More than "Soul Catchers": Understanding Eastern Europe through Audience and Opinion Surveys at Radio Free Europe during the Cold War

In 1989, Radio Free Europe (RFE), an international anti-Communist shortwave radio broadcaster located in Munich and financed by the U.S. government, concluded after a vast survey operation that 53 percent of the adult population in East Europe listened to RFE programs. Based on such findings, historians from the region have argued that the collapse of Communist regimes was attributable in part to the importance of the diffusionist character of Western-inspired notions of freedom and democracy. Recent studies have raised questions about the methodology and findings of the RFE surveys. Although methodological discussions are important, a close reading of RFE surveys from the 1950s to 1989 reveals another side to the story, showing how Western Cold War institutions helped to frame key problems in Eastern Europe and mold the way individuals in those societies thought about the choices facing them.