Alvin Snyder
{{Short description|American journalist, author (1936–2019)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Alvin Snyder
| image = Nixon_Resignation_Speech_1974_with_Alvin_Snyder.jpg
| caption = Snyder with President Nixon during the latter's resignation speech
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1936|03|31}}
| birth_place = Trenton, New Jersey, U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2019|01|28|1936|03|31}}
| death_place = McLean, Virginia, U.S.
| nationality = American
| other_names =
| occupation = Journalist, author
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works = Warriors of Disinformation: American Propaganda, Soviet Lies, and the Winning of the Cold War (1995)
}}
Alvin Snyder (March 31, 1936 – January 28, 2019) was an American journalist, author, and former Director of TV and Film Service[https://www.nytimes.com/1987/07/14/us/washington-talk-united-states-information-agency-30-million-anyone-watching.html WASHINGTON TALK: UNITED STATES INFORMATION AGENCY; AT $30 MILLION, IS ANYONE WATCHING?]. The New York Times. July 14, 1987. at the United States Information Agency.
Early life
Snyder was born on March 31, 1936, in Trenton, New Jersey. He graduated from the University of Miami in 1958.{{cite web |title=UM 60th Anniversary Collection {{!}} University of Miami Libraries |url=https://www.library.miami.edu/universityarchives/um-60th-anniversary-collection.html |website=www.library.miami.edu |publisher=University of Miami Libraries |access-date=23 March 2025 |language=en}}
Career
Snyder started his career at CBS News in New York in 1959 as a news producer and was an editor on a documentary on Edward R. Murrow that won a Grammy award in 1967. He was later recruited by the Nixon White House and appointed Deputy Special Assistant by Richard Nixon to run TV operations in the newly established Office of Communications.[https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1973/04/the-president-and-the-press/305573/ The President and the Press]. The Atlantic, April 1973 issue.[https://search.archives.gov/search?query=alvin+snyder&utf8=%E2%9C%93&affiliate=nixon-library White House Tapes]. White House Archives.[https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/sites/default/files/virtuallibrary/documents/PDD/1972/085%20October%201-15%201972.pdf October 1-15, 1972]. Nixon Library.
Alvin Snyder was featured on David Frost's series Playhouse Presents.[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2618632/fullcreditsNixon’s The One] film credits. "Nixon's the One," a reenactment using verbatim dialogue from the Nixon White House tapes,{{Cite web |url=https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/taxonomy/term/269 |title=Richard Nixon Presidential Library Snyder, Alvin |access-date=2020-05-29 |archive-date=2021-03-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210321124203/https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/taxonomy/term/269 |url-status=dead }} featured actor Ryan McLuskey as Snyder opposite Harry Shearer's Nixon during the President's resignation address.{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1011675/|title=Ryan McCluskey|website=IMDb}}[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWRYRVMBvH8 Nixon's The One - "TV"].
=USIA and KAL 007 role=
Later he became a Director of TV and Film[https://www.nytimes.com/1987/07/14/us/washington-talk-united-states-information-agency-30-million-anyone-watching.html WASHINGTON TALK: UNITED STATES INFORMATION AGENCY; AT $30 MILLION, IS ANYONE WATCHING?]. The New York Times. July 14, 1987. at the US Information Agency in Washington as an aide to Charles Z. Wick. A key contribution for Snyder at the USIA was documented after the downing of Korean Air Lines Flight 007. Snyder was credited with producing the video shown to the United Nations Security Council in 1983 that uncovered more evidence of Russia's role in the downing of the civilian aircraft.
=Writing career=
Later as a fellow at the Annenberg Foundation, he published a widely used text on the use of propaganda by the US Government. Snyder also served as a Senior Fellow for the University of Southern California Center for Public Diplomacy.[https://www.uscpublicdiplomacy.org/users/alvin_snyder Alvin Snyder, University of Southern California Center for Public Diplomacy]
Snyder is also well-known for writing the book Warriors of Disinformation: American Propaganda, Soviet Lies, and the Winning of the Cold War (1995). In his 1995 memoir, he wrote that "the U.S. government ran a full-service public relations organization, the largest in the world, about the size of the twenty biggest U.S. commercial PR firms combined. Its full-time professional staff of more than 10,000 spread out among some 150 countries, burnished America‘s image and trashed the Soviet Union 2,500 hours a week with a tower of babble {{sic|comprised |hide=y|of}} more than 70 languages, to the tune of over $2 billion per year", and "the biggest branch of this propaganda machine" was the USIA.{{cite book | last=Snyder | first=Alvin | title=Warriors of Disinformation: American Propaganda, Soviet Lies, and the Winning of the Cold War: An Insider's Account | publisher=Arcade Pub | publication-place=New York | year=1995 | isbn=1-55970-321-0 | oclc=32430655 | page= xi}}[https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1977/BC-1977-08-08.pdf August 8, 1977]. Broadcasting Magazine.
Later life
Publications
- {{cite book|last=Snyder|first=Alvin|title=Warriors of Disinformation: American Propaganda, Soviet Lies, and the Winning of the Cold War|language=English|year=1995|publisher=Arcade |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ck2A4Int8n0C|isbn=9781559703895}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{Commons}}
- {{Official website|http://www.alvinsnyder.com/index.htm|name=Official website}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Snyder, Alvin}}
Category:Journalists from New Jersey
Category:Writers from Trenton, New Jersey
Category:Nixon administration personnel
Category:Ford administration personnel
Category:People of the United States Information Agency
Category:University of Miami alumni
Category:University of Miami School of Communication alumni
Category:University of Southern California faculty
Category:20th-century American male writers