside. You have to sleep in snow without tents, even a raincoat. But couldn't all this be termed a tough form of physical conditioning? It is a rigorous type of physical training. We have some communist film footage which demonstrates Soviet basic training. Look familiar? The American soldier goes through much the same thing in basic training. The difference is one of degree. Almost all Soviet training is field training. Outdoors, despite extremes of temperature or weather, such training makes for tough, hardy men. The communist soldier will run or crawl for literally hundreds of yards. He will perform the most unpleasant duty without a gripe. But don't forget, he is used to unpleasantness. He has lived with it all his life. However, if he should fail in his duty, punishment is swift and terrible. An individual's life is of no value unless it conforms to the communist pattern. What you are about to see now is a field exercise in bayonet training. The troops are divided into two sides, the ones with helmets against those without helmets. Both sides wear face protectors similar to fencing masks. And of course, rubber bayonets are used. As in fencing, a good thrust puts a man out of action. Communist infantry weapons are rapid fire and short range. Communist tactics call for close-in fighting. Hand-to-hand combat, such as this, is something that is stressed. As you can see, this makes for rough and tumble, tough, realistic training. In this sort of training, spirits run high and there is a real sense of accomplishment for the victors. There is mental conditioning. And we have a clip from a Soviet propaganda film which is shown Soviet troops regularly. After a day of hard work in the field, these men will be subjected to the lies contained in these films. These are newsreel clips of isolated incidents from our past. But to the Communist soldier, they are presented as the general living conditions here in America today. It is with this sort of distortion of truth that the Communists build their hate America campaign. They say that riots are prevalent because food is wantonly destroyed by the greedy capitalist to keep the prices high. They imply there is much discontent in this so-called land of liberty. Films such as this one are shown almost daily to Communist armies. The purpose of these films, of course, is to create controlled attitude among soldiers. We have touched on this before, Colonel. But I wish either you or your men would clarify it a bit more for our big picture audience. Let's ask Corporal Kalkevich. Uh, well, I think the point is here that, uh, all Communist armies are not just military organizations. They are also very powerful political organizations. You see, at the head of every single unit, there stand two men. One, the commanding officer. The other is a politruc or political officer who is a member of the Communist Party. What is the function of this political officer? He is an attitude maker. He has more power in many cases than the unit commander. But we must look for the function of this individual to the basic documents by which he operates. And there is, for example, Lenin's Life, which is probably the most important and the most frequently read book in the Soviet Union today. It demonstrates all of the basic hate, struggle, even corruption on which communism thrives. This is the overall book. However, the political officer in the unit actually works by a field manual, which I'd like Corporal Kalkevich to demonstrate. This, uh, little booklet here is called in Russian Работа партины организации подразделения, which means, in fact, the handbook for Communist agitation and military unit. It provides the political officer with all all the information he needs, all the procedure, uh, anything at all. Could you quote a statement out of his book for us? Yes, I think that, uh, there are many statements here that are quite, quite enlightening. Here is one I think that is particularly significant and quite representative. And, uh, shall I read it out loud? Please. It says, Воспитание советского патриотизма, беспредельной любви воинов к своей родине, органически связана, etc. How about a translation of that, please? Well, this means, in essence, and it may shock you to hear that, perhaps, that the essence of Soviet patriotism is burning hatred towards all enemies of the communist state. It's quite a state. Yes, and of course, this hatred is the tool with which the political officer works within his unit, and the tool with which the political officer compromises the unit commander in many cases. But whether it's in a unit or in the entire country, the system is the same. We have a chart which I think demonstrates this very graphically. And that is on one side to give you a point of comparison. We have the United States government where there is a loosely organized way of getting along with each other of ameliorating our problems. On the other side of the Iron Curtain, in Soviet Russia, we have a centralized government where all of the sections of state, the various operations in the country, are rigidly controlled by the Communist Party. The army, the scientists, they are all enslaved under this communist thought control, the political control. And of course, whether the man is a scientist or a soldier, he is chained to this centralized mass enslavement. And of course, from this peculiar type of setup, emanates the ideological attack on our country. We on the other hand, in an attempt to counter this propaganda attack, attempt from the army, industry, labor and science to come up with some of the solutions. But as you can see, the Iron Curtain is the main obstacle between the people on both sides of this Iron Curtain. To us who live in the free world, it is hard to believe that men's minds can be shackled so effectively. Today, the mass of soldiers and officers in the Soviet Union are found everywhere behind the Iron Curtain. Isn't that true, Sergeant veteran? Yes, sir. In communist countries, you see soldiers everywhere and they are not on leave either. They are in duty. They represent, their duty is to represent the power of the government. Alone, their presence is a certain psychological as well as a physical barrier to any opposition movement. I think there's also another aspect to representing the power of the state and that is the parades in Soviet Russia. Communists are very good at organizing them. They organize them frequently and on a very large scale usually. It appeals to the emotions of the people. They see a lot of uniforms. The bands are playing. It's a show of force, a show of apparent unity and enthusiasm in the nation. It's an opportunity for dishing out propaganda at home and giving out a good propaganda impression abroad. We have some Soviet film footage which shows some of these recent parades. Now, I think it might be some interest to you, Sergeant Queen, to see some of these films. That is the clock on the Kremlin Tower and this is Red Square. It is May Day. A marshal of the Soviet Army reviews his troops. It is a massive, elaborate demonstration designed solely to impress those at home and abroad with the power of the communist state. At the other end of the communist empire, there are other parades modeled after those who have just seen, designed to achieve the same effect. Impress the people with a show of strength. Make an excuse for dropping propaganda. Frighten the people, excite them. Impress them with the power of communism. These are their reasons for holding a parade and they are held very often. A communist parade certainly is different from what we are familiar with. Yes, there is much that's different in a communist country and much that is distasteful to us. And that is, of course, where large-act personnel come in. These men give us the knowledge which we need to counteract communism worldwide. These men give us the details with which to blunt the ideological attack of communism on our country. I can readily appreciate the value of this program. Yes, Sergeant Queen, and I believe that as time goes on and there is a better understanding of the program, we will even enhance its value. We've had statements from Ambassador Lodge recently who feels that the fight against communism is one in which we may expect not only support from those people who have fled from communist-dominated countries but of countless others who cannot breach the wall of communism. And General Delquist, who is the Chief Army Field Forces of Fort Monroe, Virginia, who feels that it is gratifying to note that these stateless citizens, most of whom come from countries behind the Iron Curtain, have volunteered to serve five years in the United States Army to qualify for U.S. citizenship. He feels that this is a history-making program. Colonel Hartel, you and your men have given us a very clear picture of the soldier behind the Iron Curtain. I can readily see how men like yourselves with firsthand knowledge of communism are invaluable assets to our Army. We are proud to have you on our side and I want to thank you all for being on the big picture. And so, these men who have lived under communism and who have rejected it are today American soldiers, frontline fighters in this ideological conflict for the minds of men, called the Cold War. Now there's a Sergeant Stewart Queen inviting you to be with us next week when we'll take another look at our Army in action on the big picture. The big picture is a weekly television report to the nation on the activities of the Army at home and overseas, produced by the Signal Corps Pictorial Center, presented by the U.S. Army in cooperation with this station. You can be an important part of the big picture. You can proudly serve with the best equipped, the best trained, the best fighting team in the world today, the United States Army.