Secret CIA Funding of Private Foundations Revealed, But No Outrage Follows
An investigation of private foundations, conducted by Rep. Wright Patman (D–Texas), revealed on this day that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had secretly funded private foundations.
Although reported in The New York Times and the Washington Post, there was little public response and no outrage over this practice. Rep. Patman had dropped his inquiry into the CIA after meeting privately with CIA officials in August 1964.
Everything changed when the U.S. escalated the war in Vietnam in early 1967, however, and on February 15, 1967, an article in Ramparts magazine on secret CIA funding of the National Student Association provoked national outrage. In response, President Lyndon Johnson banned secret CIA funding of private groups, on March 29, 1967.
Learn more: Hugh Wilford, The Mighty Wurlitzer: How the CIA Played America (2008)
Read about the CIA’s secret funding of the National Student Association: Karen Paget, Patriotic Betrayal: The Inside Story of the CIA’s Secret Campaign to Enroll American Students in the Crusade Against Communism (2015)
Learn about the history of the CIA: Tim Weiner, Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA (2007)
View a timeline of Key Events in CIA history here