279 lines
14 KiB
Plaintext
279 lines
14 KiB
Plaintext
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Conspiracy Nation -- Vol. 7 Num. 82
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======================================
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("Quid coniuratio est?")
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The following first appeared as "Conspiracy for the Day" on July
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14, 1993:
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+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
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The Power Elite, the CIA, and the Struggle for Minds
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====================================================
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[Excerpted from *The Higher Circles* by G. William Domhoff. New
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York, Random House, 1970.]
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-+- Capturing the Hearts and Minds of the Masses -+-
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The basic premise that guides most policy decisions, foreign and
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domestic, as stated in a National Security Council report is the
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"...struggle for survival involving military power, economic
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productivity, and influence on the minds of men in political,
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scientific, and moral fields." {1} [See notes below]
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This policy is summed up by sociologist Philip Rieff: "...a
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permanent war economy based on a negative ideology of an absolute
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enemy." {2} "It is the kind of ideology that can appeal to the
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'higher loyalty' which guides upper-class CIA agents when they
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undertake actions 'contrary to their moral precepts.' {3}. In
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short, it is the kind of ideology traditionally used by power
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elites to justify whatever actions are necessary to protect their
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privilege and position."
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The power elite compete with =The Enemy= "...in the military and
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economic spheres. The power elite have accepted and marketed a
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military definition of reality throughout the postwar era [i.e.
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after WWII]... Closely tied to this is an increasing industrial
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capacity, encouraged by tax favors and nurtured by defense
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contracts."
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The power elite are also quite serious in their competition for
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"the minds of men in political, scientific, and moral fields."
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{1}. "The power elite, for all their sweet reasonableness and
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liberal rhetoric here at home, have their secretive, not-so-moral
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side."
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"The CIA has become [ca. 1970] one of the most important
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organizations of the power elite, at home and abroad."
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"Members of the power elite, as individuals and as organizations,
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have purchased newspapers and created magazines to promote their
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views and/or criticize and ridicule other views. They have
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withdrawn advertising from mass media to silence opinions they do
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not favor. They have created university chairs and research
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institutes to pursue topics of interest to them, at the same time
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playing an active role as university trustees in getting rid of
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professors with undesirable views. {4}. They have written and
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caused to be written articles and books that present their side
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of every story as attractively and persuasively as is humanly
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possible."
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Some of the early practitioners of "public relations" specialized
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"in the corporate image and the corporate conscience.
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Functionally speaking, the public relations departments of large
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corporations, in conjunction with the giant public relations
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firms that service many corporations, have become the early
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warning system of the upper class, picking up and countering the
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slightest remark or publication that makes funny lines on their
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sensitive radar. Thanks to them, public opinion is well-
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monitored, with an assist of course from the alert social
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scientists in certain university institutes financed by the big
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corporations and foundations. Wayward opinions, once detected,
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are duly corrected by a barrage of printed matter and public
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pronouncements, unless the advisers consider the situation one in
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which replies should be avoided... Truly, the attempt to
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manipulate public opinion has become a conscious and full time
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profession."
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"That some [members of the power elite] are underhanded and will
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stop at nothing is to be expected within a large collection of
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mere human beings. But to find out that the power elite as a
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group are intimately and intricately involved in secretive,
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manipulative and deceitful operations, and in the name of saving
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democracy and the open society, is to go beyond the peccadillos
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of a few personalities to expose another side to the *modus
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operandi* of the High and Mighty.
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-+- The CIA and the National Student Association -+-
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Under the premise that persons between the ages of 18 and 25 are
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susceptible to political arguments, the American power elite
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feared a possible loss of allegiance from this group. "Working
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through the CIA, [the power elite] found their mark in the
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National Student Association (NSA)... Starting in 1950,
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apparently, the CIA began to help NSA. {5}
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The CIA-NSA relationship continued until 1966, before an
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idealistic NSA officer finally blew the whistle on the setup.
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"In some years 80% of the NSA budget was coming from the CIA."
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"NSA was not the only student organization utilized by the power
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elite. They also [co-opted the] International Student
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Conference... Between 1961 and 1965 they spent $180,000 on the
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Independent Research Service, which sent American delegations to
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actively oppose the communists at communist-oriented youth
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festivals."
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"This brief recounting does not even begin to tap the involvement
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of the CIA and the power elite in student organizations all over
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the world. For example, it says nothing about the Institute of
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International Education, which brings many foreign students to
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this country. {6}... Detailed studies of [these organizations]
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will have to be left to scholars wishing to research what C.
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Wright Mills called 'the cultural apparatus' and what Marxists
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call 'ideological hegemony.' In the meantime, we can rest assured
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that the power elite are not neglecting young minds." {7}.
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-+- Patronizing the Intelligentsia -+-
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"Intellectuals... are a narcissistic bunch, full of their own
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self-importance. They love to talk, they love to see their words
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in print, and they love to be flattered. The power elite,
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through the CIA and other organizations, have been very
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accomodating about these intellectual needs. In fact,
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patronizing would be a better word. They have given American
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intellectuals money to start organizations, to hold conferences,
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and to publish magazines and books. They have encouraged them to
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meet with intellectuals from all over the world. The result is a
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series of CIA-financed associations, institutes, and magazines
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that provide opportunities for discussion, travel, publication,
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and mutual adulation."
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"In what follows I will... focus on the Congress for Cultural
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Freedom [CCF], an organization which financed such avant-garde
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magazines as Great Britain's *Encounter*" In 1967, a CIA agent
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named Thomas Braden bragged about "his role in putting CIA agents
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and money into the [CCF] and *Encounter*." {8}.
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"The financing for the [CCF] programs and *Encounter's* articles
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came in large measure from two above-board CIA conduits. The
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first, the Farfield Foundation, is at the heart of the New York
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Establishment; the second, the Hoblitzelle Foundation, is in the
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same position in Texas."
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"Many people concern themselves with the problem of which
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intellectuals 'knew' and which were mere dupes, but that is of
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secondary importance. The point is that some men have views the
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power elite like, and some don't. The likeable group gets
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financial, institutional, and mass media support (overtly and
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covertly) from members of the power elite." {9}.
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-+- Using the Experts -+-
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"American academia at the major universities is in large measure
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a collection of experts, with each expert relatively confined to
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his particular specialty. Some of these experts are more useful
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than others. The more useful are housed in institutes as well as
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the traditional departments. They receive research grants from
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foundations, institutes, corporations and governments to further
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develop their expertise and train new experts. They often do
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consulting on the side for industry, government and power elite
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associations."
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"CIA entanglements with the experts are several: hiring them as
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agents and analysts, supporting their research, financing the
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publication of their articles and books. The first well-
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publicized instance concerned CIA involvement in the Center for
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International Studies at MIT. {10}. A second instance showed
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how the CIA and Michigan State University collaborated in
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propping up the American-created government in South Vietnam.
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{11}.
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However, "to focus too narrowly on the infrastructure of the
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seamy side [of the power elite] and the minor conduit foundations
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is to miss the point... *All* power elite foundations,
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institutes and associations, above ground and below ground, are
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involved in ideological combat... [And yet] they ask us to
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believe that ideology has suddenly ended -- and in our own time,
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no less."
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The temptation to "...buy the power elite propaganda about non-
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ideology is very great. We hear it every day from the nicest
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people in the most respectable journals. But it must be
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resisted. Those who want to understand the power structure must
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stand back and assert in the face of all the power elite's
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kindness to academics, and all the intellectual establishment's
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objectivity and scientificality, that all power elite
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foundations, institutes, and associations are propaganda fronts
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which are involved in maintaining the legitimacy and
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respectability of the present Establishment."
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"When C. Wright Mills called the power elite 'irresponsible' and
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accused them of practicing the 'higher immorality,' the
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intellectual establishment was annoyed... Now, 13 years later
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[ca. 1970], there can be little doubt about the validity of
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Mills' indictment... The activities of the CIA at home and
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abroad in para-military and intellectual undertakings are in
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themselves enough to expose the power elite and their morality
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for all to judge... The power elite and their intellectual
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collaborators have re-affirmed an age-old axiom about governing
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classes and their word magicians. However they may plead
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otherwise, they are primarily self-interested partisans, their
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horizons severely limited by the ideologies and institutions that
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sustain and justify their privilege, celebrity and power."
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Notes:
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{1} Henry M. Jackson, *The National Security Council: Jackson
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Subcommittee Papers on Policy Making at the Presidential Level*
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(New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1965), p. 76.
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{2} Philip Rieff, "Socialism and Sociology," *C. Wright Mills and
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The Power Elite*, G. William Domhoff and Hoyt B. Ballard, eds.
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(Boston: Beacon Press, 1968), p. 169.
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{3} David Wise and Thomas B. Ross, *The Espionage Establishment*
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(New York: Random House, 1967), p. 293.
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{4} Lionel S. Lewis, "The Academic Axe: Some Trends in
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Dismissals From Institutions of Higher Learning in America"
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(Social Problems, Fall, 1964), pp. 156-157; Lionel S. Lewis,
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"Dismissals from the Academy" (Journal of Higher Education, May,
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1966), pp. 257-258.
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{5} The following account is based upon three sources: Sol
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Stern, "NSA-CIA" (Ramparts, March, 1967); Stuart H. Loory, "How
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CIA Became Involved in NSA" (San Francisco Chronicle, February
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28, 1967), pp. 1, 12; and the concise summary of all articles
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and letters on the problem in *The New York Times*, which appears
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on pages 1269-72 of *The New York Times Index*, 1967, Volume 55
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(New York: The New York Times Company, 1968).
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{6} Michael Holcomb, "Student Exchanges Serve U.S. Policy"
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(Guardian, January 20, 1968), p. 6.
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{7} Michael Holcomb, "The Pass-Through: How the CIA Bankrolled
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Private Projects" (Newsweek, March 6, 1967).
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{8} Thomas Braden, "I'm Glad the CIA Is 'Immoral'" (Saturday
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Evening Post, May 20, 1967), p. 10.
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{9} Jason Epstein, "The CIA and the Intellectuals" (The New York
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Review of Books, April 30, 1967), pp. 19-21.
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{10} David Wise and Thomas Ross, *The Invisible Government* (New
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York: Random House, 1964), pp. 243-244.
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{11} Warren Hinckle, Sol Stern and Robert Scheer, "University on
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the Make" (Ramparts, April, 1966); Martin Nicolaus, "The
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Professors, the Policemen, and the Peasants" (Unpublished
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manuscript, January, 1966).
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Aperi os tuum muto, et causis omnium filiorum qui pertranseunt.
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Aperi os tuum, decerne quod justum est, et judica inopem et
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pauperem. -- Liber Proverbiorum XXXI: 8-9
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