Anti-Communist Congress for Cultural Freedom Formed
The Congress for Cultural Freedom, an international liberal anti-Communist group that was secretly funded by the CIA, was founded on this day.
The Congress was designed to offset the impact of international conferences and events sponsored by the Soviet Union. While a few leaders of the Congress were “witting” (the term then used for those knowledgeable about the secret CIA connection), people who participated in its events were not, and were embarrassed when the secret role of the CIA was exposed in the 1960s.
The exposure of secret CIA funding of non-profit organizations, scholars, journalists and others began with the March 1967 issue of Ramparts Magazine (February 15, 1967). President Lyndon Johnson responded to the scandal with an executive order on March 29, 1967 prohibiting secret CIA funding of private organizations.
Learn more from the CIA itself:
https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/95unclass/Warner.htmlLearn more: Peter Coleman, The Liberal Conspiracy: The Congress for Cultural Freedom and the Struggle for the Mind of Postwar Europe (1989)
Learn more about the Congress for Cultural Freedom: http://modernhistoryproject.org/mhp?Article=Kulturkampf
Read: Hugh Wilford, The Mighty Wurlitzer: How the CIA Played America (2008)