Preface and Acknowledgements
This book is a result of a process that could be described with such adjectives as ‘long’, ‘bumpy’, ‘challenging’ and, finally, ‘rewarding’. I first came up with the idea of investigating British propaganda in Finland in 2000 when studying for an MA in International Communications at the University of Leeds. The course included modules on propaganda and public diplomacy, which stirred a great deal of interest among fellow students as well as members of staff. After that, however, work outside academia pushed any ambition I had on undertaking further research on the subject to the background for several years. Even when working full-time, I did, however, start to gradually collect material for a study on first British and then American propaganda activities in Finland during the early Cold War. In 2011, I finally managed to win my first scholarship for conducting full-time doctoral research, which enabled me to take study leave and start a more thorough project on the subject.
When exploring my research topic further, I soon realised that in order to cover my period of study (1944–1962) adequately, I needed to examine an even greater amount of highly versatile source material. Since the primary sources for my study turned out to be exceptionally scattered by nature, in the following years I became acquainted with a great variety of archives and libraries in Britain, the US, Finland and Sweden. After a couple of years of studious research, I was finally able to complete my doctoral thesis in autumn 2014 and defend my work at the University of Helsinki in May 2015.
After completing my doctoral study, I wished to turn my focus onto other projects and did not really think I would be exploring the issues I covered in my work again, at least not immediately after its completion. In the next year or so, however, my Swedish colleague Mikael Nilsson, who has examined American propaganda in Sweden in a book of his published by Brill, gave me the idea of preparing a book out of my doctoral thesis. After giving his proposal some thought, I decided it was worthwhile contacting Brill and offering them this idea. Since the publisher’s initial interest, my original thesis has undergone numerous editing processes during which I have turned it into more standard book format. As a result, the outcome is markedly different from my dissertation. Most importantly, the parts required for an academic thesis, such as the presentation of research methods and questions, the main concepts, and the introduction of source material and previous research, have been either discarded or vastly altered. Furthermore, I have changed the order of presentation for certain parts of my work, made numerous cuts and additions, and, perhaps most importantly, extended the study period from 1962 to 1970.
Even though doing research is often lonely and frustrating, there are many people and organisations whose help and support have made a great difference to my project, and all of whom deserve to be mentioned. First of all, I would like to thank Mikael Nilsson for giving me the idea of offering my work to an international publisher. From Brill, I wish to thank the series editors, and Jason Prevost in particular, for expressing interest in my study and making my book project possible. During my interaction with Brill, I have been most impressed with the efficiency and kindness of several assistant editors, which has made the handling of numerous practical issues a smooth ride. My thanks go to Gerda Danielsson Coe, Evelien van der Veer and Debbie de Wit.
As for my research work, I would above all like to express my gratitude to my supervisors, Professor Emeritus Hannes Saarinen and Professor Niklas Jensen-Eriksen, for supporting me through the writing process and giving me feedback of the highest standard. I would also like to thank Professor Emeritus Erkki Kouri, who acted as my first supervisor and backed my initial interest in dwelling into my selected research topic. The external examiners, Professor Timo Soikkanen from the University of Turku and Docent Mikko Majander from the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki, provided many critical and useful comments, which helped me also in this project. My sincere thanks go out to them, as well.
The late Philip Taylor, who worked as Professor at the University of Leeds, also deserves a mention for inspiring me to take a closer look at the field of propaganda in the first place. As for staff and students at the University of Helsinki, I found the numerous seminars I attended under the wings of Professors Erkki Kouri, Markku Peltonen, Hannes Saarinen and Laura Kolbe all highly useful for learning more about how to conduct historical research and, above all, for sharing ideas. The many fellow post-graduate students I had the pleasure of acquainting during my research process, most of them by now doctors, also played a great role in my project both by making study-related observations and by offering moral support. I would like to specifically thank Juho Kotakallio, Aleksi Mainio, Elina Melgin, Samu Nyström, Henrik Tala and Seppo Vepsäläinen for their fruitful comments as well as excellent company.
I am also deeply grateful to the numerous other people who helped me with several research-related and technical matters. Above all, I would like to thank my sister, Marion Fields, for proofreading both my thesis and this book and engaging in, at times heated, debate with me over questions related to the English language and linguistics. Jukka Rislakki played an important part in my project by providing me with copies of documents he had studied in the US for a book of his, for which I am grateful.
As this study has required an enormous amount of research in archives and libraries in Britain, the US, Finland and Sweden, the help I received from the staff in all these institutions proved vital for making a thorough study on my topic possible. I am particularly grateful for all the help and information provided to me by the three most essential archives for my study: the National Archives, Kew, the National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, and the Finnish National Archives, Helsinki. Of all the institutions I have visited over the years, I would like to give special credit to two Finnish archives, the Päivälehti Archives and the Archives of President Urho Kekkonen, whose directors Pekka Anttonen and Pekka Lähteenkorva not only provide visitors with professional assistance, but also make sure that working in their archives is a pleasant experience.
When conducting archive research in Finland, it was also highly important for my project to receive separate research permissions for the archived material of a number of organisations. I would like to thank the Finnish-British Society, the Finnish Security Intelligence Service, the Fulbright Center Finland, the IofC Finland Foundation, the League of Finnish American Societies and Juha Vuorinen, who all kindly granted me the permission to study documents that proved greatly valuable for my book.
On a more personal note, I would like to thank all of my friends for sharing also the difficult moments during the process of this study. Last, but certainly not least, I would like to thank my family: my mother, Leena, and my sister, Marion, who have always supported and encouraged me even during times of uncertainty. I would like to dedicate this study to them, and to my late father, Donald.