# 1961 EDWARD R. MURROW & JOHN WAYNE COLD WAR DOCUMENTARY THE CHALLENGE OF IDEAS 54724

“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 ).…

- Kind: Documentary
- Genres: War, Documentary, Industrial and advertising
- Archive: [Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/54724TheChallengeOfIdeas)
- Licence or status: none stated by the archive
- Who can watch: Teens profiles and older (the archive gives no rating; placed by Invisible Network from its collection and subjects)

[Watch now](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/watch/archive/ia/54724TheChallengeOfIdeas?play=1)