“The Challenge of Ideas” is a 1961 film produced by the Defense Department’s Army Pictorial Center for showing to the US military. It dramatizes the Communist threat to American ideals and global aims as celebrities and media figures discuss the polarization of politics between the Western Allies of the United States and the Soviet bloc, pointing out the need for vigilance and action to protect democracy in the US and abroad. The film is introduced by Edward R. Murrow, the former CBS journalist who in January 1961 became head of the U.S. Information Agency, who is seen sitting behind his desk, smoking, while images of the military roll by. “Americans are overseas to help preserve the peace,” Murrow says at mark 01:48, but are also abroad to protect against enemy aggressors. “The Communist bloc would like to see the entire world under Communist domination,” he warns at mark 02:42, but prefers propaganda to actual warfare. This film serves as its own piece of Cold War propaganda as celebrities offer speeches defending the American way of life and capitalism while denouncing the Soviet Union. John Wayne sits in a director’s chair at mark 04:38, talking about how Americans appreciate “beauty” while images of female wrestlers, beauty queens, and women on the beach are shown, in addition to national monuments such as the Thomas Jefferson Memorial (mark 05:55), a gravesite in Tombstone, Arizona, and Mount Rushmore, while at one point a choir sings “Glory, Glory” (mark 06:46). More scenes from around Washington, D.C. continue to fill the screen as Wayne speaks, followed by images taken at worship services, folks square dancing, factory assembly lines, and schools. We learn of the “policy statements” of each branch of the armed forces before Murrow points to a world map to discuss the spread of Communism since the end of World War II (mark 14:30). There are battle scenes from Communist takeovers around the world, as Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev is shown at mark 18:22. The film rolls on with additional commentary on the Communist Party’s efforts to economically and ideologically spread its doctrine in the “free world,” while agencies such as NATO (mark 20:28) does its part to combat the spread in a variety of ways, including militarily. Communists will stop at nothing to vilify America, Murrow explains, and we see starting at mark 23:55 select images fill the screen depicting Americans as brutes and savages. “Is there a change the Communists will succeed?” he asks. “That depends … on how dedicated we are to victory.” Broadcaster Lowell Thomas (mark 24:30) stresses that to combat Communism, Americans must remain well informed on current events plus weaknesses and strengths within the US, and we see a variety of newspaper headlines. Actresses Helen Hayes addresses the audience starting at mark 26:30 to express how a peaceful future is dependent on dedication from current generations to maintain “institutions that have shaped our society, particularly the home, which has always been … the nucleus of society itself.”
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