Richard W. Carlson

Richard Carlson "is Vice Chairman of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a policy institute focusing on terrorism. He has experience in journalism and diplomacy and is a former United States Ambassador. "Carlson was director of the Voice of America for the last six years of the Cold War, the longest running director-general in the 50-year history of VOA. He ran the worldwide radio network, which broadcast 24 hours a day in about 50 languages to an audience of more than 130 million people, with a fulltime staff of 3,000 and a part-time staff of 1200.... "For four years, Carlson was a member of the U.S. delegation to the annual US-USSR Information Talks in Moscow and Washington, D.C.  During the same period, he led official U.S. government delegations to the People's Republic of China, to Georgia, USSR, and to Moldavia, USSR.  He addressed the Israeli Knesset in 1990 (jointly with Malcolm Forbes, Jr.) and the British House of Commons (jointly with Richard Branson) in July 1993.  Carlson has testified dozens of times before various U.S. Congressional committees, including the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign Relations Committee.  In 1994, Carlson was an international observer at the first democratic elections in South Africa. In the summer of 1997, he was an international observer at the Parliamentary Elections in Albania, overseeing polling places in the lawless region near the Greek border. He has been involved in negotiations on behalf of the U.S. government with many foreign governments, including those of China, Korea, the USSR, Germany, Costa Rica, Belize, Liberia, Botswana, Lesotho, South Africa, Morocco and Israel. He is a long-time member of the European Broadcasting Union and the Asian Broadcasting Union. "Carlson was President and CEO of The Corporation for Public Broadcasting for five years. CPB is the parent organization for PBS and NPR. He was also President and CEO of King World Productions Public TV of New York and LA, until the company was bought by CBS in the summer of 1999. Carlson is a former US ambassador to the Seychelles, a country of more than 100 islands off the coast of East Africa.  He was appointed by President George H.W. Bush.  He is a board member of the Institute for the Study of Terrorism & Political Violence in Washington, DC, where he lives. He is also Chairman of the Board of InterMedia, the global research consulting firm which conducts opinion surveys (for clients like the BCC and US government agencies) in 76 foreign countries."

On July 17, 1986 the President announced "his intention to nominate Richard W. Carlson to be an Associate Director of the United States Information Agency (Broadcasting). He would succeed Ernest Eugene Pell.

"Since March 1986 Mr. Carlson has been serving as the Acting Associate Director for Broadcasting, and at the same time, he has served as Director of Public Liaison since December 1985. Previously, he was senior vice president of the Great American Bank from 1977 to 1983; and after his resignation he maintained his position with the company as the chief spokesman in radio and television advertising and as a media consultant. During his career in broadcasting, which has spanned a 14-year period, 1966 - 1980, he has worked as a reporter and anchorman in various California stations. Mr. Carlson has won various awards in the broadcasting field, including the George Foster Peabody Award for meritorious service to broadcasting in May 1976." 

In 1997, Richard W. Carlson, president and CEO of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting "resigned last week from his position at CPB after 5 years of exemplary work for the public broadcasting industry." 


 * Director, Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation
 * Trustee, Washington Educational Television Association
 * Emeritus Director, National Press Foundation