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World Freedom
Foundation
Acronym/Code: WFF
Updated: 8/90
Principals:
L. Brent Bozell III--chairman of the board;
Dr. Curtin Winsor, Jr. --president; Hon. Stefan A. Halper--director of government
relations; Marc S. Ryan--executive director; Leif E. Noren--administrator;
Herman Pirchner--finance; Gregory Mueller--public relations; J. Curtis Herge,
Esq. --legal counsel; and J. Parker Bailey, CPA--accounting. (1)
The board of directors includes Bozell, Halper,
Pirchner, and Alan Keyes. (2) Other members of the board in 1988 included
Marc Ryan, Norma Bozell, Richard Kimble, and Meredith Noren. (25)
Categories:
Political
Background:
The World Freedom Foundation (WFF) was founded
by Brent Bozell III in November of 1987. Bozell began the WFF immediately
after a bitter dispute with the board of the National Conservative Political
Action Committee (NCPAC). This dispute resulted in his resigning (or according
to some accounts, his being fired) from his positions as president of the
NCPAC and executive director of the National Conservative Foundation and its
publication, Newswatch. (2,8)
WFF is fanatically anticommunist. In its articles
of incorporation the WFF states that its purposes are to engage in the analysis,
study, and research of anticommunist causes throughout the world; to explore
the background, status and potential of organizations working to combat communist
systems; and to educate the public about various historical upheavals around
the globe,"including the oppression and brutality suffered by those
living under Communist regimes."(24)
The first page of its prospectus claims "The
USSR is the cancerous primary tumor of
totalitarian challenge currently facing the democratic self-realization by
many of the world's developing societies."(1) The metaphor of a metastasizing
cancer is carried out in discussions of governments in Africa and Latin America
viewed by WFF as nondemocratic. These include Cuba, Nicaragua (under the Sandinista
government), Angola, Afghanistan, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Poland, and Hungary.
U.S. businessmen and philanthropists such as Armand Hammer, Donald Kendall,
and Eugene Andreas who are working to open relationships with the Soviet Union
are called "greedy capitalists," the implication being they are
sacrificing the good of the nation for personal gain. (1)
Funding:
We have been unable to locate the sources
of WFF's funding. The 1989 budget of WFF is $3,302,000; for 1990 the projected
budget is $2,417,000. (1) Income reported on WFF's 1988 tax return was $909,000,
all of which came from direct public support. (25)
Activities:
The WFF prospectus outlines an ambitious
series of programs for 1989 including a series of research monographs on every
"freedom movement" in the world, a series of fact-finding tours
to take leaders in government and the media to visit countries with active
"freedom movements," a convention in Washington for "freedom
fighters," speakers tours, educational programs for TV and other media,
forums for "refugees" fleeing communist countries, and finally,
and perhaps most important, their special project on the February 1990 Nicaraguan
elections. (1)
The WFF established a bi-partisan commission
of six people to interview experts from the U.S. and Latin America about
the electoral process in Nicaragua and how to make it "fair."(1)
The hearings took place from May 9 through May 11, 1989 in Washington DC
On WFF's Bi-Partisan Commission on Free and Fair Elections in Nicaragua were:
Curtin Winsor, Jr. and Alan Keyes of WFF; former Senator Gaylord Nelson; Sergio
Bendixen; Dr. Elaine Kamarck; and Victor Gold. The commission director was
Marc Ryan and the communications director was Gregory Mueller, both of WFF.
(3)
The witnesses interviewed in the two-day session
came primarily from conservative institutions and government or government-related
agencies. Among them were: Sen. Bob Dole (RKS); Dr. John Silber, Boston University;
Dr. Allen Weinstein, Center for Democracy; Dr. Carl Gershman, National Endowment
for Democracy; Michael Stoddard and Mark Feierstein of the National Democratic
Institute for International Affairs; Ben Wattenberg and Constantine Menges
of the American Enterprise Institute; Eva Loser and Georges Fauriol of the
Center for Strategic and International Studies; Keith Schuette of the National
Republican Institute for International Affairs; Richard Aguirre of the Embassy
of Guatemala; Jack Heberle of the AFL-CIO's American Institute for Free Labor
Development; and Luigi Einaudi of the Department of State. (18) Several members
of the Nicaraguan opposition testified, among them former contra leader Arturo
Cruz, Sr. , but there were no witnesses from the Sandinista government. To
balance out the conservative line-up, there were witnesses from Amnesty International
and the Washington Office on Latin America. (18)
The WFF published a "Blueprint"
of the commission's conclusions. The highlights of that report are summarized
below. The Supreme Electoral Council (CSE), the 5-member committee which
runs elections and has authority over electoral processes in Nicaragua, must
be balanced with two representatives from the FSLN (the Sandinista party),
two opposition parties, and one independent member. The continued neutrality
and fairness of the CSE would be checked bi-weekly. (19) It is unclear who
would evaluate the "fairness" of the CSE.
The WFF "Blueprint" demands a public
statement by the FSLN confirming its willingness to abide by the results of
the election. It calls for open voter registration and open formation of parties
and coalitions. It also calls for absentee registration and voting privileges,
not only at Nicaraguan consulates, but also along the borders of Honduras
and Costa Rica. Finally, and perhaps most important to prevailing U.S. government
interests, the WFF report demands that funding of parties and coalitions from
foreign sources be permitted as long as the funding is given openly and from
non-governmental entities. (19)
The report goes on to detail the requirements
for a fair campaign, including freedom of travel for candidates and foreign
observers and press, and equal access to the media. (19) The election itself
must have an effective secret ballot developed by the CSE, according to the
document, and votes must be counted in the presence of poll watchers representing
all candidates. The CSE must have a facility for recounts in the event of
disputes. On the day of the election, all uniformed officials must be under
the direct authority of the local CSE and national and international observers
and media should have the right to travel freely to observe the balloting
and tabulation. (19)
Government
Connections:
Alan Keyes was an aide to Jeane Kirkpatrick
when she was ambassador to the United Nations. He also served as Assistant
Secretary of State for International Organizations in the Reagan administration.
(2)
Curtin Winsor was ambassador to Costa Rica
from 1983 to 1985 during the period when the contra's "southern front"
was established with U.S. direction and aid. As a representative of the far
right, Winsor was part of the group in the Reagan administration that tried
to have George Shultz removed as Secretary of State. (2)
Stefan Halper is the son-in-law of Dr. Ray
S. Cline, former deputy director of the CIA. (2) He was a top aide in charge
of foreign policy in the 1980 Bush presidential campaign, before Bush joined
Reagan's campaign in July. (23)
Herman Pirchner is a former staffer in the
Senate. (2)
Private Connections:
The father of Brent Bozell III was a close
associate of William F. Buckley in the early 1950s at Yale University. Bozell,
Jr. married Buckley's sister, Patricia. (22) In 1954, he and William Buckley
co-authored McCarthyism--The Fight for America!, a book defending Senator
Joseph McCarthy. (22) Bozell, Jr. went on to become an editor (and has been
mentioned as a co-founder) of the National Review. (22) Brent Bozell III was
the president of the National Conservative Political Action Committee (NCPAC)
and executive director of the National Conservative Foundation (NCF), a related
group that trains political campaign managers and campaign fundraisers. NCF
also works on "fairness in the media" by opposing the liberal domination
it sees as prevalent. (7) In the same year he founded WFF, Bozell founded
and became chair of two other groups, the Media Research Center (MRC) and
the Conservative Victory Committee (CVC). (2) MRC is another rightwing media
watchdog; it publishes a newletter, Media Watch, which accuses the media of
being too liberal. (2) MRC was very active in the defense of Oliver North
and hosted a dinner in his honor subsequent to his convictions in the Iran-contra
scandal. (28) The CVC uses the media to support political candidates and nominees.
(2) Bozell is or was on the advisory board
of the Citizens Against the Catastrophic Health Act Tax and is or was on the
national policy board of the Emergency Project to Support Colonel North's
Freedom Fight in Central America. (9,10) Bozell is also on the national policy
board of the American Freedom Coalition (AFC), a grassroots lobbying organization
group promoting traditional values. (5) The AFC is closely connected to the
Christian Voice lobby group and Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church.
(6,20) The AFC was the sponsor of the Emergency Project supporting Oliver
North. (10)
Alan Keyes is the Black member of the South
African Lobby in the United States. He is a research scholar at the rightwing
think tank, the American Enterprise Institute. Keyes was often sought as a
speaker to defend the South African apartheid government. (2) He addressed
the 1988 annual board meeting of the AFC and the March 1989 Council on Southern
Africa meeting sponsored by the ultra-right Conservative Caucus. (2) Keyes
recently became the chairman of Citizens for America, a rightwing group begun
by Lewis Lehrman to support the Reagan agenda during the 1980s. Keyes is also
head of the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste, a group promoting
implementation of the recommendations of the Grace Commission. (28)
Attorney J. Curtis Herge was the registered
agent for the Nicaraguan Resistance Education Foundation, a group affiliated
with the contras. (2) He was the lawyer for Western Goals, a group started
by ultra-rightist Rep. Larry McDonald to promote the return of internal surveillance
to seek out suspected communists in the U.S. (11) He also served as attorney
for Carl (Spitz) Channell's National Endowment for the Preservation of Liberty,
one of the main money conduits of Oliver North's contra network. (12) Herge
currently represents the AFC. (2) Herge is attorney, corporate secretary and
board member of the National Bank of Northern Virginia. (2)
Marc S. Ryan was active with the College Republicans
in Idaho and served as a media analyst with NCF's Newswatch. (2) He currently
is the associate editor of MRC's Media Watch. (2)
Greg Mueller, director of public relations
for WFF, is with the public relations firm of Keene, Shirley & Associates.
(2) Keene, Shirley is a registered agent for Jonas Savimbi of UNITA, the opposition
army in Angola, and the Nicaraguan Development Council, a contra front group.
He also represents the Nicaraguan Democratic Resistance. (2,17) Keene, Shirley
was hired as the first public relations firm for the Nicaraguan American National
Foundation, a pro-contra lobbying group formed by Nicaraguan exiles. (4) Reportedly,
the funds to pay the Keene, Shirley bill came from WFF and the Conservative
Victory Committee. (4) At Keene, Shirley, Mueller has also represented Christian
Voice and has coordinated a conference for the AFC. (2) Mueller worked with
Bozell at the National Conservative Fdn as a research analyst for Newswatch.
(2)
Stefan Halper is program director for Ray
Cline's United States Global Strategy Council, a group "dedicated to
the improvement of strategic planning and decision-making by the Executive
Branch and the Congress of the United States."(17,21) Halper joins Herge
on the board of the National Bank of Northern Virginia. (2) In 1980, Halper
ran a secret operation involving retired CIA officers. The task of the group
was to obtain inside information from the Carter administration, especially
on the American hostages in Iran. (17)
Herman Pirchner was president of the American
Foreign Policy Council (AFPC), a group promoting "democracy" in
Central America, and supporting the Nicaraguan contras. (2) According to an
article in the Washington Post, the AFPC participated in events honoring El
Salvador's Roberto D'Aubuisson, head of the ARENA party and linked to the
country's death squads. (2,11)
Curtin Winsor Jr. served on the advisory council
of the Inter-American Foundation and is a member of the council of advisers
of Americans for Freedom, Inc, run by Karen McKay who headed the Committee
for a Free Afghanistan. (2) He was on the board of the Nicaraguan Refugee
Fund, a group that raised funds to support the Nicaraguan contras. (26) Winsor
regularly attends meetings sponsored by the American Security Council (ASC).
The ASC's so-called "Tuesday meetings" include National Security
Council representatives, congressional staffers, and New Right groups. The
ASC is another rightwing, anticommunist group promoting a strong military.
The Coalition for Peace Through Strength, which numbers 242 congresspeople
among its members, is a lobbying arm of the ASC. (14) Winsor was a member
of the conservative Central American Working Group, a group that called upon
the U.S. government to end diplomatic relations with the Sandinista government
and urged that the U.S. and its allies tighten their economic boycott of
Nicaragua. (15) In a 1987 interview with the New York Times, Winsor defended
a loan of $375,000 made by the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC)
to John Hull. (16) Hull, who lived in Costa Rica until he was expelled in
1988, was an important link in Col. Oliver North's contra supply network.
When asked about the loan (which was made for a building which was never constructed),
Winsor said that he had not been in Costa Rica for long when the loan was
made. He went on to say,"Had I known then what I know now, I would have
very strongly recommended it. He's (Hull) an outstanding American citizen..."(16)
Misc:
World Freedom Foundation was denied entry
visas to Nicaragua to observe the 1990 elections. The reason stated for the
denial was that WFF supported the contras and "their sole purpose was
seen as discrediting the electoral process."(27)
Comments:
It seems important to comment upon the composition
of the 28 witnesses selected by WFF's Bi-Partisan Commission. Of the 28 witnesses,
11 are connected to the U.S. government or to the Congressionally-created,"democracy-building" National Endowment for Democracy (NED). Carl
Gershman, chairman of NED, testified. The National Democratic Institute and
the National Republican Institute, both vehicles for NED funding, provided
three witnesses. The AFL-CIO's AIFLD, another quasi-governmental operation
that receives major NED funding, provided a witness. Finally, the Center for
Democracy, which also receives funding from NED, sent its president to testify.
Of the remaining 17 witnesses, four came from
the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the American Enterprise
Institute, both very conservative think tanks allied with the Reagan administration.
Another came from the Council for Inter-American Security, the group that
wrote the Santa Fe Document that provided major underpinnings for the Central
American policy of the Reagan administration. John Silber of Boston University
is a known hardline conservative. Silber opposed the Boland Amendment which
restricted U. S funding for the contras and felt the U.S. should officially
recognize and fully support the contras. Finally, there were four Nicaraguan
witnesses who opposed the Sandinista government and one each from embassies
of Guatemala and Costa Rica, countries receiving huge amounts of U.S. aid.
The Guatemalan witness said his country took a stance of "active neutrality,"
but the testimony reflects a strong pro-U.S. bias; the Costa Rican representative
was openly opposed to the Sandinistas.
U.S. Address: 111 South Columbus St, Alexandria,
VA 22314.
Sources:
1. World Freedom Foundation, prospectus, June
1989.
2."Some Notes on the World Freedom Foundation,"
Institute for Media Analysis, unpublished manuscript, June 1, 1989.
3."The Bi-Partisan Commission on Free
and Fair Elections in Nicaragua," World Freedom Foundation brochure,
1989.
4. Alfonso Chardy,"Nicaraguans Bid for
Power," Miami Herald, May 23, 1989.
5."A Promise for Their Future, American
Freedom Coalition full- size brochure,
Sep 1987.
6. Phone conversation with Wes McCune, Group
Research, Inc. Sep 9, 1988.
7. Encyclopedia of Associations, 1989.
8. Thomas B. Edsall,"Head of Conservative
PAC Quits in Dispute With Board," Washington Post, Sep 1, 1987.
9. Letter from the Citizens Against The Catastrophic
Health Tax Act, undated, received in 1989.
10. Letter from the Emergency Project to Support
Colonel North's Freedom Fight in Central America, undated, corroborated by
phone Sep 9, 1988.
11. Jon Lee Anderson and Scott Anderson, Inside
the League: The Shocking Expose of How Terrorists, Nazis, and Latin American
Death Squads Have Infiltrated The World Anti-Communist League (New York, NY:
Dodd, Mead & Co, 1984).
12. Common Cause Magazine, Mar/Apr 1988.
13. Russ Bellant, Old Nazis, the New Right
and the Reagan Administration (Cambridge MA: Political Research Associates,
1989).
14. Peace Through Strength, American Security
Council report, undated, received Dec 15, 1988.
15. John McCaslin,"U.S. Asked to Isolate
Nicaragua," The Washington Times, Oct 30, 1987.
16. Martin Tolchin,"A Contra Supplier
in Costa Rica Got $375,000 U.S. Agency
Says," New York Times, Oct 31, 1987.
17. Holly Sklar,"Washington Wants to
Buy Nicaragua's Elections- Again,"
Zeta Magazine, Dec 1989.
18. Proceedings of The Bi-Partisan Commission
on Free and Fair Elections in Nicaragua, sponsored by the World Freedom Foundation,
May 1989.
19."A Blueprint for Free and Fair Elections
in Nicaragua," The Bi-Partisan Commission
on Free and Fair Elections in Nicaragua, World Freedom Foundation, 1989.
20. Kim A. Lawton,"Unification Church
Ties Haunt New Coalition," Christianity
Today, Feb 5, 1988.
21. United States Global Strategy Council,
brochure, 1989/1990.
22. A. Forster and B. Epstein, Danger on the
Right, 1964.
23. Barbara Honegger, October Surprise, 1989.
24. Articles of Incorporation of World Freedom
Foundation, State of Virginia, Nov 19, 1987.
25. Internal Revenue Service 990 Tax Return,
World Freedom Foundation, 1988.
26. Internal Revenue Service 990 Tax Return,
Nicaraguan Freedom Fund, Inc. , 1985.
27. Electoral Democracy: Under International
Pressure, The Report of the Latin American Studies Association Commission
to Observe the 1990 Nicaraguan Election, Mar 15, 1990.
28. Group Research Report, Vol 29, No. 1,
Jan/Feb 1990.
The underlying cites for this profile are
now kept at Political Research Associates, (617) 666-5300. www.irc-online.org.
