Civilian Career
In retirement, he advised President Dwight Eisenhower on national security matters. Crittenberger served as president of the U.S. Military Academy Association of Graduates from 1955 to 1958 and president of the Greater New York Fund.
Crittenberger was appointed on October 1, 1956 to serve as the new Chairman of the Free Europe Committee, a post he retained until 1959. He actively defended Radio Free Europe after the latter was accused in 1956 of having triggered the Hungarian rebellion. On November 12, he stated: “The policy of Free Europe is NOT to inflame Eastern Europeans . . . to base our broadcasts on factual reporting of the news WITHOUT any exaggeration, prediction, or promises. If there has been any violation of this policy, we are unaware of it." Others argue that some of the broadcasts were inflammatory and penned by Hungarian émigrés, and that they may have caused Soviet leaders to doubt Hungarian leader Imre Nagy’s managerial skills, fear the power vacuum in Hungary, and conclude that a second military invasion was necessary.
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