TheMemoryHole1

The dark side of history: https://thememoryhole.substack.com/ Michael Wolff (born August 27, 1953) is an American journalist, as well as a columnist and contributor to USA Today, The Hollywood Reporter, and the UK edition of GQ.[2] He has received two National Magazine Awards, a Mirror Award, and has authored seven books, including Burn Rate (1998) about his own dot-com company, and The Man Who Owns the News (2008), a biography of Rupert Murdoch. He co-founded the news aggregation website Newser and is a former editor of Adweek. On January 5, 2018, Wolff's book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House was published, containing unflattering descriptions of behavior by U.S. President Donald Trump, chaotic interactions among the White House senior staff, and derogatory comments about the Trump family by former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon.[3] The book quickly became a New York Times number-one bestseller[4] and became the first of a trilogy about Trump in power, the other two books being Siege (2019) and Landslide (2021).[5] Early life Michael Wolff was born in Paterson, New Jersey, the son of, Jewish,[6] Lewis Allen Wolff (1920–1984),[7] an advertising professional, and Marguerite (Vanderwerf) "Van" Wolff (1925–2012)[8] a reporter for Paterson Evening News.[9][10] Wolff graduated from Montclair Academy (now Montclair Kimberley Academy) in 1971, where he was student council president in his senior year.[11] He attended Vassar College and transferred to Columbia University, from which he graduated in 1975.[12][13] While a student at Columbia, he worked for The New York Times as a copy boy.[14][15] Career 1970s He published his first magazine article in the New York Times Magazine in 1974: a profile of Angela Atwood, a neighbor of his family who helped kidnap Patricia Hearst as a member of the Symbionese Liberation Army. Shortly afterward, he left the Times and became a contributing writer to the New Times, a bi-weekly news magazine started by Jon Larsen and George Hirsch. Wolff's first book was White Kids (1979), a collection of essays. 1990s In 1991, Wolff launched Michael Wolff & Company, Inc., specializing in book-packaging. Its first project, Where We Stand, was a book with a companion PBS series. The company's next major project was creating one of the first guides to the Internet, albeit in book form. Net Guide was published by Random House.[16] In the fall of 1998, Wolff published a book, Burn Rate, which recounted the details of the financing, positioning, personalities, and ultimate breakdown of Wolff's start-up Internet company, Wolff New Media. The book became a bestseller. In its review of Wolff's book Burn Rate, Brill's Content criticized Wolff for "apparent factual errors" and said that 13 people, including subjects he mentioned, complained that Wolff had "invented or changed quotes".[17] In August 1998, Wolff was recruited by New York magazine to write a weekly column. Over the next six years, he wrote more than 300 columns [18] that included criticism of the entrepreneur Steven Brill, the media banker Steven Rattner, and the book publisher Judith Regan.[19][20][21] 2000s Wolff at the 2008 Monaco Media Forum Wolff was nominated for the National Magazine Award three times, winning twice.[22] His second National Magazine Award was for a series of columns he wrote from the media center in the Persian Gulf as the Iraq War started in 2003. His book, Autumn of the Moguls (2004),[23] which predicted the mainstream media crisis[clarification needed] that hit later in the decade, was based on many of his New York magazine columns. In 2004, when New York magazine's owners, Primedia Inc., put the magazine up for sale, Wolff helped assemble a group of investors, including New York Daily News publisher Mortimer Zuckerman, Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, and financier Jeffrey Epstein to back him in acquiring the magazine.[24][25][26] Although the group believed it had made a successful bid, Primedia decided to sell the magazine to the investment banker Bruce Wasserstein.[27][26] In a 2004 cover story for The New Republic, Michelle Cottle wrote that Wolff was "uninterested in the working press," preferring to focus on "the power players—the moguls" and was "fixated on culture, style, buzz, and money, money, money." She also noted that "the scenes in his columns aren’t recreated so much as created—springing from Wolff’s imagination rather than from actual knowledge of events," calling his writing "a whirlwind of flourishes and tangents and asides that often stray so far from the central point that you begin to wonder whether there is a central point."[28] In 2005, Wolff joined Vanity Fair as its media columnist.[29][30] In 2007, with Patrick Spain, the founder of Hoover's, and Caroline Miller, the former editor-in-chief of New York magazine, he launched Newser, a news aggregator website.[31] That year, he also wrote a biography of Rupert Murdoch, The Man Who Owns the News, based on more than 50 hours of conversation with Murdoch and extensive access to his business associates and his family. The book was published in 2008.[32][33] Beginning in mid-2008, Wolff briefly worked as a weekly columnist for The Industry Standard, an Internet trade magazine published by IDG.[34] David Carr, in a review Business Insider's Maxwell Tani described as "scathing" wrote that Wolff was "far less circumspect" than most other journalists.[35][32] 2010s Wolff received a 2010 Mirror Award in the category Best Commentary: Traditional Media for his work in Vanity Fair.[36] In 2010, Wolff became editor of the advertising trade publication Adweek. He was asked to step down one year later, amid a disagreement as to "what this magazine should be".[37] Fire and Fury Main article: Fire and Fury In early January 2018, Wolff's book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House was published. Excerpts released before publication included unflattering descriptions of behavior by U.S. President Donald Trump, chaotic interactions among the White House senior staff, and derogatory comments about the Trump family by former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon.[3] News of the book's imminent publication and its embarrassing depiction of Trump prompted Trump and his lawyer, Charles Harder, to issue on January 4, 2018 a cease and desist letter alleging false statements, defamation, and malice, and to threaten libel lawsuits against Wolff, his publisher Henry Holt and Company, and Bannon, an action that actually stimulated pre-launch book sales.[38][39] On January 8, Henry Holt's attorney, Elizabeth McNamara, responded to Harder's allegations with an assurance that no apology or retraction would be forthcoming, while also noting that Harder's complaint cited no specific errors in Wolff's text.[40] John Sargent, the chief executive of Macmillan-Holt, informed the publisher's employees that "as citizens, we must demand that President Trump understand and abide by the First Amendment of our Constitution."[40] According to other lawyers and a historian, threats of a lawsuit by Trump against a book author and publisher were unprecedented by a sitting president attempting to suppress freedom of speech protected by the U.S. First Amendment.[41][42] Before its release on January 5, the book and e-book reached number one both on Amazon.com and the Apple iBooks Store,[4] and by January 8, over one million books had been sold or ordered.[40] Siege: Trump under Fire Wolff's book, Siege: Trump Under Fire, was released on June 4, 2019. In it he claims that the Justice Department had drafted indictment documents against Trump in March 2018, accusing him of three criminal counts relating to interfering with a pending investigation and witness tampering. Special Counsel Robert Mueller is reported to have sat on these draft indictments for a year before deciding that Justice Department policy would prevent such an indictment.[43] "The documents described do not exist," Mueller spokesman Peter Carr said, referring to the purported three-count charging document against Trump.[44] Nikki Haley controversy While being interviewed during Fire and Fury's publicity tour Wolff said he was "absolutely sure" President Trump was having an affair and suggested on two occasions that his partner was Nikki Haley, the United States Ambassador to the United Nations.[45][46] Haley denied Wolff's allegations, calling them "disgusting". Erik Wemple of The Washington Post said that Wolff was engaging in a "remarkable multimedia slime job".[47] Bari Weiss in The New York Times said that Wolff was "gleefully" spreading "evidence-free detail".[48] On February 25, 2018, Wolff was interviewed by Ben Fordham on the Australian morning show Today, where he was asked about his claim that Trump was having an affair behind Melania Trump's back.[49] Wolff stated that he couldn't hear the question, prompting Fordham to repeat it and eventually asking "you're not hearing me, Mr. Wolff?" to which Wolff replied, "no, I'm not getting anything", before removing his ear piece and walking off the set.[50] Both Fordham and the Today show later tweeted a video that included the audio from the ear piece which revealed that the question could be heard.[51] Days earlier, after being pressed about the rumor in a college press tour interview, Wolff stated "I do not know if the president is having an affair" and added "this is the last thing I say about it".[52] Criticism This article's "criticism" or "controversy" section may compromise the article's neutrality. Please help rewrite or integrate negative information to other sections. (January 2023) The Columbia Journalism Review criticized Wolff in 2010 for suggesting that The New York Times was aggressively covering the breaking News International phone hacking scandal as a way of attacking News Corporation chairman Rupert Murdoch.[53] The Guardian criticized Wolff's book Too Famous for the way it portrayed controversial celebrities including Steve Bannon, Jeffrey Epstein, and Christopher Hitchens.[54] Several people have denied quotes published in Fire and Fury. These people include Tom Barrack, Tony Blair, Katie Walsh, and Anna Wintour.[55][56][57]Sean Hannity also denied that he let Donald Trump review questions before interviewing him.[55] Columnist David Brooks questioned Wolff's credibility since Wolff has been known to not check his facts. Brooks expressed doubts about Wolff's journalistic methods and conveyed skepticism over the accuracy of Fire and Fury.[58] The View host Meghan McCain criticized Wolff for publishing an off the record conversation with Roger Ailes in Fire and Fury.[59][60] Journalist Steven Rattner referred to Wolff as an “unprincipled writer of fiction.”[61] Alan Dershowitz criticized Wolff's book Siege: Trump Under Fire, calling it fiction. Wolff wrote in the book that Dershowitz had a dinner with Donald Trump at the White House to discuss the possibility of representing him. However Dershowitz claimed this dinner never happened.[62] PolitiFact writer Angie Drobnic Holan noted that Fire and Fury contains several factual errors, including that Trump did not know who John Boehner was in 2016 (Trump had tweeted about Boehner in 2015) and that Wilbur Ross was Trump's choice for US Secretary of Labor (rather than Secretary of Commerce).[63] Some questioned Wolff using Sam Nunberg as a source in Fire and Fury since Nunberg had admitted to fabricating a story about Chris Christie in the past.[64] Books White Kids. Simon & Schuster. 1979. ISBN 978-0-671-40001-9. Where We Stand: Can America Make It in the Global Race for Wealth, Health, and Happiness?. Bantam Books. 1992. ISBN 978-0-553-08119-0. Burn Rate: How I Survived the Gold Rush Years on the Internet. Simon & Schuster. 1998. ISBN 978-0-684-85621-6. Autumn of the Moguls: My Misadventures With the Titans, Poseurs, and Money Guys Who Mastered and Messed Up Big Media. HarperCollins. 2003. ISBN 978-0-06-662113-5. The Man Who Owns the News: Inside the Secret World of Rupert Murdoch. Broadway Books. 2008. ISBN 978-0-385-52612-8. Television Is the New Television: The Unexpected Triumph of Old Media In the Digital Age. Penguin. 2015. ISBN 978-1-59184-813-4. Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House. Henry Holt. 2018. ISBN 978-1-250-15806-2. Siege: Trump Under Fire. Henry Holt. 2019. ISBN 978-1-250-25382-8. Landslide: The Final Days of the Trump Presidency. Henry Holt. 2021. ISBN 978-1-250-83001-2. The Fall: The End of Fox News and the Murdoch Dynasty. Henry Holt. 2023. ISBN 978-1-250-87927-1. Personal life Wolff was formerly married to lawyer Alison Anthoine. Wolff and Antoine are parents of three children. He is now married to Victoria Floethe, and they have two children. [65][66] Wolff and Floethe are parents of Louise Wolff, born in 2015.[67] His daughter, Susanna Wolff, was the editor-in-chief of CollegeHumor.[68][69] Wolff is known for his pugnacious personality, and has reportedly been ejected from numerous New York City restaurants.[65][66][67] References "Wolff, Michael, 1953–". id.loc.gov. Retrieved January 5, 2018. Conrad, Anna (December 20, 2017). ""author:Michael Wolff" search results". British GQ. Archived from the original on January 8, 2018. Retrieved January 7, 2018. Hartmann, Margaret (January 4, 2018). "Trump Tries to Stop Publication of Wolff Book, Hits Bannon With Cease-and-Desist". New York. Retrieved January 5, 2018. Stelter, Brian (January 4, 2018). "Michael Wolff's Trump book hits #1 on Amazon, publisher speeds up rollout plan". CNNMoney. Green, Lloyd (July 13, 2021). "Landslide review: Michael Wolff's third Trump book is his best – and most alarming". The Guardian. Guardian News & Media Limited. Retrieved April 5, 2022. Ben Welch (February 26, 2018). "Was The Fire and the Fury author Michael Wolff lying about Tony Blair's Trump job?". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved July 22, 2018. U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935–2014, Ancestry Wolff, Michael (May 20, 2012). "A Life Worth Ending". NYMag.com. Presinzano, Jessica (January 6, 2018). "Michael Wolff: 5 things to know about the 'Fire and Fury' author". North Jersey. "Marguerite Wolff Obituary". The Record/Herald News. September 20, 2012. Oguss, Elizabeth; and Moss, Linda. "Michael Wolff, author of Trump book, graduated from private Montclair HS", Montclair Local, January 8, 2018. Accessed January 24, 2018. "Author Michael Wolff, whose controversial book stirred President Donald Trump to angrily tweet to defend his 'stable genius,' was president of his high school student council—and his high school was in Montclair. Wolff, who continues to defend the veracity of Fire and Fury: Inside The Trump White House, graduated from Montclair Academy in 1971." Bronski, Peter (Winter 2011). "Media Moguls". Vassar, the Alumnae/i Quarterly. Retrieved January 6, 2018. ""FIRE AND FURY" AUTHOR MICHAEL WOLFF CC'75 SPARKS CONTROVERSY WITH WHITE HOUSE ACCOUNT". Columbia College Alumni Association. Retrieved December 21, 2020. Konviser, Bruce (January 5, 2018). "Michael Wolff: Who is the 'Fire and Fury' author?". Deutsche Welle. Concha, Joe (January 5, 2018). "Who is 'Fire and Fury' author Michael Wolff?". The Hill. ASIN 0440223903 "The Truth About Burn Rate". October 1998. Archived from the original on July 18, 2012. Michael Wolff Archive – New York Magazine. Nymag.com. Retrieved December 30, 2011. Neyfakh, Leon (December 15, 2008). "Michael Wolff Wonders: Why's Judith Regan After the Spotlight Again?". The New York Observer. Retrieved December 30, 2011. Koblin, John (October 26, 2008). "Cold Case File: The Missing Daily News Steve Rattner Maureen White Story". The New York Observer. Retrieved December 30, 2011. Kurtz, Howard (May 30, 2001). "New York's Media Hound; Columnist Michael Wolff Stalks the Pack and Goes for the Throat". The Washington Post. National Magazine Awards Archived September 2, 2010, at the Wayback Machine. Cursor.org. Retrieved December 30, 2011. Wolff, Michael (September 16, 2004). Autumn of the Moguls: My Misadventures with the Titans, Poseurs, and Money Guys Who Mastered and Messed Up Big Media. Harper Business. ISBN 978-0-06-662110-4. "Michael Wolff autumn of moguls." Yglesias, Matthew. (October 23, 2003) "Who needs New York magazine?", Slate Magazine, Retrieved December 30, 2011. Carr, David (December 15, 2003). "Bid for New York Magazine: A Dance of Money and Ego". The New York Times. Retrieved May 12, 2010. "Lazard's Clash of the Titans". Vanity Fair. April 2005. Retrieved November 13, 2023. "Outside of the bank, [Bruce] Wasserstein still runs his investment fund, and in December 2003 he pulled off an astonishing dawn raid in the bidding war for the purchase of New York magazine from Henry Kravis's Primedia, snatching it away for $55 million from a consortium that included the publisher and real-estate investor Mort Zuckerman, filmmaker Harvey Weinstein, columnist Michael Wolff (now a V.F. contributing editor), and financier Jeffrey Epstein." "Michael Wolff, On His Own (But Not Really)", Media Features – Media]. Women's Wear Daily (WWD), July 2, 2009). Retrieved December 30, 2011. Cottle, Michelle (August 29, 2004). "Wolff Trapped". The New Republic. Wolff, Michael (November 2009). "Big Bad Wolff". Vanity Fair. Retrieved December 30, 2011. Wolff, Michael (October 15, 2009). "Big Bad Wolff". The Hive | Vanity Fair. "Can Michael Wolff's Newser colonize the news frontier?". Los Angeles Times blog. Archived from the original on May 9, 2009. Retrieved May 12, 2010. Carr, David (December 28, 2008). "Plowing Through the Door". The New York Times. Retrieved May 12, 2010. ASIN 0385526121 "The Industry Standard Announces Powerful Editorial Line-Up; Renowned Author Michael Wolff And Web Pioneer Carl Steadman To Pen Weekly Columns For IDG Weekly". Mmit.stc.sh.cn (April 15, 1998). Retrieved December 30, 2011. "The writer of the explosive new book on Trump is getting eviscerated over its accuracy – and it's not the first time". Business Insider. Alvarez, Alex (June 10, 2010). "The Mirror Awards: A Reflection On Media's Most Meta Awards Ceremony". Adweek. Peters, Jeremy W. (October 17, 2011). "Michael Wolff Steps Down as Editor of Adweek". The New York Times. Stelter, Brian (January 4, 2018). "President Trump tries to quash bombshell book". CNNMoney. Retrieved January 6, 2018. Canfield, Michael (January 4, 2018). "Michael Wolff Trump book defies cease and desist order, bumps up release to Friday". Entertainment. Retrieved January 5, 2018. Alter, Alexandra (January 8, 2018). "Publisher Defied Trump to 'Defend the Principles of the First Amendment'". The New York Times. Retrieved January 9, 2018. Boutrous, Ted; Kidder, Teddy (January 4, 2018). "There's No Way Trump Can Stop Wolff From Publishing His Book". Politico: Law and Order. Retrieved January 6, 2018. Parker, Ashley; Dawsey, Josh (January 4, 2018). "Trump's effort to stop publication of scathing book is a break in precedent". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 5, 2018. Elving, Ron (May 29, 2019). "Michael Wolff's New Trump Tell-All 'Siege,' Stars Steve Bannon And A Cast Of No-Names". NPR. Retrieved May 29, 2019. Helmore, Edward (May 28, 2019). "Mueller drew up obstruction indictment against Trump, Michael Wolff book says". The Guardian. Retrieved May 29, 2019. "An affair with Trump? Nikki Haley on 'disgusting' rumors and her rise to a top foreign policy role". Politico. Sorkin, Amy Davidson (February 1, 2018). "Michael Wolff Gets Called Out for "Slurring" Nikki Haley". The New Yorker. Wemple, Erik (February 27, 2018). "Michael Wolff should just apologize". The Washington Post. Weiss, Bari (2018). "The Slut-Shaming of Nikki Haley". The New York Times. Osborne, Samuel (February 26, 2018). "Michael Wolff claims he can't hear TV interviewer's questions about Trump affair allegations". The Independent. Archived from the original on May 14, 2022. Retrieved October 2, 2019. Kimmorley, Sarah (February 26, 2018). "'Fire and Fury' author Michael Wolff ended a live TV interview after question about his claims Trump is having an affair". businessinsider.com. Business Insider Australia. Retrieved October 2, 2019. Lanktree, Graham (February 26, 2018). "Michael Wolff Walks Out of Interview After Host Asks Him to Apologize to Donald Trump". Newsweek. Retrieved October 2, 2019. "Trump critic Michael Wolff scraps Dutch appearances after contentious interview". NL Times. February 23, 2018. Chittum, Ryan (September 7, 2010). "Michael Wolff's High Cynicism". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved January 4, 2018. Conrad, Peter (October 31, 2021). "Too Famous by Michael Wolff review – a sneering apologist for the notorious". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved February 17, 2023. "These claims in Michael Wolff's explosive new Trump book are being challenged". www.cbsnews.com. January 5, 2018. Retrieved September 18, 2021. Corcoran, Rob Price, Kieran. "Anna Wintour denies claim in explosive Trump book she asked to be made US ambassador to UK". Business Insider. Retrieved September 18, 2021. "Trump book author responds to criticism that he embellished stories: 'If it rings true, it is true'". Business Insider. Retrieved December 31, 2021. "Shields and Brooks on Russia revelations, Trump-Bannon rift". PBS NewsHour. January 5, 2018. Retrieved December 31, 2021. Wilstein, Matt (January 10, 2018). "'The View' Host Meghan McCain Berates Michael Wolff: 'This Is Why People Hate Journalists'". The Daily Beast. Retrieved November 18, 2021. "Meghan McCain Deserves Praise For Her Superb Line of Questioning For Michael Wolff". Mediaite. January 13, 2018. Retrieved November 18, 2021. "Journalists scrutinize Michael Wolff's credibility". Politico. January 5, 2018. Retrieved September 18, 2021. Tan, Anjelica (July 3, 2019). "Dershowitz: Author Michael Wolff fictionalized my dinner with Trump". The Hill. Retrieved September 21, 2021. Washington, District of Columbia 1100 Connecticut Ave NW Suite 1300B; Dc 20036. "PolitiFact - A fact-checker's guide to Michael Wolff's 'Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House'". PolitiFact. Retrieved September 18, 2021. Prokop, Andrew (January 4, 2018). "The controversy around Michael Wolff's gossipy new Trump book, explained". Vox. Retrieved September 18, 2021. Grynbaum, Michael M. (January 5, 2018). "Michael Wolff, From Local Media Scourge to National Newsmaker". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 6, 2021. Carmon, Irin (July 2, 2009). "Michael Wolff, On His Own (But Not Really)". WWD. Retrieved August 6, 2021. Grynbaum, Michael M. "Trump author Michael Wolff: from local scourge to global spotlight". The Irish Times. Retrieved August 6, 2021. Horgan, Richard (September 9, 2013). "Michael Wolff's Daughter is Now an Editor-in-Chief". AdWeek. Retrieved August 21, 2021. "Around the Quads". Columbia College Today. Winter 2013. Retrieved August 21, 2021. External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Michael Wolff. Appearances on C-SPAN Authority control databases Edit this at Wikidata International FAST ISNI VIAF National Norway Catalonia Germany Israel United States Japan Czech Republic Korea Netherlands Poland Artists MusicBrainz Other SNAC IdRef Categories: Vassar College alumniColumbia College (New York) alumniLiving peopleAmerican male journalistsWriters from Paterson, New JerseyAmerican columnistsAmerican biographers20th-century American Jews1953 birthsMontclair Kimberley Academy alumniNew York (magazine) peopleVanity Fair (magazine) peopleThe Hollywood Reporter peopleAmerican male biographers21st-century American Jews Keith Rupert Murdoch AC KCSG (/ˈmɜːrdɒk/ MUR-dok; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian-born American business magnate, investor, and media proprietor.[2][3] Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of local, national, and international publishing outlets around the world, including in the UK (The Sun and The Times), in Australia (The Daily Telegraph, Herald Sun, and The Australian), in the US (The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post), book publisher HarperCollins, and the television broadcasting channels Sky News Australia and Fox News (through the Fox Corporation). He was also the owner of Sky (until 2018), 21st Century Fox (until 2019), and the now-defunct News of the World. With a net worth of US$21.7 billion as of 2 March 2022, Murdoch is the 31st richest person in the United States and the 71st richest in the world according to Forbes magazine.[4] After his father's death in 1952, Murdoch took over the running of The News, a small Adelaide newspaper owned by his father. In the 1950s and 1960s, Murdoch acquired a number of newspapers in Australia and New Zealand before expanding into the United Kingdom in 1969, taking over the News of the World, followed closely by The Sun. In 1974, Murdoch moved to New York City, to expand into the US market; however, he retained interests in Australia and the UK. In 1981, Murdoch bought The Times, his first British broadsheet, and, in 1985, became a naturalized US citizen, giving up his Australian citizenship, to satisfy the legal requirement for US television network ownership.[5] In 1986, keen to adopt newer electronic publishing technologies, Murdoch consolidated his UK printing operations in London, causing bitter industrial disputes. His holding company News Corporation acquired Twentieth Century Fox (1985), HarperCollins (1989),[6] and The Wall Street Journal (2007). Murdoch formed the British broadcaster BSkyB in 1990 and, during the 1990s, expanded into Asian networks and South American television. By 2000, Murdoch's News Corporation owned more than 800 companies in more than 50 countries, with a net worth of more than $5 billion.[7] In July 2011, Murdoch faced allegations that his companies, including the News of the World, owned by News Corporation, had been regularly hacking the phones of celebrities, royalty, and public citizens. Murdoch faced police and government investigations into bribery and corruption by the British government and FBI investigations in the US.[8][9] On 21 July 2012, Murdoch resigned as a director of News International.[10][11] In September 2023, Murdoch announced he would be stepping down as chairman of Fox Corp. and News Corp.[12] Many of Murdoch's papers and television channels have been accused of biased and misleading coverage to support his business interests[13][14][15] and political allies,[16][17][18] and some have credited his influence with major political developments in the UK, US, and Australia.[16][19][20] Early life Keith Rupert Murdoch was born on 11 March 1931 in Melbourne, the second of four children of Sir Keith Murdoch (1885–1952) and Dame Elisabeth (née Greene; 1909–2012).[21][22]: 9  He is of English, Irish, and Scottish ancestry. His parents were also born in Melbourne. His father was a war correspondent and later a regional newspaper magnate owning two newspapers in Adelaide and a radio station in a remote mining town, and chairman of the Herald and Weekly Times publishing company.[5][23]: 16 [24] Murdoch had three sisters: Helen (1929–2004), Anne (born 1935) and Janet (born 1939).[25]: 47  His Scottish-born paternal grandfather, Patrick John Murdoch, was a Presbyterian minister.[26] Later in life, Murdoch chose to go by his second name, the first name of his maternal grandfather. He attended Geelong Grammar School,[27] where he was co-editor of the school's official journal The Corian and editor of the student journal If Revived.[28][29] He took his school's cricket team to the National Junior Finals.[clarification needed] He worked part-time at the Melbourne Herald and was groomed by his father to take over the family business.[5][30] Murdoch studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Worcester College, Oxford, in England, where he kept a bust of Lenin in his rooms and came to be known as "Red Rupert". He was a member of the Oxford University Labour Party,[23]: 34 [30] stood for Secretary of the Labour Club[31] and managed Oxford Student Publications Limited, the publishing house of Cherwell.[32] After his father's death from cancer in 1952, his mother did charity work as life governor of the Royal Women's Hospital in Melbourne and established the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute; at the age of 102 (in 2011), she had 74 descendants.[33] Murdoch then began working as a sub-editor with the Daily Express for two years.[5] Activities in Australia and New Zealand Journalist Sir Keith Murdoch (1885–1952), Rupert Murdoch's father Following his father's death, when he was 21, Murdoch returned from Oxford to take charge of what was left of the family business. After liquidation of his father's Herald stake to pay taxes, what was left was News Limited, which had been established in 1923.[23]: 16  Rupert Murdoch turned its Adelaide newspaper, The News, its main asset, into a major success.[30] He began to direct his attention to acquisition and expansion, buying the troubled Sunday Times in Perth, Western Australia (1956) and over the next few years acquiring suburban and provincial newspapers in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and the Northern Territory, including the Sydney afternoon tabloid The Daily Mirror (1960). The Economist describes Murdoch as "inventing the modern tabloid",[34] as he developed a pattern for his newspapers, increasing sports and scandal coverage and adopting eye-catching headlines.[5] Murdoch's first foray outside Australia involved the purchase of a controlling interest in the New Zealand daily The Dominion. In January 1964, while touring New Zealand with friends in a rented Morris Minor after sailing across the Tasman, Murdoch read of a takeover bid for the Wellington paper by the British-based Canadian newspaper magnate Lord Thomson of Fleet. On the spur of the moment, he launched a counter-bid. A four-way battle for control ensued in which the 32-year-old Murdoch was ultimately successful.[35] Later in 1964, Murdoch launched The Australian, Australia's first national daily newspaper, which was based first in Canberra and later in Sydney.[36] In 1972, Murdoch acquired the Sydney morning tabloid The Daily Telegraph from Australian media mogul Sir Frank Packer, who later regretted selling it to him.[37] In 1984, Murdoch was appointed Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) for services to publishing.[38] After the Keating government relaxed media ownership laws, in 1986 Murdoch launched a takeover bid for The Herald and Weekly Times, which was the largest newspaper publisher in Australia.[39] There was a three-way takeover battle between Murdoch, Fairfax and Robert Holmes à Court, with Murdoch succeeding after agreeing to some divestments. In 1999, Murdoch significantly expanded his music holdings in Australia by acquiring the controlling share in a leading Australian independent label, Michael Gudinski's Mushroom Records; he merged that with Festival Records, and the result was Festival Mushroom Records (FMR). Both Festival and FMR were managed by Murdoch's son James Murdoch for several years.[40] Political activities in Australia Murdoch found a political ally in Sir John McEwen, leader of the Australian Country Party (now known as the National Party of Australia), who was governing in coalition with the larger Menzies-Holt-Gorton Liberal Party. From the first issue of The Australian, Murdoch began taking McEwen's side in every issue that divided the long-serving coalition partners. (The Australian, 15 July 1964, first edition, front page: "Strain in Cabinet, Liberal-CP row flares.") It was an issue that threatened to split the coalition government and open the way for the stronger Australian Labor Party to dominate Australian politics. It was the beginning of a long campaign that served McEwen well.[41] After McEwen and Menzies retired, Murdoch threw his growing power behind the Australian Labor Party under the leadership of Gough Whitlam and duly saw it elected[42] on a social platform that included universal free health care, free education for all Australians to tertiary level, recognition of the People's Republic of China, and public ownership of Australia's oil, gas and mineral resources. Rupert Murdoch's backing of Whitlam turned out to be brief. Murdoch had already started his short-lived National Star[41] newspaper in America, and was seeking to strengthen his political contacts there.[43] Asked about the 2007 Australian federal election at News Corporation's annual general meeting in New York on 19 October 2007, its chairman Rupert Murdoch said: "I am not commenting on anything to do with Australian politics. I'm sorry. I always get into trouble when I do that." Pressed as to whether he believed Prime Minister John Howard should continue as prime minister, he said: "I have nothing further to say. I'm sorry. Read our editorials in the papers. It'll be the journalists who decide that – the editors."[44] Murdoch described Howard's successor, Labor Party Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, as "more ambitious to lead the world [in tackling climate change] than to lead Australia" and criticised Rudd's expansionary fiscal policies in the wake of the financial crisis of 2007–2008 as unnecessary.[45] In 2009, in response to accusations by Rudd that News Limited was running vendettas against him and his government, Murdoch opined that Rudd was "oversensitive".[46] Although News Limited's interests are extensive, also including the Daily Telegraph, the Courier-Mail and the Adelaide Advertiser, it was suggested by the commentator Mungo MacCallum in The Monthly that "the anti-Rudd push, if coordinated at all, was almost certainly locally driven" as opposed to being directed by Murdoch, who also took a different position from local editors on such matters as climate change and stimulus packages to combat the financial crisis.[47] Murdoch is a supporter of an Australian republic, having campaigned for such a change during the 1999 referendum.[48] Activities in the United Kingdom Business activities in the United Kingdom Murdoch – World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, in 2007 In 1968, Murdoch entered the British newspaper market with his acquisition of the populist News of the World, followed in 1969 with the purchase of the struggling daily The Sun from IPC.[49] Murdoch turned The Sun into a tabloid format and reduced costs by using the same printing press for both newspapers. On acquiring it, he appointed Albert 'Larry' Lamb as editor and – Lamb recalled later – told him: "I want a tearaway paper with lots of tits in it". In 1997 The Sun attracted 10 million daily readers.[5] In 1981, Murdoch acquired the struggling Times and Sunday Times from Canadian newspaper publisher Lord Thomson of Fleet.[49] Ownership of The Times came to him through his relationship with Lord Thomson, who had grown tired of losing money on it as a result of an extended period of industrial action that stopped publication.[50] In the light of success and expansion at The Sun the owners believed that Murdoch could turn the papers around. Harold Evans, editor of the Sunday Times from 1967, was switched to the daily Times, though he stayed only a year amid editorial conflict with Murdoch.[51][52] During the 1980s and early 1990s, Murdoch's publications were generally supportive of Britain's Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.[53] At the end of the Thatcher/Major era, Murdoch switched his support to the Labour Party and its leader, Tony Blair. The closeness of his relationship with Blair and their secret meetings to discuss national policies was to become a political issue in Britain.[54] This later changed, with The Sun, in its English editions, publicly renouncing the ruling Labour government and lending its support to David Cameron's Conservative Party, which soon afterwards formed a coalition government. In Scotland, where the Conservatives had suffered a complete annihilation in 1997, the paper began to endorse the Scottish National Party (though not yet its flagship policy of independence), which soon after came to form the first-ever outright majority in the proportionally elected Scottish Parliament. Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown's official spokesman said in November 2009 that Brown and Murdoch "were in regular communication" and that "there is nothing unusual in the prime minister talking to Rupert Murdoch".[55] In 1986, Murdoch introduced electronic production processes to his newspapers in Australia, Britain and the United States. The greater degree of automation led to significant reductions in the number of employees involved in the printing process. In England, the move roused the anger of the print unions, resulting in a long and often violent dispute that played out in Wapping, one of London's docklands areas, where Murdoch had installed the very latest electronic newspaper purpose-built publishing facility in an old warehouse.[56] The bitter Wapping dispute started with the dismissal of 6,000 employees who had gone on strike and resulted in street battles and demonstrations. Many on the political left in Britain alleged the collusion of Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government with Murdoch in the Wapping affair, as a way of damaging the British trade union movement.[57][58][59] In 1987, the dismissed workers accepted a settlement of £60 million.[5] In 1998, Murdoch made an attempt to buy the football club Manchester United F.C.,[60] with an offer of £625 million, but this failed. It was the largest amount ever offered for a sports club. It was blocked by the United Kingdom's Competition Commission, which stated that the acquisition would have "hurt competition in the broadcast industry and the quality of British football". Murdoch's British-based satellite network, Sky Television, incurred massive losses in its early years of operation. As with many of his other business interests, Sky was heavily subsidised by the profits generated by his other holdings, but convinced rival satellite operator British Satellite Broadcasting to accept a merger on his terms in 1990.[5] The merged company, BSkyB, has dominated the British pay-TV market ever since, pursuing direct to home (DTH) satellite broadcasting.[61] By 1996, BSkyB had more than 3.6 million subscribers, triple the number of cable customers in the UK.[5] Murdoch has a seat on the Strategic Advisory Board of Genie Oil and Gas, having jointly invested with Lord Rothschild in a 5.5% stake in the company which conducted shale gas and oil exploration in Colorado, Mongolia, Israel and, controversially, the occupied Golan Heights.[62] In response to print media's decline and the increasing influence of online journalism during the 2000s, Murdoch proclaimed his support of the micropayments model for obtaining revenue from on-line news,[63] although this has been criticised by some.[64] In January 2018, the CMA blocked Murdoch from taking over the remaining 61% of BSkyB he did not already own, over fear of market dominance that could potentialise censorship of the media. His bid for BSkyB was later approved by the CMA as long as he sold Sky News to The Walt Disney Company, which was already set to acquire 21st Century Fox. However, it was Comcast who won control of BSkyB in a blind auction ordered by the CMA. Murdoch ultimately sold his 39% of BSkyB to Comcast.[65] News Corporation has subsidiaries in the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands, the Channel Islands and the Virgin Islands. From 1986, News Corporation's annual tax bill averaged around seven percent of its profits.[66] Political activities in United Kingdom In Britain, in the 1980s, Murdoch formed a close alliance with Conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher.[67] In February 1981, when Murdoch, already owner of The Sun and The News of the World, sought to buy The Times and The Sunday Times, Thatcher's government let his bid pass without referring it to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission, which was usual practice at the time.[68][69][70] Although contact between the two before this point had been explicitly denied in an official history of The Times, documents found in Thatcher's archives in 2012 revealed a secret meeting had taken place a month before in which Murdoch briefed Thatcher on his plans for the paper, such as taking on trade unions.[68][69][71] The Sun credited itself with helping her successor John Major to win an unexpected election victory in the 1992 general election, which had been expected to end in a hung parliament or a narrow win for Labour, then led by Neil Kinnock.[67] In the general elections of 1997, 2001 and 2005, Murdoch's papers were either neutral or supported Labour under Tony Blair.[citation needed] The Labour Party, from when Blair became leader in 1994, had moved from the centre-left to a more centrist position on many economic issues before 1997. Murdoch identifies himself as a libertarian, saying "What does libertarian mean? As much individual responsibility as possible, as little government as possible, as few rules as possible. But I'm not saying it should be taken to the absolute limit."[72] In a speech he delivered in New York in 2005, Murdoch claimed that Blair described the BBC coverage of the Hurricane Katrina disaster, which was critical of the Bush administration's response, as full of hatred of America.[73] On 28 June 2006, the BBC reported that Murdoch and News Corporation were considering backing new Conservative leader David Cameron at the next General Election – still up to four years away.[74] In a later interview in July 2006, when he was asked what he thought of the Conservative leader, Murdoch replied "Not much".[75] In a 2009 blog, it was suggested that in the aftermath of the News of the World phone hacking scandal, which might yet have transatlantic implications,[76] Murdoch and News Corporation might have decided to back Cameron.[77] Despite this, there had already been a convergence of interests between the two men over the muting of Britain's communications regulator Ofcom.[78] In August 2008, Cameron accepted free flights to hold private talks and attend private parties with Murdoch on his yacht, the Rosehearty.[79] Cameron declared in the Commons register of interests he accepted a private plane provided by Murdoch's son-in-law, public relations guru Matthew Freud; Cameron did not reveal his talks with Murdoch. The gift of travel in Freud's Gulfstream IV private jet was valued at around £30,000. Other guests attending the "social events" included the then EU trade commissioner Lord Mandelson, the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska and co-chairman of NBC Universal Ben Silverman. The Conservatives did not disclose what was discussed.[80] In July 2011, it emerged that Cameron had met key executives of Murdoch's News Corporation a total of 26 times during the 14 months that Cameron had served as Prime Minister up to that point.[81] It was also reported that Murdoch had given Cameron a personal guarantee that there would be no risk attached to hiring Andy Coulson, the former editor of News of the World, as the Conservative Party's communication director in 2007.[82] This was in spite of Coulson having resigned as editor over phone hacking by a reporter. Cameron chose to take Murdoch's advice, despite warnings from Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, Lord Ashdown and The Guardian.[83] Coulson resigned his post in 2011 and was later arrested and questioned on allegations of further criminal activity at the News of the World, specifically the phone hacking scandal. As a result of the subsequent trial, Coulson was sentenced to 18 months in jail.[84] In June 2016, The Sun supported Vote Leave in the United Kingdom European Union membership referendum. Murdoch called the Brexit result "wonderful", comparing the decision to withdraw from the EU to "a prison break….we're out".[85] Anthony Hilton, economics editor for the Evening Standard but describing a period when he interviewed Murdoch for The Guardian, quoted Murdoch as justifying his Euroscepticism with the words "When I go into Downing Street, they do what I say; when I go to Brussels, they take no notice".[86] Murdoch denied saying this later in a letter to the Guardian.[87][88] With some exceptions, The Sun has generally been supportive of the government of Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Murdoch and his employees were the media representatives ministers from the Cabinet and Treasury most frequently held meetings during the first two years of Johnson's Government. However, newspaper circulation in general including among subsidiaries of News International fell sharply in the United Kingdom during the early 21st century, leading some commentators to suggest that Rupert Murdoch was not as influential in British political debate by the early 2020s as he had once been.[89][90][91] News International phone hacking scandal Main article: News International phone hacking scandal In July 2011, Murdoch, along with his youngest son James, provided testimony before a British parliamentary committee regarding phone hacking. In the UK, his media empire came under fire, as investigators probed reports of 2011 phone hacking.[92] On 14 July 2011 the Culture, Media and Sport Committee of the House of Commons served a summons on Murdoch, his son James, and his former CEO Rebekah Brooks to testify before a committee five days later.[93] After an initial refusal, the Murdochs confirmed they would attend, after the committee issued them a summons to Parliament.[94] The day before the committee, the website of the News Corporation publication The Sun was hacked, and a false story was posted on the front page claiming that Murdoch had died.[95] Murdoch described the day of the committee "the most humble day of my life". He argued that since he ran a global business of 53,000 employees and that News of the World was "just 1%" of this, he was not ultimately responsible for what went on at the tabloid. He added that he had not considered resigning,[96] and that he and the other top executives had been completely unaware of the hacking.[97][98] On 15 July, Murdoch attended a private meeting in London with the family of Milly Dowler, where he personally apologised for the hacking of their murdered daughter's voicemail by a company he owns.[99][100] On 16 and 17 July, News International published two full-page apologies in many of Britain's national newspapers. The first apology took the form of a letter, signed by Murdoch, in which he said sorry for the "serious wrongdoing" that occurred. The second was titled "Putting right what's gone wrong", and gave more detail about the steps News International was taking to address the public's concerns.[100] In the wake of the allegations, Murdoch accepted the resignations of Brooks and Les Hinton, head of Dow Jones who was chairman of Murdoch's British newspaper division when some of the abuses happened. They both deny any knowledge of any wrongdoing under their command.[101] On 27 February 2012, the day after the first issue of The Sun on Sunday was published, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Sue Akers informed the Leveson Inquiry that police are investigating a "network of corrupt officials" as part of their inquiries into phone hacking and police corruption. She said that evidence suggested a "culture of illegal payments" at The Sun and that these payments allegedly made by The Sun were authorised at a senior level.[102] In testimony on 25 April, Murdoch did not deny the quote attributed to him by his former editor of The Sunday Times, Harold Evans: "I give instructions to my editors all round the world, why shouldn't I in London?"[103][104] On 1 May 2012, the Culture, Media and Sport Committee issued a report stating that Murdoch was "not a fit person to exercise the stewardship of a major international company".[105][106] On 3 July 2013, the Exaro website and Channel 4 News broke the story of a secret recording. This was recorded by The Sun journalists, and in it Murdoch can be heard telling them that the whole investigation was one big fuss over nothing, and that he, or his successors, would take care of any journalists who went to prison.[107] He said: "Why are the police behaving in this way? It's the biggest inquiry ever, over next to nothing."[108] Activities in the United States Murdoch & Roy Cohn meeting with Reagan in the Oval Office in 1983 Murdoch (seated center), Roy Cohn, Reagan, Oval Office, 1983 Murdoch made his first acquisition in the United States in 1973, when he purchased the San Antonio Express-News. In 1974, Murdoch moved to New York City, to expand into the US market; however, he retained interests in Australia and Britain. Soon afterwards, he founded Star, a supermarket tabloid, and in 1976, he purchased the New York Post.[5] On 4 September 1985, Murdoch became a naturalized citizen to satisfy the legal requirement that only US citizens were permitted to own US television stations. In March 1984, Marvin Davis sold Marc Rich's interest in 20th Century Fox to Murdoch for $250 million due to Rich's trade deals with Iran, which were sanctioned by the US at the time. Davis later backed out of a deal with Murdoch to purchase John Kluge's Metromedia television stations.[109] Rupert Murdoch bought the stations by himself, without Marvin Davis, and later bought out Davis's remaining stake in Fox for $325 million.[109] The six television stations owned by Metromedia formed the nucleus of the Fox Broadcasting Company, founded on 9 October 1986, which later had great success with programs including The Simpsons and The X-Files.[5] In 1986 Murdoch bought Misty Mountain, a Wallace Neff designed house on Angelo Drive in Beverly Hills. The house was the former residence of Jules C. Stein. Murdoch sold the house to his son James in 2018.[110] In 1987, Murdoch created his global television special, the World Music Video Awards, a special music ceremony award where winners were chosen by viewers in eight countries.[111] In Australia, during 1987, he bought The Herald and Weekly Times Ltd., the company that his father had once managed. Rupert Murdoch's 20th Century Fox bought out the remaining assets of Four Star Television from Ronald Perelman's Compact Video in 1996.[112] Most of Four Star Television's library of programs are controlled by 20th Century Fox Television today.[113][114][115] After Murdoch's numerous buyouts during the buyout era of the eighties, News Corporation had built up financial debts of $7 billion (much from Sky TV in the UK), despite the many assets that were held by NewsCorp.[5] The high levels of debt caused Murdoch to sell many of the American magazine interests he had acquired in the mid-1980s. In 1993, Murdoch's Fox Network took exclusive coverage of the National Football Conference (NFC) of the National Football League (NFL) from CBS and increased programming to seven days a week.[116] In 1995, Fox became the object of scrutiny from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), when it was alleged that News Ltd.'s Australian base made Murdoch's ownership of Fox illegal. However, the FCC ruled in Murdoch's favour, stating that his ownership of Fox was in the best interests of the public. That same year, Murdoch announced a deal with MCI Communications to develop a major news website and magazine, The Weekly Standard. Also that year, News Corporation launched the Foxtel pay television network in Australia in partnership with Telstra. In 1996, Murdoch decided to enter the cable news market with the Fox News Channel, a 24-hour cable news station. Ratings studies released in 2009 showed that the network was responsible for nine of the top ten programs in the "Cable News" category at that time.[117] Rupert Murdoch and Ted Turner (founder and former owner of CNN) are long-standing rivals.[118] In late 2003, Murdoch acquired a 34% stake in Hughes Electronics, the operator of the largest American satellite TV system, DirecTV, from General Motors for $6 billion (USD).[38] His Fox movie studio had global hits with Titanic and Avatar.[119] In 2004, Murdoch announced that he was moving News Corporation headquarters from Adelaide, Australia to the United States. Choosing a US domicile was designed to ensure that American fund managers could purchase shares in the company, since many were deciding not to buy shares in non-US companies.[120] News Corporation logo On 20 July 2005, News Corporation bought Intermix Media Inc., which held Myspace, Imagine Games Network and other social networking-themed websites, for US$580 million, making Murdoch a major player in online media concerns.[121] In June 2011, it sold off Myspace for US$35 million.[122] On 11 September 2005, News Corporation announced that it would buy IGN Entertainment for $650 million (USD).[123] In May 2007, Murdoch made a $5 billion offer to purchase Dow Jones & Company. At the time, the Bancroft family, who had owned Dow Jones & Company for 105 years and controlled 64% of the shares at the time, declined the offer. Later, the Bancroft family confirmed a willingness to consider a sale. Besides Murdoch, the Associated Press reported that supermarket magnate Ron Burkle and Internet entrepreneur Brad Greenspan were among the other interested parties.[124] In 2007, Murdoch acquired Dow Jones & Company,[125][126] which gave him such publications as The Wall Street Journal, Barron's Magazine, the Far Eastern Economic Review (based in Hong Kong) and SmartMoney.[127] In June 2014, Murdoch's 21st Century Fox made a bid for Time Warner at $85 per share in stock and cash ($80 billion total) which Time Warner's board of directors turned down in July. Warner's CNN unit would have been sold to ease antitrust issues of the purchase.[128] On 5 August 2014 the company announced it had withdrawn its offer for Time Warner, and said it would spend $6 billion buying back its own shares over the following 12 months.[129] Murdoch left his post as CEO of 21st Century Fox in 2015 but continued to own the company until it was purchased by Disney in 2019.[130][131][132] A number of television broadcasting assets were spun off into the Fox Corporation before the acquisition and are still owned by Murdoch. This includes Fox News, of which Murdoch was acting CEO from 2016 until 2019, following the resignation of Roger Ailes due to accusations of sexual harassment.[133][134] Political activities in the United States Murdoch (right) with President John F. Kennedy and Zell Rabin in the Oval Office in 1961 President Ronald Reagan during a meeting with Murdoch in the Oval Office in 1983 McKnight (2010) identifies four characteristics of his media operations: free market ideology; unified positions on matters of public policy; global editorial meetings; and opposition to liberal bias in other public media.[135] In The New Yorker, Ken Auletta writes that Murdoch's support for Edward I. Koch while he was running for mayor of New York "spilled over onto the news pages of the Post, with the paper regularly publishing glowing stories about Koch and sometimes savage accounts of his four primary opponents."[136] According to The New York Times, Ronald Reagan's campaign team credited Murdoch and the Post for his victory in New York in the 1980 United States presidential election.[20] Reagan later "waived a prohibition against owning a television station and a newspaper in the same market," allowing Murdoch to continue to control The New York Post and The Boston Herald while expanding into television. On 8 May 2006, the Financial Times reported that Murdoch would be hosting a fund-raiser for Senator Hillary Clinton's (D-New York) Senate re-election campaign.[137] In a 2008 interview with Walt Mossberg, Murdoch was asked whether he had "anything to do with the New York Post's endorsement of Barack Obama in the democratic primaries". Without hesitating, Murdoch replied, "Yeah. He is a rock star. It's fantastic. I love what he is saying about education. I don't think he will win Florida [...] but he will win in Ohio and the election. I am anxious to meet him. I want to see if he will walk the walk."[138][139] In 2010, News Corporation gave US$1 million to the Republican Governors Association and $1 million to the US Chamber of Commerce.[140][141][142] Murdoch also served on the board of directors of the libertarian Cato Institute.[143] Murdoch is also a supporter of the Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect Intellectual Property Act.[144] Murdoch was reported in 2011 as advocating more open immigration policies in western nations generally.[145] In the United States, Murdoch and chief executives from several major corporations, including Hewlett-Packard, Boeing and Disney joined New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to form the Partnership for a New American Economy to advocate "for immigration reform – including a path to legal status for all illegal aliens now in the United States".[146] The coalition, reflecting Murdoch and Bloomberg's own views, also advocates significant increases in legal immigration to the United States as a means of boosting America's sluggish economy and lowering unemployment. The Partnership's immigration policy prescriptions are notably similar to those of the Cato Institute and the US Chamber of Commerce — both of which Murdoch has supported in the past.[147] The Wall Street Journal editorial page has similarly advocated for increased legal immigration, in contrast to the staunch anti-immigration stance of Murdoch's British newspaper, The Sun.[148] On 5 September 2010, Murdoch testified before the House Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law Membership on the "Role of Immigration in Strengthening America's Economy". In his testimony, Murdoch called for ending mass deportations and endorsed a "comprehensive immigration reform" plan that would include a pathway to citizenship for all illegal immigrants.[146] In the 2012 US presidential election, Murdoch was critical of the competence of Mitt Romney's team but was nonetheless strongly supportive of a Republican victory, tweeting: "Of course I want him [Romney] to win, save us from socialism, etc."[149] In October 2015, Murdoch stirred controversy when he praised Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson and referenced President Barack Obama, tweeting, "Ben and Candy Carson terrific. What about a real black President who can properly address the racial divide? And much else."[150] After which he apologised, tweeting, "Apologies! No offence meant. Personally find both men charming."[151] During Donald Trump's term as US President Murdoch showed support for him through the news stories broadcast in his media empire, including on Fox News.[152] In early 2018, Mohammad bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, had an intimate dinner at Murdoch's Bel Air estate in Los Angeles.[153] Murdoch is a strong supporter of Israel and its domestic policies.[154] In October 2010, the Anti-Defamation League in New York City presented Murdoch with its International Leadership Award "for his stalwart support of Israel and his commitment to promoting respect and speaking out against anti-Semitism."[155][156] However, in April 2021, in a letter to Lachlan Murdoch, ADL director Jonathan Greenblatt wrote that it would no longer make such an award to his father. This was in the immediate context of accusations made by the ADL against Fox News presenter Tucker Carlson and his apparent espousal of the White replacement theory.[157] In 2023, during a defamation lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems against Fox News, Murdoch acknowledged that some Fox News commentators were endorsing election fraud claims they knew were false.[158][159] On 18 April 2023, Fox and Dominion settled for $787.5 million. Activities in Europe Murdoch owns a controlling interest in Sky Italia, a satellite television provider in Italy.[160] Murdoch's business interests in Italy have been a source of contention since they began.[160] In 2010 Murdoch won a media dispute with then Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. A judge ruled the then Prime Minister's media arm Mediaset prevented News Corporation's Italian unit, Sky Italia, from buying advertisements on its television networks.[161] Activities in Asia In November 1986, News Corporation purchased a 35% stake in the South China Morning Post group for about US$105 million. At that time, SCMP group was a stock-listed company, and was owned by HSBC, Hutchison Whampoa and Dow Jones & Company.[162] In December 1986, Dow Jones & Company offered News Corporation to sell about 19% of share it owned of SCMP for US$57.2 million,[163] and, by 1987, News Corporation completed the full takeover.[164] In September 1993, News Corporation have agreed to sell a 34.9% share in SCMP to Robert Kuok's Kerry Media for US$349 million.[165] In 1994, News Corporation sold the remaining 15.1% share in SCMP to MUI Group, disposing the Hong Kong newspaper.[166][better source needed] In June 1993, News Corporation attempted to acquire a 22% share in TVB, a terrestrial television broadcaster in Hong Kong, for about $237 million,[167] but Murdoch's company gave up, as the Hong Kong government would not relax the regulation regarding foreign ownership of broadcasting companies.[168] In 1993, News Corporation acquired Star TV (renamed as Star in 2001), a Hong Kong company headed by Richard Li,[168] from Hutchison Whampoa for $1 billion (Souchou, 2000:28), and subsequently set up offices for it throughout Asia. The deal enabled News International to broadcast from Hong Kong to India, China, Japan, and over thirty other countries in Asia, becoming one of the biggest satellite television networks in the east;[5] however, the deal did not work out as Murdoch had planned because the Chinese government placed restrictions on it that prevented it from reaching most of China.[citation needed] In 2009, News Corporation reorganised Star; a few of these arrangements were that the original company's operations in East Asia, Southeast Asia and the Middle East were integrated into Fox International Channels, and Star India was spun-off (but still within News Corporation).[169][170][171] Personal life Residence In 2003, Murdoch bought "Rosehearty", an 11 bedroom home on a 5-acre waterfront estate in Centre Island, New York.[172] In May 2013, he purchased the Moraga Estate, an estate, vineyard and winery in Bel Air, Los Angeles, California.[173][174][175] In 2019, Murdoch and his new wife Jerry Hall purchased Holmwood an 18th-century house and estate in the English village of Binfield Heath, some 4 miles (6.4 km) north-east of Reading.[176] In late 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, it was reported that Murdoch and Hall had been isolating in their Binfield Heath home for much of the year. He received his first COVID-19 vaccine in nearby Henley-on-Thames on 16 December.[177] Marriages Murdoch with his third wife, Wendi, in 2011 In 1956, Murdoch married Patricia Booker, a former shop assistant and flight attendant from Melbourne

The dark side of history: https://thememoryhole.substack.com/ Michael F. Dowd (born January 10, 1961) is a former New York City Police Department (NYPD) officer, drug distributor, and enforcer for the Dominican American Diaz criminal organization who was arrested in 1992 for running a drug ring out of Suffolk County, Long Island, New York.[1] He is the subject of the 2014 documentary film The Seven Five[1][2][3][4] directed by Tiller Russell and produced by Eli Holzman. The Tiller Russell TV documentary version, Precinct Seven Five (2015), aired on Film4 on June 19, 2020, and also featured interviews with Dowd's co-conspirator and "dirty cop" friend Kenneth "Kenny" Eurell, who eventually became a cooperating Federal witness and wore a wire, in order to further incriminate Dowd and help corroborate his own testimony in exchange for a lenient sentence at trial. Early life and education Dowd was born on January 10, 1961, in Brooklyn, New York City, the third of seven children in an Irish Catholic family.[5] He grew up in Brentwood, Long Island, on a block mostly populated by the families of police officers and firefighters.[5] According to Dowd, he was a good student in high school.[5] Career Dowd graduated from the New York City Police Academy in 1982 and was originally assigned to a precinct in Queens, NY, for a year and a half, after which he was reassigned to the 75th Precinct in East New York, Brooklyn.[citation needed] Prison sentence In the course of his career, Dowd committed a host of crimes, including conspiring with drug traffickers to distribute cocaine, warning drug dealers about upcoming raids, providing them with guns and badges, allegedly planning to abduct a woman in Queens, and stealing food meant for the needy at a church. Dowd located a man who robbed the Diaz drug cartel and instead of arresting him turned him over to Diaz.[6][7] He pocketed several thousand dollars a week as a result of corrupt arrangements.[8] Dowd was arrested in 1992. After investigations by the Suffolk County Police, the DEA, and NYPD's internal affairs, Dowd was convicted of racketeering and conspiracy to distribute narcotics and sent to prison for his crimes. He cooperated with the Mollen Commission, which investigated allegations of corruption in the NYPD.[9] Sentenced to 16 years in prison, Dowd served 12 years and 5 months. While he was in prison,[10] Dowd claimed he worked as a peer counselor, worked out, read, and ran the addiction and suicide prevention programs.[5] Recent career Dowd has been featured on podcasts, periodicals, broadcast radio and television programs, and was the subject of the documentary film The Seven Five.[11][12] A narrative feature adaptation by Sony Pictures is being produced by John Lesher and Megan Ellison. References Van Sycle, Katie (May 7, 2015). "Talking to a Former NYPD Officer So Dirty He Spent 12 Years in Prison". New York. Retrieved 20 October 2015. "The Seven Five". Retrieved 19 October 2015. Justin Kroll (2 December 2014). "Sony Wins Film Rights to NYPD Corruption Documentary 'The Seven Five'". Variety. Retrieved 19 October 2015. Ali Jaafar (7 February 2015). "John Lesher and Megan Ellison Board Sony's 'The Seven Five' Feature Adaptation - Deadline". Deadline. Retrieved 19 October 2015. Morgillo, Dennis. "Interview with Mike Dowd". Madhouse Magazine. Retrieved 2017-04-25. Treaster, Joseph (1994-07-12). "Convicted Police Officer Receives A Sentence of at Least 11 Years". The New York Times. Retrieved 2019-04-01. "Ex-Police Officer Held Without Bail". The New York Times. 1992-08-01. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-04-01. Wolff, Craig (1993-06-11). "Police Officer Pleads Guilty in Case That Spotlighted Corruption". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-04-01. Wolff, Craig (1993-04-03). "Accused Officer to Help New York Police-Corruption Inquiry". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-04-01. September 2017 "Prison Life for Michael Dowd, Star of The Seven Five". {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help) "Media Appearances". Michael Dowd. Archived from the original on 26 November 2015. Retrieved 19 October 2015. Dargis, Manohla (2015-05-07). "Review: 'The Seven Five,' a Documentary About a Corrupt New York Cop". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-04-01. Categories: 1961 birthsLiving peopleAmerican consultantsAmerican drug traffickersAmerican mechanical engineersAmerican people convicted of drug offensesAmerican gangsters of Irish descentAmerican police officers convicted of crimesEngineers from New York (state)New York City Police Department corruption and misconductNew York City Police Department officersPeople from BrooklynPolice officers convicted of racketeeringPeople from Brentwood, New YorkCatholics from New York (state)Prisoners and detainees of the United States federal government The Seven Five, also known as Seven Five Precinct, is a 2014 documentary directed by Tiller Russell, and produced by Eli Holzman, Aaron Saidman, and Sheldon Yellen. The film looks at police corruption in the 75th precinct of the New York Police Department during the 1980s. The documentary focuses on Michael Dowd, a former police officer of 10 years, who was arrested in 1992, leading to one of the largest police corruption scandals in New York City history.[1] The documentary uses footage from the Mollen Commission investigation in 1992 and also provides in-depth commentary from Dowd, Ken Eurell, and Adam Diaz, among others. The documentary premiered at DOC NYC November 14, 2014.[2] Plot The 75th Precinct today, located on Sutter Ave., East New York, Brooklyn. In the 1980s, Brooklyn, New York was suffering from a crack epidemic. Michael Dowd worked in the NYPD's 75th Precinct in the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn, which was considered to be one of the most dangerous precincts in the United States at the time. The 75th Precinct had one of the highest murder rates in the country during the late 1980s. Dowd describes being under-appreciated for the amount of work he put in and hurting for money as the reasons for taking money from drug dealers. He initially began taking bribes from drug dealers on the streets before moving on to protecting a drug cartel leader and robbing other drug dealers at gunpoint. Dowd and his then-partner Henry "Chicky" Guevara recount the first time walking into a domestic dispute in an apartment and seeing bags of marijuana, a duffle bag filled with approximately $20,000 in cash and two guns. Dowd communicated that he and his partner would take $8000 from the duffle bag and both guns. Dowd continued to rob drug dealers for thousands of dollars. Guevara resigned shortly after multiple police officers were arrested in the 77th Precinct for corruption related offenses. Ken Eurell, a police officer at the 75th Precinct, was then assigned as Dowd's new partner in June 1987. Eurell had a drinking problem and frequently drank on the job. Dowd and Eurell met a Dominican gang leader named Adam Diaz. Diaz ran The Diaz Organization, a gang that was responsible for countless murders and drug trafficking throughout New York City. He used several supermarkets in East New York as fronts to traffic drugs, mainly cocaine. Dowd and Eurell began a working relationship with Diaz, where they provided protection and inside information about raids. After a prolonged investigation, the Suffolk County Police Department arrested Dowd and Eurell on drug trafficking charges (in addition to their work for Diaz in the city, the men had begun distributing cocaine through a friend who lived in the county). Dowd and Eurell were released on bail. While out on bail, Dowd was approached by a friend in a Colombian gang who wanted a woman kidnapped over an unpaid drug debt. Dowd's plan was to hand the woman over to the gang and for him and Eurell to take the hundreds of thousands of dollars at the woman's house and flee the United States. Eurell agreed to Dowd's kidnapping scheme but instead of following through with the scheme contacted Internal Affairs through his lawyer. Shortly after, in July 1991, Dowd was arrested and sent to trial. He was the main focus of the 1992 Mollen Commission that investigated police corruption in the NYPD.[3] In the wake of Dowd's arrest, Mayor David Dinkins appointed the Mollen Commission to investigate police corruption within the NYPD. As a result, dozens of officers across the city's precincts were arrested. Convictions Dowd was convicted of racketeering and conspiracy to distribute narcotics and was sentenced to 14 years in prison in 1994, serving 13 years.[3] Prior to trial, Dowd agreed to testify before the Commission but he refused to implicate any NYPD officers other than himself.[4] Eurell did not serve any time due to his cooperation with the investigation. Adam Diaz, after serving eight years in prison, was deported to the Dominican Republic. Reception The film was well received and has an 83% Certified Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes with 24 out of 29 reviews being positive.[5] Film adaptation On March 13, 2015, Sony Pictures purchased the rights of The Seven Five documentary with Yann Demange set to direct and Scott Frank writing the script.[6] On January 25, 2018, Craig Gillespie was hired to direct instead of Demange.[7] On December 16, 2020, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer took over the film adaptation documentary with Ben Stiller set to direct from a Tony McNamara script and Aaron Taylor-Johnson in talks to portray Dowd.[8] References "About the Film". The Seven Five. Archived from the original on 2015-10-17. Retrieved October 22, 2015. Yamato, Jen (November 11, 2014). "'The Seven Five' To Reunite Dirty NYPD Cops At DOC NYC Premiere". Deadline. Retrieved October 22, 2015. "About". The Mike Dowd. Retrieved October 22, 2015. Russell, Tiller (May 8, 2015). The Seven Five. ALL3Media America. pp. Digital. "The Seven Five". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster inc. 8 May 2015. Retrieved October 22, 2015. Fleming, Mike Jr. (March 14, 2015). "Sony's 'The Seven Five' Looking To Call Scribe Scott Frank's Number". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved December 21, 2020. McNary, Dave (January 25, 2018). "'I, Tonya' Director Craig Gillespie Sets Police Drama as Next Movie (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved December 29, 2020. Sneider, Jeff (December 16, 2020). "Exclusive: Ben Stiller in Talks to Direct Crooked Cop Movie 'The Seven Five' for MGM". Collider. Retrieved December 22, 2020. External links The Seven Five at IMDb The Seven Five at Rotten Tomatoes vte New York City Police Department Facilities 1 Police Plaza 240 Centre Street New York City Police Academy New York City Police Museum NYPD 9th Precinct Real Time Crime Center Bureaus Counterterrorism Bureau Detective Bureau Housing Bureau Intelligence Bureau Organized Crime Control Bureau Transportation Bureau Units/ divisions Auxiliary Police Emergency Service Unit Highway Patrol Lower Manhattan Security Initiative School Safety Division Special Victims Division Strategic Response Group Street Crime Unit Organizations 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care Cricket League Housing Authority Police New York City Police Foundation Shomrim Transit Police Police Unions Detectives' Endowment Association Police Benevolent Association of the City of New York Sergeants Benevolent Association Events 1988 Tompkins Square Park riot 2004 Republican National Convention protest activity George Floyd protests in New York City Murder of Russel Timoshenko New York City draft riots Occupy Wall Street Stonewall riots Police riots 1857 New York City Police riot 1992 Patrolmen's Benevolent Association Riot Corruption/ misconduct A Battle For The Soul of New York Black Lives Matter protests in New York City Central Park Five Civilian Complaint Review Board Dirty thirty Frank Serpico Hofstadter Committee Knapp Commission Lexow Committee Mollen Commission Museum of Broken Windows Pappas v. 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Hidden history: https://thememoryhole.substack.com/ a powerful exploration of the Gill family's experiences as one of the few Black families residing in Tyneside amidst the backdrop of a changing racial landscape in Britain during the 1960s. As waves of immigrants from former British colonies settled in the country, racial tensions and political debates intensified. The documentary follows Gus and Julie Gill, immigrants from Trinidad who arrived in Britain in 1961. Despite being the only Black family in their neighborhood, the Gills established a life for themselves, owning a house and striving to provide for their three children. Contrary to prevalent stereotypes, the film highlights that the Gills were not reliant on social services, were not on housing lists, and had consistent employment—challenging misconceptions about immigrants supposedly "living off the dole" or taking away jobs. Gus, a bakery foreman, recounts facing racial discrimination in the job market and the shock of being called derogatory slurs. His son, Errol, raised in Newcastle, does not see himself as an immigrant and plans to marry a white woman, Susan. The couple faces resistance, particularly from Susan's mother, reflecting generational differences in acceptance of mixed marriages. However, Susan remains optimistic, believing that younger generations will eventually embrace such unions. Through the lens of the Gill family's daily life, the film pioneers a portrayal of Black Britons as regular, aspirational individuals with dreams, desires, and rights to social and political justice parallel to those of their white counterparts. By humanizing their experiences and confronting prevailing racist attitudes, "One British Family" challenges societal perceptions and advocates for equality, aiming to reshape the narrative surrounding ethnic minorities in Britain.

The dark side of history: https://thememoryhole.substack.com/ Daniel Ellsberg (April 7, 1931 – June 16, 2023) was an American political activist, economist, and United States military analyst. While employed by the RAND Corporation, he precipitated a national political controversy in 1971 when he released the Pentagon Papers, a top-secret Pentagon study of U.S. government decision-making in relation to the Vietnam War, to The New York Times, The Washington Post, and other newspapers. In January 1973, Ellsberg was charged under the Espionage Act of 1917 along with other charges of theft and conspiracy, carrying a maximum sentence of 115 years. Because of governmental misconduct and illegal evidence-gathering (committed by the same people who would later be involved in the Watergate scandal), and his defense by Leonard Boudin and Harvard Law School professor Charles Nesson, Judge William Matthew Byrne Jr. dismissed all charges against Ellsberg in May 1973. Ellsberg was awarded the Right Livelihood Award in 2006. He was also known for having formulated an important example in decision theory, the Ellsberg paradox; for his extensive studies on nuclear weapons and nuclear policy; and for voicing support for WikiLeaks, Chelsea Manning, and Edward Snowden. Ellsberg was awarded the 2018 Olof Palme Prize for his "profound humanism and exceptional moral courage".[1] Early life and career Ellsberg was born in Chicago, Illinois, on April 7, 1931, the son of Harry and Adele (Charsky) Ellsberg. His parents were Ashkenazi Jews who had converted to Christian Science, and he was raised as a Christian Scientist. In 2008, Ellsberg told a journalist that his parents considered the family Jewish, "but not in religion."[2] Ellsberg grew up in Detroit and attended the Cranbrook School in nearby Bloomfield Hills. His mother wanted him to be a concert pianist, but he stopped playing in July 1948, two years after both his mother and sister were killed when his father fell asleep at the wheel and crashed the family car into a bridge abutment.[3] Ellsberg entered Harvard College on a scholarship, graduating summa cum laude with an A.B. in economics in 1952. He studied at King's College, Cambridge, for a year through funding from the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, initially for a diploma in economics and then changed his credits toward a Ph.D. in the subject, before returning to Harvard.[4] In 1954, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and earned a commission.[5] He served as a platoon leader and company commander in the 2nd Marine Division, and was discharged in 1957 as a first lieutenant.[5] Ellsberg returned to Harvard as a Junior Fellow in the Society of Fellows for two years.[5] RAND Corporation and PhD Ellsberg began working as a strategic analyst at the RAND Corporation for the summer of 1958 and then permanently in 1959.[6] He concentrated on nuclear strategy, working with leading strategists such as Herman Kahn and challenging the existing plans of the United States National Security Council and Strategic Air Command.[7] Ellsberg completed a PhD in economics from Harvard in 1962.[5] His dissertation on decision theory was based on a set of thought experiments that showed that decisions under conditions of uncertainty or ambiguity generally may not be consistent with well-defined subjective probabilities. Now known as the Ellsberg paradox,[8] it formed the basis of a large literature that has developed since the 1980s, including approaches such as Choquet expected utility and info-gap decision theory.[9] Ellsberg worked in the Pentagon from August 1964[10] under Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara as special assistant to Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs John McNaughton. He then went to South Vietnam for two years, working for General Edward Lansdale as a member of the State Department.[11] On his return from South Vietnam, Ellsberg resumed working at RAND. In 1967, he contributed with 33 other analysts to a top-secret 47-volume study of classified documents on the conduct of the Vietnam War, commissioned by Defense Secretary McNamara and supervised by Leslie H. Gelb and Morton Halperin.[12][13][14] These 7,000 pages of documents, completed in late 1968 and presented to McNamara and Clark Clifford early in the following year, later became known collectively as the "Pentagon Papers".[15][14][13] Disaffection with Vietnam War By 1969, Ellsberg began attending anti-war events while still remaining in his position at RAND. In April 1968, Ellsberg attended a Princeton University conference on "Revolution in a Changing World", where he met Gandhian peace activist Janaki Natarajan Tschannerl from India, who had a profound influence on him, and Eqbal Ahmed, a Pakistani fellow at the Adlai Stevenson Institute later to be indicted with Rev. Philip Berrigan for anti-war activism. Ellsberg particularly recalled Tschannerl saying "In my world, there are no enemies", and that "she gave me a vision, as a Gandhian, of a different way of living and resistance, of exercising power nonviolently."[16] Ellsberg experienced an epiphany attending a War Resisters International conference at Haverford College in August 1969, listening to a talk given by Randy Kehler, a draft resister, who said he was "very excited" that he would soon be able to join his friends in prison.[17] Decades later, Ellsberg described his reaction to hearing Kehler speak: And he said this very calmly. I hadn't known that he was about to be sentenced for draft resistance. It hit me as a total surprise and shock, because I heard his words in the midst of actually feeling proud of my country listening to him. And then I heard he was going to prison. It wasn't what he said exactly that changed my worldview. It was the example he was setting with his life. How his words in general showed that he was a stellar American, and that he was going to jail as a very deliberate choice – because he thought it was the right thing to do. There was no question in my mind that my government was involved in an unjust war that was going to continue and get larger. Thousands of young men were dying each year. I left the auditorium and found a deserted men's room. I sat on the floor and cried for over an hour, just sobbing. The only time in my life I've reacted to something like that.[18] Reflecting on Kehler's decision, Ellsberg added: Randy Kehler never thought his going to prison would end the war. If I hadn't met Randy Kehler it wouldn't have occurred to me to copy [the Pentagon Papers]. His actions spoke to me as no mere words would have done. He put the right question in my mind at the right time.[19] After leaving RAND, Ellsberg was employed as a senior research associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Center for International Studies from 1970 to 1972.[20][21] In a 2002 memoir, Ellsberg wrote about the Vietnam War, stating that: It was no more a "civil war" after 1955 or 1960 than it had been during the U.S.–supported French attempt at colonial reconquest. A war in which one side was entirely equipped and paid by a foreign power – which dictated the nature of the local regime in its own interest – was not a civil war. To say that we had "interfered" in what is "really a civil war," as most American academic writers and even liberal critics of the war do to this day, simply screened a more painful reality and was as much a myth as the earlier official one of "aggression from the North." In terms of the UN Charter and of our own avowed ideals, it was a war of foreign aggression, American aggression.[22] The Pentagon Papers Ellsberg, speaking at a press conference, New York City, 1972 Main article: Pentagon Papers In late 1969, with the assistance of his former RAND Corporation colleague Anthony Russo, Ellsberg secretly made several sets of photocopies of the classified documents to which he had access; these later became known as the Pentagon Papers. They revealed that, early on, the government had knowledge that the war as then resourced could most likely not be won. Further, as an editor of The New York Times was to write much later, these documents "demonstrated, among other things, that the Johnson Administration had systematically lied, not only to the public but also to Congress, about a subject of transcendent national interest and significance".[23] Shortly after Ellsberg copied the documents, he resolved to meet some of the people who had influenced both his change of heart on the war and his decision to act. One of them was Randy Kehler. Another was the poet Gary Snyder, whom he had met in Kyoto in 1960, and with whom he had argued about U.S. foreign policy; Ellsberg was finally prepared to concede that Snyder had been right, about both the situation and the need for action against it.[24] Release and publication Throughout 1970, Ellsberg covertly attempted to persuade a few sympathetic U.S. Senators—among them J. William Fulbright, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and George McGovern, a leading opponent of the war—to release the papers on the Senate floor, because a Senator could not be prosecuted for anything he said on the record before the Senate.[25] Ellsberg allowed some copies of the documents to circulate privately, including among scholars at the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), Marcus Raskin and Ralph Stavins.[26][27] Ellsberg also shared the documents with The New York Times correspondent and former Vietnam-era acquaintance Neil Sheehan, who wrote a story based on what he had received both directly from Ellsberg and from contacts at IPS.[28][27][29] While Ellsberg had asked him to only take notes of the documents in his apartment, Sheehan defied Ellsberg's wishes on March 2,[27][30] by frantically copying them in various Boston-area shops while Ellsberg was vacationing in the West Indies. Sheehan then flew the copies to his home in Washington and then New York.[29][31] On Sunday, June 13, 1971, The New York Times published the first of nine excerpts from, and commentaries on, the 7,000-page collection. For 15 days, The New York Times was prevented from publishing its articles by court order requested by the Nixon administration. Meanwhile, while eluding an FBI manhunt for thirteen days, Ellsberg gave the documents to Ben Bagdikian, then-national editor of The Washington Post and former RAND Corporation colleague, in a Boston-area motel.[32][27] On June 30, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the resumption of publication by The New York Times (New York Times Co. v. United States). Two days prior to the Supreme Court's decision, Ellsberg publicly admitted his role in releasing the Pentagon Papers to the press, and surrendered to federal authorities at the U.S. Attorney's office in Boston.[27] On June 29, 1971, U.S. Senator Mike Gravel of Alaska entered 4,100 pages of the Papers into the record of his Subcommittee on Public Buildings and Grounds—pages which he had received from Ellsberg via Ben Bagdikian on June 26.[33][27] Fallout The release of these papers was politically embarrassing not only to those involved in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, but also to the incumbent Nixon administration. Nixon's Oval Office tape from June 14, 1971, shows H. R. Haldeman describing the situation to Nixon: Duration: 14 minutes and 4 seconds.14:04 Nixon Oval Office meeting with H.R. Haldeman, Monday, June 14, 1971, 3:09 pm. (Quote begins at about 7:30 into the recording) Transcript here Rumsfeld was making this point this morning... To the ordinary guy, all this is a bunch of gobbledygook. But out of the gobbledygook comes a very clear thing.... You can't trust the government; you can't believe what they say; and you can't rely on their judgment; and the—the implicit infallibility of presidents, which has been an accepted thing in America, is badly hurt by this, because It shows that people do things the president wants to do even though it's wrong, and the president can be wrong.[34] John Mitchell, Nixon's Attorney General, almost immediately issued a telegram to The New York Times ordering that it halt publication. The New York Times refused, and the government brought suit against it. Although The New York Times eventually won the case before the Supreme Court, prior to that, an appellate court ordered that the New York Times temporarily halt further publication. This was the first time the federal government was able to restrain the publication of a major newspaper since the presidency of Abraham Lincoln during the U.S. Civil War. Ellsberg released the Pentagon Papers to seventeen other newspapers in rapid succession.[35] The right of the press to publish the papers was upheld in New York Times Co. v. United States. The Supreme Court ruling has been called one of the "modern pillars" of First Amendment rights with respect to freedom of the press.[36] In response to the leaks, Nixon White House staffers began a campaign against further leaks and against Ellsberg personally.[37] Aides Egil Krogh and David Young, under the supervision of John Ehrlichman, created the "White House Plumbers", which would later lead to the Watergate burglaries. Richard Holbrooke, a friend of Ellsberg, came to see him as "one of those accidental characters of history who show the pattern of a whole era" and thought that he was the "triggering mechanism for events which would link Vietnam and Watergate in one continuous 1961-to-1975 story."[38] Fielding break-in Fielding's filing cabinet, with break-in marks, on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History In August 1971, Krogh and Young met with G. Gordon Liddy and E. Howard Hunt in a basement office in the Old Executive Office Building. Hunt and Liddy recommended a "covert operation" to get a "mother lode" of information about Ellsberg's mental state to discredit him. Krogh and Young sent a memo to Ehrlichman seeking his approval for a "covert operation [to] be undertaken to examine all of the medical files still held by Ellsberg's psychiatrist", Lewis Fielding. Ehrlichman approved under the condition that it be "done under your assurance that it is not traceable."[39] On September 3, 1971, the burglary of Fielding's office—titled "Hunt/Liddy Special Project No. 1" in Ehrlichman's notes—was carried out by White House Plumbers Hunt, Liddy, Eugenio Martínez, Felipe de Diego, and Bernard Barker (the latter three were, or had been, recruited CIA agents).[40] The Plumbers found Ellsberg's file, but it apparently did not contain the potentially embarrassing information they sought, as they left it discarded on the floor of Fielding's office.[41] Hunt and Liddy subsequently planned to break into Fielding's home, but Ehrlichman did not approve the second burglary. The break-in was not known to Ellsberg or to the public until it came to light during Ellsberg and Russo's trial in April 1973.[42] Trial and dismissal On June 28, 1971, two days before a Supreme Court ruling saying that a federal judge had ruled incorrectly about the right of The New York Times to publish the Pentagon Papers,[12] Ellsberg publicly surrendered to the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts in Boston. In admitting to giving the documents to the press, Ellsberg said: I felt that as an American citizen, as a responsible citizen, I could no longer cooperate in concealing this information from the American public. I did this clearly at my own jeopardy and I am prepared to answer to all the consequences of this decision.[12] He and Russo faced charges under the Espionage Act of 1917 and other charges including theft and conspiracy, carrying a total maximum sentence of 115 years for Ellsberg, 35 years for Russo. Their trial commenced in Los Angeles on January 3, 1973, presided over by U.S. District Judge William Matthew Byrne Jr. Ellsberg tried to claim that the documents were illegally classified to keep them not from an enemy, but from the American public. However, that argument was ruled "irrelevant". Ellsberg was silenced before he could begin. Ellsberg said, in 2014, that his "lawyer, exasperated, said he 'had never heard of a case where a defendant was not permitted to tell the jury why he did what he did.' The judge responded: 'Well, you're hearing one now'. And so it has been with every subsequent whistleblower under indictment".[43] In spite of being effectively denied a defense, Ellsberg began to see events turn in his favor when the break-in of Fielding's office was revealed to Judge Byrne in a memo on April 26; Byrne ordered that it be shared with the defense.[44][45] On May 9, further evidence of illegal wiretapping against Ellsberg was revealed in court. The FBI had recorded numerous conversations between Morton Halperin and Ellsberg without a court order, and furthermore the prosecution had failed to share this evidence with the defense.[46] During the trial, Byrne also revealed that he personally met twice with John Ehrlichman, who offered him directorship of the FBI. Byrne said he refused to consider the offer while the Ellsberg case was pending, though he was criticized for even agreeing to meet with Ehrlichman during the case.[45] A courtroom sketch of three men, attorneys in suits in a federal court in 1973 Artist David Rose's rendering of attorneys during the 1973 trial of Ellsberg and Russo in Los Angeles Because of the gross governmental misconduct and illegal evidence gathering, and the defense by Leonard Boudin and Harvard Law School professor Charles Nesson, Judge Byrne dismissed all charges against Ellsberg and Russo on May 11, 1973, after the government claimed it had lost records of wiretapping against Ellsberg. Byrne ruled: "The totality of the circumstances of this case which I have only briefly sketched offend a sense of justice. The bizarre events have incurably infected the prosecution of this case."[45] As a result of the revelations involving the Watergate scandal, John Ehrlichman, H. R. Haldeman, Richard Kleindienst, and John Dean were forced out of office on April 30, and all would later be convicted of crimes related to Watergate. Egil Krogh later pleaded guilty to conspiracy, and White House counsel Charles Colson pleaded no contest for obstruction of justice in the burglary.[47] Halperin case It was also revealed in 1973, during Ellsberg's trial, that the telephone calls of Morton Halperin, a member of the U.S. National Security Council staff suspected of leaking information about the secret U.S. bombing of Cambodia to The New York Times, were being recorded by the FBI at the request of Henry Kissinger to J. Edgar Hoover.[48] Halperin and his family sued several federal officials, claiming the wiretap violated their Fourth Amendment rights and Title III of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968. The court agreed that Richard Nixon, John Mitchell, and H. R. Haldeman had violated the Halperins' Fourth Amendment rights and awarded them $1 in nominal damages.[49] Plumbers' Ellsberg neutralization proposal Ellsberg later claimed that after his trial ended, Watergate prosecutor William H. Merrill informed him of an aborted plot by Liddy and the "Plumbers" to have 12 Cuban Americans who had previously worked for the CIA "totally incapacitate" Ellsberg when he appeared at a public rally. It is unclear whether they were meant to assassinate Ellsberg or merely to hospitalize him.[50][51] In his autobiography, Liddy describes an "Ellsberg neutralization proposal" originating from Howard Hunt, which involved drugging Ellsberg with LSD, by dissolving it in his soup, at a fund-raising dinner in Washington to "have Ellsberg incoherent by the time he was to speak" and thus "make him appear a near burnt-out drug case" and "discredit him". The plot involved waiters from the Miami Cuban community. According to Liddy, when the plan was finally approved, "there was no longer enough lead time to get the Cuban waiters up from their Miami hotels and into place in the Washington Hotel where the dinner was to take place" and the plan was "put into abeyance pending another opportunity."[52] Activism and views Ellsberg's first published book was Papers on the War (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1972). The book included a revised version of Ellsberg's earlier award-winning "The Quagmire Myth and the Stalemate Machine", originally published in Public Policy, and ends with "The Responsibility of Officials in a Criminal War".[53][54] Video interview with Daniel Ellsberg at Roskilde Universitets Center, Denmark, October 26, 2004. (Unedited, the first 10 seconds are black.) After the Vietnam War, Ellsberg continued his political activism, giving lecture tours and speaking out about current events. Reflecting on his time in government, Ellsberg said the following, based on his extensive access to classified material: The public is lied to every day by the President, by his spokespeople, by his officers. If you can't handle the thought that the President lies to the public for all kinds of reasons, you couldn't stay in the government at that level, or you're made aware of it, a week. ... The fact is Presidents rarely say the whole truth—essentially, never say the whole truth—of what they expect and what they're doing and what they believe and why they're doing it and rarely refrain from lying, actually, about these matters.[55] Release of classified documents proposing 1958 nuclear attack on China On May 22, 2021, during the Biden administration, The New York Times reported Ellsberg had released classified documents revealing the Pentagon in 1958 drew up plans to launch a nuclear attack on China amid tensions over the Taiwan Strait. According to the documents, US military leaders supported a first-use nuclear strike even though they believed China's ally, the Soviet Union, would retaliate and millions of people would perish. Ellsberg told The New York Times he copied the classified documents about the Taiwan Strait crisis fifty years earlier when he copied the Pentagon Papers, but chose not to release the documents then. Instead, Ellsberg released the documents in the spring of 2021 because he said he was concerned about mounting tensions between the U.S. and China over the fate of Taiwan. He assumed the Pentagon was involved again in contingency planning for a nuclear strike on China should a military conflict with conventional weapons fail to deliver a decisive victory. "I do not believe the participants were more stupid or thoughtless than those in between or in the current cabinet", said Ellsberg, who urged President Biden, Congress and the public to take notice.[56] In releasing the classified documents, Ellsberg offered himself as a defendant in a test case challenging the U.S. Justice Department's use of the Espionage Act of 1917 to punish whistleblowers. Ellsberg noted the Act applies to everyone, not just spies, and prohibits a defendant from explaining the reasons for revealing classified information in the public interest.[56] Anti-war activism In an interview with Democracy Now on May 18, 2018, Ellsberg was critical of U.S. intervention overseas especially in the Middle East, stating, "I think, in Iraq, America has never faced up to the number of people who have died because of our invasion, our aggression against Iraq, and Afghanistan over the last 30 years, since we first inspired a CIA-sponsored jihad against the Soviets there, and led to the invasion by the Soviets. What we've done to the Middle East has been hell."[57] Activism against US-led war against Iraq Protesting with anti-war group Code Pink in 2006 During the runup to the 2003 invasion of Iraq he warned of a possible "Tonkin Gulf scenario" that could be used to justify going to war, and called on government "insiders" to go public with information to counter the Bush administration's pro-war propaganda campaign, praising Scott Ritter for his efforts in that regard.[58][59] He later supported the whistleblowing efforts of British GCHQ translator Katharine Gun and called on others to leak any papers that reveal government deception about the invasion.[60] Ellsberg also testified at the 2004 conscientious objector hearing of Camilo Mejia at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.[60] Ellsberg was arrested, in November 2005, for violating a county ordinance for trespassing while protesting against George W. Bush's conduct of the Iraq War.[61] Ellsberg criticized the arrest of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who had exposed U.S. war crimes in Iraq.[62] Activism against US military action against Iran In September 2006, Ellsberg wrote in Harper's Magazine that he hoped someone would leak information about a potential U.S. invasion of Iran before the invasion happened, to stop the war.[63] In a speech on March 30, 2008, in San Francisco's Unitarian Universalist church, Ellsberg observed that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi does not have the authority to declare impeachment "off the table", as she had done with respect to George W. Bush. The oath of office taken by members of congress requires them to "defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic". He also pointed out that under Article VI of the U.S. Constitution, treaties, including the United Nations Charter and international labor rights accords that the United States has signed, become the supreme law of the land that neither the states, the president, nor the congress have the power to break. For example, if the Congress votes to authorize an unprovoked attack on a sovereign nation, that authorization would not make the attack legal. A president citing the authorization as just cause could be prosecuted in the International Criminal Court for war crimes.[64][self-published source?] Russian invasion of Ukraine In April 2022, Ellsberg said that Russian President Vladimir Putin "is a bad guy, very clearly. His aggression is murderous and as illegitimate as the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Or the US invasion of Afghanistan or Iraq. Or Hitler's invasion of Poland." He compared Putin's nuclear threats to Richard Nixon's self-proclaimed "madman strategy". He expressed concern that global cooperation among major powers on climate change and nuclear arms reduction would be impossible.[65] In April 2022, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ellsberg appeared on Al Jazeera's Upfront and stated that major arms manufacturers, such as Boeing, Lockheed Martin or General Electric, were profiting from the war in Ukraine and from the Saudi Arabian–led intervention in Yemen, saying that "A failing war is just as profitable as a winning one," "It's the old Latin slogan, Cui Bono, who benefits?", "We're not after all a European nation and we have no particular role in the European Union. But in NATO—that's as the Mafia says Cosa Nostra, our thing—we control NATO pretty much and NATO gives us an excuse and a reason to sell enormous amounts of arms to now to the formerly Warsaw Pact nations," and, "Russia is an indispensable enemy." He said both the United States and Russia have their military-industrial complexes.[66][67] In June 2022, he said that "The Russian invasion of Ukraine has made the world far more dangerous, not only in the short run, but in ways that may be irreversible. It is a tragic and criminal attack. We are seeing humanity at its almost worst, but not quite the worst — so far, since 1945 we haven't seen nuclear war."[68] Ellsberg speaking in 2008 Ellsberg with Robert Rosenthal in 2008 At San Francisco Pride Parade 2013 Support for American whistleblowers Ellsberg said that in regard to former FBI translator turned whistleblower Sibel Edmonds, what she has is "far more explosive than the Pentagon Papers".[69] He also participated in the National Security Whistleblowers Coalition founded by Edmonds,[70] and in 2008, he condemned many U.S. media outlets for purportedly ignoring articles about Edmonds's allegations regarding nuclear proliferation published in The Sunday Times.[71] On December 9, 2010, Ellsberg appeared on The Colbert Report where he commented that the existence of WikiLeaks helps to build a better government.[72] On March 21, 2011, Ellsberg, along with 35 other demonstrators, was arrested during a demonstration outside the Marine Corps Base Quantico, in protest of Chelsea Manning's current detention at Marine Corps Brig, Quantico.[73] On June 10, 2013, Ellsberg published an editorial in The Guardian newspaper praising the actions of former Booz Allen worker Edward Snowden in revealing top-secret surveillance programs of the NSA. Ellsberg believed that the United States had fallen into an "abyss" of total tyranny, but said that because of Snowden's revelations, "I see the unexpected possibility of a way up and out of the abyss."[74] In June 2013, Ellsberg and numerous celebrities appeared in a video showing support for Chelsea Manning.[75][76] In June 2010, Ellsberg was interviewed regarding the parallels between his actions in releasing the Pentagon Papers and those of Manning, who was arrested by the U.S. military in Iraq after allegedly providing to WikiLeaks a classified video showing U.S. military helicopter gunships strafing and killing Iraqis alleged to be civilians. Ellsberg said that he fears for Manning and for Julian Assange, as he feared for himself after the initial publication of the Pentagon Papers. WikiLeaks initially said it had not received the cables, but did plan to post the video of an attack that killed 86 to 145 Afghan civilians in the village of Garani. Ellsberg expressed hope that either Assange or President Obama would post the video, and expressed his strong support for Assange and Manning, whom he called "two new heroes of mine".[77][78] Democracy Now! devoted a substantial portion of its July 4, 2013, program to "How the Pentagon Papers Came to be Published By the Beacon Press Told by Daniel Ellsberg & Others." Ellsberg said there are hundreds of public officials right now who know that the public is being lied to about Iran. If they follow orders, they may become complicit in starting an unnecessary war. If they are faithful to their oath to protect the Constitution of the United States, they could prevent that war. Exposing official lies could however carry a heavy personal cost as they could be imprisoned for unlawful disclosure of classified information.[79] In 2012, Ellsberg co-founded the Freedom of the Press Foundation.[80][81] In September 2015, Ellsberg and 27 members of the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity steering group wrote a letter to the president challenging a recently published book that claimed to rebut the report of the United States Senate Intelligence Committee on the Central Intelligence Agency's use of torture.[82][self-published source] In 2020, Ellsberg testified in defense of Assange during Assange's extradition hearings.[83] Ellsberg spoke out vociferously against the threats to press freedom from such whistleblower prosecution.[84][85] In a December 2022 interview with BBC News, Ellsberg said that he was given all of the Manning information before it came out in the press by Assange.[86] Support for Occupy Movement On November 16, 2011, Ellsberg camped on the UC Berkeley Sproul Plaza as part of an effort to support the Occupy Cal movement.[87] The Doomsday Machine In December 2017, Ellsberg published The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner. He said that his primary job from 1958 until releasing the Pentagon Papers in 1971 was as a nuclear war planner for United States presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon. He concluded that United States nuclear war policy was completely crazy and he could no longer live with himself without doing what he could to expose it, even if it meant he would spend the rest of his life in prison. However, he also felt that as long as the U.S. was still involved in the Vietnam War, the United States electorate would not likely listen to a discussion of nuclear war policy. He therefore copied two sets of documents, planning to release first the Pentagon Papers and later documentation of nuclear war plans. However, the nuclear planning materials were hidden in a landfill and then lost during an unexpected tropical storm.[88] His overriding concerns were as follows: As long as the world maintains large nuclear arsenals, it is not a matter of if, but when, a nuclear war will occur. The vast majority of the population of an initiator state would likely starve to death during a "nuclear autumn" or "nuclear winter" if they did not die earlier from retaliation or fallout. If the nuclear war dropped only roughly 100 nuclear weapons on cities, as in a war between India and Pakistan, the effect would be similar to the "Year Without a Summer" that followed the 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora, except that it would last more like a decade, because soot would not settle out of the stratosphere as quickly as the volcanic debris, and roughly a third of the people worldwide not killed by the nuclear exchange would starve to death, because of the resulting crop failures. However, if more than roughly 2 percent of the U.S. nuclear arsenal were used, the results would more likely be a nuclear winter, leading to the deaths from starvation of 98 percent of people worldwide not killed by the nuclear exchange. To preserve the ability of a nuclear-weapon state to retaliate from a "decapitation" attack, every country with nuclear weapons seems to have delegated broadly the authority to respond to an apparent nuclear attack.[89] As an example of the third concern, Ellsberg discussed an interview he had in 1958 with a major, who commanded a squadron of 12 F-100 fighter-bombers at Kunsan Air Base, South Korea. His aircraft were equipped with Mark 28 thermonuclear weapons with a yield of 1.1 megatons each, roughly half the explosive power of all the bombs dropped by the U.S. in World War II both in Europe and the Pacific. The major said his official orders were to wait for orders from his superiors in Osan Air Base, South Korea, or in Japan before ordering his F-100s into the air. However, the major also said that standard military doctrine required him to protect his forces. That meant that if he had reason to believe that a war had already begun when his communications with Osan and Japan were broken, he was required to launch his dozen F-100s with their thermonuclear weapons. They never practiced that launch, because the risk of an accident was too great. Ellsberg then asked what might happen if he gave such launch orders and the sixth plane succumbed to a thermonuclear accident on the runway. After some thought, the major agreed that the five planes already in the air would likely conclude that a nuclear war had begun, and they would likely deliver their warheads to their preassigned targets.[90] According to Ellsberg the "nuclear football" carried by an aide near the U.S. president at all times is primarily a piece of political theater, a hoax, to keep the public ignorant of the real problems of nuclear command and control.[91] In Russia, this included a semi-automatic "Dead Hand" system, whereby a nuclear explosion in Moscow, whether accidental or by a foreign state or terrorists, would induce low-level officers to launch ICBMs toward targets in the U.S., presumed to be the origin of such attacks. The first ICBMs launched in this way "would beep a Go signal to any ICBM sites they passed over", which would launch those other ICBMs without further human intervention.[92] Nuclear threats by the United States Ellsberg wrote in his 1981 essay Call to Mutiny that, "every president from Truman to Reagan, with the possible exception of Ford, has felt compelled to consider or direct serious preparations for possible imminent U.S. initiation of tactical or strategic nuclear warfare".[93] Some of these threats were implicit; many were explicit. Many governmental officials and authors claimed that those threats made major contributions to achieving important policy objectives. Ellsberg's examples are summarized in the following table:[94] President Target Incident Truman (1945–1953) Soviet Union Berlin Blockade (June 24, 1948 – May 12, 1949).[95] China Chinese intervention in the Korean War (October 1950). Eisenhower (1953–1961) China Korean War,[96] and Taiwan Strait crises of 1954–55 and 1958.[97] Vietnamese communists U.S. offers nuclear support to the French at Dien Bien Phu (1954).[98] Soviet Union 1956 Suez Crisis and the 1958–59 Berlin crisis.[99] Iraq To deter an invasion of Kuwait during the 1958 Lebanon crisis.[100] Kennedy (1961–1963) Soviet Union Berlin Crisis of 1961[101] and 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.[102] Johnson (1963–1969) North Vietnam Battle of Khe Sanh, Vietnam, 1968.[103] Nixon (1969–1974) Soviet Union To deter an attack on Chinese nuclear capability, 1969–70, or a Soviet response to possible Chinese intervention against India in the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971, or an intervention in the 1973 Arab-Israeli War.[99] North Vietnam Secret threats of massive escalation of the Vietnam War, including possible use of nuclear weapons, 1969–1972.[104] India Indo-Pakistan War of 1971[99] Ford (1974–1977) North Korea Korean axe murder incident, in which two US army officers were killed while trying to trim a tree blocking open observation of the Demilitarized Zone. Two days later, the tree was cut to a stump 6 meters tall in a massive show of force that included a B-52 nuclear-capable bomber flying straight toward Pyongyang escorted by high performance fighter aircraft, while a US aircraft carrier task force moved into station just offshore. Ellsberg noted that it might be more accurate to classify this incident not as "nuclear threat" but a "show of force".[105] Carter (1977–1981) Soviet Union The Carter Doctrine on the Middle East to deter the Soviets, already in Afghanistan, from moving next door into Iran to try to control the Persian Gulf, through which the majority of the world's oil flowed at that time.[106] Reagan (1981–1989) G. H. W. Bush (1989–1993) Iraq Operation Desert Storm.[107] Clinton (1993–2001) North Korea Secret threats in 1995 on its nuclear reactor program.[108] Libya Public warning of a nuclear option against Libya's underground chemical weapons facility in 1996.[109] G. W. Bush (2001–2009) and all presidents and leading candidates since Iran Threats of a nuclear attack against Iran's nuclear program.[110] Ellsberg Papers The University of Massachusetts Amherst acquired Ellsberg's papers.[111][112] Personal life and death Ellsberg in 2020 Ellsberg was married twice. His first marriage was in 1952 to Carol Cummings, a graduate of Radcliffe (now Harvard College) whose father was a Marine Corps brigadier general. It lasted 13 years before ending in divorce (at her request, as he stated in his memoir Secrets). They have two children, Robert Ellsberg and Mary Ellsberg. In 1970, he married Patricia Marx, daughter of toy maker Louis Marx. They lived for some time afterward in Mill Valley, California.[113] They have a son, Michael Ellsberg, who is an author and journalist.[114][115] In March 2023, Ellsberg wrote that he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer which had progressed beyond medical treatment. The doctors estimated in mid-February that he had three to six months of life left.[116][117][118] Ellsberg died at his home in Kensington, California, on June 16, 2023, at the age of 92.[119][120][121][122][123] Awards and honors Ellsberg was the recipient of the inaugural Ron Ridenhour Courage Prize, a prize established in 2004 by The Nation Institute and the Fertel Foundation.[124] In 1978, he accepted the Gandhi Peace Award from Promoting Enduring Peace. On September 28, 2006, he was awarded the Right Livelihood Award for "putting peace and truth first, at considerable personal risk, and dedicating his life to inspiring others to follow his example".[125] He received the Dresden Peace Prize in 2016.[126] He received the 2018 Olof Palme Prize and the 2022 Sam Adams Award.[1][127] Works Ellsberg, Daniel (1972). Papers on the War. New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 9781439193761. Ellsberg, Daniel (1981). "Introduction". In Thompson, E. P.; Smith, Dan (eds.). Protest and Survive. New York: Monthly Review Press. ISBN 978-0853455820. Ellsberg, Daniel (2001). Risk, Ambiguity, and Decision. New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0815340225. Ellsberg, Daniel (2003). Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers. New York: Viking Press. ISBN 0670030309. Archived from the original on May 28, 2013. Retrieved March 24, 2020. Ellsberg, Daniel (2017). The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner. Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-1608196708. Retrieved April 4, 2023. Films The Pentagon Papers (2003) is a historical film directed by Rod Holcomb about the Pentagon Papers and Ellsberg's involvement in their publication. The movie, in which he is portrayed by James Spader, documents Ellsberg's life, starting with his work for RAND Corp and ending with the day on which the judge declared his espionage trial a mistrial.[128] The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers (2009) a feature-length documentary by Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith traced the decision-making processes by which Ellsberg came to leak the Pentagon Papers to the press, The New York Times decision to publish, the fallout in the media after publication, and the Nixon Administration's legal and extra-legal campaign to discredit and incarcerate Ellsberg. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and won a Peabody Award after its 2010 POV broadcast on PBS.[129] Hearts and Minds, a 1974 Academy Award winning documentary film about the Vietnam War with extensive interviews with Ellsberg. The Post is a 2017 historical drama film directed and co-produced by Steven Spielberg from a script written by Liz Hannah and Josh Singer about The Washington Post's battle with the federal government over its right to publish the Pentagon Papers. In the movie, Ellsberg is portrayed by Matthew Rhys. The film also stars Tom Hanks as Ben Bradlee and Meryl Streep as Katharine Graham.[130] The Boys Who Said NO!, a 2020 documentary film about the draft resistance movement during the Vietnam War, including interviews with Ellsberg where he talks about the impact resisters had on his decision to risk life in prison for releasing the Pentagon Papers. Directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Judith Ehrlich.[131] "The Movement and the 'Madman'", a 2023 PBS American Experience documentary film reports how two enormous antiwar protests in the fall of 1969 pressured President Nixon to cancel his secret "madman" plans for a major escalation of the war in Vietnam, including threats to use nuclear weapons. The film was directed and produced by Stephen Talbot and features a key interview with Ellsberg.[132][133] See also Biography portal Jack Anderson Thomas Andrews Drake List of peace activists Tran Ngoc Chau Reality Winner References "2018 – Daniel Ellsberg | Olof Palmes Minnesfond" (in Swedish). Retrieved January 9, 2019. Jewish Telegraphic Agency June 16, 2023 Wells, Tom (2001). Wild Man: The Life and Times of Daniel Ellsberg. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 36, 39, 70–95, 267. ISBN 9780312177195 – via Google Books. "Letter from Cambridge University General Board of Faculties to Daniel Ellsberg, February 5, 1953 |". Daniel Ellsberg Biography @ Encyclopedia of World Biography, via BookRags.com Host: Dave Davies (December 4, 2017). "Daniel Ellsberg Explains Why He Leaked The Pentagon Papers". Fresh Air. National Public Radio. WHYY-FM. Anderson, David L. (2000), "Daniel Ellsberg", The Human Tradition in the Vietnam Era, Rowman & Littlefield, p. 201, ISBN 978-0-8420-2763-2 Ellsberg, Daniel (1961). "Risk, Ambiguity, and the Savage Axioms" (PDF). Quarterly Journal of Economics. 75 (4): 643–669. doi:10.2307/1884324. JSTOR 1884324. Russell Golman; Nikolos Gurney; George Loewenstein (2020), Information Gaps for Risk and Ambiguity (PDF), Carnegie Mellon University BBC Four Storyville – 2009–2010 – 14. The Most Dangerous Man in America John Simkin (1997), Daniel Ellsberg, Spartacus Educational "The Pentagon Papers". 1971 Year in Review. United Press International. 1971. Retrieved July 2, 2010. Sheehan, Neil (June 18, 1971). "Most Authors Were Given A Promise of Anonymity". The New York Times. Retrieved June 27, 2023. Goldsmith, Rick (June 11, 2011). "Opinion - Tale of the Pentagon Papers". The New York Times. Retrieved June 27, 2023. "The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers (2010)". Movieweb.com. Archived from the original on January 25, 2010. Retrieved December 2, 2010. Lukas, J. Anthony (December 12, 1971). "After the Pentagon Papers". The New York Times. Retrieved July 5, 2019. Farrow, Chas. "The Post – In-Depth Review". Retrieved January 24, 2018. Thomas, Marlo (2002). The Right Words at the Right Time. New York: Atria Books. pp. 101–102. ISBN 0-7434-4649-6. Thomas, Marlo (2002). The Right Words at the Right Time. New York: Atria Books. p. 103. ISBN 0-7434-4649-6. "Daniel Ellsberg of M.I.T. Marries Patricia Marx". The New York Times. August 9, 1970. "Marquis Biographies Online". Stone, Oliver and Kuznick, Peter, "The Untold History of the United States" (New York: Gallery Books, 2012) p. 384 citing Daniel Ellsberg, "Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers" (New York: Viking, 2002), pp. 258–260 Apple, R.W. (June 23, 1996). "Pentagon Papers". The New York Times. New York. Retrieved July 2, 2010. "Johnson Administration had systematically lied, not only to the public but also to Congress" Halper, Jon (1991). Gary Snyder: dimensions of a life. Sierra Club Books. ISBN 978-0-87156-636-2. Sanford J. Ungar, The Papers & The Papers, An Account of the Legal and Political Battle Over the Pentagon Papers, 1972, E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., New York; p. 127 Italie, Hillel (June 16, 2023). "Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked Pentagon Papers exposing Vietnam War secrets, dies at 92". Associated Press of New York (AP). Retrieved June 26, 2023. Ellsberg, Daniel (2002). Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers. New York: Viking Press. ISBN 978-0-670-03030-9. Young, Michael (June 2002). "The devil and Daniel Ellsberg: From archetype to anachronism (review of Wild Man: The Life and Times of Daniel Ellsberg)". Reason. p. 2. Archived from the original on August 30, 2009. Retrieved July 2, 2010. Scott, Janny (January 7, 2021). "How Neil Sheehan Got the Pentagon Papers". The New York Times. Retrieved June 25, 2023. Chokshi, Niraj (December 20, 2017). "Behind the Race to Publish the Top-Secret Pentagon Papers". The New York Times. Retrieved June 26, 2023. Sanger, David E.; Scott, Janny; Harlan, Jennifer; Gallagher, Brian (June 9, 2021). "'We're Going to Publish': An Oral History of the Pentagon Papers". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 13, 2021. Retrieved June 26, 2023. H. Bruce Franklin (July 9, 2001). "Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers". The Nation. Archived from the original on May 9, 2008. Retrieved July 15, 2008. Parker Higgins (June 29, 2021), Fifty years ago today, Senator Mike Gravel read the Pentagon Papers into the official record., Freedom of the Press Foundation Meadows, Eddie (June 14, 1971). "Oval office meeting with Bob Haldelman, Nixon Presidential Materials Project, Oval-519, Cassette 747". audio tape. The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers U.S. Department of State (June 23, 2008) Freedom of the Press. Retrieved July 15, 2019. "Portrait: Daniel Ellsberg". Buzzle.com. December 9, 2002. Archived from the original on November 28, 2004. Retrieved July 21, 2021. Packer, George (2019). Our Man: Richard Holbrooke and the End of the American Century. NY: Knopf. p. 145. ISBN 9780307958037. OCLC 1043051114. Krogh, Egil (June 30, 2007). "The Break-In That History Forgot". The New York Times. "United States v. Felipe de Diego, 511 F.2d 818". CourtListener.com. Free Law Project. 1975. Retrieved December 5, 2017. Hougan, Jim (1984). Secret Agenda. Random House. ISBN 978-0-394-51428-4. Owen Edwards (2012), The World's Most Famous Filing Cabinet, Smithsonian Magazine Ellsberg, Daniel (May 30, 2014), "Daniel Ellsberg: Snowden would not get a fair trial – and Kerry is wrong", The Guardian, retrieved June 23, 2015 "Practicing on Ellsberg". Time. May 7, 1973. "Judge William Byrne; Ended Trial Over Pentagon Papers". The Washington Post. January 15, 2006. pp. C09. "The Pentagon Papers" by John T. Correll, Air Force Magazine, February 2007 S. Stencel, S. (1974), "Plea Bargaining", Editorial research reports 1974, CQ Researcher Online, CQ Researcher, vol. 1, pp. 427–446 Hosansky, David (December 1, 2006), Eyewitness to Watergate, CQ Press, p. 89, ISBN 978-1-4522-6731-9 Halperin v. Kissinger 1977 "Nixon White House Counsel John Dean and Pentagon Papers Leaker Daniel Ellsberg on Watergate and the Abuse of Presidential Power from Nixon to Bush". Democracy Now!. April 27, 2006. "COLD WAR Chat: Daniel Ellsberg, Anti-war activist". Cold War. January 10, 1999. Archived from the original on December 19, 2008. Liddy, G. Gordon (1980). Will: The Autobiography of G. Gordon Liddy. New York: St. Martin's Press. pp. 170–171. ISBN 978-0-312-88014-9. Dwight Cramer (September 18, 1972), "Going Public in America", The Harvard Crimson Ellsberg, Daniel (1972). Papers on the War. New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 9781439193761. "Presidential Decisions and Public Dissent", Conversations with History, July 29, 1998 Savage, Charlie (November 3, 2021), "Risk of Nuclear War Over Taiwan in 1958 Said to Be Greater Than Publicly Known", The New York Times (published May 22, 2021), ISSN 0362-4331 "Whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg: Civil Disobedience Against Vietnam War Led Me to Leak Pentagon Papers". Democracy Now!. "IGC.org" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on December 18, 2008. Retrieved December 8, 2008. Jacobsen, Kurt (Fall 2002). "Discussing Secrets: An Interview with Daniel Ellsberg". "The Expert Witness Radio Show with Michael Levine". Expertwitnessradio.org. Archived from the original on July 24, 2011. Retrieved December 2, 2010. Helderman, Rosalind S. (November 24, 2005). "Antiwar Protesters Arrested Near Bush Ranch". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 2, 2010. "Daniel Ellsberg On Assange Arrest: The Beginning of the End For Press Freedom". The Real News. April 11, 2019. Ellsberg, Daniel (October 2006), "The Next War", Harper's Magazine, October 2006, retrieved July 9, 2013 Saryl Weinstein. "Congress should probe Bush's Iran attack plan, says Ellsberg, warning of supreme war crime". Warandlaw.homestead.com. Retrieved December 2, 2010. "Daniel Ellsberg on the Existential Threat of Global Conflict". The Nation. April 22, 2022. "Who really benefits from war?". Al Jazeera. Retrieved January 15, 2023. Who really benefits from war? | UpFront, retrieved January 15, 2023 Siemaszko, Corky (June 16, 2023). "Daniel Ellsberg, Pentagon Papers whistleblower, dies at 92". NBC News. Friedman, Brad. "Sibel Edmonds: The Traitors Among Us". Hustler. Archived from the original on February 24, 2010. Retrieved June 20, 2023. Rose, David (October 1, 2005). "An Inconvenient Patriot". Vanity Fair. Retrieved March 20, 2023. Greenslade, Roy (January 22, 2008). "US Journalists Ignore Sunday Times Scoop on FBI Nuclear Scandal". The Guardian. Retrieved March 20, 2023. "The Colbert Report". Comedy Central. "Arrests At WikiLeaks Marine Base Protest". Sky News. July 14, 2012. Archived from the original on July 14, 2012. Retrieved November 14, 2017. Daniel Ellsberg (June 10, 2013). "Edward Snowden: saving us from the United Stasi of America". The Guardian. London. Retrieved June 10, 2013. "Celeb video: 'I am Bradley Manning'". Politico. June 19, 2013. Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: I am Bradley Manning (June 18, 2013). "I am Bradley Manning (full HD)" – via YouTube. "With Rumored Manhunt for Wikileaks Founder and Arrest of Alleged Leaker of Video Showing Iraq Killings, Obama Admin Escalates Crackdown on Whistleblowers of Classified Information" democracynow.org, June 17, 2010 "WikiLeaks Founder to Release Massacre Video" Archived June 19, 2010, at the Wayback Machine http://www.thedailybeast.com, Philip Shenon, June 16, 2010 Goodman, Amy (July 4, 2013), How the Pentagon Papers Came to be Published By the Beacon Press Told by Daniel Ellsberg & Others, Democracy Now!, retrieved July 9, 2013 "Recording offers rationale of WikiLeaks defendant". Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Associated Press. March 13, 2013. p. A11. Retrieved May 25, 2023 – via Newspapers.com. Cohn, Cindy (December 17, 2012). "EFF Helps Freedom of the Press Foundation". Electronic Frontier Foundation. Retrieved February 4, 2013. Andy Worthington (September 15, 2015). "28 Veterans of US Intelligence Fight Back Against CIA Claims That the Bush Torture Program Was Useful and Necessary". Archived from the original on September 28, 2015. "Pentagon Papers leaker comes to the defense of Assange". AP NEWS. September 16, 2020. Retrieved October 7, 2020. Pireres, Sharmini (April 12, 2019). "Daniel Ellsberg: Assange's Arrest Is the Beginning of the End". Truthdig: Expert Reporting, Current News, Provocative Columnists. Retrieved May 24, 2019. "Daniel Ellsberg on Julian Assange's Espionage Charges". The Real News Network. May 23, 2019. Retrieved May 24, 2019. "Pentagon Papers whistle-blower Daniel Ellsberg was Wikileaks' secret back-up". BBC News. Retrieved December 7, 2022. Daniel Ellsberg part of UC Berkeley Occupy protest[permanent dead link] Kevin Canfield, 'The Doomsday Machine,' by Daniel Ellsberg San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved December 21, 2017. Daniel Ellsberg (December 5, 2017), "chapter 3. Delegation", The Doomsday Machine, Bloomsbury, ISBN 978-1608196708 Daniel Ellsberg (2017). The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-60819-670-8. OL 26425340M. Wikidata Q63862699., pp. 52ff. Daniel Ellsberg (2017). The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-60819-670-8. OL 26425340M. Wikidata Q63862699., p. 69. Daniel Ellsberg (2017). The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-60819-670-8. OL 26425340M. Wikidata Q63862699., p. 303 Betts, Richard K. (December 1, 2010), Nuclear Blackmail and Nuclear Balance, Brookings Institution Press, p. 7, ISBN 978-0-8157-1708-9 For more on this, see especially Daniel Ellsberg (1981). "Call to Mutiny". Protest and Survive. Wikidata Q63874626.; Barry Blechman; Stephen Kaplan (1978), Force without War: U.S. Armed forces as a political instrument, Brookings Institution Press, Wikidata Q63874634; Joseph Gerson (2007), Empire and the bomb: How the U.S. uses nuclear weapons to dominate the world, Pluto Press, Wikidata Q63874641; Konrad Ege (July 1982). "U.S. Nuclear Threats: A documentary history". CounterSpy. ISSN 0739-4322. Wikidata Q63874649.; Richard K. Betts (1987), Nuclear Blackmail and Nuclear Balance, Brookings Institution Press, Wikidata Q63874665, cited from Daniel Ellsberg (2017). The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-60819-670-8. OL 26425340M. Wikidata Q63862699., especially the second-to-last chapter. At the outset of this incident, Truman deployed B-29s similar to those that dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but not the nuclear-capable Silverplate version, to bases in Britain and Germany to deter the Soviet Union from officially transferring to East Germany control of the land corridor to Berlin, an explicit part of the Soviet plan. Gregg Herken (1980), The winning weapon: The atomic bomb in the cold war, 1945-1950, Knopf, Wikidata Q63873810, pp. 256–274, cited from Daniel Ellsberg (2017). The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-60819-670-8. OL 26425340M. Wikidata Q63862699., pp. 319, 378. For Eisenhower's secret nuclear threats against China to force and maintain a settlement in Korea in 1953, see Dwight D. Eisenhower (1963), Mandate for Change: The White House Years 1953-1956: A Personal Account, Doubleday, Wikidata Q61945939, pp. 178–181, and Alexander L. George; Richard Smoke (1974), Deterrence in American Foreign Policy, Columbia University Press, Wikidata Q63874409, pp. 237–241, cited from Daniel Ellsberg (2017). The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-60819-670-8. OL 26425340M. Wikidata Q63862699., pp. 319, 378. Morton Halperin (December 1966). "The 1958 Taiwan Straits Crisis: A documentary history" (PDF). RAND Corporation Research Memoranda (RM-4900-ISA). Wikidata Q63874609., cited from Daniel Ellsberg (2017). The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-60819-670-8. OL 26425340M. Wikidata Q63862699., pp. 320, 378. Hearts and Minds; Roscoe Drummond; Gaston Coblentz (1960), Duel at the Brink, Doubleday, Wikidata Q63874430, pp. 121–122; see also Richard Nixon, RN: The Memoirs of Richard Nixon, Wikidata Q63874435, pp. 150–155; cited from Daniel Ellsberg (2017). The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-60819-670-8. OL 26425340M. Wikidata Q63862699., pp. 319, 378. Richard Nixon (July 29, 1985). "A nation coming into its own". Time. ISSN 0040-781X. Wikidata Q63885038., cited from Daniel Ellsberg (2017). The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-60819-670-8. OL 26425340M. Wikidata Q63862699., pp. 320, 379. Barry Blechman; Stephen Kaplan (1978), Force without War: U.S. Armed forces as a political instrument, Brookings Institution Press, Wikidata Q63874634, pp. 238, 256, cited from Daniel Ellsberg (2017). The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-60819-670-8. OL 26425340M. Wikidata Q63862699., pp. 320, 379. Daniel Ellsberg (2017). The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-60819-670-8. OL 26425340M. Wikidata Q63862699., ch. 10, "Berlin and the Missile Gap"; also Barry Blechman; Stephen Kaplan (1978), Force without War: U.S. Armed forces as a political instrument, Brookings Institution Press, Wikidata Q63874634, pp. 343–439; cited from Daniel Ellsberg (2017). The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-60819-670-8. OL 26425340M. Wikidata Q63862699., pp. 320, 379. Note: On p. 176, Ellsberg mentioned "ending the Berlin Crisis in 1961". Later, on p. 321, he mentioned "the 1961–62 Berlin crisis." There is a Wikipedia article on "Berlin Crisis of 1961". I therefore decided to ignore the reference to 1962 in this context, as I have not seen other references to Berlin crisis in 1962 and mentioning it would produce an apparent conflict with the title of the existing Wikipedia article on that. Daniel Ellsberg (2017). The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-60819-670-8. OL 26425340M. Wikidata Q63862699., ch. 12. "My Cuban Missile Crisis" and ch. 13. "Cuba: The real story". Herbert Y. Schandler (1977), The Unmaking of a President, Princeton University Press, Wikidata Q63887635, pp. 89–91; also William Westmoreland (1976), A Soldier Reports, Doubleday, Wikidata Q63888313, p. 338; cited from Daniel Ellsberg (2017). The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-60819-670-8. OL 26425340M. Wikidata Q63862699., pp. 320, 379. Harry Robbins Haldeman (1978), The Ends of Power, Times Books, Wikidata Q63888819, pp. 81–85, 97–98; Richard Nixon, RN: The Memoirs of Richard Nixon, Wikidata Q63874435, pp. 393–414; Seymour Hersh, The Price of Power: Kissinger in the Nixon White House, Wikidata Q42194571; Ernest C. Bolt (January 2002). "No Peace, No Honor: Nixon, Kissinger, and Betrayal in Vietnam". History: Reviews of New Books. 30 (3): 93–93. doi:10.1080/03612759.2002.10526085. ISSN 0361-2759. Wikidata Q58522397.; John A. Farrell (2017), Richard Nixon: The Life, Doubleday, Wikidata Q63889289; cited from Daniel Ellsberg (2017). The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-60819-670-8. OL 26425340M. Wikidata Q63862699., pp. 320, 379. Robert S. Norris; Hans M. Kristensen (September 1, 2006). "U.S. nuclear threats: Then and now". Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. 62 (5): 69–71. doi:10.2968/062005016. ISSN 0096-3402. Wikidata Q62111338.; John K. Singlaub (1991), Hazardous Duty: An American soldier in the twentieth century, Summit Books, Wikidata Q63892384; Richard A. Mobley (June 22, 2003). "Revisiting the Korean Tree-Trimming Incident". Joint Force Quarterly. ISSN 1070-0692. Wikidata Q63893129., pp. 110–111, 113–114; consistent with Barry Blechman; Stephen Kaplan (1978), Force without War: U.S. Armed forces as a political instrument, Brookings Institution Press, Wikidata Q63874634; cited from Daniel Ellsberg (2017). The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-60819-670-8. OL 26425340M. Wikidata Q63862699., pp. 321, 379. This event was virtually unknown at the time outside secret government circles. It was discussed six years later by Benjamin F. Schemmer (September 1, 1986). "Was the US ready to resort to nuclear weapons for the Persian Gulf in 1980?" (PDF). Armed Forces Journal International. ISSN 0196-3597. Wikidata Q63917293. and picked up by Richard Halloran (September 2, 1986). "Washington Talk; How leaders think the unthinkable". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Wikidata Q63916660.. It was described by Carter's Press Secretary Jody Powell as "the most serious nuclear crisis since the Cuban Missile Crisis." See also Daniel Ellsberg (2017). The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-60819-670-8. OL 26425340M. Wikidata Q63862699., pp. 321, 380. Robert S. Norris; Hans M. Kristensen (September 1, 2006). "U.S. nuclear threats: Then and now". Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. 62 (5): 69–71. doi:10.2968/062005016. ISSN 0096-3402. Wikidata Q62111338., p. 71; William Arkin (October 16, 1996). "Calculated Ambiguity: Nuclear weapons and the Gulf War". The Washington Quarterly. 19 (4): 2–18. ISSN 0163-660X. Wikidata Q63919049.; cited from Daniel Ellsberg (2017). The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-60819-670-8. OL 26425340M. Wikidata Q63862699., pp. 321, 380. Robert S. Norris; Hans M. Kristensen (September 1, 2006). "U.S. nuclear threats: Then and now". Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. 62 (5): 69–71. doi:10.2968/062005016. ISSN 0096-3402. Wikidata Q62111338., p. 70, citing testimony by General Eugene E. Habiger before the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, March 13, 1977; cited from Daniel Ellsberg (2017). The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-60819-670-8

More CIA stories from John Stockwell: https://thememoryhole.substack.com/ In the concluding segment of this series on covert action, former CIA official John Stockwell and Louis Wolf delve into the intricate web of CIA operations in Central America. The discussion unravels a tapestry of covert interventions and "disinformation" campaigns aimed at undermining the Nicaraguan government. This episode doesn't limit its scope to Central America alone; it widens the perspective to encompass global dynamics. A report by SANE spokesperson George Humphrey sheds light on the pivotal nuclear weapons freeze referendum in Austin. Additionally, the conversation extends to an Iranian student's firsthand account detailing the torture and brutality inflicted by the Khomeini regime. The growing opposition to this oppressive regime within Iran also becomes a focal point of discussion. Recorded in May 1982 and drawing from news spanning May 1982, May 1983, and May 1985, this concluding chapter of the series encapsulates the multi-faceted nature of covert actions and their implications on a global scale. It provides a comprehensive view of CIA activities in Central America while interweaving broader international dynamics and the human impact of political turmoil. The Contras (from Spanish: la contrarrevolución, lit. 'the counter-revolution') were the various U.S.-backed and funded right-wing rebel groups that were active from 1979 to 1990 in opposition to the Marxist Sandinista Junta of National Reconstruction Government in Nicaragua, which had come to power in 1979 following the Nicaraguan Revolution.[2][3] Among the separate contra groups, the Nicaraguan Democratic Force (FDN) emerged as the largest by far. In 1987, virtually all Contra organizations were united, at least nominally, into the Nicaraguan Resistance. During their war against the Nicaraguan government, there were numerous examples of Contras committing human rights violations and using terrorist tactics.[4][5][6][7][8][9][10] Many of these actions were reported to be carried out systematically as a part of the strategy of the Contras.[citation needed][discuss] Supporters of the Contras tried to downplay these violations, particularly the Reagan administration in the U.S., which engaged in a campaign of white propaganda to alter public opinion in favor of the Contras,[11]. The Global Terrorism Database reports that Contras carried out more than 1,300 terrorist attacks.[12] From an early stage, the rebels received financial and military support from the United States government, and their military significance decisively depended on it. After U.S. support was banned by Congress, the Reagan administration covertly continued it. These illegal activities culminated in the Iran–Contra affair. History Origins The Contras were not a monolithic group, but a combination of three distinct elements of Nicaraguan society:[13] Ex-guardsmen of the Nicaraguan National Guard and other right-wing figures who had fought for Nicaragua's ex-dictator Somoza[13]—these later were especially found in the military wing of the Nicaraguan Democratic Force (FDN).[14] Remnants of the Guard later formed groups such as the Fifteenth of September Legion, the Anti-Sandinista Guerrilla Special Forces, and the National Army of Liberation.[citation needed] Initially however, these groups were small and conducted little active raiding into Nicaragua.[15] Anti-Somozistas who had supported the revolution but felt betrayed by the Sandinista government[13] – e.g. Edgar Chamorro, prominent member of the political directorate of the FDN,[16] or Jose Francisco Cardenal, who had briefly served in the Council of State before leaving Nicaragua out of disagreement with the Sandinista government's policies and founding the Nicaraguan Democratic Union (UDN), an opposition group of Nicaraguan exiles in Miami.[17] Another example are the MILPAS (Milicias Populares Anti-Sandinistas), peasant militias led by disillusioned Sandinista veterans from the northern mountains. Founded by Pedro Joaquín González (known as "Dimas"), the Milpistas were also known as chilotes (green corn). Even after his death, other MILPAS bands sprouted during 1980–1981. The Milpistas were composed largely of campesino (peasant) highlanders and rural workers.[18][19][20][21] Nicaraguans who had avoided direct involvement in the revolution but opposed the Sandinistas.[13] Main groups Contra Commandos from FDN and ARDE Frente Sur, Nueva Guinea area in 1987 Members of ARDE Frente Sur The CIA and Argentine intelligence, seeking to unify the anti-Sandinista cause before initiating large-scale aid, persuaded 15 September Legion, the UDN and several former smaller groups to merge in September 1981 as the Nicaraguan Democratic Force (Fuerza Democrática Nicaragüense, FDN).[22] Although the FDN had its roots in two groups made up of former National Guardsmen (of the Somoza regime), its joint political directorate was led by businessman and former anti-Somoza activist Adolfo Calero Portocarrero.[23] Edgar Chamorro later stated that there was strong opposition within the UDN against working with the Guardsmen and that the merging only took place because of insistence by the CIA.[24] Based in Honduras, Nicaragua's northern neighbor, under the command of former National Guard Colonel Enrique Bermúdez, the new FDN commenced to draw in other smaller insurgent forces in the north.[citation needed] Largely financed, trained, equipped, armed and organized by the U.S.,[25] it emerged as the largest and most active contra group.[26] In April 1982, Edén Pastora (Comandante Cero), one of the heroes in the fight against Somoza, organized the Sandinista Revolutionary Front (FRS) – embedded in the Democratic Revolutionary Alliance (ARDE)[27] – and declared war on the Sandinista government.[28] Himself a former Sandinista who had held several high posts in the government, he had resigned abruptly in 1981 and defected,[28] believing that the newly found power had corrupted the Sandinista's original ideas.[27] A popular and charismatic leader, Pastora initially saw his group develop quickly.[28] He confined himself to operate in the southern part of Nicaragua;[29] after a press conference he was holding on 30 May 1984 was bombed, he "voluntarily withdrew" from the contra struggle.[27] A third force, Misurasata, appeared among the Miskito, Sumo and Rama Amerindian peoples of Nicaragua's Atlantic coast, who in December 1981 found themselves in conflict with the authorities following the government's efforts to nationalize Indian land. In the course of this conflict, forced removal of at least 10,000 Indians to relocation centers in the interior of the country and subsequent burning of some villages took place.[30] The Misurasata movement split in 1983, with the breakaway Misura group of Stedman Fagoth Muller allying itself more closely with the FDN, and the rest accommodating themselves with the Sandinistas: On 8 December 1984 a ceasefire agreement known as the Bogota Accord was signed by Misurasata and the Nicaraguan government.[31] A subsequent autonomy statute in September 1987 largely defused Miskito resistance.[32] Unity efforts U.S. officials were active in attempting to unite the Contra groups. In June 1985 most of the groups reorganized as the United Nicaraguan Opposition (UNO), under the leadership of Adolfo Calero, Arturo Cruz and Alfonso Robelo, all originally supporters of the anti-Somoza revolution. After UNO's dissolution early in 1987, the Nicaraguan Resistance (RN) was organized along similar lines in May. U.S. military and financial assistance See also: CIA activities in Nicaragua In front of the International Court of Justice, Nicaragua claimed that the contras were altogether a creation of the U.S.[33] This claim was rejected.[33] However, the evidence of a very close relationship between the contras and the United States was considered overwhelming and incontrovertible.[34] The U.S. played a very large role in financing, training, arming, and advising the contras over a long period, and it is unlikely that the contras would have been capable of carrying out significant military operations without this support, given the large amount of training and weapons shipments that the Sandinistas had received from Havana and Moscow.[35] Political background See also: Reagan Doctrine and History of Nicaragua (1979–90) The US government viewed the leftist Sandinistas as a threat to economic interests of American corporations in Nicaragua and to national security. US President Ronald Reagan stated in 1983 that "The defense of [the USA's] southern frontier" was at stake.[36] "In spite of the Sandinista victory being declared fair, the United States continued to oppose the left-wing Nicaraguan government."[37][38] and opposed its ties to Cuba and the Soviet Union.[39][40] Ronald Reagan, who had assumed the American presidency in January 1981, accused the Sandinistas of importing Cuban-style socialism and aiding leftist guerrillas in El Salvador.[41] The Reagan administration continued to view the Sandinistas as undemocratic despite the 1984 Nicaraguan elections being generally declared fair by foreign observers.[42][43][44] Throughout the 1980s the Sandinista government was regarded as "Partly Free" by Freedom House, an organization financed by the U.S. government.[45] President Ronald Reagan and Vice President George Bush in 1984 On 4 January 1982, Reagan signed the top secret National Security Decision Directive 17 (NSDD-17),[41] giving the CIA the authority to recruit and support the contras with $19 million in military aid. The effort to support the contras was one component of the Reagan Doctrine, which called for providing military support to movements opposing Soviet-supported, communist governments. By December 1981, however, the United States had already begun to support armed opponents of the Sandinista government. From the beginning, the CIA was in charge.[46] The arming, clothing, feeding and supervision of the contras[47] became the most ambitious paramilitary and political action operation mounted by the agency in nearly a decade.[48] In the fiscal year 1984, the U.S. Congress approved $24 million in contra aid.[47] However, since the contras failed to win widespread popular support or military victories within Nicaragua,[47] opinion polls indicated that a majority of the U.S. public was not supportive of the contras,[49] the Reagan administration lost much of its support regarding its contra policy within Congress after disclosure of CIA mining of Nicaraguan ports,[50] and a report of the Bureau of Intelligence and Research commissioned by the State Department found Reagan's allegations about Soviet influence in Nicaragua "exaggerated",[51] Congress cut off all funds for the contras in 1985 by the third Boland Amendment.[47] The Boland Amendment had first been passed by Congress in December 1982. At this time, it only outlawed U.S. assistance to the contras "for the purpose of overthrowing the Nicaraguan government", while allowing assistance for other purposes.[52] In October 1984, it was amended to forbid action by not only the Defense Department and the Central Intelligence Agency but all U.S. government agencies. Nevertheless, the case for support of the contras continued to be made in Washington, D.C., by both the Reagan administration and the Heritage Foundation, which argued that support for the contras would counter Soviet influence in Nicaragua.[53][54] On 1 May 1985 President Reagan announced that his administration perceived Nicaragua to be "an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States", and declared a "national emergency" and a trade embargo against Nicaragua to "deal with that threat".[55] It "is now a given; it is true", the Washington Post declared in 1986, "the Sandinistas are communists of the Cuban or Soviet school"; that "The Reagan administration is right to take Nicaragua as a serious menace—to civil peace and democracy in Nicaragua and to the stability and security of the region"; that we must "fit Nicaragua back into a Central American mode" and "turn Nicaragua back toward democracy", and with the "Latin American democracies" "demand reasonable conduct by regional standard."[56] Soon after the embargo was established, Managua re-declared "a policy of nonalignment" and sought the aid of Western Europe, who were opposed to U.S. policy, to escape dependency on the Soviet Union.[57] Since 1981 U.S. pressures had curtailed Western credit to and trade with Nicaragua, forcing the government to rely almost totally on the Eastern bloc for credit, other aid, and trade by 1985.[58] In his 1997 study on U.S. low intensity warfare, Kermit D. Johnson, a former Chief of the U.S. Army Chaplains, contends that U.S. hostility toward the revolutionary government was motivated not by any concern for "national security", but rather by what the world relief organization Oxfam termed "the threat of a good example": It was alarming that in just a few months after the Sandinista revolution, Nicaragua received international acclaim for its rapid progress in the fields of literacy and health. It was alarming that a socialist-mixed-economy state could do in a few short months what the Somoza dynasty, a U.S. client state, could not do in 45 years! It was truly alarming that the Sandinistas were intent on providing the very services that establish a government's political and moral legitimacy.[59] The government's program included increased wages, subsidized food prices, and expanded health, welfare, and education services. And though it nationalized Somoza's former properties, it preserved a private sector that accounted for between 50 and 60 percent of GDP.[60] Atrocities The United States began to support Contra activities against the Sandinista government by December 1981, with the CIA at the forefront of operations. The CIA supplied the funds and the equipment, coordinated training programs, and provided intelligence and target lists. While the Contras had little military successes, they did prove adept at carrying out CIA guerrilla warfare strategies from training manuals which advised them to incite mob violence, "neutralize" civilian leaders and government officials and attack "soft targets" — including schools, health clinics and cooperatives. The agency added to the Contras' sabotage efforts by blowing up refineries and pipelines, and mining ports.[60][61][62] Finally, according to former Contra leader Edgar Chamorro, CIA trainers also gave Contra soldiers large knives. "A commando knife [was given], and our people, everybody wanted to have a knife like that, to kill people, to cut their throats".[63][64] In 1985 Newsweek published a series of photos taken by Frank Wohl, a conservative student admirer traveling with the Contras, entitled "Execution in the Jungle": The victim dug his own grave, scooping the dirt out with his hands ... He crossed himself. Then a contra executioner knelt and rammed a k-bar knife into his throat. A second enforcer stabbed at his jugular, then his abdomen. When the corpse was finally still, the contras threw dirt over the shallow grave — and walked away.[65][66] The CIA officer in charge of the covert war, Duane "Dewey" Clarridge, admitted to the House Intelligence Committee staff in a secret briefing in 1984 that the Contras were routinely murdering "civilians and Sandinista officials in the provinces, as well as heads of cooperatives, nurses, doctors and judges". But he claimed that this did not violate President Reagan's executive order prohibiting assassinations because the agency defined it as just 'killing'. "After all, this is war—a paramilitary operation", Clarridge said in conclusion.[67] Edgar Chamorro explained the rationale behind this to a U.S. reporter. "Sometimes terror is very productive. This is the policy, to keep putting pressure until the people cry 'uncle'".[68][69] The CIA manual for the Contras, Tayacan, states that the Contras should gather the local population for a public tribunal to "shame, ridicule and humiliate" Sandinista officials to "reduce their influence". It also recommends gathering the local population to witness and take part in public executions.[70] These types of activities continued throughout the war. After the signing of the Central American Peace Accord in August 1987, the year war related deaths and economic destruction reached its peak, the Contras eventually entered negotiations with the Sandinista government (1988), and the war began to deescalate.[60] By 1989 the US backed Contra war and economic isolation had inflicted severe economic suffering on Nicaraguans. The US government knew that the Nicaraguans had been exhausted from the war, which had cost 30,865 lives, and that voters usually vote the incumbents out during economic decline. By the late 1980s Nicaragua's internal conditions had changed so radically that the US approach to the 1990 elections differed greatly from 1984. A united opposition of fourteen political parties organized into the National Opposition Union (Unión Nacional Oppositora, UNO) with the support of the United States National Endowment for Democracy. UNO presidential nominee Violeta Chamorro was received by President Bush at the White House. The Contra war escalated over the year before the election. The US promised to end the economic embargo should Chamorro win.[71] The UNO scored a decisive victory on 25 February 1990. Chamorro won with 55 percent of the presidential vote as compared to Ortega's 41 percent. Of 92 seats in the National Assembly, UNO gained 51, and the FSLN won 39. On 25 April 1990, Chamorro assumed presidency from Daniel Ortega.[71] Illegal covert operations See also: Iran–Contra affair With Congress blocking further aid to the Contras, the Reagan administration sought to arrange funding and military supplies by means of third countries and private sources.[72] Between 1984 and 1986, $34 million from third countries and $2.7 million from private sources were raised this way.[72] The secret contra assistance was run by the National Security Council, with officer Lt. Col. Oliver North in charge.[72] With the third-party funds, North created an organization called The Enterprise, which served as the secret arm of the NSC staff and had its own airplanes, pilots, airfield, ship, operatives, and secret Swiss bank accounts.[72] It also received assistance from personnel from other government agencies, especially from CIA personnel in Central America.[72] This operation functioned, however, without any of the accountability required of U.S. government activities.[72] The Enterprise's efforts culminated in the Iran–Contra Affair of 1986–1987, which facilitated contra funding through the proceeds of arms sales to Iran. According to the London Spectator, U.S. journalists in Central America had long known that the CIA was flying in supplies to the Contras inside Nicaragua before the scandal broke. No journalist paid it any attention until the alleged CIA supply man, Eugene Hasenfus, was shot down and captured by the Nicaraguan army. Similarly, reporters neglected to investigate many leads indicating that Oliver North was running the Contra operation from his office in the National Security Council.[73] According to the National Security Archive, Oliver North had been in contact with Manuel Noriega, the military leader of Panama later convicted on drug charges, whom he personally met. The issue of drug money and its importance in funding the Nicaraguan conflict was the subject of various reports and publications. The contras were funded by drug trafficking, of which the United States was aware.[74] Senator John Kerry's 1988 Committee on Foreign Relations report on Contra drug links concluded that "senior U.S. policy makers were not immune to the idea that drug money was a perfect solution to the Contras' funding problems".[75] The Reagan administration's support for the Contras continued to stir controversy well into the 1990s. In August 1996, San Jose Mercury News reporter Gary Webb published a series titled Dark Alliance, alleging that the contras contributed to the rise of crack cocaine in California.[76] Gary Webb's career as a journalist was subsequently discredited by the leading U.S. papers, The New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times. An internal CIA report, entitled, "Managing a Nightmare", shows the agency used "a ground base of already productive relations with journalists" to help counter what it called "a genuine public relations crisis."[77] In the 1980s, Douglas Farah worked as a journalist, covering the civil wars in Central America for the Washington Post. According to Farah, while it was common knowledge that the Contras were involved in cocaine trafficking, the editors of the Washington Post refused to take it seriously: If you're talking about our intelligence community tolerating — if not promoting — drugs to pay for black ops, it's rather an uncomfortable thing to do when you're an establishment paper like the Post. If you were going to be directly rubbing up against the government, they wanted it more solid than it could probably ever be done.[78] An investigation by the United States Department of Justice also stated that their "review did not substantiate the main allegations stated and implied in the Mercury News articles." Regarding the specific charges towards the CIA, the DOJ wrote "the implication that the drug trafficking by the individuals discussed in the Mercury News articles was connected to the CIA was also not supported by the facts."[79] The CIA also investigated and rejected the allegations.[80] Propaganda During the time the US Congress blocked funding for the contras, the Reagan government engaged in a campaign to alter public opinion and change the vote in Congress on contra aid.[81] For this purpose, the NSC established an interagency working group, which in turn coordinated the Office of Public Diplomacy for Latin America and the Caribbean (managed by Otto Reich), which conducted the campaign.[81] The S/LPD produced and widely disseminated a variety of pro-contra publications, arranged speeches and press conferences.[81] It also disseminated "white propaganda"—pro-contra newspaper articles by paid consultants who did not disclose their connection to the Reagan administration.[82] On top of that, Oliver North helped Carl Channell's tax-exempt organization, the National Endowment for the Preservation of Liberty, to raise $10 million, by arranging numerous briefings for groups of potential contributors at the premises of the White House and by facilitating private visits and photo sessions with President Reagan for major contributors.[83] Channell in turn, used part of that money to run a series of television advertisements directed at home districts of Congressmen considered swing votes on contra aid.[83] Out of the $10 million raised, more than $1 million was spent on pro-contra publicity.[83] International Court of Justice ruling Main article: Nicaragua v. United States In 1984 the Sandinista government filed a suit in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against the United States (Nicaragua v. United States), which resulted in a 1986 judgment against the United States. The ICJ held that the U.S. had violated international law by supporting the contras in their rebellion against the Nicaraguan government and by mining Nicaragua's harbors. Regarding the alleged human rights violations by the contras, however, the ICJ took the view that the United States could be held accountable for them only if it would have been proven that the U.S. had effective control of the contra operations resulting in these alleged violations.[84] Nevertheless, the ICJ found that the U.S. encouraged acts contrary to general principles of humanitarian law by producing the manual Psychological Operations in Guerrilla Warfare (Operaciones sicológicas en guerra de guerrillas) and disseminating it to the contras.[85] The manual, amongst other things, advised on how to rationalize killings of civilians[86] and recommended to hire professional killers for specific selective tasks.[87] The United States, which did not participate in the merits phase of the proceedings, maintained that the ICJ's power did not supersede the Constitution of the United States and argued that the court did not seriously consider the Nicaraguan role in El Salvador, while it accused Nicaragua of actively supporting armed groups there, specifically in the form of supply of arms.[88] The ICJ had found that evidence of a responsibility of the Nicaraguan government in this matter was insufficient.[89] The U.S. argument was affirmed, however, by the dissenting opinion of ICJ member U.S. Judge Schwebel,[90] who concluded that in supporting the contras, the United States acted lawfully in collective self-defence in El Salvador's support.[91] The U.S. blocked enforcement of the ICJ judgment by the United Nations Security Council and thereby prevented Nicaragua from obtaining any actual compensation.[92] The Nicaraguan government finally withdrew the complaint from the court in September 1992 (under the later, post-FSLN, government of Violeta Chamorro), following a repeal of the law requiring the country to seek compensation.[93] Human rights violations Americas Watch, which subsequently became part of Human Rights Watch, accused the Contras of:[94] targeting health care clinics and health care workers for assassination[95] kidnapping civilians[96] torturing civilians[97] executing civilians, including children, who were captured in combat[98] raping women[95] indiscriminately attacking civilians and civilian houses[96] seizing civilian property[95] burning civilian houses in captured towns.[95] Human Rights Watch released a report on the situation in 1989, which stated: "[The] contras were major and systematic violators of the most basic standards of the laws of armed conflict, including by launching indiscriminate attacks on civilians, selectively murdering non-combatants, and mistreating prisoners."[99] In his affidavit to the World Court, former contra Edgar Chamorro testified that "The CIA did not discourage such tactics. To the contrary, the Agency severely criticized me when I admitted to the press that the FDN had regularly kidnapped and executed agrarian reform workers and civilians. We were told that the only way to defeat the Sandinistas was to ...kill, kidnap, rob and torture".[100] Contra leader Adolfo Calero denied that his forces deliberately targeted civilians: "What they call a cooperative is also a troop concentration full of armed people. We are not killing civilians. We are fighting armed people and returning fire when fire is directed at us."[101] Controversy Several articles were published by U.S. press, including by The Wall Street Journal and The New Republic, accusing Americas Watch and other bodies of ideological bias and unreliable reporting. The articles alleged that Americas Watch gave too much credence to alleged Contra abuses and systematically tried to discredit Nicaraguan human rights groups such as the Permanent Commission on Human Rights, which blamed the most human rights abuses on the Sandinistas.[102] In 1985, The Wall Street Journal reported: Three weeks ago, Americas Watch issued a report on human rights abuses in Nicaragua. One member of the Permanent Commission for Human Rights commented on the Americas Watch report and its chief investigator Juan Mendez: "The Sandinistas are laying the groundwork for a totalitarian society here and yet all Mendez wanted to hear about were abuses by the contras. How can we get people in the U.S. to see what's happening here when so many of the groups who come down are pro-Sandinista?"[103] Human Rights Watch, the umbrella organization of Americas Watch, replied to these allegations: "Almost invariably, U.S. pronouncements on human rights exaggerated and distorted the real human rights violations of the Sandinista regime, and exculpated those of the U.S.-supported insurgents, known as the contras ... The Bush administration is responsible for these abuses, not only because the contras are, for all practical purposes, a U.S. force, but also because the Bush administration has continued to minimize and deny these violations, and has refused to investigate them seriously."[99] Military successes and election of Violeta Chamorro By 1986 the contras were besieged by charges of corruption, human-rights abuses, and military ineptitude.[104] A much-vaunted early 1986 offensive never materialized, and Contra forces were largely reduced to isolated acts of terrorism.[6] In October 1987, however, the contras staged a successful attack in southern Nicaragua.[105] Then on 21 December 1987, the FDN launched attacks at Bonanza, Siuna, and Rosita in Zelaya province, resulting in heavy fighting.[106] ARDE Frente Sur attacked at El Almendro and along the Rama road.[106][107][108] These large-scale raids mainly became possible as the contras were able to use U.S.-provided Redeye missiles against Sandinista Mi-24 helicopter gunships, which had been supplied by the Soviets.[106][109] Nevertheless, the Contras remained tenuously encamped within Honduras and were not able to hold Nicaraguan territory.[110][111] There were isolated protests among the population against the draft implemented by the Sandinista government, which even resulted in full-blown street clashes in Masaya in 1988.[112] However, a June 1988 survey in Managua showed the Sandinista government still enjoyed strong support but that support had declined since 1984. Three times as many people identified with the Sandinistas (28%) than with all the opposition parties put together (9%); 59% did not identify with any political party. Of those polled, 85% opposed any further US aid to the Contras; 40% believed the Sandinista government to be democratic, while 48% believed it to be not democratic. People identified the war as the largest problem but were less likely to blame it for economic problems compared to a December 1986 poll; 19% blamed the war and US blockade as the main cause of economic problems while 10% blamed the government.[113] Political opposition groups were splintered and the Contras began to experience defections, although United States aid maintained them as a viable military force.[114][115] After a cutoff in U.S. military support, and with both sides facing international pressure to bring an end to the conflict, the contras agreed to negotiations with the FSLN. With the help of five Central American Presidents, including Ortega, the sides agreed that a voluntary demobilization of the contras should start in early December 1989. They chose this date to facilitate free and fair elections in Nicaragua in February 1990 (even though the Reagan administration had pushed for a delay of contra disbandment).[116] In the resulting February 1990 elections, Violeta Chamorro and her party the UNO won an upset victory of 55% to 41% over Daniel Ortega.[117] Opinion polls leading up to the elections divided along partisan lines, with 10 of 17 polls analyzed in a contemporary study predicting an UNO victory while seven predicted the Sandinistas would retain power.[118][119] Possible explanations include that the Nicaraguan people were disenchanted with the Ortega government as well as the fact that already in November 1989, the White House had announced that the economic embargo against Nicaragua would continue unless Violeta Chamorro won.[120] Also, there had been reports of intimidation from the side of the contras,[121] with a Canadian observer mission claiming that 42 people were killed by the contras in "election violence" in October 1989.[122] Sandinistas were also accused of intimidation and abuses during the election campaign. According to the Puebla Institute, by mid-December 1989, seven opposition leaders had been murdered, 12 had disappeared, 20 had been arrested, and 30 others assaulted. In late January 1990, the OAS observer team reported that “a convoy of troops attacked four truckloads of UNO sympathizers with bayonets and rifle butts, threatening to kill them."[123] This led many commentators to conclude that Nicaraguans voted against the Sandinistas out of fear of a continuation of the contra war and economic deprivation.[119] In popular culture This section may contain irrelevant references to popular culture. Please remove the content or add citations to reliable and independent sources. (June 2021) In The Last Thing He Wanted, a journalist for the fictitious Atlanta Post stops her coverage of the 1984 U.S. Presidential election to care for her dying father. In the process, she inherits his position as an arms dealer for Central America, and learns of the Iran–Contra affair. American Dad references the Contras in the episode "Stanny Slickers 2: The Legend of Ollie's Gold" The Americans, the TV series features an episode on KGB agents infiltrating a Contra camp. American Made, a film loosely based on Barry Seal's life. In the Amazon Prime TV series The Boys the American superhero team Payback is clandestinely deployed to Nicaragua in 1984 to assist Contra units supported by the CIA. Carla's Song, a fictional film by Ken Loach set in part against the backdrop of the conflict in Nicaragua. Contra – While it is unclear whether the game was deliberately named after the Nicaraguan Contra rebels, the ending theme of the original game was titled "Sandinista" (サンディニスタ), after the adversaries of the real-life Contras.[124] Contra, the second studio album by the American indie rock band Vampire Weekend, released in January 2010 on XL Recordings. It debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200. The album title is intended as a thematic allegory and a complex reference to the Nicaraguan counter-revolutionaries. The song "I Think Ur a Contra" is from this album. Sandinista!, an album by The Clash, features songs about The Contras in Nicaragua. It was released in 1980. The song "Washington Bullets" is from this album. City Hunter, a manga, the main protagonist, Ryo Saeba, was raised as a contra guerilla fighter in Central America. Student Visas, a song by Corb Lund from the album "Horse Soldier! Horse Soldier!", is about US Clandestine soldiers (such as SFOD-D and CIA Paramilitary) interacting with Contras in El Salvador and Nicaragua. Fragile The song is a tribute to Ben Linder, an American civil engineer who was killed by the Contras in 1987 while working on a hydroelectric project in Nicaragua. Narcos: Mexico features an episode where Felix has to deliver guns to Nicaragua with Amado and a CIA operative for Salvador Nava and Mexico's Minister of Defense The Mighty Quinn involves a CIA operative and a Latino right-wing assassin trying to recover large sums of untraceable US dollars which were to fund anti-communist counter-revolution on the mainland (Nicaragua is not mentioned). Snowfall a TV series following several characters, including an undercover CIA officer facilitating cocaine smuggling into the US on the behalf of the Nicaraguan Contras and his connection to a 20-year-old drug dealer in Los Angeles in the mid-1980s, the early days of the crack cocaine epidemic. The Last Narc, a 2020 documentary about the kidnapping and murder of DEA agent Kiki Camarena by Mexican drug cartels, ends up covering parts of the Iran-Contra scandal. See also Anti-communism CIA and Contras cocaine trafficking in the US Operation Charly Psychological Operations in Guerrilla Warfare Reagan Doctrine Role of women in Nicaraguan Revolution United States involvement in regime change in Latin America Latin America–United States relations Foreign interventions by the United States Cold War Notes Baron, James. "The Cold War History Behind Nicaragua's Break With Taiwan". thediplomat.com. The Diplomat. Retrieved 24 April 2022. "The Contras Murdering Their Own: A Grisly Retribution | Alicia Patterson Foundation". aliciapatterson.org. Retrieved 28 May 2022. "The American That Reagan Killed". jacobinmag.com. Retrieved 28 May 2022. Feldmann, Andreas E.; Maiju Perälä (July 2004). "Reassessing the Causes of Nongovernmental Terrorism in Latin America". Latin American Politics and Society. 46 (2): 101–132. doi:10.1111/j.1548-2456.2004.tb00277.x. S2CID 221247620. Greg Grandin; Gilbert M. Joseph (2010). A Century of Revolution. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press. p. 89. ISBN 978-0822392859. Todd, Dave (26 February 1986). "Offensive by Nicaraguan "Freedom Fighters" May be Doomed as Arms, Aid Dry Up". Ottawa Citizen. Albert J. Jongman; Alex P. Schmid (1988). Political Terrorism: A New Guide To Actors, Authors, Concepts, Data Bases, Theories, And Literature. Transaction Publishers. pp. 17–18. ISBN 978-1-41280-469-1. Athan G. Theoharis; Richard H. Immerman (2006). The Central Intelligence Agency: Security Under Scrutiny. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 216. ISBN 978-0313332821. "Empire Politician - 1980s: U.S. Support for Contra Death Squads in Nicaragua". The Intercept. 27 April 2021. Retrieved 28 May 2022. Kinzer, Stephen; Times, Special To the New York (20 February 1986). "CONTRAS' ATTACKS ON CIVILIANS CITED". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 28 May 2022. Fried, Amy (1997). Muffled Echoes: Oliver North and the Politics of Public Opinion. Columbia University Press. pp. 65–68. ISBN 9780231108201. LaFree, Gary; Laura Dugan; Erin Miller (2015). Putting Terrorism in Context: Lessons from the global terrorism database (1 ed.). London and New York: Routledge. p. 56. ISBN 978-0-415-67142-2. "In Nicaragua, Contra groups including the Nicaraguan Democratic Force (FDN), the Democratic Revolutionary Alliance (ARDE), and ultimately the Nicaraguan Resistance umbrella group carried out more than 1,300 terrorist attacks, mostly in opposition to the Sandinista government." Lee et al. 1987, p. 29 "The contras are made up of a combination of: ex-National Guardsmen (especially the military wing of the FDN)" As seen at: Gill 1984, p. 204 Dickey, Christopher. With the Contras, A Reporter in the Wilds of Nicaragua. Simon & Schuster, 1985. "The contras are made up of a combination of: ... anti-Sandinista opponents of ex-dictator Somoza (some of the members of the FDN political directorate eg Messrs. Chamorro and Cruz)" As seen at: Gill 1984, p. 204 International Court of Justice (IV) (1986), p. 446 Dillon, Sam (1991). Comandos: The CIA and Nicaragua's Contra Rebels. New York: Henry Holt. pp. 49–56. ISBN 978-0-8050-1475-4. OCLC 23974023. Horton, Lynn (1998). Peasants in Arms: War and Peace in the Mountains of Nicaragua, 1979–1994. Athens: Ohio University Center for International Studies. pp. 95–117. ISBN 978-0-89680-204-9. OCLC 39157572. Padro-Maurer, R. The Contras 1980–1989, a Special Kind of Politics. NY: Praeger Publishers, 1990. Brown, Timothy C. The Real Contra War, Highlander Peasant Resistance in Nicaragua. University of Oklahoma Press, 2001. "Contra Organizations: The Contra Story – Central Intelligence Agency". Cia.gov. Archived from the original on 13 June 2007. Retrieved 18 August 2014. "Although Calero had opposed Somoza, the FDN had its roots in two insurgent groups made up of former National Guardsmen" As seen at: Lee et al. 1987, p. 29 "The UDN, including Cardenal, initially opposed any linkage with the Guardsmen. The CIA, and high-ranking United States Government officials, insisted that we merge with the Guardsmen. Lt. General Vernon Walters, then a special assistant to the United States Secretary of State (and formerly Deputy Director of the CIA) met with Cardenal to encourage him to accept the CIA's proposal. We were well aware of the crimes the Guardsmen had committed against the Nicaraguan people while in the service of President Somoza and we wanted nothing to do with them. However, we recognized that without help from the United States Government we had no chance of removing the Sandinistas from power, so we eventually acceded to the CIA's, and General Walters', insistence that we join forces with the Guardsmen. Some UDN members resigned because they would not associate themselves with the National Guard under any circumstances, but Cardenal and I and others believed the CIA's assurances that we, the civilians, would control the Guardsmen in the new organization that was to be created." As seen at: International Court of Justice (IV) 1986, p. 446 "On the basis of the available information, the Court is not able to satisfy itself that the Respondent State 'created' the contra force in Nicaragua, but holds it established that it largely financed, trained, equipped, armed and organized the FDN, one element of the force." As seen at: International Court of Justice 1986, VII (4) "The largest and most active of these groups, which later came to be known as ... (FDN)". As seen at: Lee et al. 1987, p. 29 Williams, Adam (26 November 2010). "Edén Pastora: A wanted man". The Tico Times. Archived from the original on 15 December 2010. Lee et al. 1987, p. 32 "He insisted on operating in the southern part of Nicaragua." As seen at: Lee et al. 1987, p. 32 The Americas Watch Committee. "Human Rights in Nicaragua 1986" (print), Americas Watch, February 1987. "Bogota Accord" (PDF). Ulster University. Retrieved 5 December 2022. [1] Archived 16 September 2012 at the Wayback Machine Gill 1989, p. 328 Gill 1989, p. 329 "The United States has played a very large role in financing, training, arming, and advising the contras over a long period. The contras only became capable of carrying out significant (para)military operations as a result of this support." As seen at: Gill 1989, p. 329 John A., Thompson, "The Exaggeration of American Vulnerability: An Anatomy of Tradition", Diplomatic History, 16/1, (1992): p 23. "1984: Sandinistas claim election victory" BBC News, 5 November 1984 "President Reagan renewed his commitment to the Nicaraguan insurgents Sunday, though he appeared to shift the focus of his Administration's policy away from the military situation to the need to restore democracy to the Central American country". Cited in: "President Shifts Emphasis From Contra Warfare". Los Angeles Times, 4 May 1987 "The Foreign Connection". The Washington Post. 6 January 1987 Apple, R. W. Jr. (12 March 1986). "Mudslinging over Contras". The New York Times. Retrieved 21 September 2017. "NSDD – National Security Decision Directives – Reagan Administration". Fas.org. 30 May 2008. "Nicaragua". Lcweb2.loc.gov. Retrieved 18 August 2014. "BBC On This Day - 5 - 1984: Sandinistas claim election victory". bbc.co.uk. 5 November 1984. "Nicaraguan Vote: 'Free, Fair, Hotly Contested'" The New York Times, 16 November 1984 Freedom House (2012). "Country ratings and status, FIW 1973-2012" (XLS). Retrieved 22 August 2012. Lee et al. 1987, p.3 Lee et al. 1987, p. 3 "In December 1982, The New York Times reported intelligence officials as saying that Washington's 'covert activities have ... become the most ambitious paramilitary and political action operation mounted by the C.I.A. in nearly a decade ...'" As seen at: Lee et al. 1987, p. 33 "opinion polls indicated that a majority of the public was not supportive." As seen at: Lee et al. 1987, p. 3 "Following disclosure ... that the CIA had a role in connection with the mining of the Nicaraguan harbors ..., public criticism mounted and the administration's Contra policy lost much of its support within Congress". As seen at: Lee et al. 1987, p. 3 "U.S. Delayed Report On Soviets in Nicaragua" The Miami Herald, 18 September 1984 Riesenfeld, Stefan A. (January 1987). "The Powers of Congress and the President in International Relations: Revisited". California Law Review. 75 (1): 405–414. doi:10.2307/3480586. JSTOR 3480586. "The Boland Amendment was part of the Joint Resolution of December 21, 1982, providing further continuing appropriations for the fiscal year 1983" Boyd, Gerald M.; Times, Special To the New York (19 February 1986). "REAGAN SAYS SUPPORT FOR THE CONTRAS MUST GO BEYOND 'BAND-AIDS'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 23 January 2023. "Conservative Think Tank Funneled Money to North Associates". AP NEWS. Retrieved 23 January 2023. "Executive Order 12513--Prohibiting trade and certain other transactions involving Nicaragua" National Archives "Is There a Chance in Nicaragua?" Washington Post, 14 March 1986 "Ortega collects warm words of support on European trip. Yet his visit is unlikely to drum up much concrete aid" Christian Science Monitor, 16 May 1985 John A. Booth; Christine J. Wade; Thomas W. Walker (2014). Understanding Central America: Global Forces, Rebellion, and Change. Avalon Publishing. p. 112. ISBN 9780813349589. Kermit D. Johnson (1997). Ethics and Counterrevolution: American Involvement in Internal Wars. University Press of Americas. p. 19. ISBN 9780761809067. John A. Booth; Christine J. Wade; Thomas W. Walker (2014). Understanding Central America: Global Forces, Rebellion, and Change. Avalon Publishing. p. 107. ISBN 9780813349589. "The Contras did prove adept at carrying out U.S. guerrilla warfare strategies, supplied in the CIA training manuals, which advised them to 'neutralize' civilian leaders, incite mob violence and attack 'soft' targets such as agricultural cooperatives." Thomas W. Walker (1991). Revolution and Counterrevolution in Nicaragua. Westview Press. p. 335. ISBN 9780813308623. The CIA manual, Tayacan, advises the paramilitaries "to neutralize carefully selected and planned targets, such as court judges etc." In the section entitled, "Implicit and Explicit Terror", the manual states that it is necessary to "kidnap all officials or agents of the Sandinista government" or "individuals in tune with the regime", who then should be removed from the town "without damaging them publicly". As noted in: Holly Sklar (1988). Washington's War on Nicaragua. South End Press. p. 179. ISBN 9780813308623. "War Against the Poor: Low-Intensity Conflict and Christian Faith" Archived 6 April 2017 at the Wayback Machine Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, 1989 "Nicaraguan Contra Atrocities" West 57th, 1987, Video: 11:34 Holly Sklar (1988). Washington's War on Nicaragua. South End Press. p. 268. ISBN 9780813308623. "Nicaraguan Contra Atrocities" West 57th, 1987, Video: 11:20 "CIA-assisted 'contras' murdered Sandinistas, official reportedly says" Knight-Ridder, 20 October 1984 Mary J. Ruwart (2003). Healing Our World in an Age of Aggression. SunStar Press. p. 309. ISBN 9780963233660. "Nicaraguan Contra Atrocities" West 57th, 1987, Video: 1:50 "Washington's War on Nicaragua" Holly Sklar, p. 179 John A. Booth; Christine J. Wade; Thomas W. Walker (2014). Understanding Central America: Global Forces, Rebellion, and Change. Avalon Publishing. p. 113. ISBN 9780813349589. Lee et al. 1987, p. 4 "Who Helped Oliver North?" The Spectator, 15 May 1987 "The Contras, cocaine, and covert operations: Documentation of official U.S. knowledge of drug trafficking and the Contras". The National Security Archive / George Washington University. c. 1990. "The Oliver North File". Gwu.edu. Retrieved 17 August 2011. "The Contras, Cocaine, and Covert Operations". gwu.edu. Devereaux, Ryan (25 September 2014). "How the CIA Watched Over the Destruction of Gary Webb". The Intercept. "Kill The Messenger: How The Media Destroyed Gary Webb" Huffington Post, 10/10/2014 "CIA-Contra-Crack Cocaine Controversy". oig.justice.gov. "Conclusions — Central Intelligence Agency". Archived from the original on 27 March 2010. Lee et al. 1987, p. 5 "It also disseminated what one official termed 'white propaganda': pro-Contra newspaper articles by paid consultants who did not disclose their connection to the Administration." As seen at: Lee et al. 1987, p. 5 Lee et al. 1987, p. 6 "Having reached the above conclusion, the Court takes the view that the contras remain responsible for their acts, in particular the alleged violations by them of humanitarian law. For the United States to be legally responsible, it would have to be proved that that State had effective control of the operations in the course of which the alleged violations were committed." As seen at: International Court of Justice 1986, VII (5) "Finds that the United States of America, by producing in 1983 a manual entitled 'Operaciones sicológicas en guerra de guerrillas', and disseminating it to contra forces, has encouraged the commission by them of acts contrary to general principles of humanitarian law." As seen at: International Court of Justice 1986, (9) In the case of shooting "a citizen who was trying to leave the town or city in which the guerrillas are carrying out armed propaganda or political proselytism", the manual suggests that the contras "explain that if that citizen had managed to escape, he would have alerted the enemy." As seen at: Sklar 1988, p. 179 Sklar 1988, p. 181 International Court of Justice 1986, VIII (1) "In any event the evidence is insufficient to satisfy the Court that the Government of Nicaragua was responsible for any flow of arms at either period." As seen at: International Court of Justice 1986, VIII (1) "But the Court, remarkably enough, while finding the United States responsible for intervention in Nicaragua, failed to recognize Nicaragua's prior and continuing intervention in El Salvador." As seen at: International Court of Justice 1986, Dissenting Opinion of Judge Schwebel "concluded that the United States essentially acted lawfully in exerting armed pressures against Nicaragua, both directly and through its support of the contras, because Nicaragua's prior and sustained support of armed insurgency in El Salvador was tantamount to an armed attack upon El Salvador against which the United States could react in collective self-defence in El Salvador's support." As seen at: International Court of Justice 1986, Dissenting Opinion of Judge Schwebel Morrison, Fred L. (January 1987). "Legal Issues in The Nicaragua Opinion". American Journal of International Law. 81 (1): 160–166. doi:10.2307/2202146. JSTOR 2202146. Archived from the original on 5 February 2012. "Appraisals of the ICJ's Decision. Nicaragua vs United States (Merits)" "Human Rights Watch World Report 1993 – Nicaragua". Archived from the original on 9 October 2012. Retrieved 18 September 2009. The Americas Watch Committee (February 1987). "Human Rights in Nicaragua 1986". Americas Watch. Human Rights in Nicaragua 1986, p. 21 Human Rights in Nicaragua 1986, p. 19 Human Rights in Nicaragua 1986, p. 19, 21 Human Rights in Nicaragua 1986, p. 24 "Nicaragua" Human Rights Watch, 1989 "Case Concerning Military and Paramilitary Activities in and Against Nicaragua (Nicaragua V. United States of America): Affidavit of Edgar Chamarro" International Court of Justice, 5 September 1985 The New York Times, 23 November 1984. The New Republic, 20 January 1986; The New Republic, 22 August 1988; The National Interest, Spring 1990. David Asman, "Despair and fear in Managua", The Wall Street Journal, 25 March 1985. Smolowe, Jill (22 December 1986). "Nicaragua Is It Curtains?". Time. Archived from the original on 11 November 2011. "The last major attack, in October along the Rama Road in southern Nicaragua, was considered a success for the guerrillas." As seen at: Lemoyne, James (22 December 1987). "Both Sides Report Heavy Fighting in Rebel Offensive in Nicaragua". The New York Times. Retrieved 30 April 2010. Lemoyne, James (22 December 1987). "Both Sides Report Heavy Fighting in Rebel Offensive in Nicaragua". The New York Times. Retrieved 30 April 2010. Lemoyne, James (2 February 1988). "Contras' Top Fighter Vows No Letup". The New York Times. Meara, William R. Contra Cross: Insurgency And Tyranny in Central America, 1979–1989. U.S. Naval Institute Press, 2006. Kinzer, Stephen (23 July 1987). "Sandinistas report capture of RedEye Missile". The New York Times. Retrieved 30 April 2010. Wicker, Tom (14 August 1989). "Enough Have Died for Nothing in Nicaragua". Wilmington Morning Star. Retrieved 27 June 2011. Ulig, Mark (14 August 1989). "New Regional Accord Leaves Contras in Honduras Fearful but Defiant". The New York Times. Retrieved 27 June 2011. "Sometimes they used force as they rounded up young men for military service, and there were occasional confrontations. But only in the town of Masaya, 19 miles southeast of the capital of Managua, did the conscription spark a full-blown street clash ... For several weeks before the latest outburst in Masaya, the opposition newspaper, La Prensa, had been reporting isolated protests against the draft." As seen at: Kinzer, Stephen (28 February 1988). "The World: Nicaragua; Pushed From Left or Right, Masaya Balks". The New York Times. Retrieved 30 April 2010. "Sandinistas Surviving in a Percentage Game". Envio. December 1988. "Nicaraguans Try Peace Moves While Waiting for U.S. Voters". Envio. November 1988. "Contra Insurgency in Nicaragua". OnWar.com. December 2000. Archived from the original on 29 June 2011. Retrieved 21 May 2011. "U.S. Endorses Contra Plan as Prod to Democracy in Nicaragua" The Washington Post, 9 August 1989 Uhlig, Mark A. (27 February 1990). "Turnover in Nicaragua; Nicaraguan Opposition Routs Sandinistas; U.S. Pledges Aid, Tied to Orderly Turnover". The New York Times. Retrieved 30 April 2010. Bischoping, Katherine; Schuman, Howard (May 1992). "Pens and Polls in Nicaragua: An Analysis of the 1990 Pre-election Surveys". American Journal of Political Science. 36 (2): 331–350. doi:10.2307/2111480. JSTOR 2111480. Retrieved 3 July 2020. "After the Poll Wars-Explaining the Upset". Envio. March 1990. "Bush Vows to End Embargo if Chamorro Wins", The Washington Post, 9 November 1989 "The policy of keeping the contras alive ... also has placed in jeopardy the holding of elections by encouraging contra attacks on the electoral process. Thus, while the Bush administration proclaims its support for human rights and free and fair elections in Nicaragua, it persists in sabotaging both." As seen at: "Nicaragua" Human Rights Watch, 1990 "U.S. trying to disrupt election in Nicaragua, Canadians report" Archived 6 February 2013 at the Wayback Machine The Toronto Star, 27 October 1989 "The Sandinistas Might Lose". The New York Times. 12 February 1990. Retrieved 27 September 2021. Ａ－ＪＡＸ～コナミ・ゲーム・ミュージック VOL.4 A-Jax: Konami Game Music Vol. 4 (booklet). G.M.O. Records / Alfa Records. 28XA-201. References Asleson, Vern. (2004) Nicaragua: Those Passed By. Galde Press ISBN 1-931942-16-1 Belli, Humberto. (1985). Breaking Faith: The Sandinista Revolution and Its Impact on Freedom and Christian Faith in Nicaragua. Crossway Books/The Puebla Institute. Bermudez, Enrique, "The Contras' Valley Forge: How I View the Nicaraguan Crisis", Policy Review, The Heritage Foundation, Summer 1988. Brody, Reed. (1985). Contra Terror in Nicaragua: Report of a Fact-Finding Mission: September 1984 – January 1985. Boston: South End Press. ISBN 0-89608-313-6. Brown, Timothy. (2001). The Real Contra War: Highlander Peasant Resistance in Nicaragua. University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0-8061-3252-3. Chamorro, Edgar. (1987). Packaging the Contras: A Case of CIA Disinformation. New York: Institute for Media Analysis. ISBN 0-941781-08-9; ISBN 0-941781-07-0. Christian, Shirley. (1986) Nicaragua, Revolution in the Family. New York: Vintage Books. Cox, Jack. (1987) Requiem in the Tropics: Inside Central America. UCA Books. Cruz S., Arturo J. (1989). Memoirs of a Counterrevolutionary. (1989). New York: Doubleday. Dickey, Christopher. (1985, 1987). With the Contras: A Reporter in the Wilds of Nicaragua. New York: Simon & Schuster. Garvin, Glenn. (1992). Everybody Had His Own Gringo: The CIA and the Contras. Washington: Brassey's. Gill, Terry D. (1989). Litigation strategy at the International Court: a case study of the Nicaragua v United States dispute. Dordrecht. ISBN 978-0-7923-0332-9. Gugliota, Guy. (1989). Kings of Cocaine Inside the Medellin Cartel. Simon and Schuster. Horton, Lynn. Peasants in Arms: War and Peace in the Mountains of Nicaragua, 1979–1994. (1998). Athens: Ohio University Center for International Studies. International Court of Justice (1986) "Military and Paramilitary Activities in and Against Nicaragua (Nicaragua v. United States Of America) – Summary of the Judgment of 27 June 1986". International Court of Justice. Retrieved 20 May 2011. International Court of Justice (IV) (1986) "Case concerning Military and Paramilitary Activities in and Against Nicaragua (Nicaragua v. United States of America), Vol. IV – pleadings, oral arguments, documents" (PDF). International Court of Justice. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 December 2011. Retrieved 2 June 2011. Hamilton, Lee H. et al. (1987) "Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran/Contra Affair" Johns, Michael "The Lessons of Afghanistan: Bipartisan Support for Freedom Fighters Pays Off", Policy Review, Spring 1987. Kirkpatrick, Jeane J. (1982) Dictatorships and Double Standards. Touchstone. ISBN 0-671-43836-0 Miranda, Roger, and William Ratliff. (1993, 1994) The Civil War in Nicaragua: Inside the Sandinistas. New Brunswick, NY: Transaction Publishers. Moore, John Norton (1987). The Secret War in Central America: Sandinista Assault on World Order. University Publications of America. Pardo-Maurer, Rogelio. (1990) The Contras, 1980–1989: A Special Kind of Politics. New York: Praeger. Sklar, H. (1988) "Washington's war on Nicaragua" South End Press. ISBN 0-89608-295-4

The dark side of history: https://thememoryhole.substack.com/ John J. Caulfield (March 12, 1929 – June 17, 2012)[1] was an American security operative and law enforcement officer. He was a member of the Richard Nixon administration around the time of the Watergate Scandal, though he avoided prosecution. Biography Caulfield was born in The Bronx, New York City. He attended Wake Forest University on a basketball scholarship as well as Fordham University and the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. He served in the United States Army during the Korean War. From 1953 to 1968, he was an officer with the New York City Police Department (NYPD).[2] In 1968, Caulfield left the NYPD and joined the Nixon administration as a security operative. He was involved in Operation Sandwedge with H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, where he was tasked with setting up a clandestine intelligence-gathering operation against the political enemies of the Nixon administration. At one point, Caulfield suggested firebombing the Brookings Institution, a think tank critical of Nixon.[1] For his part, Caulfield said the idea had originated not with him but with Charles Colson, special counsel to the president, and that he, Caulfield, had actually pleaded with White House Counsel John Dean to get him out of the "asinine" assignment. Colson denied coming up with the idea, although an associate said he might have suggested it as a "joke." In any event, the plan was dropped. [3] In 1972, Caulfield was appointed as assistant director of criminal enforcement at the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). In 1973, while at the ATF, Caulfield was sent by the Nixon administration to offer clemency to Watergate Hotel burglar James W. McCord Jr. in an attempt to prevent McCord from testifying against the administration. McCord was eventually sentenced to prison for his involvement in Watergate. Caulfield testified before the United States Senate Watergate Committee but avoided prosecution. Before testifying, he resigned from the ATF after serving only nine months.[2] Caulfield's later career was as an executive at an aerosol valve plant in Yonkers, New York. The plant was owned by Robert Abplanalp, a close friend of Nixon's. Caulfield died in 2012 in Vero Beach, Florida, survived by his wife, three sons, and nine grandchildren.[2] References "Jack Caulfield". The Telegraph. July 11, 2012. Martin, Douglas (June 22, 2012). "Jack Caulfield, Bearer of a Watergate Message, Dies at 83". The New York Times. Retrieved November 3, 2016. Nightmare: The Underside of the Nixon Years by J. Anthony Lukas, Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press, 1999, ISBN 0-8214-1287-6, pp. 89-90. Authority control databases Edit this at Wikidata NARA Categories: Fordham University alumniWake Forest University alumniJohn Jay College of Criminal Justice alumniATF agentsMilitary personnel from New York CityNew York City Police Department officersNixon administration personnelNixon administration personnel involved in the Watergate scandal1929 births2012 deaths Eugenio Rolando Martínez Careaga[1] (alias Musculito, July 8, 1922 – January 30, 2021) was a member of the anti-Castro movement in the early 1960s, and later was one of the five men recruited by G. Gordon Liddy and E. Howard Hunt in 1972 for the Memorial Day weekend Watergate burglary at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters in Washington, D.C. He later worked as a real estate agent.[2] Weeks after the initial break-in, on June 17, 1972, the men were arrested by District of Columbia Police inside DNC headquarters during what they said was a second entry into the building to correct problems with the first break-in. Martinez and the others were convicted in the ensuing Watergate scandal. The others were Frank Sturgis, Virgilio Gonzalez, Bernard Barker and James McCord. After completing his 15 month prison term,[3] Martinez was pardoned by President Ronald Reagan in 1983.[4] Martínez was the only person aside from Nixon to receive a pardon for his role in the scandal.[3] Martinez was portrayed in All the President's Men, the 1976 film retelling the events of the Watergate scandal, by Dominic Chianese. On August 31, 2016, the conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch obtained CIA internal documents, through a FOIA request, that stated Martinez was a paid asset of the Agency at the time of the break-in. Although his connection to the Agency was acknowledged, until this release the CIA had maintained that his service had ended and he no longer had an association with the Agency for at least two years prior to the incident at the Watergate Hotel.[2] He died on January 30, 2021, at his daughter's home in Minneola, Florida at the age of 98.[5] References Sam Roberts, "Eugenio Martínez, Last of the Watergate Burglars, Dies at 98," The New York Times, February 2, 2021. CIA author classified (August 22, 1973). "Subject: Eugenio R. Martinez" (PDF). Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved December 5, 2017. {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help) "Eugenio Martínez, Watergate burglar whose bungled break-in led to Nixon’s fall, dies," Los Angeles Times, February 12, 2021. Welch, William M. (November 26, 1987). "Power To Pardon Unquestioned And Often Used By Reagan". Associated Press. AP. Retrieved December 30, 2012. Smiley, David (February 1, 2021). "Eugenio Rolando Martínez, Watergate burglar and former CIA asset in Miami, dies at 98". MiamiHerald.com. Miami Herald. Retrieved February 2, 2021. Howard J. Osborn was a former Director of Security at the Central Intelligence Agency who was forced to resign because he withheld documents from the FBI and the Watergate Congressional Committee. He withheld a memorandum detailing a visit by Lee R. Pennington, Jr. to the residence of Watergate burglar James W. McCord, Jr. shortly after the Watergate break-in. At McCord's home, Pennington witnessed McCord's wife burning documents which might have shown a link between McCord and the CIA.[1][2] Early life and education Osborn was born in New Jersey on March 6, 1918, the son of Eugene Chester Osborn and Jessie Everett Turner Osborn.[3] The family moved to Hamburg, NY in 1922, where Osborn attend school and graduated from Hamburg High School with classmate E. Howard Hunt in 1936.[4] Osborn attended college at the University of Michigan and graduated from Virginia Polytechnic Institute.[5] World War II Osborn was commissioned US Army 2nd Lieutenant at Fort Monroe, Virginia on July 22, 1941.[6] He served 5 years and was discharged as a Major in 1946. CIA career Osborn was employed by the CIA for 27 years, from 1947 to 1974. He was Director of Security from July 1, 1964, until March 8, 1974, when he went on sick leave and retired the following December 31.[7] Most of Osborn's work at the CIA is shrouded in the CIA's veil of secrecy. Some of his activities have been revealed through release of documents and his testimony at congressional hearings. Oleg Penkovsky In a May 23, 1963, Memo to the deputy director of Plans, Osborn, then Chief of the SR (Soviet-Russian) Division, wrote regarding Oleg Penkovsky: "we have concluded that there is no possibility that this case represents planned deception, build-up for deception, fabrication, or double agent activity. Rather it represents the most serious penetration of Soviet officialdom ever accomplished and one that will hurt them for years to come." Penkovsky had been supplying American and British intelligence officials with information for 18 months from April 1961 to October 1962 when he was arrested, tried and executed on May 16, 1963.[8] Call to Richard Helms On the night of the Watergate burglary, Osborn called CIA Director Richard Helms at home to inform him that five men had been arrested in a break-in at the Democratic Party National Headquarters at the Watergate. He told Helms that the group included James McCord who had retired from the CIA two years prior and had been supervised by Osborn when McCord was employed at the CIA. He also told Helms that former CIA officer Howard Hunt was involved in some way, this was before the police knew Hunt was involved.[9] Pennington Matter Lee R. Pennington, Jr., an old family friend of the Ruth and James McCord, visited the McCord home shortly after the Watergate Burglary. There he witnessed Ruth McCord burning documents which he thought might have linked the CIA to Watergate. He reported the incident to his CIA bosses and a CIA memo was written. Osborn withheld the memo about the Pennington visit from the CIA report which was furnished to the United States Senate Watergate Committee. The Pennington memo was eventually provided to the committee and Osborn was forced to retire over the matter.[1][10] Rockefeller Commission On February 17, 1975, Osborn testified for three hours behind a closed door session of the United States President's Commission on CIA Activities within the United States, known as the Rockefeller Commission. Osborn's remarks have never been made public, however, CIA Director William Colby has acknowledged that Osborn's Office of Security was responsible for inserting agents into dissident organizations to gather information relating to plans for demonstrations, pickets, protests or break-ins. Another operation under Osborn's security office involved surreptitious entry into the homes and offices of agency employees and former employees suspected of security violations.[11][12][13] HTLINGUAL From 1952 to 1973 the CIA was involved in a mail opening project called HTLINGUAL. On October 21, 1975, Osborn voluntarily appeared before the US Senate Select Committee investigating Intelligence activities, known as the Church Committee, with regards to mail opening. In his testimony, Osborn revealed that the CIA was not only removing letters from the Post Office for photocopying and examining the exteriors of the letters, it also opened some of the mail without the Post Office's knowledge, and had at least on one occasion, opened and copied a letter to an unnamed US Congressman. These operations were being conducted in New York City and San Francisco. Osborn acknowledged that he knew what the CIA was doing was illegal.[7] Personal life and death Osborn married Elizabeth Erskine of Oakland, CA on December 12, 1942, in Westport, CT.[14] They had three children, a daughter and two sons. Osborn died May 14, 1984, from lung cancer and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.[15] References Crewdson, John M. (July 3, 1974). "C.I.A. Is Criticized Over Watergate". The New York Times. Retrieved February 7, 2023. Anderson, Jack (April 2, 1974). "Watergate Forces Retirement at CIA". The Washington Post. Retrieved February 7, 2023. "Eugene C. Osborn Succeeds Allen". Buffalo Evening News. No. Page One. February 12, 1936. "Hamburg Senior Class is Large". Buffalo Evening News. No. 21. June 9, 1936. "Social Activities". Erie County Independent. No. Page 2. July 23, 1942. "20 Cadets Given Commissions At ROTC Camp End At Monroe". Daily Press. No. Page 9. July 23, 1941. "HEARINGS BEFORE THE SELECT COMMITTEE TO STUDY GOVERNMENTAL OPERATIONS WITH RESPECT TO INTELLIGENCE ACTIVITIES OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE NINETY-FOURTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION" (PDF). United States Senate. October 21, 1975. Retrieved February 7, 2023. "Memo for DDP From Howard J. Osborn re: Oleg V. Penkovskiy and Bona fides of the P" (PDF). The CIA. May 23, 1963. Retrieved February 7, 2023. Helms, Richard; Hood, William (May 4, 2003). A Look Over My Shoulder. Random House. ISBN 0812971086. Retrieved February 8, 2023. Squires, Jim (March 26, 1974). "CIA Agent, McCord's Wife Burned Data". The Miami Herald. No. Page 14-A. Chicago Tribune Service. "Ex-C.I.A. Security Chief Testifies With a Lawyer". The New York Times. No. 27. February 18, 1975. Retrieved February 8, 2023. "CIA Probers Hear Former Security Chief". New York Daily News. No. 14. February 18, 1975. "The CIA and Watergate: Osborn Link Probed". Courier-Post. No. Page 3. February 18, 1975. "Weddings and Engagements Osborn-Erskine". Buffalo Courier Express. No. Sec 7, page 11. December 27, 1942. "Arlington National Cemetery". ancexplorer.army.mil. US Gov. Retrieved February 8, 2023. Categories: 1918 births1984 deathsPeople from Hamburg, New YorkVirginia Tech alumniUnited States Army personnel of World War IIPeople of the Central Intelligence AgencyBurials at Arlington National Cemetery The "Family Jewels" is the name of a set of reports detailing illegal, inappropriate and otherwise sensitive activities conducted by the Central Intelligence Agency from 1959 to 1973.[1] William Colby, the CIA director who received the reports, dubbed them the "skeletons in the CIA's closet".[1] Most of the documents were released on June 25, 2007, after more than three decades of secrecy.[2][3] The non-governmental National Security Archive filed a request for the documents under the Freedom of Information Act fifteen years before their release.[4][2] Background The reports that constitute the CIA's "Family Jewels" were commissioned in 1973 by then CIA director James R. Schlesinger in response to press accounts of CIA involvement in the Watergate scandal—in particular, support to the burglars, E. Howard Hunt and James McCord, both CIA veterans.[1] On May 7, 1973, Schlesinger signed a directive commanding senior officers to compile a report of current or past CIA actions that may have fallen outside the agency's charter.[5] The resulting report, which was in the form of a 693-page loose-leaf book of memos, was passed on to William Colby when he succeeded Schlesinger as Director of Central Intelligence in late 1973.[6] Leaks and official release Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh revealed some of the contents of the "Family Jewels" in a front-page New York Times article in December 1974,[7] in which he reported that: The Central Intelligence Agency, directly violating its charter, conducted a massive, illegal domestic intelligence operation during the Nixon Administration against the antiwar movement and other dissident groups in the United States according to well-placed Government sources.[8] Additional details of the contents trickled out over the years, but requests by journalists and historians for access to the documents under the Freedom of Information Act were long denied. Finally, in June 2007, CIA Director Michael Hayden announced that the documents would be released to the public at an announcement made to the annual meeting of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations.[1] A six-page summary of the reports was made available at the National Security Archive (based at George Washington University), with the following introduction: The Central Intelligence Agency violated its charter for 25 years until revelations of illegal wiretapping, domestic surveillance, assassination plots, and human experimentation led to official investigations and reforms in the 1970s.[4] The complete set of documents, with some redactions (including a number of pages in their entirety), was released on the CIA website on June 25, 2007.[9] Congressional investigators had access to the "Family Jewels" in the 1970s, and its existence was known for years before its declassification.[10][a] Content The reports describe numerous activities conducted by the CIA from the 1950s to 1970s that may have violated its charter. According to a briefing provided by CIA Director William Colby to the Justice Department on December 31, 1974, these included 18 issues which were of legal concern:[12] Confinement of a KGB defector, Yuri Ivanovich Nosenko, that "might be regarded as a violation of the kidnapping laws" Wiretapping of two syndicated columnists, Robert Allen and Paul Scott (see also Project Mockingbird)[12] Physical surveillance of investigative journalist and muckraker Jack Anderson and his associates, including Les Whitten of The Washington Post and future Fox News Channel anchor and managing editor Brit Hume. Jack Anderson had written two articles on CIA-backed assassination attempts on Cuban leader Fidel Castro Physical surveillance of Michael Getler, then a Washington Post reporter, who was later an ombudsman for The Washington Post and PBS Break-in at the home of a former CIA employee Break-in at the office of a former defector Warrantless entry into the apartment of a former CIA employee Opening of mail to and from the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1973 (including letters associated with actress Jane Fonda) (project SRPOINTER/HTLINGUAL at JFK airport) Opening of mail to and from the People's Republic of China from 1969 to 1972 (project SRPOINTER/HTLINGUAL at JFK airport – see also Project SHAMROCK by the NSA) Funding of behavior modification research on unwitting US citizens, including unscientific, non-consensual human experiments[13] (see also Project MKULTRA concerning LSD experiments) Assassination plots against Cuban President Fidel Castro; DR Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba; President Rafael Trujillo of the Dominican Republic; and René Schneider, Commander-in-chief of the Chilean Army. All of these plots were said to be unsuccessful[14] Surveillance of dissident groups between 1967 and 1971 (see Project RESISTANCE, Project MERRIMAC and Operation CHAOS) Surveillance of a particular Latin American female, and of US citizens in Detroit Surveillance of former CIA officer and Agency critic Victor Marchetti, author of the book The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence, published in 1974 Amassing of files on 9,900-plus US citizens related to the antiwar movement (see Project RESISTANCE, Project MERRIMAC and Operation CHAOS) Polygraph experiments with the sheriff of San Mateo County, California Fake CIA identification documents that might violate state laws Testing of electronic equipment on US telephone circuits Reactions to release Then-President of Cuba, Fidel Castro, who was the target of multiple CIA assassination attempts reported in these documents, responded to their release on July 1, 2007, saying that the United States was still a "killing machine" and that the revealing of the documents was an attempt at diversion.[15][16] David Corn of the magazine The Nation wrote that one key 'jewel' had been redacted and remained classified.[17] Writing for The New York Times, Amy Zegart wrote: "Given all the illegal activities actually listed in this document, the hidden sections are all the more disturbing."[18] In 2009, Daniel L. Pines, the Assistant General Counsel of the Office of General Counsel within the CIA, wrote a law review published in the Indiana Law Journal challenging the assertion that most of the activities described within the Family Jewels were illegal during the time they were conducted.[19] In his conclusion, Pines wrote: "Admittedly, several of the operations mounted during that period failed to comply fully with the laws then in place. Yet, the vast majority of those operations did. Further, except for unconsenting human experimentation, each of the main types of activities depicted in the Family Jewels – targeted killings of foreign leaders, electronic surveillance of Americans, examination of U.S. mail, and collecting information on American dissident movements – was legal in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s."[20] Mafia involvement in assassination attempts on Fidel Castro Main article: Assassination attempts on Fidel Castro See also: Cuban Project According to the Family Jewels documents released, members of the American mafia were involved in CIA attempts to assassinate Cuban leader Fidel Castro.[21] The documents showed that the CIA recruited Robert Maheu, an ex-FBI agent and aide to Howard Hughes in Las Vegas, to approach Johnny Roselli under the pretense of representing international corporations that wanted Castro dead due to lost gambling interests.[21] Roselli introduced Maheu to mobster leaders Sam Giancana and Santo Trafficante, Jr.[21] Supplied with six poison pills from the CIA, Giancana and Trafficante tried unsuccessfully to have people place the poison in Castro's food.[21] See also Black operation Church Committee COINTELPRO Human rights violations by the CIA Kerry Committee report Operation Northwoods Pike Committee Richard Helms Rockefeller Commission Note For example, in the August 27, 1988 edition of The Nation, David Corn wrote: "The public pillorying of the C.I.A. and the baring of its darkest secrets - what insiders call the family jewels - led to a loss of face for the spooks and a free fall in Company morale."[11] References DeYoung, Karen; Walter Pincus (2007-06-22). "CIA to Air Decades of Its Dirty Laundry". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2007-06-22. DeYoung, Karen; Walter Pincus (2007-06-27). "CIA Releases Files on Past Misdeeds". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2017-10-26. "C.I.A. Releases Files on Misdeeds From the Past". The New York Times. 2007-06-26. Retrieved 2007-06-26.[dead link] "The CIA's Family Jewels". "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-07-28. Retrieved 2011-05-03. Prados, John (2006). Safe for Democracy: The Secret Wars of the CIA. Ivan R. Dee. p. 432. ISBN 9781615780112. Image of the article: "Huge C.I.A. operation reported in U.S. against antiwar forces, other dissidents in Nixon years". Seymour Hersh, The New York Times, 22 December 1974. (Reproduced by permission of copy right holder; further reproduction prohibited.) Hersh, Seymour (1974-12-22). "Huge C.I.A. operation reported in U.S. against antiwar forces, other dissidents in Nixon years". The New York Times. p. 1. "Family Jewels" (PDF). foia.cia.gov. Corn, David (June 26, 2007). "Where's the CIA's Missing Jewel?". The Nation. Retrieved June 4, 2020. Corn, David (August 27, 1988). "Bush's C.I.A.; The Same Old Dirty Tricks" (PDF). The Nation. p. 157. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 23, 2017. Retrieved June 4, 2020. James A. Wilderotter (1975-01-03). "Memorandum: CIA Matters" (PDF). National Security Archive. Retrieved 2007-06-22. 4 documents relating to Dr. Sidney Gottlieb: CIA Science and Technology Directorate Chief Carl Duckett "thinks the Director would be ill-advised to say he is acquainted with this program" (Sidney Gottlieb's drug experiments) Memo of conversation, January 3, 1975, between President Gerald Ford, William Colby, etc., made available by the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library Fidel Castro, La máquina de matar, Juventud Rebelde, July 1, 2007.(in Spanish) Castro: US is still a 'killing machine', Associated Press, published in The Miami Herald, July 1, 2007 (in English) Corn, David (June 26, 2007). "Where's the CIA's Missing Jewel?". The Nation. Archived from the original on 2017-11-11. Retrieved August 15, 2015. Zegart, Amy (June 26, 2007). "Keeping Track of All the Redactions". The New York Times. New York. Retrieved October 22, 2014. Pines, Daniel L. (2009). "The Central Intelligence Agency's "Family Jewels": Legal Then? Legal Now?". Indiana Law Journal. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Maurer School of Law. 84 (2, Article 6): 637. Retrieved June 3, 2020. Pines 2009, p. 687. Snow, Anita (June 27, 2007). "CIA Plot to Kill Castro Detailed". The Washington Post. Washington, D.C. AP. Retrieved November 22, 2014. External links Family Jewels at the CIA Family Jewels at the George Washington University (searchable PDF) From the CIA Oral History Archives: Reflections of DCI Colby and Helms on the CIA's "Time of Troubles" (archived)

Delves into the intricate world of clandestine operations and espionage. Set against the backdrop of the Cold War era, the movie intricately weaves together various facets of espionage, offering a captivating insight into the covert activities of agents operating in a high-stakes environment. The film captures the tension and secrecy inherent in espionage through its portrayal of personal meetings, where agents navigate intricate webs of deceit and danger while trying to gather crucial information. These meetings often serve as the nerve center of the clandestine operations, showcasing the strategic and high-stakes nature of intelligence gathering. Additionally, "Appointment with Adventure" portrays the activities of agents as they engage in covert missions, using their wits and skills to navigate through perilous situations, highlighting the risks and sacrifices involved in their line of work. The film also explores the clandestine communications utilized by spies to relay sensitive information, showcasing the sophisticated methods employed to ensure secrecy and confidentiality in their exchanges. Whether through codes, encrypted messages, or hidden signals, the movie sheds light on the complexity of communication in the world of espionage. Surveillance plays a pivotal role in the narrative, depicting the art of monitoring and observing targets, unveiling the intricate techniques used to gather intelligence while remaining undetected. The tension and suspense escalate as agents surveil their targets, knowing that a single misstep could jeopardize the entire operation. Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence). A person who commits espionage is called an espionage agent or spy.[1] Any individual or spy ring (a cooperating group of spies), in the service of a government, company, criminal organization, or independent operation, can commit espionage. The practice is clandestine, as it is by definition unwelcome. In some circumstances, it may be a legal tool of law enforcement and in others, it may be illegal and punishable by law. Espionage is often part of an institutional effort by a government or commercial concern. However, the term tends to be associated with state spying on potential or actual enemies for military purposes. Spying involving corporations is known as industrial espionage. One way to gather data and information about a targeted organization is by infiltrating its ranks. Spies can then return information such as the size and strength of enemy forces. They can also find dissidents within the organization and influence them to provide further information or to defect.[2] In times of crisis, spies steal technology and sabotage the enemy in various ways. Counterintelligence is the practice of thwarting enemy espionage and intelligence-gathering. Almost all sovereign states have strict laws concerning espionage, including those who practice espionage in other countries, and the penalties for being caught are often severe. History Main article: History of espionage Espionage has been recognized as of importance in military affairs since ancient times. The oldest known classified document was a report made by a spy disguised as a diplomatic envoy in the court of King Hammurabi, who died in around 1750 BC. The ancient Egyptians had a developed secret service, and espionage is mentioned in the Iliad, the Bible, and the Amarna letters as well as its recordings in the story of the Old Testament, The Twelve Spies.[3] Espionage was also prevalent in the Greco-Roman world, when spies employed illiterate subjects in civil services.[citation needed][4] The thesis that espionage and intelligence has a central role in war as well as peace was first advanced in The Art of War and in the Arthashastra. In the Middle Ages European states excelled at what has later been termed counter-subversion when Catholic inquisitions were staged to annihilate heresy. Inquisitions were marked by centrally organised mass interrogations and detailed record keeping. During the Renaissance European states funded codebreakers to obtain intelligence through frequency analysis. Western espionage changed fundamentally during the Renaissance when Italian city-states installed resident ambassadors in capital cities to collect intelligence. Renaissance Venice became so obsessed with espionage that the Council of Ten, which was nominally responsible for security, did not even allow the doge to consult government archives freely. In 1481 the Council of Ten barred all Venetian government officials from making contact with ambassadors or foreigners. Those revealing official secrets could face the death penalty. Venice became obsessed with espionage because successful international trade demanded that the city-state could protect its trade secrets. Under Queen Elizabeth I of England (r. 1558–1603), Francis Walsingham (c. 1532–1590) was appointed foreign secretary and intelligence chief.[5] The novelist and journalist Daniel Defoe (died 1731) not only spied for the British government, but also developed a theory of espionage foreshadowing modern police-state methods.[6] During the American Revolution, Nathan Hale and Benedict Arnold achieved their fame as spies, and there was considerable use of spies on both sides during the American Civil War.[7][8] Though not a spy himself, George Washington was America's first spymaster, utilizing espionage tactics against the British.[3] Madame Minna Craucher (right), a Finnish socialite and spy, with her chauffeur Boris Wolkowski (left) in 1930s In the 20th century, at the height of World War I, all great powers except the United States had elaborate civilian espionage systems and all national military establishments had intelligence units. In order to protect the country against foreign agents, the U.S. Congress passed the Espionage Act of 1917. Mata Hari, who obtained information for Germany by seducing French officials, was the most noted espionage agent of World War I. Prior to World War II, Germany and Imperial Japan established elaborate espionage nets. In 1942 the Office of Strategic Services was founded by Gen. William J. Donovan. However, the British system was the keystone of Allied intelligence. Numerous resistance groups such as the Austrian Maier-Messner Group, the French Resistance, the Witte Brigade, Milorg and the Polish Home Army worked against Nazi Germany and provided the Allied secret services with information that was very important for the war effort. Since the end of World War II, the activity of espionage has enlarged, much of it growing out of the Cold War between the United States and the former USSR. The Russian Empire and its successor, the Soviet Union have had a long tradition of espionage ranging from the Okhrana to the KGB (Committee for State Security), which also acted as a secret police force. In the United States, the 1947 National Security Act created the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to coordinate intelligence and the National Security Agency for research into codes and electronic communication. In addition to these, the United States has 13 other intelligence gathering agencies; most of the U.S. expenditures for intelligence gathering are budgeted to various Defense Dept. agencies and their programs. Under the intelligence reorganization of 2004, the director of national intelligence is responsible for overseeing and coordinating the activities and budgets of the U.S. intelligence agencies. In the Cold War, espionage cases included Alger Hiss and Whittaker Chambers and the Rosenberg Case. In 1952 the Communist Chinese captured two CIA agents, and in 1960 Francis Gary Powers, flying a U-2 reconnaissance mission over the Soviet Union for the CIA, was shot down and captured. During the Cold War, many Soviet intelligence officials defected to the West, including Gen. Walter Krivitsky, Victor Kravchenko, Vladimir Petrov, Peter Deriabin Pawel Monat, and Oleg Penkovsky, of the GRU. Among Western officials who defected to the Soviet Union are Guy Burgess and Donald D. Maclean of Great Britain in 1951, Otto John of West Germany in 1954, William H. Martin and Bernon F. Mitchell, U.S. cryptographers, in 1960, and Harold (Kim) Philby of Great Britain in 1962. U.S. acknowledgment of its U-2 flights and the exchange of Francis Gary Powers for Rudolf Abel in 1962 implied the legitimacy of some espionage as an arm of foreign policy. China has a very cost-effective intelligence program that is especially effective in monitoring neighboring countries such as Mongolia, Russia, and India. Smaller countries can also mount effective and focused espionage efforts. For instance, the Vietnamese communists had consistently superior intelligence during the Vietnam War. Some Islamic countries, including Libya, Iran, and Syria, have highly developed operations as well. SAVAK, the secret police of the Pahlavi dynasty, was particularly feared by Iranian dissidents before the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Modern day Today, spy agencies target the illegal drug trade and terrorists as well as state actors.[9] Intelligence services value certain intelligence collection techniques over others. The former Soviet Union, for example, preferred human sources over research in open sources, while the United States has tended to emphasize technological methods such as SIGINT and IMINT. In the Soviet Union, both political (KGB) and military intelligence (GRU)[10] officers were judged by the number of agents they recruited. Targets of espionage Espionage agents are usually trained experts in a targeted field so they can differentiate mundane information from targets of value to their own organizational development. Correct identification of the target at its execution is the sole purpose of the espionage operation.[citation needed] Broad areas of espionage targeting expertise include:[citation needed] Natural resources: strategic production identification and assessment (food, energy, materials). Agents are usually found among bureaucrats who administer these resources in their own countries Popular sentiment towards domestic and foreign policies (popular, middle class, elites). Agents often recruited from field journalistic crews, exchange postgraduate students and sociology researchers Strategic economic strengths (production, research, manufacture, infrastructure). Agents recruited from science and technology academia, commercial enterprises, and more rarely from among military technologists Military capability intelligence (offensive, defensive, manoeuvre, naval, air, space). Agents are trained by military espionage education facilities and posted to an area of operation with covert identities to minimize prosecution Counterintelligence operations targeting opponents' intelligence services themselves, such as breaching the confidentiality of communications, and recruiting defectors or moles Methods and terminology Although the news media may speak of "spy satellites" and the like, espionage is not a synonym for all intelligence-gathering disciplines. It is a specific form of human source intelligence (HUMINT). Codebreaking (cryptanalysis or COMINT), aircraft or satellite photography (IMINT), and analysis of publicly available data sources (OSINT) are all intelligence gathering disciplines, but none of them is considered espionage. Many HUMINT activities, such as prisoner interrogation, reports from military reconnaissance patrols and from diplomats, etc., are not considered espionage. Espionage is the disclosure of sensitive information (classified) to people who are not cleared for that information or access to that sensitive information. Unlike other forms of intelligence collection disciplines, espionage usually involves accessing the place where the desired information is stored or accessing the people who know the information and will divulge it through some kind of subterfuge. There are exceptions to physical meetings, such as the Oslo Report, or the insistence of Robert Hanssen in never meeting the people who bought his information. The US defines espionage towards itself as "the act of obtaining, delivering, transmitting, communicating, or receiving information about the national defence with an intent, or reason to believe, that the information may be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation". Black's Law Dictionary (1990) defines espionage as: "... gathering, transmitting, or losing ... information related to the national defense". Espionage is a violation of United States law, 18 U.S.C. §§ 792–798 and Article 106a of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.[11] The United States, like most nations, conducts espionage against other nations, under the control of the National Clandestine Service. This article needs to be updated. The reason given is: What about the Defense Department, and the Director of National Intelligence?. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (December 2021) Britain's espionage activities are controlled by the Secret Intelligence Service. Technology and techniques See also: Tradecraft and List of intelligence gathering disciplines Agent handling Biographic leverage Concealment device Covert agent Covert listening device Cut-out Cyber spying Dead drop False flag operations Front organisation Honeypot Impersonation Impostor Interrogation Non-official cover Numbers messaging Official cover One-way voice link Sabotage Safe house Side channel attack Spy ship Steganography Surveillance Surveillance aircraft Surveillance balloon Source:[12] Organization An intelligence officer's clothing, accessories, and behavior must be as unremarkable as possible—their lives (and others') may depend on it. A spy is a person employed to seek out top secret information from a source.[13] Within the United States Intelligence Community, "asset" is more common usage. A case officer or Special Agent, who may have diplomatic status (i.e., official cover or non-official cover), supports and directs the human collector. Cut-outs are couriers who do not know the agent or case officer but transfer messages. A safe house is a refuge for spies. Spies often seek to obtain secret information from another source. In larger networks, the organization can be complex with many methods to avoid detection, including clandestine cell systems. Often the players have never met. Case officers are stationed in foreign countries to recruit and supervise intelligence agents,[13] who in turn spy on targets in the countries where they are assigned. A spy need not be a citizen of the target country and hence does not automatically commit treason when operating within it. While the more common practice is to recruit a person already trusted with access to sensitive information, sometimes a person with a well-prepared synthetic identity (cover background), called a legend[13] in tradecraft, may attempt to infiltrate a target organization. These agents can be moles (who are recruited before they get access to secrets), defectors (who are recruited after they get access to secrets and leave their country) or defectors in place (who get access but do not leave). A legend is also employed for an individual who is not an illegal agent, but is an ordinary citizen who is "relocated", for example, a "protected witness". Nevertheless, such a non-agent very likely will also have a case officer who will act as a controller. As in most, if not all synthetic identity schemes, for whatever purpose (illegal or legal), the assistance of a controller is required. Spies may also be used to spread disinformation in the organization in which they are planted, such as giving false reports about their country's military movements, or about a competing company's ability to bring a product to market. Spies may be given other roles that also require infiltration, such as sabotage. Many governments spy on their allies as well as their enemies, although they typically maintain a policy of not commenting on this. Governments also employ private companies to collect information on their behalf such as SCG International Risk, International Intelligence Limited and others. Many organizations, both national and non-national, conduct espionage operations. It should not be assumed that espionage is always directed at the most secret operations of a target country. National and terrorist organizations and other groups are also targeted.[14] This is because governments want to retrieve information that they can use to be proactive in protecting their nation from potential terrorist attacks. Communications both are necessary to espionage and clandestine operations, and also a great vulnerability when the adversary has sophisticated SIGINT detection and interception capability. Spies rely on COVCOM or covert communication through technically advanced spy devices.[3] Agents must also transfer money securely. Industrial espionage Main article: Industrial espionage Reportedly Canada is losing $12 billion[15] and German companies are estimated to be losing about €50 billion ($87 billion) and 30,000 jobs[16] to industrial espionage every year. Agents in espionage In espionage jargon, an "agent" is the person who does the spying. They may be a citizen of a country recruited by that country to spy on another; a citizen of a country recruited by that country to carry out false flag assignments disrupting his own country; a citizen of one country who is recruited by a second country to spy on or work against his own country or a third country, and more. In popular usage, this term is sometimes confused with an intelligence officer, intelligence operative, or case officer who recruits and handles agents. Among the most common forms of agent are: Agent provocateur: instigates trouble or provides information to gather as many people as possible into one location for an arrest. Intelligence agent: provides access to sensitive information through the use of special privileges. If used in corporate intelligence gathering, this may include gathering information of a corporate business venture or stock portfolio. In economic intelligence, "Economic Analysts may use their specialized skills to analyze and interpret economic trends and developments, assess and track foreign financial activities, and develop new econometric and modelling methodologies."[17] This may also include information of trade or tariff. Agent-of-influence: provides political influence in an area of interest, possibly including publications needed to further an intelligence service agenda.[13] The use of the media to print a story to mislead a foreign service into action, exposing their operations while under surveillance. Double agent: engages in clandestine activity for two intelligence or security services (or more in joint operations), who provides information about one or about each to the other, and who wittingly withholds significant information from one on the instructions of the other or is unwittingly manipulated by one so that significant facts are withheld from the adversary. Peddlers, fabricators, and others who work for themselves rather than a service are not double agents because they are not agents. The fact that double agents have an agent relationship with both sides distinguishes them from penetrations, who normally are placed with the target service in a staff or officer capacity."[18] Redoubled agent: forced to mislead the foreign intelligence service after being caught as a double agent. Unwitting double agent: offers or is forced to recruit as a double or redoubled agent and in the process is recruited by either a third-party intelligence service or his own government without the knowledge of the intended target intelligence service or the agent. This can be useful in capturing important information from an agent that is attempting to seek allegiance with another country. The double agent usually has knowledge of both intelligence services and can identify operational techniques of both, thus making third-party recruitment difficult or impossible. The knowledge of operational techniques can also affect the relationship between the operations officer (or case officer) and the agent if the case is transferred by an operational targeting officer] to a new operations officer, leaving the new officer vulnerable to attack. This type of transfer may occur when an officer has completed his term of service or when his cover is blown. Sleeper agent: recruited to wake up and perform a specific set of tasks or functions while living undercover in an area of interest. This type of agent is not the same as a deep cover operative, who continually contacts a case officer to file intelligence reports. A sleeper agent is not in contact with anyone until activated. Triple agent: works for three intelligence services.[how?] Less common or lesser known forms of agent include: Access agent: provides access to other potential agents by providing offender profiling information that can help lead to recruitment into an intelligence service. Confusion agent: provides misleading information to an enemy intelligence service or attempts to discredit the operations of the target in an operation. Facilities agent: provides access to buildings, such as garages or offices used for staging operations, resupply, etc. Illegal agent: lives in another country under false credentials and does not report to a local station. A nonofficial cover operative can be dubbed an "illegal"[19] when working in another country without diplomatic protection. Principal agent: functions as a handler for an established network of agents, usually considered "blue chip". Law Espionage against a nation is a crime under the legal code of many nations. In the United States, it is covered by the Espionage Act of 1917. The risks of espionage vary. A spy violating the host country's laws may be deported, imprisoned, or even executed. A spy violating its own country's laws can be imprisoned for espionage or/and treason (which in the United States and some other jurisdictions can only occur if they take up arms or aids the enemy against their own country during wartime), or even executed, as the Rosenbergs were. For example, when Aldrich Ames handed a stack of dossiers of U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agents in the Eastern Bloc to his KGB-officer "handler", the KGB "rolled up" several networks, and at least ten people were secretly shot. When Ames was arrested by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), he faced life in prison; his contact, who had diplomatic immunity, was declared persona non grata and taken to the airport. Ames' wife was threatened with life imprisonment if her husband did not cooperate; he did, and she was given a five-year sentence. Hugh Francis Redmond, a CIA officer in China, spent nineteen years in a Chinese prison for espionage—and died there—as he was operating without diplomatic cover and immunity.[20] In United States law, treason,[21] espionage,[22] and spying[23] are separate crimes. Treason and espionage have graduated punishment levels. The United States in World War I passed the Espionage Act of 1917. Over the years, many spies, such as the Soble spy ring, Robert Lee Johnson, the Rosenberg ring, Aldrich Hazen Ames,[24] Robert Philip Hanssen,[25] Jonathan Pollard, John Anthony Walker, James Hall III, and others have been prosecuted under this law. History of espionage laws From ancient times, the penalty for espionage in many countries was execution. This was true right up until the era of World War II; for example, Josef Jakobs was a Nazi spy who parachuted into Great Britain in 1941 and was executed for espionage. In modern times, many people convicted of espionage have been given penal sentences rather than execution. For example, Aldrich Hazen Ames is an American CIA analyst, turned KGB mole, who was convicted of espionage in 1994; he is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole in the high-security Allenwood U.S. Penitentiary.[26] Ames was formerly a 31-year CIA counterintelligence officer and analyst who committed espionage against his country by spying for the Soviet Union and Russia.[27] So far as it is known, Ames compromised the second-largest number of CIA agents, second only to Robert Hanssen, who also served a prison sentence until his death in 2023.[28] Use against non-spies Espionage laws are also used to prosecute non-spies. In the United States, the Espionage Act of 1917 was used against socialist politician Eugene V. Debs (at that time the Act had much stricter guidelines and amongst other things banned speech against military recruiting). The law was later used to suppress publication of periodicals, for example of Father Coughlin in World War II. In the early 21st century, the act was used to prosecute whistleblowers such as Thomas Andrews Drake, John Kiriakou, and Edward Snowden, as well as officials who communicated with journalists for innocuous reasons, such as Stephen Jin-Woo Kim.[29][30] As of 2012, India and Pakistan were holding several hundred prisoners of each other's country for minor violations like trespass or visa overstay, often with accusations of espionage attached. Some of these include cases where Pakistan and India both deny citizenship to these people, leaving them stateless.[citation needed] The BBC reported in 2012 on one such case, that of Mohammed Idrees, who was held under Indian police control for approximately 13 years for overstaying his 15-day visa by 2–3 days after seeing his ill parents in 1999. Much of the 13 years were spent in prison waiting for a hearing, and more time was spent homeless or living with generous families. The Indian People's Union for Civil Liberties and Human Rights Law Network both decried his treatment. The BBC attributed some of the problems to tensions caused by the Kashmir conflict.[31] Espionage laws in the UK Espionage is illegal in the UK under the Official Secrets Acts of 1911 and 1920. The UK law under this legislation considers espionage as "concerning those who intend to help an enemy and deliberately harm the security of the nation". According to MI5, a person commits the offence of 'spying' if they, "for any purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of the State": approaches, enters or inspects a prohibited area; makes documents such as plans that are intended, calculated, or could directly or indirectly be of use to an enemy; or "obtains, collects, records, or publishes, or communicates to any other person any secret official code word, or password, or any sketch, plan, model, article, or note, or other document which is calculated to be or might be or is intended to be directly or indirectly useful to an enemy". The illegality of espionage also includes any action which may be considered 'preparatory to' spying, or encouraging or aiding another to spy.[32] Under the penal codes of the UK, those found guilty of espionage are liable to imprisonment for a term of up to 14 years, although multiple sentences can be issued. Government intelligence laws and its distinction from espionage Government intelligence is very much distinct from espionage, and is not illegal in the UK, providing that the organisations of individuals are registered, often with the ICO, and are acting within the restrictions of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA). 'Intelligence' is considered legally as "information of all sorts gathered by a government or organisation to guide its decisions. It includes information that may be both public and private, obtained from much different public or secret sources. It could consist entirely of information from either publicly available or secret sources, or be a combination of the two."[33] However, espionage and intelligence can be linked. According to the MI5 website, "foreign intelligence officers acting in the UK under diplomatic cover may enjoy immunity from prosecution. Such persons can only be tried for spying (or, indeed, any criminal offence) if diplomatic immunity is waived beforehand. Those officers operating without diplomatic cover have no such immunity from prosecution". There are also laws surrounding government and organisational intelligence and surveillance. Generally, the body involved should be issued with some form of warrant or permission from the government and should be enacting their procedures in the interest of protecting national security or the safety of public citizens. Those carrying out intelligence missions should act within not only RIPA but also the Data Protection Act and Human Rights Act. However, there are spy equipment laws and legal requirements around intelligence methods that vary for each form of intelligence enacted. War Painting of French spy captured during the Franco-Prussian War In war, espionage is considered permissible as many nations recognize the inevitability of opposing sides seeking intelligence each about the dispositions of the other. To make the mission easier and successful, combatants wear disguises to conceal their true identity from the enemy while penetrating enemy lines for intelligence gathering. However, if they are caught behind enemy lines in disguises, they are not entitled to prisoner-of-war status and subject to prosecution and punishment—including execution. The Hague Convention of 1907 addresses the status of wartime spies, specifically within "Laws and Customs of War on Land" (Hague IV); October 18, 1907: CHAPTER II Spies".[34] Article 29 states that a person is considered a spy who, acts clandestinely or on false pretences, infiltrates enemy lines with the intention of acquiring intelligence about the enemy and communicate it to the belligerent during times of war. Soldiers who penetrate enemy lines in proper uniforms for the purpose of acquiring intelligence are not considered spies but are lawful combatants entitled to be treated as prisoners of war upon capture by the enemy. Article 30 states that a spy captured behind enemy lines may only be punished following a trial. However, Article 31 provides that if a spy successfully rejoined his own military and is then captured by the enemy as a lawful combatant, he cannot be punished for his previous acts of espionage and must be treated as a prisoner of war. This provision does not apply to citizens who committed treason against their own country or co-belligerents of that country and may be captured and prosecuted at any place or any time regardless whether he rejoined the military to which he belongs or not or during or after the war.[35][36] The ones that are excluded from being treated as spies while behind enemy lines are escaping prisoners of war and downed airmen as international law distinguishes between a disguised spy and a disguised escaper.[12] It is permissible for these groups to wear enemy uniforms or civilian clothes in order to facilitate their escape back to friendly lines so long as they do not attack enemy forces, collect military intelligence, or engage in similar military operations while so disguised.[37][38] Soldiers who are wearing enemy uniforms or civilian clothes simply for the sake of warmth along with other purposes rather than engaging in espionage or similar military operations while so attired are also excluded from being treated as unlawful combatants.[12] Saboteurs are treated as spies as they too wear disguises behind enemy lines for the purpose of waging destruction on an enemy's vital targets in addition to intelligence gathering.[39][40] For example, during World War II, eight German agents entered the U.S. in June 1942 as part of Operation Pastorius, a sabotage mission against U.S. economic targets. Two weeks later, all were arrested in civilian clothes by the FBI thanks to two German agents betraying the mission to the U.S. Under the Hague Convention of 1907, these Germans were classified as spies and tried by a military tribunal in Washington D.C.[41] On August 3, 1942, all eight were found guilty and sentenced to death. Five days later, six were executed by electric chair at the District of Columbia jail. Two who had given evidence against the others had their sentences reduced by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to prison terms. In 1948, they were released by President Harry S. Truman and deported to the American Zone of occupied Germany. The U.S. codification of enemy spies is Article 106 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. This provides a mandatory death sentence if a person captured in the act is proven to be "lurking as a spy or acting as a spy in or about any place, vessel, or aircraft, within the control or jurisdiction of any of the armed forces, or in or about any shipyard, any manufacturing or industrial plant, or any other place or institution engaged in work in aid of the prosecution of the war by the United States, or elsewhere".[42] Spy fiction Main article: Spy fiction Spies have long been favorite topics for novelists and filmmakers.[43] An early example of espionage literature is Kim by the English novelist Rudyard Kipling, with a description of the training of an intelligence agent in the Great Game between the UK and Russia in 19th century Central Asia. An even earlier work was James Fenimore Cooper's classic novel, The Spy, written in 1821, about an American spy in New York during the Revolutionary War. During the many 20th-century spy scandals, much information became publicly known about national spy agencies and dozens of real-life secret agents. These sensational stories piqued public interest in a profession largely off-limits to human interest news reporting, a natural consequence of the secrecy inherent in their work. To fill in the blanks, the popular conception of the secret agent has been formed largely by 20th and 21st-century fiction and film. Attractive and sociable real-life agents such as Valerie Plame find little employment in serious fiction, however. The fictional secret agent is more often a loner, sometimes amoral—an existential hero operating outside the everyday constraints of society. Loner spy personalities may have been a stereotype of convenience for authors who already knew how to write loner private investigator characters that sold well from the 1920s to the present.[44] Johnny Fedora achieved popularity as a fictional agent of early Cold War espionage, but James Bond is the most commercially successful of the many spy characters created by intelligence insiders during that struggle. Other fictional agents include Le Carré's George Smiley, and Harry Palmer as played by Michael Caine. Jumping on the spy bandwagon, other writers also started writing about spy fiction featuring female spies as protagonists, such as The Baroness, which has more graphic action and sex, as compared to other novels featuring male protagonists. Spy fiction has permeated the video game world as well, in games such as Perfect Dark, GoldenEye 007, No One Lives Forever, and the Metal Gear series. Espionage has also made its way into comedy depictions. The 1960s TV series Get Smart, the 1983 Finnish film Agent 000 and the Deadly Curves, and Johnny English film trilogy portrays an inept spy, while the 1985 movie Spies Like Us depicts a pair of none-too-bright men sent to the Soviet Union to investigate a missile. The historical novel The Emperor and the Spy highlights the adventurous life of U.S. Colonel Sidney Forrester Mashbir, who during the 1920s and 1930s attempted to prevent war with Japan, and when war did erupt, he became General MacArthur's top advisor in the Pacific Theater of World War Two.[45][46] Black Widow is also a fictional agent who was introduced as a Russian spy, an antagonist of the superhero Iron Man. She later became an agent of the fictional spy agency S.H.I.E.L.D. and a member of the superhero team the Avengers. See also MI5 Federal Bureau of Investigation Central Intelligence Agency Detective Special agent Undercover operation American espionage in China Chinese espionage in the United States Clandestine operation Foreign agent Intelligence assessment History of Soviet espionage Human intelligence (intelligence gathering) List of intelligence agencies List of intelligence gathering disciplines Military intelligence Spying on United Nations leaders by United States diplomats References Citations "Espionage". MI5. Fischbacher-Smith, D., 2011. "The enemy has passed through the gate: Insider threats, the dark triad, and the challenges around security". Journal of Organizational Effectiveness: People and Performance, 2(2), pp. 134–156. "Espionage Facts". International Spy Museum. Retrieved 12 July 2021. Ñaco del Hoyo, Toni (November 2014). "Roman and Pontic Intelligence Strategies: Politics and War in the Time of Mithradates VI". War in History. 21 (4): 401–421. doi:10.1177/0968344513505528. JSTOR 26098615. S2CID 220652440 – via JSTOR. Andrew, Christopher (28 June 2018). The Secret World: A History of Intelligence. Penguin Books Limited. ISBN 9780241305225. Ulfkotte, Udo (1997). Verschlusssache BND (in German) (2 ed.). Munich: Koehler & Amelang. p. 38. ISBN 9783733802141. Retrieved 6 January 2023. "Ein neuer Typ des Spions War Daniel Defoe (1650-1731), der Autor des weltberühmten Romans "Robinson Crusoe" ... Zudem verfaßte Defoe eine Theorie der Spionage, in der er der Regierung die Spitzelmethoden des Polizeistaates empfahl." Danieli, Raymond Francis (April 29, 2010). "THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR SPY AS HERO AND THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR HERO AS TRAITOR". CiteSeerX 10.1.1.1012.5432. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help) Allen, Thomas. "Intelligence in the Civil War" (PDF). Intelligence Resource Program, Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved September 3, 2021. Arrillaga, Pauline. "China's spying seeks secret US info." Archived May 19, 2011, at the Wayback Machine AP, 7 May 2011. Suvorov, Victor (1987). Inside the Aquarium. Berkley. ISBN 978-0-425-09474-7. US Department of Defense (2007-07-12). "Joint Publication 1-02 Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-11-08. Retrieved 2007-10-01. Igor Primoratz (August 15, 2013). New Rules for Victims of Armed Conflicts: Commentary on the Two 1977 Protocols Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 (Nijhoff Classics in International Law). Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. p. 214. "Language of Espionage". International Spy Museum. Retrieved 12 July 2021. "Cyber Espionage to Combat Terrorism" (PDF). "Defectors say China running 1,000 spies in Canada". CBC News. June 15, 2005. "Beijing's spies cost German firms billions, says espionage expert". The Sydney Morning Herald. July 25, 2009. Cia.gov "Double Agent". cia.gov. Archived from the original on 2019-07-01. Retrieved 2010-05-14. Illegal Archived January 6, 2011, at the Wayback Machine Mi5.gov. "How spies operate". "CIA Status Improves Contractor's Case for Immunity". New America Media. Archived from the original on 2013-11-02. Retrieved 2013-08-17. treason Archived December 3, 2012, at the Wayback Machine "espionage". Archived from the original on 3 December 2012. spying Archived December 3, 2012, at the Wayback Machine "Aldrich Ames Criminal Complaint". jya.com. Archived from the original on 2011-05-13. Retrieved 2011-03-19. "USA v. Robert Philip Hanssen: Affidavit in Support of Criminal Complaint, Arrest Warrant and Search Warrant". fas.org. Retrieved 2011-03-19. "Aldrich Hazen Ames Register Number: 40087-083". Bop.gov. Federal Bureau of Prisons. Archived from the original on 2012-09-19. Retrieved 2014-01-03. (Search result) "FBI – Aldrich Hazen Ames". FBI. Archived from the original on 2010-10-13. "Robert Hanssen, F.B.I. Agent Exposed as Spy for Moscow, Dies at 79". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 June 2023. Gerstein, Josh (2011-03-07). "Obama's hard line on leaks". politico.com. Retrieved 2011-03-19. See the article on John Kiriakou Your World: The Nowhere Man Archived 2019-09-15 at the Wayback Machine, Rupa Jha, October 21, 2012, BBC (retrieved 2012-10-20) (Program link:The Nowhere Man) "Espionage and the law | MI5 - the Security Service". Archived from the original on 2014-09-25. Retrieved 2014-08-19. "What is espionage? | MI5 - the Security Service". Archived from the original on 2013-11-01. Retrieved 2013-08-16. "Convention (IV) respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land and its annex: Regulations concerning the Laws and Customs of War on Land. The Hague, 18 October 1907". International Committee of the Red Cross. Paul Battersby; Joseph M. Siracusa; Sasho Ripiloski (2011). Crime Wars: The Global Intersection of Crime, Political Violence, and International Law. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 125. Charlesworth, Lorie (2006). "2 SAS Regiment, War Crimes Investigations, and British Intelligence: Intelligence Officials and the Natzweiler Trial". The Journal of Intelligence History. 6 (2): 41. doi:10.1080/16161262.2006.10555131. S2CID 156655154. "United States of America, Practice Relating to Rule 62. Improper Use of Flags or Military Emblems, Insignia or Uniforms of the Adversary". International Committee of the Red Cross. 2006 Operational Law Handbook. DIANE. 2010. ISBN 9781428910676. Leslie C. Green (2000). The Contemporary Law Of Armed Conflict 2nd Edition. Juris Publishing, Inc. p. 142. ISBN 978-1-929446-03-2. George P. Fletcher (September 16, 2002). Romantics at War: Glory and Guilt in the Age of Terrorism. Princeton University Press. p. 106. ISBN 9780691006512. J. H. W. Verziji (1978). International Law in Historical Perspective: The laws of war. Part IX-A. Brill Publishers. p. 143. ISBN 978-90-286-0148-2. "UCMJ – Article 106 – Spies". About.com US Military. Archived from the original on 2013-05-15. Brett F. Woods, Neutral Ground: A Political History of Espionage Fiction (2008) online Archived 2019-03-27 at the Wayback Machine Miller, Toby, Spyscreen: Espionage on Film and TV from the 1930s to the 1960s (Oxford University Press, 2003). Katz, Stan S. (2019). "The Emperor and the Spy". TheEmperorAndTheSpy.com. Archived from the original on 2019-09-26. Katz, Stan S. (2019). The Emperor and the Spy. Horizon Productions. ISBN 978-0-9903349-4-1. Works cited Johnson, John (1997). The Evolution of British Sigint, 1653–1939. London: HMSO. OCLC 52130886. Winkler, Jonathan Reed (July 2009). "Information Warfare in World War I". The Journal of Military History. 73 (3): 845–867. doi:10.1353/jmh.0.0324. ISSN 1543-7795. S2CID 201749182. Further reading Aldrich, Richard J., and Christopher Andrew, eds. Secret Intelligence: A Reader (2nd ed. 2018); focus on the 21st century; reprints 30 essays by scholars. excerpt Andrew, Christopher, The Secret World: A History of Intelligence, 2018. Burnham, Frederick Russell, Taking Chances, 1944. Felix, Christopher [pseudonym for James McCarger] Intelligence Literature: Suggested Reading List. US CIA. Retrieved September 2, 2012.[dead link] A Short Course in the Secret War, 4th Edition. Madison Books, November 19, 2001. Friedman, George. America's Secret War: Inside the Hidden Worldwide Struggle Between the United States and Its Enemies 2005 Gopnik, Adam, "Spy vs. Spy vs. Spy: How valuable is espionage?", The New Yorker, 2 September 2019, pp. 53–59. "There seems to be a paranoid paradox of espionage: the better your intelligence, the dumber your conduct; the more you know, the less you anticipate.... Hard-won information is ignored or wildly misinterpreted.... [It] happens again and again [that] a seeming national advance in intelligence is squandered through cross-bred confusion, political rivalry, mutual bureaucratic suspicions, intergovernmental competition, and fear of the press (as well as leaks to the press), all seasoned with dashes of sexual jealousy and adulterous intrigue." (p. 54.) Jeffreys-Jones, Rhodri. In Spies, We Trust: The Story of Western Intelligence (2013), covers U.S. and Britain Jenkins, Peter. Surveillance Tradecraft: The Professional's Guide to Surveillance Training ISBN 978-0-9535378-2-2 Kahn, David, The Codebreakers: The Comprehensive History of Secret Communication from Ancient Times to the Internet, 1996 revised edition. First published 1967. Keegan, John, Intelligence in War: Knowledge of the Enemy from Napoleon to Al-Qaeda, 2003. Knightley, Phillip, The Second Oldest Profession: Spies and Spying in the Twentieth Century, Norton, 1986. Lerner, Brenda Wilmoth & K. Lee Lerner, eds. Terrorism: essential primary sources Thomas Gale 2006 ISBN 978-1-4144-0621-3 Lerner, K. Lee and Brenda Wilmoth Lerner, eds. Encyclopedia of Espionage, Intelligence and Security (2003), worldwide recent coverage 1100 pages. May, Ernest R. (ed.). Knowing One's Enemies: Intelligence Assessment Before the Two World Wars (1984). O'Toole, George. Honorable Treachery: A History of U.S. Intelligence, Espionage, Covert Action from the American Revolution to the CIA 1991 Murray, Williamson, and Allan Reed Millett, eds. Calculations: net assessment and the coming of World War II (1992). Owen, David. Hidden Secrets: A Complete History of Espionage and the Technology Used to Support It Richelson, Jeffery T. A Century of Spies: Intelligence in the Twentieth Century (1977) Richelson, Jeffery T. The U.S. Intelligence Community (1999, fourth edition) Smith, W. Thomas Jr. Encyclopedia of the Central Intelligence Agency (2003) Tuchman, Barbara W., The Zimmermann Telegram, New York, Macmillan, 1962. Warner, Michael. The Rise and Fall of Intelligence: An International Security History (2014) Zegart, Amy B. Spies, Lies, and Algorithms: The History and Future of American Intelligence (2022), university textbook.

The Tiananmen Square protests, known in China as the June Fourth Incident[1][2][a] were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, China, lasting from 15 April to 4 June 1989. After weeks of unsuccessful attempts between the demonstrators and the Chinese government to find a peaceful resolution, the Chinese government declared martial law on the night of 3 June and deployed troops to occupy the square in what is referred to as the Tiananmen Square massacre. The events are sometimes called the '89 Democracy Movement,[b] the Tiananmen Square Incident,[c] or the Tiananmen uprising.[3][4] The protests were precipitated by the death of pro-reform Chinese Communist Party (CCP) general secretary Hu Yaobang in April 1989 amid the backdrop of rapid economic development and social change in post-Mao China, reflecting anxieties among the people and political elite about the country's future. The reforms of the 1980s had led to a nascent market economy that benefited some people but seriously disadvantaged others, and the one-party political system also faced a challenge to its legitimacy. Common grievances at the time included inflation, corruption, limited preparedness of graduates for the new economy,[5] and restrictions on political participation. Although they were highly disorganized and their goals varied, the students called for greater accountability, constitutional due process, democracy, freedom of the press, and freedom of speech.[6][7] Workers' protests were generally focused on inflation and the erosion of welfare.[8] These groups united around anti-corruption demands, adjusting economic policies, and protecting social security.[8] At the height of the protests, about one million people assembled in the square.[9] As the protests developed, the authorities responded with both conciliatory and hardline tactics, exposing deep divisions within the party leadership.[10] By May, a student-led hunger strike galvanized support around the country for the demonstrators, and the protests spread to some 400 cities.[11] In response, the State Council declared martial law on May 20[11] and on June 2, the CCP's Politburo Standing Committee made the decision to use military force to clear the square, leading to clashes between the military and demonstrators.[12][13][14] Estimates of the death toll vary from several hundred to several thousand, with thousands more wounded. The vast majority of those killed were civilians, though a small number of soldiers were also killed.[15][16][17][18][19][20] The event had both short and long term consequences. Western countries imposed arms embargoes on China,[21] and various Western media outlets labeled the crackdown a "massacre".[22][23] In the aftermath of the protests, the Chinese government suppressed other protests around China, carried out mass arrests of protesters[24] which catalyzed Operation Yellowbird, strictly controlled coverage of the events in the domestic and foreign affiliated press, and demoted or purged officials it deemed sympathetic to the protests. The government also invested heavily into creating more effective police riot control units. More broadly, the suppression ended the political reforms begun in 1986 and halted the policies of liberalization of the 1980s, which were only partly resumed after Deng Xiaoping's Southern Tour in 1992.[25][26][27] Considered a watershed event, reaction to the protests set limits on political expression in China that have lasted up to the present day.[28] The events remain one of the most sensitive and most widely censored topics in China.[29][30] Naming "8964" redirects here. For the minor planet, see 8964 Corax. 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre Chinese 六四事件 Literal meaning June Fourth Incident Transcriptions Name used by the PRC Government Simplified Chinese 1989年春夏之交的政治风波 Traditional Chinese 1989年春夏之交的政治風波 Literal meaning Political turmoil between the Spring and Summer of 1989 Transcriptions Second alternative Chinese name Simplified Chinese 八九民运 Traditional Chinese 八九民運 Literal meaning Eighty-Nine Democracy Movement Transcriptions The Chinese government has used numerous names for the event since 1989.[31] As the events unfolded, it was labeled a "counterrevolutionary rebellion", which was later changed to simply "riot", followed by "political turmoil" and "1989 storm".[31] Outside mainland China, and among circles critical of the crackdown within mainland China, the crackdown is commonly referred to in Chinese as "June Fourth Massacre" (六四屠殺; liù-sì túshā) and "June Fourth Crackdown" (六四鎮壓; liù-sì zhènyā). To bypass censorship by the Great Firewall, alternative names have sprung up to describe the events on the Internet, such as May 35th, VIIV (Roman numerals for 6 and 4), Eight Squared (i.e., 82=64)[32] and 8964 (i.e., yymd).[33] In English, the terms "Tiananmen Square Massacre", "Tiananmen Square Protests", and "Tiananmen Square Crackdown" are often used to describe the series of events. However, much of the violence in Beijing did not actually happen in Tiananmen, but outside the square along a stretch of Chang'an Avenue only a few miles long, and especially near the Muxidi area.[34] The term also gives a misleading impression that demonstrations only happened in Beijing, when in fact, they occurred in many cities throughout China.[13] Background Boluan Fanzheng and economic reforms Main articles: Boluan Fanzheng and Chinese economic reform History of the People's Republic of China National emblem of the People's Republic of China 1949–1976 Mao era 1976–1989 Transition and Deng era 1989–2002 Jiang and the third generation 2002–2012 Hu and the fourth generation 2012–present Xi and the fifth generation History of China PRC constitution Beijing Shanghai Culture Economy Education Geography Politics flag China portal vte This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) The Cultural Revolution ended with chairman Mao Zedong's death in 1976 and the arrest of the Gang of Four.[35][36] That movement, spearheaded by Mao, caused severe damage to the country's initially diverse economic and social fabric.[37] The country was mired in poverty as economic production slowed or came to a halt.[38] Political ideology was paramount in the lives of ordinary people as well as the inner workings of the party itself.[39] In September 1977, Deng Xiaoping proposed the idea of Boluan Fanzheng ("bringing order out of chaos") to correct the mistakes of the Cultural Revolution.[36] At the Third Plenum of the 11th Central Committee, in December 1978, Deng emerged as China's de facto leader. He launched a comprehensive program to reform the Chinese economy (Reforms and Opening-up). Within several years, the country's focus on ideological purity was replaced by a concerted attempt to achieve material prosperity. To oversee his reform agenda, Deng promoted his allies to top government and party posts. Zhao Ziyang was named Premier, the head of government, in September 1980, and Hu Yaobang became CCP General Secretary in 1982. Challenges to Reforms and Opening-up Deng's reforms aimed to decrease the state's role in the economy and gradually allow private production in agriculture and industry. By 1981, roughly 73% of rural farms had been de-collectivized, and 80% of state-owned enterprises were permitted to retain their profits. While the reforms were generally well received by the public, concerns grew over a series of social problems which the changes brought about, including corruption and nepotism on the part of elite party bureaucrats.[40] The state-mandated pricing system, in place since the 1950s, had long kept prices fixed at low levels. The initial reforms created a two-tier system where some prices were fixed while others were allowed to fluctuate. In a market with chronic shortages, price fluctuation allowed people with powerful connections to buy goods at low prices and sell at market prices. Party bureaucrats in charge of economic management had enormous incentives to engage in such arbitrage.[41] Discontent over corruption reached a fever pitch with the public; and many, particularly intellectuals, began to believe that only democratic reform and the rule of law could cure the country's ills.[42] Following the 1988 meeting at their summer retreat of Beidaihe, the party leadership under Deng agreed to implement a transition to a market-based pricing system.[43] News of the relaxation of price controls triggered waves of cash withdrawals, buying, and hoarding all over China.[43] The government panicked and rescinded the price reforms in less than two weeks, but there was a pronounced impact for much longer. Inflation soared; official indices reported that the Consumer Price Index increased by 30% in Beijing between 1987 and 1988, leading to panic among salaried workers that they could no longer afford staple goods.[44] Moreover, in the new market economy, unprofitable state-owned enterprises were pressured to cut costs. This threatened a vast proportion of the population that relied on the "iron rice bowl", i.e., social benefits such as job security, medical care, and subsidized housing.[44] Social disenfranchisement and legitimacy crisis In 1978, reformist leaders had envisioned that intellectuals would play a leading role in guiding the country through reforms, but this did not happen as planned.[45] Despite the opening of new universities and increased enrollment,[46] the state-directed education system did not produce enough graduates to meet increased demand in the areas of agriculture, light industry, services, and foreign investment.[47] The job market was especially limited for students specializing in social sciences and the humanities.[46] Moreover, private companies no longer needed to accept students assigned to them by the state, and many high-paying jobs were offered based on nepotism and favoritism.[48] Gaining a good state-assigned placement meant navigating a highly inefficient bureaucracy that gave power to officials who had little expertise in areas under their jurisdiction.[44] Facing a dismal job market and limited chances of going abroad, intellectuals and students had a greater vested interest in political issues. Small study groups, such as the "Democracy Salon" (Chinese: 民主沙龙; pinyin: Mínzhǔ Shālóng) and the "Lawn Salon" (草坪沙龙; Cǎodì Shālóng), began appearing on Beijing university campuses.[49] These organizations motivated the students to get involved politically.[43] Simultaneously, the party's nominally socialist ideology faced a legitimacy crisis as it gradually adopted capitalist practices.[50] Private enterprise gave rise to profiteers who took advantage of lax regulations and who often flaunted their wealth in front of those who were less well off.[44] Popular discontent was brewing over unfair wealth distribution. Greed, not skill, appeared to be the most crucial factor in success. There was widespread public disillusionment concerning the country's future. People wanted change, yet the power to define "the correct path" continued to rest solely in the unelected government's hands.[50] The comprehensive and wide-ranging reforms created political differences over the pace of marketization and the control over the ideology that came with it, opening a deep chasm within the central leadership. The reformers ("the right", led by Hu Yaobang) favored political liberalization and a plurality of ideas as a channel to voice popular discontent and pressed for further reforms. The conservatives ("the left", led by Chen Yun) said that the reforms had gone too far and advocated a return to greater state control to ensure social stability and to better align with the party's socialist ideology. Both sides needed the backing of paramount leader Deng Xiaoping to carry out important policy decisions.[51] 1986 student demonstrations Main article: 1986 Chinese student demonstrations In mid-1986, astrophysics professor Fang Lizhi returned from a position at Princeton University and began a personal tour of universities in China, speaking about liberty, human rights, and the separation of powers. Fang was part of a wide undercurrent within the elite intellectual community that thought China's poverty and underdevelopment, and the disaster of the Cultural Revolution, were a direct result of China's authoritarian political system and rigid command economy.[52] The view that political reform was the only answer to China's ongoing problems gained widespread appeal among students, as Fang's recorded speeches became widely circulated throughout the country.[53] In response, Deng Xiaoping warned that Fang was blindly worshipping Western lifestyles, capitalism, and multi-party systems while undermining China's socialist ideology, traditional values, and the party's leadership.[53] In December 1986, inspired by Fang and other "people-power" movements worldwide, student demonstrators staged protests against the slow pace of reform. The issues were wide-ranging and included demands for economic liberalization, democracy, and the rule of law.[54] While the protests were initially contained in Hefei, where Fang lived, they quickly spread to Shanghai, Beijing, and other major cities. This alarmed the central leadership, who accused the students of instigating Cultural Revolution-style turmoil. General Secretary Hu Yaobang was blamed for showing a "soft" attitude and mishandling the protests, thus undermining social stability. He was denounced thoroughly by conservatives and was forced to resign as general secretary on 16 January 1987. The party began the "Anti-bourgeois liberalization campaign", aiming at Hu, political liberalization, and Western-inspired ideas in general.[55] The campaign stopped student protests and restricted political activity, but Hu remained popular among intellectuals, students, and Communist Party progressives.[56] Political reforms Main article: History of the People's Republic of China § Political reforms Deng Xiaoping was the paramount leader of China. On 18 August 1980, Deng Xiaoping gave a speech titled "On the Reform of the Party and State Leadership System" ("党和国家领导制度改革") at a full meeting of the CCP Politburo in Beijing, launching political reforms in China.[57][58][59] He called for a systematic revision of China's constitution, criticizing bureaucracy, centralization of power, and patriarchy, while proposing term limits for the leading positions in China and advocating "democratic centralism" and "collective leadership."[57][58][59] In December 1982, the fourth and current Constitution of China, known as the "1982 Constitution", was passed by the 5th National People's Congress.[60][61] In the first half of 1986, Deng repeatedly called for the revival of political reforms, as further economic reforms were hindered by the original political system with an increasing trend of corruption and economic inequality.[62][63] A five-man committee to study the feasibility of political reform was established in September 1986; the members included Zhao Ziyang, Hu Qili, Tian Jiyun, Bo Yibo and Peng Chong.[64][65] Deng's intention was to boost administrative efficiency, further separate responsibilities of the Party and the government, and eliminate bureaucracy.[66][67] Although he spoke in terms of the rule of law and democracy, Deng delimited the reforms within the one-party system and opposed the implementation of Western-style constitutionalism.[67][68] In October 1987, at the 13th National Congress of the CCP, Zhao Ziyang gave a report drafted by Bao Tong on the political reforms.[69][70] In his speech titled "Advance Along the Road of Socialism with Chinese characteristics" ("沿着有中国特色的社会主义道路前进"), Zhao argued that socialism in China was still in its primary stage and, taking Deng's speech in 1980 as a guideline, detailed steps to be taken for political reform, including promoting the rule of law and the separation of powers, imposing de-centralization, and improving the election system.[66][69][70] At this Congress, Zhao was elected to be the CCP General Secretary.[71] Funding and support Main article: Funding of student organizations during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests During the demonstrations, protesters received a significant amount of support from domestic and outside sources.[72] The Chinese University in Hong Kong donated HK$10,000 by early May,[73]: 313  and groups such as the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China were founded in support of the protests. Donations also came from the United States, Canada, Japan, Taiwan, Australia, and countries across Europe.[74] Beginning of the 1989 protests Death of Hu Yaobang Student leaders Name Origin and affiliation Chai Ling Shandong; Beijing Normal University Wu'erkaixi (Örkesh) Xinjiang; Beijing Normal University Wang Dan Beijing; Peking University Feng Congde Sichuan; Peking University Shen Tong Beijing; Peking University Wang Youcai Zhejiang; Peking University Li Lu Hebei; Nanjing University Zhou Yongjun China University of Political Science and Law When Hu Yaobang suddenly died of a heart attack on 15 April 1989, students reacted strongly, most of them believing that his death was related to his forced resignation.[75] Hu's death provided the initial impetus for students to gather in large numbers.[76] On university campuses, many posters appeared eulogizing Hu, calling for honoring Hu's legacy. Within days, most posters were about broader political issues, such as corruption, democracy, and freedom of the press.[77] Small, spontaneous gatherings to mourn Hu began on 15 April around the Monument to the People's Heroes at Tiananmen Square. On the same day, many students at Peking University (PKU) and Tsinghua University erected shrines and joined the gathering in Tiananmen Square in a piecemeal fashion.[clarification needed] Small, organized student gatherings also took place in Xi'an and Shanghai on 16 April. On 17 April, students at the China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL) made a large wreath to commemorate Hu Yaobang. Its wreath-laying ceremony was on 17 April, and a larger-than-expected crowd assembled.[78] At 5 pm, 500 CUPL students reached the eastern gate of the Great Hall of the People, near Tiananmen Square, to mourn Hu. The gathering featured speakers from various backgrounds who gave public orations commemorating Hu and discussed social problems. However, it was soon deemed obstructive to the Great Hall's operation, so police tried to persuade the students to disperse. Starting on the night of 17 April, three thousand PKU students marched from the campus towards Tiananmen Square, and soon nearly a thousand students from Tsinghua joined. Upon arrival, they soon joined forces with those already gathered at the square. As its size grew, the gathering gradually evolved into a protest, as students began to draft a list of pleas and suggestions (the Seven Demands) for the government: Affirm Hu Yaobang's views on democracy and freedom as correct. Admit that the campaigns against spiritual pollution and bourgeois liberalization had been wrong. Publish information on the income of state leaders and their family members. Allow privately run newspapers and stop press censorship. Increase funding for education and raise intellectuals' pay. End restrictions on demonstrations in Beijing. Provide objective coverage of students in official media.[79][78] On the morning of 18 April, students remained in the square. Some gathered around the Monument to the People's Heroes, singing patriotic songs and listening to student organizers' impromptu speeches. Others gathered at the Great Hall. Meanwhile, a few thousand students gathered at Xinhua Gate, the entrance to Zhongnanhai, the seat of the party leadership, where they demanded dialogue with the administration. After police restrained the students from entering the compound, they staged a sit-in. On 20 April, most students had been persuaded to leave Xinhua Gate. To disperse about 200 students that remained, police used batons; minor clashes were reported. Many students felt abused by the police, and rumors about police brutality spread quickly. The incident angered students on campus, where those who were not politically active decided to join the protests.[80] Additionally, a group of workers calling themselves the Beijing Workers' Autonomous Federation issued two handbills challenging the central leadership.[81] Hu's state funeral took place on 22 April. On the evening of 21 April, some 100,000 students marched on Tiananmen Square, ignoring orders from Beijing municipal authorities that the square was to be closed for the funeral. The funeral, which took place inside the Great Hall and was attended by the leadership, was broadcast live to the students. General Secretary Zhao Ziyang delivered the eulogy. The funeral seemed rushed, lasting only 40 minutes, as emotions ran high in the square.[51][82][83] Security cordoned off the east entrance to the Great Hall of the People, but several students pressed forward. A few were allowed to cross the police line. Three of these students, Zhou Yongjun, Guo Haifeng, and Zhang Zhiyong, knelt on the steps of the Great Hall to present a petition and demanded to see Premier Li Peng.[84][d] Standing beside them, a fourth student (Wu'erkaixi) made a brief, emotional speech begging for Li Peng to come out and speak with them. The larger number of students still in the square but outside the cordon were at times emotional, shouting demands or slogans and rushing toward police. Wu'erkaixi calmed the crowd as they waited for the Premier to emerge. However, no leaders emerged from the Great Hall, leaving the students disappointed and angry; some called for a classroom boycott.[84] On 21 April, students began organizing under the banners of formal organizations. On 23 April, in a meeting of around 40 students from 21 universities, the Beijing Students' Autonomous Federation (also known as the Union) was formed. It elected CUPL student Zhou Yongjun as chair. Wang Dan and Wu'erkaixi also emerged as leaders. The Union then called for a general classroom boycott at all Beijing universities. Such an independent organization operating outside of party jurisdiction alarmed the leadership.[87] Rioting on 22 April On 22 April, near dusk, serious rioting broke out in Changsha and Xi'an. In Xi'an, arson by rioters destroyed cars and houses, and looting occurred in shops near the city's Xihua Gate. In Changsha, 38 stores were ransacked by looters. Over 350 people were arrested in both cities for looting.[88] In Wuhan, university students organized protests against the provincial government. As the situation became more volatile nationally, Zhao Ziyang called numerous meetings of the Politburo Standing Committee (PSC). Zhao stressed three points: discourage students from further protests and ask them to go back to class, use all measures necessary to combat rioting, and open forms of dialogue with students at different levels of government.[88] Premier Li Peng called upon Zhao to condemn protestors and recognize the need to take more serious action. Zhao dismissed Li's views. Despite calls for him to remain in Beijing, Zhao left for a scheduled state visit to North Korea on 23 April.[89] 26 April Editorial Main article: 26 April Editorial Zhao Ziyang Li Peng General Secretary Zhao Ziyang (left) who pushed for dialogue with students and Premier Li Peng (right) who declared martial law and backed military action Zhao's departure to North Korea left Li Peng as the acting executive authority in Beijing. On 24 April, Li Peng and the PSC met with Beijing Party Secretary Li Ximing and mayor Chen Xitong to gauge the situation at the square. The municipal officials wanted a quick resolution to the crisis and framed the protests as a conspiracy to overthrow China's political system and prominent party leaders, including Deng Xiaoping. In Zhao's absence, the PSC agreed to take firm action against the protesters.[89] On the morning of 25 April, President Yang Shangkun and Premier Li Peng met with Deng at the latter's residence. Deng endorsed a hardline stance and said an appropriate warning must be disseminated via mass media to curb further demonstrations.[90] The meeting firmly established the first official evaluation of the protests, and highlighted Deng's having "final say" on important issues. Li Peng subsequently ordered Deng's views to be drafted as a communique and issued to all high-level Communist Party officials to mobilize the party apparatus against protesters. On 26 April, the party's official newspaper People's Daily issued a front-page editorial titled "It is necessary to take a clear-cut stand against disturbances". The language in the editorial effectively branded the student movement to be an anti-party, anti-government revolt.[91] The editorial invoked memories of the Cultural Revolution, using similar rhetoric that had been used during the 1976 Tiananmen Incident—an event that was initially branded an anti-government conspiracy but was later rehabilitated as "patriotic" under Deng's leadership.[51] The article enraged students, who interpreted it as a direct indictment of the protests and its cause. The editorial backfired: instead of scaring students into submission, it antagonized the students and put them squarely against the government.[92] The editorial's polarizing nature made it a major sticking point for the remainder of the protests.[90] 27 April demonstrations Main article: 27 April demonstrations Han Dongfang, founder of the Beijing Workers' Autonomous Federation Organized by the Union on 27 April, some 50,000–100,000 students from all Beijing universities marched through the streets of the capital to Tiananmen Square, breaking through lines set up by police, and receiving widespread public support along the way, particularly from factory workers.[51] The student leaders, eager to show the patriotic nature of the movement, also toned down anti-Communist slogans, choosing to present a message of "anti-corruption" and "anti-cronyism", but "pro-party".[92] In a twist of irony, student factions who genuinely called for the overthrow of the Communist Party gained traction due to the 26 April editorial.[92] The stunning success of the march forced the government into making concessions and meeting with student representatives. On 29 April, State Council spokesman Yuan Mu met with appointed representatives of government-sanctioned student associations. While the talks discussed a wide range of issues, including the editorial, the Xinhua Gate incident, and freedom of the press, they achieved few substantive results. Independent student leaders such as Wu'erkaixi refused to attend.[93] The government's tone grew increasingly conciliatory when Zhao Ziyang returned from Pyongyang on 30 April and reasserted his authority. In Zhao's view, the hardliner approach was not working, and the concession was the only alternative.[94] Zhao asked that the press be allowed to positively report the movement and delivered two sympathetic speeches on 3–4 May. In the speeches, Zhao said that the students' concerns about corruption were legitimate and that the student movement was patriotic in nature.[95] The speeches essentially negated the message presented by 26 April Editorial. While some 100,000 students marched on the streets of Beijing on 4 May to commemorate the May Fourth Movement and repeated demands from earlier marches, many students were satisfied with the government's concessions. On 4 May, all Beijing universities except PKU and BNU announced the end of the classroom boycott. Subsequently, most students began to lose interest in the movement.[96] Escalation of the protests Preparing for dialogue Main article: Dialogue between students and the government during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre The government was divided on how to respond to the movement as early as mid-April. After Zhao Ziyang's return from North Korea, tensions between the progressive camp and the conservative camp intensified. Those who supported continued dialogue and a soft approach with students rallied behind Zhao Ziyang, while hardliner conservatives opposed the movement rallied behind Premier Li Peng. Zhao and Li clashed at a PSC meeting on 1 May. Li maintained that the need for stability overrode all else, while Zhao said that the party should show support for increased democracy and transparency. Zhao pushed the case for further dialogue.[95] In preparation for dialogue, the Union elected representatives to a formal delegation. However, there was some friction as the Union leaders were reluctant to let the delegation unilaterally take control of the movement.[97] The movement was slowed by a change to a more deliberate approach, fractured by internal discord, and increasingly diluted by declining engagement from the student body at large. In this context, a group of charismatic leaders, including Wang Dan and Wu'erkaixi, desired to regain momentum. They also distrusted the government's offers of dialogue, dismissing them as merely a ploy designed to play for time and pacify the students. To break from the moderate and incremental approach now adopted by other major student leaders, these few began calling for a return to more confrontational tactics. They settled on a plan of mobilizing students for a hunger strike that would begin on 13 May.[98] Early attempts to mobilize others to join them met with only modest success until Chai Ling made an emotional appeal on the night before the strike was scheduled to begin.[99] Hunger strikes begin Main article: Tiananmen hunger strikes A photo of Pu Zhiqiang, a student protester at Tiananmen, taken on 10 May 1989. The Chinese words written on the paper say: "We want the freedom of newspapers, freedom of associations, also to support the 'World Economic Herald', and support those just journalists." Students began the hunger strike on 13 May, two days before the highly publicized state visit by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Knowing that Gorbachev's welcoming ceremony was scheduled to be held on the square, student leaders wanted to use the hunger strike to force the government into meeting their demands. Moreover, the hunger strike gained widespread sympathy from the population at large and earned the student movement the moral high ground that it sought.[100] By the afternoon of 13 May, some 300,000 were gathered at the square.[101] Inspired by the events in Beijing, protests and strikes began at universities in other cities, with many students traveling to Beijing to join the demonstration. Generally, the Tiananmen Square demonstration was well ordered, with daily marches of students from various Beijing-area colleges displaying their support of the classroom boycott and the protesters' demands. The students sang The Internationale, the world socialist anthem, on their way to, and while at, the square.[102] Afraid that the movement would spin out of control, Deng Xiaoping ordered the square to be cleared for Gorbachev's visit. Executing Deng's request, Zhao again used a soft approach and directed his subordinates to coordinate negotiations with students immediately.[100] Zhao believed he could appeal to the students' patriotism. The students understood that signs of internal turmoil during the Sino-Soviet summit would embarrass the nation and not just the government. On the morning of 13 May, Yan Mingfu, head of the Communist Party's United Front, called an emergency meeting, gathering prominent student leaders and intellectuals, including Liu Xiaobo, Chen Ziming, and Wang Juntao.[103] Yan said that the government was prepared to hold an immediate dialogue with student representatives. The Tiananmen welcoming ceremony for Gorbachev would be canceled whether or not the students withdrew—in effect removing the bargaining power the students thought they possessed. The announcement sent the student leadership into disarray.[104] Mikhail Gorbachev's visit Main article: 1989 Sino-Soviet Summit Press restrictions were loosened significantly from early to mid-May. State media began broadcasting footage sympathetic to protesters and the movement, including the hunger strikers. On 14 May, intellectuals led by Dai Qing gained permission from Hu Qili to bypass government censorship and air the progressive views of the nation's intellectuals in the Guangming Daily. The intellectuals then issued an urgent appeal for the students to leave the square in an attempt to deescalate the conflict.[101] However, many students believed that the intellectuals were speaking for the government and refused to move. That evening, formal negotiations took place between government representatives led by Yan Mingfu and student representatives led by Shen Tong and Xiang Xiaoji. Yan affirmed the student movement's patriotic nature and pleaded for the students to withdraw from the square.[104] While Yan's apparent sincerity for compromise satisfied some students, the meeting grew increasingly chaotic as competing student factions relayed uncoordinated and incoherent demands to the leadership. Shortly after student leaders learned that the event had not been broadcast nationally, as initially promised by the government, the meeting fell apart.[105] Yan then personally went to the square to appeal to the students, even offering himself to be held hostage.[51] Yan also took the student's pleas to Li Peng the next day, asking Li to consider formally retracting the 26 April Editorial and rebranding the movement as "patriotic and democratic"; Li refused.[106] The students remained in the square during the Gorbachev visit; his welcoming ceremony was held at the airport. The Sino-Soviet summit, the first of its kind in some 30 years, marked the normalization of Sino-Soviet relations and was seen as a breakthrough of tremendous historical significance for China's leaders. However, its smooth proceedings were derailed by the student movement; this created a major embarrassment ("loss of face")[107] for the leadership on the global stage and drove many moderates in government onto a more hardline path.[108] The summit between Deng and Gorbachev took place at the Great Hall of the People amid the backdrop of commotion and protest in the square.[100] When Gorbachev met with Zhao on 16 May, Zhao told him, and by extension the international press, that Deng was still the "paramount authority" in China. Deng felt that this remark was Zhao's attempt to shift blame for mishandling the movement to him. Zhao's defense against this accusation was that privately informing world leaders that Deng was the true center of power was standard operating procedure; Li Peng had made nearly identical private statements to US president George H. W. Bush in February 1989.[109] Nevertheless, the statement marked a decisive split between the country's two most senior leaders.[100] Gathering momentum The hunger strikes galvanized support for the students and aroused sympathy across the country. Around a million Beijing residents from all walks of life demonstrated in solidarity from 17 to 18 May. These included PLA personnel, police officers, and lower party officials.[9] Many grassroots Party and Youth League organizations, as well as government-sponsored labor unions, encouraged their membership to demonstrate.[9] In addition, several of China's non-Communist parties sent a letter to Li Peng to support the students. The Chinese Red Cross issued a special notice and sent in many personnel to provide medical services to the hunger strikers on the square. After the departure of Mikhail Gorbachev, many foreign journalists remained in the Chinese capital to cover the protests, shining an international spotlight on the movement. Western governments urged Beijing to exercise restraint.[citation needed] The movement, on the wane at the end of April, now regained momentum. By 17 May, as students from across the country poured into the capital to join the movement, protests of various sizes occurred in some 400 Chinese cities.[11] Students demonstrated at provincial party headquarters in Fujian, Hubei, and Xinjiang. Without a clearly articulated official position from the Beijing leadership, local authorities did not know how to respond. Because the demonstrations now included a wide array of social groups, each having its own set of grievances, it became increasingly unclear with whom the government should negotiate and what the demands were. The government, still split on how to deal with the movement, saw its authority and legitimacy gradually erode as the hunger strikers took the limelight and gained widespread sympathy.[9] These combined circumstances put immense pressure on the authorities to act, and martial law was discussed as an appropriate response.[110] The situation seemed intractable, and the weight of taking decisive action fell on paramount leader Deng Xiaoping. Matters came to a head on 17 May during a Politburo Standing Committee meeting at Deng's residence.[111] At the meeting, Zhao Ziyang's concessions-based strategy, which called for the retraction of the 26 April Editorial, was thoroughly criticized.[112] Li Peng, Yao Yilin, and Deng asserted that by making a conciliatory speech to the Asian Development Bank, on 4 May, Zhao had exposed divisions within the top leadership and emboldened the students.[112][113][114] Deng warned that "there is no way to back down now without the situation spiraling out of control", and so "the decision is to move troops into Beijing to declare martial law"[115] as a show of the government's no-tolerance stance.[112] To justify martial law, the demonstrators were described as tools of "bourgeois liberalism" advocates who were pulling strings behind the scenes, as well as tools of elements within the party who wished to further their personal ambitions.[116] For the rest of his life, Zhao Ziyang maintained that the decision was ultimately in Deng's hands: among the five PSC members present at the meeting, he and Hu Qili opposed the imposition of martial law, Li Peng and Yao Yilin firmly supported it, and Qiao Shi remained carefully neutral and noncommittal. Deng appointed the latter three to carry out the decision.[117] On the evening of 17 May, the PSC met at Zhongnanhai to finalize plans for martial law. At the meeting, Zhao announced that he was ready to "take leave", citing he could not bring himself to carry out martial law.[112] The elders in attendance at the meeting, Bo Yibo and Yang Shangkun, urged the PSC to follow Deng's orders.[112] Zhao did not consider the inconclusive PSC vote to have legally binding implications for martial law;[118] Yang Shangkun, in his capacity as Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission, mobilized the military to move into the capital.[119] Li Peng met with students for the first time on 18 May in an attempt to placate public concern over the hunger strike.[110] During the talks, student leaders again demanded that the government rescind the 26 April Editorial and affirm the student movement as "patriotic". Li Peng said the government's main concern was sending the hunger strikers to hospitals. The discussions were confrontational and yielded little substantive progress,[120] but gained student leaders prominent airtime on national television.[121] By this point, those calling for the overthrow of the party and Li Peng and Deng became prominent both in Beijing and in other cities.[122] Wen Jiabao, then chief of the Party's General Office, accompanied Zhao Ziyang to meet with students in the square, surviving the political purge of the party's liberals and later serving as Premier from 2003 to 2013. In the early morning of 19 May, Zhao Ziyang went to Tiananmen in what became his political swan song. He was accompanied by Wen Jiabao. Li Peng also went to the square but left shortly thereafter. At 4:50 am Zhao made a speech with a bullhorn to a crowd of students, urging them to end the hunger strike.[123] He told the students that they were still young and urged them to stay healthy and not to sacrifice themselves without due concern for their futures. Zhao's emotional speech was applauded by some students. It would be his last public appearance.[123] Students, we came too late. We are sorry. You talk about us, criticize us, it is all necessary. The reason that I came here is not to ask you to forgive us. All I want to say is that students are getting very weak. It is the 7th day since you went on a hunger strike. You can't continue like this. [...] You are still young, there are still many days yet to come, you must live healthily, and see the day when China accomplishes the Four Modernizations. You are not like us. We are already old. It doesn't matter to us anymore. —Zhao Ziyang at Tiananmen Square, 19 May 1989 Surveillance of protesters Student leaders were put under close surveillance by the authorities; traffic cameras were used to perform surveillance on the square; and nearby restaurants, and wherever students gathered, were wiretapped.[124] This surveillance led to the identification, capture, and punishment of protest participants.[125] After the massacre, the government did thorough interrogations at work units, institutions, and schools to identify who had been at the protest.[126] Outside Beijing Main article: Gifts and donations from outside Mainland China during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests On 19 April, the editors of the World Economic Herald, a magazine close to reformists, decided to publish a commemorative section on Hu. Inside was an article by Yan Jiaqi, which commented favorably on the Beijing student protests, and called for a reassessment of Hu's 1987 purge. Sensing the conservative political trends in Beijing, Jiang Zemin demanded that the article be censored, and many newspapers were printed with a blank page.[127] Jiang then suspended lead editor Qin Benli, his decisive action earning the trust of conservative party elders, who praised Jiang's loyalty. On 27 May, over 300,000 people in Hong Kong gathered at Happy Valley Racecourse for a gathering called the Concert for Democracy in China (Chinese: 民主歌聲獻中華). Many Hong Kong celebrities sang songs and expressed their support for the students in Beijing.[128][129] The following day, a procession of 1.5 million people, one fourth of Hong Kong's population, led by Martin Lee, Szeto Wah, and other organization leaders, paraded through Hong Kong Island.[130] Across the world, especially where ethnic Chinese lived, people gathered and protested. Many governments, including those of the United States and Japan, issued travel warnings against traveling to China. Military action Main articles: People's Liberation Army at the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre and Insubordination in the PLA during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre Martial law The Chinese government declared martial law on 20 May and mobilized at least 30 divisions from five of the country's seven military regions.[131] At least 14 of the PLA's 24 army corps contributed troops.[131] Guangzhou's civil aviation authorities suspended civil airline travel to prepare for transporting military units.[132] The army's initial entry into the capital was blocked in the suburbs by throngs of protesters. Seeing no way forward, the authorities ordered the army to withdraw on 24 May. All government forces then retreated to bases outside the city.[19][11] According to Timothy Brook, while the army's withdrawal was initially seen as "turning the tide" in favor of protesters, in reality, mobilization was taking place across the country for a final assault.[132] At the same time, internal divisions intensified within the student movement itself. By late May, the students became increasingly disorganized with no clear leadership or unified course of action. Moreover, Tiananmen Square was overcrowded and facing serious hygiene problems. Hou Dejian suggested an open election of the student leadership to speak for the movement but was met with opposition.[51] Meanwhile, Wang Dan moderated his position, ostensibly sensing the impending military action and its consequences. He advocated for a temporary withdrawal from Tiananmen Square to re-group on campus, but this was opposed by hardline student factions who wanted to hold the square. The increasing internal friction would lead to struggles for control of the loudspeakers in the middle of the square in a series of "mini-coups": whoever controlled the loudspeakers was "in charge" of the movement. Some students would wait at the train station to greet arrivals of students from other parts of the country in an attempt to enlist factional support.[51] Student groups began accusing each other of ulterior motives, such as collusion with the government and trying to gain personal fame from the movement. Some students even tried to oust Chai Ling, and Feng Congde from their leadership positions in an attempted kidnapping, an action Chai called a "well-organized and premeditated plot".[51] 1 June Li Peng's Report On 1 June, Li Peng issued a report titled "On the True Nature of the Turmoil", which was circulated to every member of the Politburo.[133] The report concludes that the demonstrators' leadership, referred to as a "tiny minority", had "organized and plotted the turmoil", and that they were using the square as a base to provoke conflict in order to create an international impact. [134] It also maintains that they had formed connections with criminal elements and used funding from foreign and domestic sources to improve their communications equipment and procure weapons. [135] The report recommended that the Chinese government “take swift and decisive measures immediately to suppress the counterrevolutionary turmoil in Beijing”.[135] MSS Report On the same day, another report entitled "On ideological and political infiltration into our country from the United States and other international political forces", was issued by Ministry of State Security chief Jia Chunwang and submitted to the party leadership.[136] Like Li's report, Jia's report advocated for military action and placed responsibility for the protests and the turmoil on the United States.[137] It said that a ranking official of the US Embassy in China had met with the demonstrators "every night for four weeks" and alleged that the US State Department tried to build a counterrevolutionary armed forces in China, citing a May report published by its China Study Group which claimed that the democracy movement in China was part of the world democracy movement.[137] It further said that American students studying at universities across China "went everywhere fanning the flames" and that American journalists in Beijing maintained close contact with the leaders of the Beijing Students' Autonomous Federation, telling them that "the United States would, if necessary, provide asylum for them or help them go to the United States to study."[137] 2–3 June In conjunction with the plan to clear the square by force, the Politburo received word from army headquarters stating that troops were ready to help stabilize the capital and that they understood the necessity and legality of martial law to overcome the turmoil.[138] On 2 June, with increasing action on the part of protesters, the government saw that it was time to act. Protests broke out as newspapers published articles that called for the students to leave Tiananmen Square and end the movement. Many of the students in the square were not willing to leave and were outraged by the articles.[139] They were also outraged by the Beijing Daily's 1 June article "Tiananmen, I Cry for You", which was written by a fellow student who had become disillusioned with the movement, as he thought it was chaotic and disorganized.[139] In response to the articles, thousands of students lined the streets of Beijing to protest against leaving the square.[140] Three intellectuals—Liu Xiaobo, Zhou Duo, and Gao Xin—and Taiwanese singer Hou Dejian declared a second hunger strike to revive the movement.[141] After weeks of occupying the square, the students were tired, and internal rifts opened between moderate and hardline student groups.[142] In their declaration speech, the hunger strikers openly criticized the government's suppression of the movement, to remind the students that their cause was worth fighting for and pushing them to continue their occupation of the square.[143] On 2 June, Deng Xiaoping and several party elders met with the three PSC members—Li Peng, Qiao Shi, and Yao Yilin—who remained after Zhao Ziyang and Hu Qili had been ousted. The committee members agreed to clear the square so "the riot can be halted and order be restored to the Capital".[144][145] They also agreed that the square needed to be cleared as peacefully as possible; but if protesters did not cooperate, the troops would be authorized to use force to complete the job.[140] That day, state-run newspapers reported that troops were positioned in ten key areas in the city.[140][142] Units of the 27th, 65th, and 24th armies were secretly moved into the Great Hall of the People on the west side of the square and the Ministry of Public Security compound east of the square[146] and at least one unit was ordered to "enter the city in disguise."[146][147] On the evening of 2 June, an accident occurred in which a PAP jeep ran onto a sidewalk killing three pedestrians and injuring a fourth.[148] Police cordoned off the area and sent the dead and injured to a nearby hospital but did not conduct an investigation while they took the perpetrators away.[148] Combined with the lack of license plates on the jeep, the protesters suspected infiltration by the military which was confirmed when some of them forced their way past the police to search the jeep and emerged with military uniforms, maps, and mobile telephones.[148] Soon afterwards, student leaders issued emergency orders to set up roadblocks at major intersections to prevent the entry of troops into the center of the city.[148] According to Nicholas Kristof, the incident spurred the mobilization of tens of thousands of Beijing students and workers onto the streets to erect barricades.[149] According to the Tiananmen Papers, the jeep incident led to a "violent reaction by the citizens against what seemed to be efforts by martial law troops to sneak into the city in plainclothes."[148] On the morning of 3 June, students and citizens intercepted a busload of plainclothed soldiers at Xinjiekou.[150] Soldiers were surrounded, isolated and questioned.[151] Troops approaching Tiananmen from the south were beaten by the crowd when they went to get their ammunition, as were Beijing security personnel who attempted to aid the soldiers. Some of the soldiers were kidnapped when they attempted to head for the hospital. [151] The discovery of military weaponry was seized by the demonstrators as evidence of the government's intent to use violence.[152][153][154] According to The Gate of Heavenly Peace, after the protesters confiscated the weapons, they turned the weapons over to Beijing police.[51] Several other buses carrying weapons, gear, and supplies were intercepted and boarded around Tiananmen.[151] At 1 pm, a crowd intercepted one of these buses at Liubukou, and several men raised military helmets on bayonets to show the rest of the crowd.[155] At 2:05 pm, over 800 soldiers and People's Armed Police in riot gear from the Beijing Garrison rushed out of Zhongnanhai to retake the weapons cache. Simultaneously, thousands of unarmed troops from the 27th and 63rd Armies emerged from the Great Hall to divert the crowds' attention. The PAP units with clubs and riot gear fought through walls of protesters to seize control of the weapons. For the first time during the 1989 Tiananmen Protests, the police fired tear gas to repel protesters.[156] At 2:30 pm, a clash broke out between protesters and police.[157] The police attempted to disperse the crowd with tear gas, but demonstrators counterattacked and threw rocks, forcing them to retreat inside the Zhongnanhai compound through the west gate.[155][149][51] The news of large crowds of protesters preventing soldiers and weapons from reaching the city center led China's top leadership to approve the use of lethal force.[158] According to Ezra Vogel, Deng at 2:50pm told General Chi Haotian that his troops could use all possible methods to clear the square.[158] At 5:30 pm, several thousand troops awaiting orders began to retreat from the Great Hall of the People.[155] [19] That evening, the government leaders continued to monitor the situation.[159] 3–4 June In the evening on 3 June, the government issued an emergency announcement urging citizens to "stay off the streets and away from Tiananmen Square". [160] These warnings were not taken seriously as similar announcement had been made from the outset of the protests.[161] Meanwhile, protesters made their own broadcasts across various university campuses in Beijing to call for students and citizens to arm themselves and assemble at intersections and the Square.[160] Chang'an Avenue The Type 59 main battle tank, here on display at the Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution in western Beijing, was deployed by the People's Liberation Army on 3 June 1989. Type 63 armored personnel carrier deployed by the People's Liberation Army in Beijing in 1989 Type 56 assault rifle, used by soldiers during the crackdown On June 3, at 8:00 p.m., the 38th Army, led by interim commander Zhang Meiyuan, began to advance from military office compounds in Shijingshan and Fentai District in western Beijing along the western extension of Chang'an Avenue toward the square to the east.[162] At 9:30 p.m, this army encountered and attempted to break through a blockade set up by protesters at Gongzhufen in Haidian District.[163] Troops armed with anti-riot gear clashed with the protesters, firing rubber bullets and tear gas, while the protesters threw rocks, bricks, and bottles at them.[163] At about 10:00 pm the first warning shots were fired into the air.[164] Other troops fired warning shots into the air, which was ineffective.[163] At 10:10 pm, an army officer picked up a megaphone and urged the protesters to disperse.[163] He also ordered the soldiers in front of him to disperse the protesters which they followed by throwing stun grenades.[164] When those measures failed, the officer decided to use force to ensure his unit could reach their positions on time. Infantrymen led the way, firing into the air. Then the soldiers pointed their weapons at the crowd.[165] Soldiers attack protesters At about 10:30 p.m., still being pummeled by rocks thrown by protesters, the 38th Army troops opened fire.[163] APCs rammed through bus barricades the protesters had set up to block the Gongzhufen intersection, killing civilians in the process.[166] The crowds were stunned that the army was using live ammunition and fell back towards Muxidi Bridge.[163][167][168] The troops used expanding bullets.[11] The advance of the army was again halted by another blockade at Muxidi, about 5 km west of the square.[169] After protesters repelled an attempt by an anti-riot brigade to storm the bridge, [162] regular troops advanced on the crowd and turned their weapons on them.[159][169] As the military continued moving eastward, the soldiers became more indiscriminate in their firing and killed protesters and uninvolved bystanders alike.[34][170] Soldiers alternated between shooting into the air and firing directly at protesters.[171][159][169] Soldiers raked apartment buildings with gunfire, and some people inside or on their balconies were shot.[172][159][173][170] As the army advanced, fatalities were recorded along Chang'an Avenue. By far, the largest number occurred in the two-mile stretch of road running from Muxidi to Xidan, where 65 PLA trucks and 47 APCs were completely destroyed, and 485 other military vehicles were also damaged.[34] Protestors attack soldiers Unlike more moderate student leaders, Chai Ling seemed willing to allow the student movement to end in a violent confrontation, [174] stating in The Gate of Heavenly Peace: "What we actually are hoping for is bloodshed, the moment when the government is ready to brazenly butcher the people. Only when the Square is awash with blood will the people of China open their eyes." However, she felt that she was unable to convince her fellow students of this.[175] She also claimed that her expectation of a violent crackdown was something she had heard from Li Lu and not an idea of her own.[176] Demonstrators attacked troops with poles, rocks, and molotov cocktails; Jeff Widener reported witnessing rioters setting fire to military vehicles and beating the soldiers inside them to death.[177] Craig Calhoun said that on the occasion that tanks were disabled while trying to navigate the barricades, they were often torched, "usually after the occupants had been given a chance to escape."[178] On one avenue in western Beijing, anti-government protestors torched a military convoy of more than 100 trucks and armored vehicles.[179] They also hijacked an armored personnel carrier, taking it on a joy ride; these scenes were captured on camera and broadcast by Chinese state television via secret police officers from rooftops and electronic monitors that were set up on throughout Beijing.[180] In the evening, a firefight broke out between soldiers and citizens at Shuangjing. [181] On 5 June 1989, The Wall Street Journal reported: "As columns of tanks and tens of thousands of soldiers approached Tiananmen, many troops were set on by angry mobs who screamed, 'Fascists'. Dozens of soldiers were pulled from trucks, severely beaten, and left for dead. At an intersection west of the square, the body of a young soldier, who had been beaten to death, was stripped naked and hung from the side of a bus. Another soldier's corpse was strung up at an intersection east of the square."[182] The Journal said that the deaths showed the "venom with which Beijing residents turned on a people's army that had moved against the people" and "was an indication of what may lie ahead for China."[182] Clearing the square Cables from the U.S. embassy in Beijing described the pattern of events which occurred during the clearance operation in the following manner: At 0530 a column of about 50 APCs, tanks and trucks entered Tiananmen from the East. Demonstrators shouted angrily at the convoy and PLA troops in Tiananmen opened a barrage of rifle and machine gun fire. When this gunfire ended at 0545, a number of casualties remained lying on the ground. A second column of about 40 APCs, tanks and trucks entered Tiananmen by the same route and the students again moved into the road. PLA troops in Tiananmen opened fire with rifles and machine guns, once more causing a large number of casualties.[183] The cables said according to the other diplomatic reports, the pattern persisted throughout the morning and afternoon of June 4.[183] The cables also cited eyewitness accounts of the violence. One said she saw a tank run over 11 people and military personnel were seen walking down the street breaking the windows of buildings.[183] A second said soldiers did not fight back at first after some citizens threw rocks at them and that students tried unsuccessfully to restrain the crowds.[183][184] A third said soldiers and students initially attempted to show restraint, but that residents refused to follow student orders.[185] In the early morning on 4 June, the first APC entered Tiananmen Square from Chang'an West Boulevard. Demonstrators attacked the APC with molotov cocktails and immobilized it with a traffic divider, before covering it with petrol-doused blankets and setting it on fire. [184] Brook said that while some of the soldiers who emerged from the APC were killed, it was the student demonstrators who "came forward to provide protection to the soldiers from the anger of the mob."[159] According to accounts, including an eyewitness account of a Chinese-American reporter, the soldiers were attacked by the crowd: Two soldiers were burned alive inside the APC, and a third was beaten to death in full view of other soldiers.[183][185] The reporter noted that he "saw students trying to restrain the crowds" and that the APC incident "appeared to have sparked the shooting that followed".[183][185] Larry Wortzel, a military intelligence officer at the U.S. Embassy at the time, noted that, as part of their "People's War" strategy against the military, the demonstrators' swarming tactics were clearly rehearsed and practiced, having been used similarly in other places around the city.[186] Other APCs which were sent in as part of the first wave of units to clear the square were involved in similar acts of violence - one crushed a person who was inside a tent on the square.[187] Troops from the west arrived at the square at about 1:30 am, and troops from other directions gradually arrived as well, blocking main roads to the square to prevent entry.[188] A second emergency announcement from the government was broadcast on loudspeakers: A severe counterrevolutionary riot has broken out in the capital tonight. Rioters have savagely attacked soldiers of the PLA, have stolen their weapons and burned their vehicles, have erected roadblocks, and have kidnapped officers and soldiers [...] Citizens and students must evacuate the Square immediately so that martial law troops can successfully carry out their mission. We cannot guarantee the safety of violators, who will be solely responsible for any consequences. — Emergency Announcement, Beijing Municipal Government and Martial Law Command[189] After the announcement, most people in the square began to leave, and by 2:00 am, there were only a few thousand demonstrators in the square.[189] North of the square, a dozen students and citizens attempted to torch army trucks with cans of petrol but were arrested.[189] At 3:00 am, Hou Dejian, Liu Xiaobo, Zhou Duo, and Gao Xin decided to convince the students to evacuate the square; Chai Ling, however, insisted that "those who wish to leave may leave, and those who don't may stay."[190] The group asked Chai Ling and other student leaders to negotiate a peaceful evacuation. Hou Dejian addressed the students by loudspeaker, urging them to leave the square and surrender their rifles and other weapons, before leaving with Zhou Duo in an ambulance to meet the government troops.[188][190] Between 3:30 and 3:45 am, the ambulance arrived at the Museum of Chinese History in the northeast corner of the square, and Hou Dejian and Zhou Duo met with Ji Xinguo, a regimental political commissar.[188][190] They requested that the army give them time to evacuate, and to open a path for them to leave. Ji Xinguo relayed their request to Martial Law Headquarters, who agreed to the students' request.[188][190] Ji Xinguo informed them of this and told them to exit to the south. After Hou and Zhou returned to the square, they called for an immediate evacuation, and the Martial Law Headquarters announced, "Students, we appreciate that you will leave the Square voluntarily. Students, please leave in the southeastern direction."[191] There was initial reluctance among the students to leave, but as the deadline ap

The dark side of history: https://thememoryhole.substack.com/ An intimate dive into the enigmatic figure of Alabama governor George Wallace, a man whose past as a staunch segregationist clashed sharply with the evolving perception of him in contemporary America. The film begins by unraveling the polarizing legacy of Wallace, highlighting his infamous resistance to desegregation and the dramatic events at the University of Alabama. It juxtaposes these historical moments with the present-day narrative, where Wallace, now grappling with paralysis after an assassination attempt, emerges as a transformed figure seeking political resurgence. It provides a unique lens into Wallace's world, capturing exclusive interviews during two pivotal general elections. With Wallace contemplating a potential bid for the presidency, it navigates the landscape of a nation where attitudes towards the once-segregationist governor have shifted. Wallace, now portrayed as a populist champion by some, courts attention and support from both sides of the political spectrum. The documentary raises thought-provoking questions about the genuineness of Wallace's transformation. While some, including Wallace's wife Cornelia, advocate for his reformed image, doubts linger within the African American community and skeptics who question the sincerity of his ideological shift. Wallace's cryptic responses during interviews add layers to the complexity of his persona, oscillating between evasiveness and hints of ambition. His refusal to outright renounce his past segregationist views raises speculation and debate about the authenticity of his transformation, leaving audiences to decipher the nuances of his political rhetoric. As whispers of a potential Vice-Presidential candidacy alongside Edward Kennedy surface, the film navigates the intricate web of political alliances and the unsettling possibility of a reshaped America under Wallace's influence. It presents a gripping narrative that dissects the conundrum of a man whose evolution from a symbol of segregation to a potential political force challenges the very fabric of American politics and perceptions of redemption and reinvention. George Corley Wallace Jr. (August 25, 1919 – September 13, 1998)[1] was an American politician who served as the 45th governor of Alabama for four terms. He is notoriously remembered for his staunch segregationist and populist views.[2][3][4] During Wallace's tenure as governor of Alabama, he promoted "industrial development, low taxes, and trade schools."[5] Wallace sought the United States presidency as a Democratic Party candidate three times, and once as an American Independent Party candidate, being unsuccessful each time. Wallace opposed desegregation and supported the policies of "Jim Crow" during the Civil Rights Movement, declaring in his 1963 inaugural address that he stood for "segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever."[6] Born in Clio, Alabama, Wallace attended the University of Alabama School of Law, and served in United States Army Air Force during World War II. After the war, he won election to the Alabama House of Representatives, and served as a state judge. Wallace first sought the Democratic nomination in the 1958 Alabama gubernatorial election. Initially a moderate on racial issues, Wallace adopted a hard-line segregationist stance after losing the 1958 nomination. Wallace ran for governor again in 1962, and won the race. Seeking to stop the racial integration of the University of Alabama, Wallace earned national notoriety by standing in front of the entrance of the University of Alabama, blocking the path of black students.[6] Wallace left office when his first term expired in 1967 due to term limits. His wife, Lurleen, won the next election and succeeded him, with him as the de facto governor.[5] Lurleen died of cancer in May 1968, ending Wallace's period of influence; her doctor had informed him of the cancer's diagnosis in 1961, but Wallace did not tell his wife. Wallace challenged sitting president Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1964 Democratic presidential primaries, but Johnson prevailed in the race. In the 1968 presidential election, Wallace ran a third-party campaign in an attempt to force a contingent election in the United States House of Representatives, thereby enhancing the political clout of segregationist Southern leaders. Wallace won five Southern states but failed to force a contingent election. As of the 2020 election, he remains the most recent third-party candidate to receive pledged electoral college votes from any state. Wallace won election to the governorship again in 1970, and ran in the 1972 Democratic presidential primaries, having moderated his stance on segregation. His campaign effectively ended when he was shot in Maryland by Arthur Bremer, and Wallace remained paralyzed below the waist for the rest of his life. Wallace won re-election as governor in 1974, and he once again unsuccessfully sought the Democratic presidential nomination in the 1976 Democratic presidential primaries. In the late 1970s, Wallace announced that he became a born-again Christian, and moderated his views on race, renouncing his past support for segregation. Wallace left office in 1979, but re-entered politics and won election to a fourth, and final, term as governor in 1982. Wallace is the third[7] longest-serving governor in U.S. history, having served 5,848 days in office.[8] Early life George Corley Wallace Jr. was born in Clio, Alabama, to George Corley Wallace Sr. and Mozelle Smith. Since his parents disliked the designation "Junior", he was called "George C.", to distinguish him from his father, George Corley Sr., and paternal grandfather, the physician George Oscar Wallace, who was called "Doc Wallace". He had two younger brothers, Gerald and Jack, and a younger sister named Marianne.[9] During World War I, Wallace's father left college to pursue a life of farming when food prices were high. When his father died in 1937, his mother had to sell their farmland to pay existing mortgages.[10] Wallace was raised as a Methodist.[11] From age ten, Wallace was fascinated with politics. In 1935, he won a contest to serve as a page in the Alabama Senate, and confidently predicted that he would one day be governor.[12] Wallace became a regionally successful boxer in high school, then went directly to law school in 1937 at the University of Alabama School of Law in Tuscaloosa.[13] He was a member of the Delta Chi fraternity. It was at the University of Alabama that he crossed paths with future political adversary Frank Minis Johnson Jr., who would go on to become a prominent liberal federal judge.[14] Wallace also knew Chauncey Sparks, who became a conservative governor. These men had an effect on his personal politics reflecting ideologies of both leaders later during his time in office.[citation needed] He received a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1942.[15] Early in 1943, Wallace was accepted for pilot training by the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF).[16] Soon afterwards Wallace contracted life-threatening spinal meningitis, but prompt medical attention with sulfa drugs saved his life. Left with partial hearing loss and permanent nerve damage, he was instead trained as a flight engineer. During 1945, as a member of a B-29 crew with 468th Bombardment Group, stationed in the Mariana Islands as part of the Twentieth Air Force, Wallace took part in air raids on Japan and reached the rank of staff sergeant.[17] In mid-1945, Wallace received an early discharge on medical grounds, due to "severe anxiety", and a 10% disability pension for "psychoneurosis".[18] (The Twentieth Air Force was commanded by General Curtis LeMay, who was his running mate in the 1968 presidential race.) Racial attitude While some may argue that Wallace did not espouse racist views, most sources support the conclusion that he was motivated by racist ideology. For instance, one source on Wallace's career as a judge reports: "every black attorney who argued a case in Wallace's ... courtroom was struck by his fairness .... But no one who knew Wallace well ever took seriously his earnest profession – uttered a thousand times after 1963 – that he was a segregationist, not a racist."[19] A reporter covering state politics in 1961 observed that, while other Alabama politicians conversed primarily about women and Alabama football, for Wallace "it was race – race, race, race – and every time that I was closeted alone with him, that's all we talked about."[20] Wallace's preoccupation with race was based on his belief that black Americans comprised a separate and inferior race. In a 1963 letter to a social studies teacher, Wallace stated they were inclined to criminality – especially "atrocious acts ... such as rape, assault and murder" – because of a high incidence of venereal disease. Desegregation, he wrote, would lead to "intermarriage ... and eventually our race will be deteriated (sic) to that of the mongrel complexity."[21] Early career In 1938, at age 19, Wallace contributed to his grandfather's successful campaign for probate judge. Late in 1945, he was appointed as one of the assistant attorneys general of Alabama, and, in May 1946, he won his first election as a member to the Alabama House of Representatives. At the time, he was considered a moderate on racial issues. As a delegate to the 1948 Democratic National Convention, he did not join the Dixiecrat walkout at the convention, despite his opposition to U.S. President Harry S. Truman's proposed civil rights program. Wallace considered it an infringement on states' rights. The Dixiecrats carried Alabama in the 1948 general election, having rallied behind Governor Strom Thurmond of South Carolina. In his 1963 inaugural speech as governor, Wallace excused his failure to walk out of the 1948 convention on political grounds. In 1952, he became the Circuit Judge of the Third Judicial Circuit in Alabama. Here he became known as "the fighting little judge", a nod to his past boxing association.[22] He gained a reputation for fairness regardless of the race of the plaintiff. It was common practice at the time for judges in the area to refer to black lawyers by their first names, while their white colleagues were addressed formally as "Mister"; black lawyer J. L. Chestnut later said that "Judge George Wallace was the most liberal judge that I had ever practiced law in front of. He was the first judge in Alabama to call me 'Mister' in a courtroom."[22] On the other hand, Wallace issued injunctions to prevent the removal of segregation signs in rail terminals, becoming the first Southern judge to do so.[23] Similarly, during efforts by civil rights organizations to expand voter registration of blacks, Wallace blocked federal efforts to review Barbour County voting lists. He was cited for criminal contempt of court in 1959.[23] As judge, Wallace granted probation to some blacks, which may have cost him the 1958 gubernatorial election.[24] 1958 gubernatorial campaign In 1958, Wallace ran in the Democratic primary for governor. Since the 1901 constitution's effective disfranchisement of Black Alabamians, the Democratic Party had been virtually the only party in Alabama. For all intents and purposes, the Democratic primary, which was a political crossroads for Wallace, was the only real contest at the state level. State Representative George C. Hawkins of Gadsden ran, but Wallace's main opponent was Attorney General of Alabama John M. Patterson, who ran with the support of the Ku Klux Klan, an organization Wallace had spoken out against. Despite being endorsed by the NAACP, Wallace lost the nomination by over 34,400 votes.[22] After the election, aide Seymore Trammell recalled Wallace saying, "Seymore, you know why I lost that governor's race? ... I was outniggered by John Patterson. And I'll tell you here and now, I will never be outniggered again."[note 1] In the wake of his defeat, Wallace adopted a hard-line segregationist stance and used this stance to court the white vote in the next gubernatorial election in 1962. When a supporter asked why he started using racist messages, Wallace replied, "You know, I tried to talk about good roads and good schools and all these things that have been part of my career, and nobody listened. And then I began talking about niggers, and they stomped the floor."[25] Governor of Alabama Segregation From left to right: Governor Wallace, NASA administrator James E. Webb and scientist Wernher von Braun at the Marshall Space Flight Center Wallace standing against desegregation while being confronted by U.S. Deputy Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach at the University of Alabama in 1963 In the 1962 Democratic primary, Wallace finished first, ahead of State Senator Ryan DeGraffenried Sr., and taking 35 percent of the vote. In the runoff, Wallace won the nomination with 55 percent of the vote. As no Republican filed to run, this all but assured Wallace of becoming the next governor. He won a crushing victory in the November general election, taking 96 percent of the vote. As noted above, Democratic dominance had been achieved by disenfranchising most blacks and many poor whites in the state for decades, which lasted until years after federal civil rights legislation was passed in 1964 and 1965.[how?] Wallace took the oath of office on January 14, 1963, standing on the gold star marking the spot where, nearly 102 years earlier, Jefferson Davis was sworn in as provisional president of the Confederate States of America. In his inaugural speech, Wallace said:[25][26] In the name of the greatest people that have ever trod this earth, I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny, and I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever. This sentence had been written by Wallace's new speechwriter, Ku Klux Klan leader Asa Earl Carter. In 1963, President John F. Kennedy's administration ordered the U.S. Army's 2nd Infantry Division from Fort Benning, Georgia to be prepared to enforce the racial integration of the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. In a vain attempt to halt the enrollment of black students Vivian Malone and James Hood, Governor Wallace stood in front of Foster Auditorium at the University of Alabama on June 11, 1963. This became known as the "Stand in the Schoolhouse Door".[27] In September 1963, Wallace attempted to stop four black students from enrolling in four separate elementary schools in Huntsville. After intervention by a federal court in Birmingham, the four children were allowed to enter on September 9, becoming the first to integrate a primary or secondary school in Alabama.[28][29] Wallace desperately wanted to preserve segregation. In his own words: "The President [John F. Kennedy] wants us to surrender this state to Martin Luther King and his group of pro-communists who have instituted these demonstrations."[30] Wallace predicted, during a Milwaukee, Wisconsin speech on September 17, 1964, that the office-holding supporters of a civil rights bill would politically "bite the dust" by 1966 and 1968.[31] External videos video icon "Interview with George Wallace" conducted in 1986 for the Eyes on the Prize documentary in which he discusses integration of the University of Alabama, the Birmingham movement, and the Selma voting rights campaign. The Encyclopædia Britannica characterized him not so much as a segregationist but more as a "populist" who pandered to the white majority of Alabama voters.[32] It notes that his failed attempt at presidential politics created lessons that later influenced the populist candidacies of Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan.[32] Jack Newfield wrote in 1971 that Wallace "recently has been sounding like William Jennings Bryan as he attacked concentrated wealth in his speeches".[33] Economics and education This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) The principal achievement of Wallace's first term was an innovation in Alabama industrial development that several other states later copied: he was the first Southern governor to travel to corporate headquarters in northern states to offer tax abatements and other incentives to companies willing to locate plants in Alabama. He also initiated a community college system that has now spread throughout the state,[34] preparing many students to complete four-year degrees at Auburn University, UAB, or the University of Alabama. Wallace Community College (Dothan), is named for his father. Wallace Community College Selma (Selma), and Wallace State Community College (Hanceville) are named for him. Lurleen B. Wallace Community College in Andalusia is named for Wallace's first wife, Lurleen Burns Wallace. The University of South Alabama, a new state university in Mobile, was chartered in 1963 during Wallace's first year in office as governor. 1964 Democratic presidential primaries Main article: 1964 Democratic Party presidential primaries Wallace addressing an audience at the 1964 Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey On November 15–20, 1963, in Dallas, Wallace announced his intention to oppose the incumbent president, John F. Kennedy, for the 1964 Democratic presidential nomination. Days later, also in Dallas, Kennedy was assassinated, and Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson succeeded him as president. Building upon his notoriety after the University of Alabama controversy, Wallace entered the Democratic primaries in 1964 on the advice of a public relations expert from Wisconsin.[35] Wallace campaigned strongly by expressing his opposition to integration and a tough approach on crime. In Democratic primaries in Wisconsin, Indiana, and Maryland, Wallace garnered at least a third of the vote running against three Johnson-designated surrogates.[36] Wallace was known for stirring crowds with his oratory. The Huntsville Times interviewed Bill Jones, Wallace's first press secretary, who recounted "a particularly fiery speech in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1964 that scared even Wallace, [where he] angrily shouted to a crowd of 1,000 people that 'little Pinkos' were 'running around outside' protesting his visit, and continued, after thunderous applause, saying, 'When you and I start marching and demonstrating and carrying signs, we will close every highway in the country.' The audience leaped to its feet and headed for the exit", Jones said, "It shook Wallace. He quickly moved to calm them down."[24] At graduation exercises in the spring of 1964 at Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina, Wallace received an honorary doctorate.[37] At the commencement, Bob Jones Jr., read the following citation as a tribute to Wallace:[38] Men who have fought for truth and righteousness have always been slandered, maligned, and misrepresented. The American press in its attacks upon Governor Wallace has demonstrated that it is no longer free, American, or honest. But you, Mr. Governor, have demonstrated not only by the overwhelming victories in the recent elections in your own state of Alabama, but also in the showing which you have made in states long dominated by cheap demagogues and selfish radicals that there is still in America love for freedom, hard common sense, and at least some hope for the preservation of our constitutional liberties. 1964 unpledged elector slate In 1964, Alabama Republicans stood to benefit from the unintended consequences of two developments: (1) Governor Wallace vacating the race for the Democratic presidential nomination against President Johnson, and (2) the designation of unpledged Democratic electors in Alabama, in effect removing President Johnson from the general election ballot. Prior to the 1964 Republican National Convention in San Francisco, Wallace and his aides Bill Jones and Seymore Trammell met in the Jefferson Davis Hotel in Montgomery with Alabama Republican leader James D. Martin, who had narrowly lost the U.S. Senate election in 1962 to J. Lister Hill. Wallace and his aides sought to determine if Barry M. Goldwater, the forthcoming Republican presidential nominee who as a senator from Arizona had voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964 on libertarian and constitutional grounds, would advocate repeal of the law, particularly the public accommodations and equal employment sections. Bill Jones indicated that Wallace agreed with Goldwater's anti-communist stance but opposed the Republican's proposal to make Social Security a voluntary program. Jones stressed that Wallace had sacrificed his own presidential aspirations that year to allow a direct Republican challenge to President Johnson. It was later disclosed that Wallace proposed at the meeting with Martin to switch parties if he could be named as Goldwater's running-mate, a designation later given to U.S. Representative William E. Miller of New York. Goldwater reportedly rejected the overture because he considered Wallace to be a racist.[39] The unpledged electors in Alabama included the future U.S. senator, James Allen, then the lieutenant governor, and the subsequent Governor Albert Brewer, then the state House Speaker. National Democrats balked over Johnson's exclusion from the ballot, but most supported the unpledged slate, which competed directly with the Republican electors. As The Tuscaloosa News explained, loyalist electors would have offered a clearer choice to voters than did the unpledged slate.[40] The 1964 Republican electors were the first since Reconstruction to prevail in Alabama. The Goldwater-Miller slate received 479,085 votes (69.5 percent) to the unpledged electors' 209,848 (30.5 percent). The Republican tide also brought to victory five Republican members of the United States House of Representatives, including William Louis Dickinson, who held the Montgomery-based district seat until 1993, and James D. Martin, the Gadsden oil products dealer who defeated then State Senator George C. Hawkins for the U.S. House seat formerly held by Carl Elliott. Hardly yet sworn into the U.S. House, Martin already had his eyes on Wallace's own position as governor.[41] First Gentleman of Alabama Term limits in the Alabama Constitution prevented Wallace from seeking a second term in 1966. Therefore, Wallace offered his wife, Lurleen Wallace, as a surrogate candidate for governor. In the Democratic primary, she defeated two former governors, Jim Folsom and John M. Patterson, Attorney General Richmond Flowers Sr., and former U.S. Representative Carl Elliott.[42] Largely through the work of Wallace's supporters, the Alabama restriction on gubernatorial succession was later modified to allow two consecutive terms.[43] Wallace defended his wife's proxy candidacy. He felt somewhat vindicated when Republicans in Idaho denied renomination in 1966 to Governor Robert E. Smylie, author of the article entitled "Why I Feel Sorry for Lurleen Wallace". In his memoirs, Wallace recounts his wife's ability to "charm crowds" and cast-off invective: "I was immensely proud of her, and it didn't hurt a bit to take a back seat to her in vote-getting ability." Wallace rebuffed critics[who?] who claimed that he had "dragooned" his wife into the race. "She loved every minute of being governor the same way ... that Mrs. (Margaret) Smith loves being senator."[44] During the 1966 campaign, George Wallace signed state legislation to nullify desegregation guidelines between Alabama cities and counties and the former United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. Wallace claimed that the law would thwart the national government from intervening in schools. Critics denounced Wallace's "political trickery" and expressed alarm at the potential forfeiture of federal funds. Republican gubernatorial candidate James D. Martin accused the Democrats of "playing politics with your children" and "neglecting academic excellence".[45] Martin also opposed the desegregation guidelines and had sponsored a U.S. House amendment to forbid the placement of students and teachers on the basis of racial quotas. He predicted that Wallace's legislation would propel the issuance of a court order compelling immediate and total desegregation in all public schools. He also compared the new Alabama law to "another two-and-a-half-minute stand in the schoolhouse door".[46] Lurleen Wallace defeated Martin in the general election on November 8, 1966. She was inaugurated in January 1967, but on May 7, 1968, she died in office of cancer at the age of 41, amid her husband's ongoing second presidential campaign.[47] On her death, she was succeeded by Lieutenant Governor Albert Brewer, who had run without Republican opposition amid the Wallace–Martin races. George Wallace's influence in state government thus subsided until his next bid for election in his own right in 1970. He was "first gentleman" for less than a year and a half. 1968 third-party presidential run Main article: George Wallace 1968 presidential campaign Further information: Southern strategy Wallace announcing his Presidential run in 1968 Planning for Wallace's 1968 presidential campaign began with a strategy session on the evening of the March 1967 inauguration of Lurleen Wallace. The meeting featured prominent white supremacists and anti-Semites, including: Asa Carter; William Simmons of the White Citizens' Council; Dallas County Sheriff Jim Clark; former Mississippi governor Ross Barnett; Leander Perez, a fervent Louisiana segregationist and anti-Semite; Kent Courtney, a John Bircher; and "a representative sent by Willis Carto, head of the Liberty Lobby and publisher of the anti-Semitic magazine American Mercury."[48] Results of the 1968 presidential election (Wallace won the states in orange). Wallace ran for president in the 1968 election as the American Independent Party candidate, with Curtis LeMay as his candidate for vice president. Wallace hoped to force the House of Representatives to decide the election with one vote per state if he could obtain sufficient electoral votes to make him a power broker. Wallace hoped that Southern states could use their clout to end federal efforts at desegregation. His platform contained generous increases for beneficiaries of Social Security and Medicare. Wallace's foreign policy positions set him apart from the other candidates in the field. "If the Vietnam War was not winnable within 90 days of his taking office, Wallace pledged an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops ... Wallace described foreign aid as money 'poured down a rat hole' and demanded that European and Asian allies pay more for their defense."[49] Richard Nixon feared that Wallace might split the conservative vote and allow the Democratic nominee, Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey, to prevail. He mostly attracted the Southern Democrats who were dissatisfied with the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and the 1965 Voting Rights Act that were signed earlier in the decade by President Lyndon B. Johnson. However, some Democrats feared Wallace's appeal to organized blue-collar workers would damage Humphrey in Northern states such as Ohio, New Jersey and Michigan. Wallace ran a "law and order" campaign similar to Nixon's, further worrying Republicans.[50] In Wallace's 1998 obituary, The Huntsville Times political editor John Anderson summarized the impact from the 1968 campaign: "His startling appeal to millions of alienated white voters was not lost on Richard Nixon and other Republican strategists. First Nixon, then Ronald Reagan, and finally George Herbert Walker Bush successfully adopted toned-down versions of Wallace's anti-busing, anti-federal government platform to pry low- and middle-income whites from the Democratic New Deal coalition."[24] Dan Carter, a professor of history at Emory University in Atlanta, added: "George Wallace laid the foundation for the dominance of the Republican Party in American society through the manipulation of racial and social issues in the 1960s and 1970s. He was the master teacher, and Richard Nixon and the Republican leadership that followed were his students."[51] Wallace considered Happy Chandler, the former baseball commissioner, two-term former governor of Kentucky and former Senator from Kentucky, as his running mate in his 1968 campaign as a third-party candidate; as one of Wallace's aides put it, "We have all the nuts in the country; we could get some decent people–-you working one side of the street and he working the other side." Wallace invited Chandler, but when the press published the prospect, Wallace's supporters objected; Chandler had supported the hiring of Jackie Robinson by the Brooklyn Dodgers. Wallace retracted the invitation, and (after considering Kentucky Fried Chicken founder Colonel Harland Sanders)[49] chose former Air Force General Curtis LeMay of California. LeMay was considered instrumental in the establishment in 1947 of the United States Air Force and an expert in military affairs. His four-star military rank, experience at Strategic Air Command and presence advising President Kennedy during the Cuban Missile Crisis were considered foreign-policy assets to the Wallace campaign. By 1968, LeMay had retired and was serving as chairman of the board of an electronics company, but the company threatened to dismiss him if he took a leave of absence to run for vice president. To keep LeMay on the ticket, Wallace backer and Texas oil tycoon H. L. Hunt set up a million-dollar fund to reimburse LeMay for any income lost in the campaign.[52] Campaign aides tried to persuade LeMay to avoid questions relating to nuclear weapons, but when asked if he thought their use was necessary to win the Vietnam War, he first said that America could win in Vietnam without them. However, he alarmed the audience by further commenting, "we [Americans] have a phobia about nuclear weapons. I think there may be times when it would be most efficient to use nuclear weapons." The "politically tone-deaf" LeMay became a drag on Wallace's candidacy for the remainder of the campaign.[53] In 1968, Wallace pledged that "If some anarchist lies down in front of my automobile, it will be the last automobile he will ever lie down in front of" and asserted that the only four letter words that hippies did not know were "w-o-r-k" and "s-o-a-p." Responding to criticism of the former comment, Wallace later elaborated that he meant such a protester would be punished under the law, not run over. This type of rhetoric became famous. He accused Humphrey and Nixon of wanting to radically desegregate the South. Wallace said, "There's not a dime's worth of difference between the Republicans and Democrats", a campaign slogan that he had first perfected when Lurleen Wallace defeated James D. Martin. Major media outlets observed the support Wallace received from extremist groups such as White Citizens' Councils. It has been noted that members of such groups had permeated the Wallace campaign by 1968 and, while Wallace did not openly seek their support, nor did he refuse it.[54] Indeed, at least one case has been documented of the pro-Nazi[55] and white supremacist[56] Liberty Lobby distributing a pro-Wallace pamphlet entitled "Stand up for America" despite the campaign's denial of such a connection.[57] Unlike Strom Thurmond in 1948, Wallace generally avoided race-related discussions. He mostly criticized hippies and "pointy-headed intellectuals". He denied he was racist, saying once, "I've never made a racist speech in my life."[50] While Wallace carried five Southern states, won almost ten million popular votes and 46 electoral votes, Nixon received 301 electoral votes, more than required to win the election. Wallace remains the last non-Democratic, non-Republican candidate to win any pledged electoral votes. Wallace also received the vote of one North Carolina elector who had been pledged to Nixon. Many found Wallace an entertaining campaigner. To "hippies" who called him a fascist, he replied, "I was killing fascists when you punks were in diapers." Another notable quip: "They're building a bridge over the Potomac for all the white liberals fleeing to Virginia." Wallace decried the United States Supreme Court's binding opinion in Alexander v. Holmes County Board of Education, which ordered immediate desegregation of Southern schools – he said the new Burger court was "no better than the Warren court" and called the justices "limousine hypocrites".[58] Second term as governor Wallace's official portrait, c. 1970 In 1970, Wallace sought the Democratic nomination against incumbent governor Albert Brewer, who was the first gubernatorial candidate since Reconstruction to seek African American voter support.[59] Although in the 1966 gubernatorial election then state Attorney General Richmond Flowers championed civil rights for all and, with the support of most of Alabama's black voters, finished second in the Democratic primary. Brewer unveiled a progressive platform and worked to build an alliance between blacks and the white working class. Of Wallace's out-of-state trips, Brewer said, "Alabama needs a full-time governor!"[60] In the primary, Brewer received the most votes but failed to win a majority, which triggered a runoff election.[61] In what later U.S. President Jimmy Carter called "one of the most racist campaigns in modern southern political history",[61] Wallace aired television advertising with slogans such as "Do you want the black bloc electing your governor?" and circulated an ad showing a white girl surrounded by seven black boys, with the slogan "Wake Up Alabama! Blacks vow to take over Alabama."[62] Wallace slurred Brewer, whom he called "Sissy Britches",[63] and his family.[64] In the runoff, Wallace narrowly won the Democratic nomination[64] and won the general election in a landslide. Though Wallace had promised not to run for president a third time,[60][61] the day after the election, he flew to Wisconsin to campaign for the upcoming 1972 United States presidential election.[60] Wallace, whose presidential ambitions would have been destroyed by a defeat for governor, has been said to have run "one of the nastiest campaigns in state history", using racist rhetoric while proposing few new ideas.[59] 1972 Democratic presidential primaries and assassination attempt A campaign brochure Green states went to George Wallace in the 1972 Democratic primaries. On January 13, 1972, Wallace declared himself a Democratic candidate. The field included Senator George McGovern, 1968 nominee and former U.S. vice president Hubert Humphrey, and nine other Democratic opponents, including John V. Lindsay, the liberal mayor of New York City, who had switched from Republican affiliation to enter the Democratic presidential primaries. Wallace announced that he no longer supported segregation and had always been a "moderate" on racial matters.[22] This position was an echo of Nixon, who in 1969 had instituted the first affirmative action program, the Philadelphia Plan that established goals and timetables. However, Wallace (similarly to Nixon)[65] expressed continued opposition to desegregation busing.[66] For the next four months, Wallace's campaign proceeded well. In Florida's primary, Wallace carried every county to win 42% of the vote. Assassination attempt Wallace lies wounded on the ground immediately after the assassination attempt, as his wife, Cornelia, embraces him. On May 15, 1972, he was shot four times by Arthur Bremer while campaigning at the Laurel Shopping Center in Laurel, Maryland, at a time when he was receiving high ratings in national opinion polls.[67] Bremer was seen at a Wallace rally in Wheaton, Maryland, earlier that day and two days earlier at a rally in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Wallace was hit in the abdomen and chest, and one of the bullets lodged in Wallace's spinal column, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down for the rest of his life. A five-hour operation was needed that evening, and Wallace had to receive several units of blood to survive. Three others who were wounded in the shooting also survived. The shooting and Wallace's subsequent injuries put an effective end to his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.[68] The assassination attempt was caught on film.[69] Bremer's diary, An Assassin's Diary, published after his arrest, shows he was motivated in the assassination attempt by a desire for fame, not by political ideology.[citation needed] He had considered President Nixon an earlier target. He was convicted at trial. On August 4, 1972, Bremer was sentenced to 63 years in prison, later reduced to 53 years. Bremer served 35 years and was released on parole on November 9, 2007. CBS News correspondent David Dick won an Emmy Award for his coverage of the attempt on Wallace's life.[70] Rest of the campaign Following the assassination attempt, Wallace was visited at the hospital by Democratic Representative and presidential primary rival Shirley Chisholm,[71] a representative from Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. At the time, she was the nation's only African-American female member of Congress. Despite their ideological differences and the opposition of Chisholm's constituents, Chisholm felt visiting Wallace was the humane thing to do. Other people to visit Wallace in hospital were President Nixon, Vice President Spiro Agnew, and presidential primary rivals Hubert Humphrey, George McGovern, and Ted Kennedy. He also received telegrams from former President Lyndon Johnson, California governor Ronald Reagan and Pope Paul VI. After the shooting, Wallace won primaries in Maryland and Michigan, but his near assassination effectively ended his campaign. From his wheelchair, Wallace spoke on July 11, 1972, at the Democratic National Convention in Miami Beach, Florida. Since Wallace was out of Alabama for more than 20 days while he was recovering in Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, Maryland, the state constitution required Lieutenant Governor Jere Beasley to serve as acting governor from June 5 until Wallace's return to Alabama on July 7. Wallace resumed his gubernatorial duties and easily won the 1974 primary and general election, when he defeated Republican State Senator Elvin McCary, a real estate developer from Anniston, who received less than 15% of the ballots cast.[72] In 1992, when asked to comment on the 20th anniversary of his attempted assassination, Wallace replied, "I've had 20 years of pain."[73] 1976 Democratic presidential primaries States in green went to Wallace in the 1976 Democratic primaries. In November 1975, Wallace announced his fourth bid for the presidency, again participating in the Democratic presidential primaries. Wallace's campaign was plagued by voter concern about his health[74] as well as the media use of images that portrayed him as nearly helpless.[75] His supporters complained that such coverage was motivated by bias, citing the discretion used in coverage of Franklin D. Roosevelt's paralysis, before television became commercially available. In the southern primaries and caucuses, Wallace carried only Mississippi, South Carolina and his home state of Alabama. If the popular vote in all primaries and caucuses were combined, Wallace would have placed third behind former Georgia governor Jimmy Carter and California governor Jerry Brown. After the primaries were completed, and he had lost several Southern primaries to Carter, Wallace left the race in June 1976. He eventually endorsed Carter, who defeated Republican incumbent Gerald Ford. Final term as governor Wallace in 1982 at the Elmore Airshow in Elmore, Alabama In the late 1970s, Wallace announced that he was a born-again Christian and apologized to black civil rights leaders for his past actions as a segregationist. He said that while he had once sought power and glory, he realized he needed to seek love and forgiveness.[note 2] In 1979, Wallace said of his stand in the schoolhouse door: "I was wrong. Those days are over, and they ought to be over."[76] He publicly asked for forgiveness from black Americans.[76][77] In the 1982 Alabama gubernatorial Democratic primary, Wallace's main opponents were Lieutenant Governor George McMillan and Alabama House Speaker Joe McCorquodale. In the primary, McCorquodale was eliminated, and the vote went to a runoff, with Wallace holding a slight edge over McMillan. Wallace won the Democratic nomination by a margin of 51 to 49 percent. In the general election, his opponent was Montgomery Republican Mayor Emory Folmar. Polling experts at first thought the 1982 election was the best chance since Reconstruction for a Republican to be elected as governor of Alabama.[citation needed] Ultimately, though, it was Wallace, not Folmar, who claimed victory. During Wallace's final term as governor (1983–1987) he appointed a record number of black Americans to state positions,[78] including, for the first time, two as members in the cabinet. On April 2, 1986, Wallace announced at a press conference in Montgomery that he would not run for a fifth term as Governor of Alabama, and would retire from public life after leaving the governor's mansion in January 1987.[79] Wallace achieved four gubernatorial terms across three decades, totaling 16 years in office. Marriages and children Wallace married Lurleen Brigham Burns on May 22, 1943.[18][80][81] The couple had four children together: Bobbi Jo (1944) Parsons, Peggy Sue (1950) Kennedy, George III, known as George Junior (1951), and Janie Lee (1961) Dye, who was named after Robert E. Lee. Lurleen Wallace was the first woman to be elected governor of Alabama, which she did as a stand-in for her husband, who was barred from serving another term. In 1961, in keeping with the practice of many at the time to shield patients from discussion of cancer, which was greatly feared, Wallace had withheld information from her that a uterine biopsy had found possibly precancerous cells.[82] After Lurleen's death in 1968, the couple's younger children, aged 18, 16, and 6, were sent to live with family members and friends for care (their eldest daughter had already married and left home).[47] Their son, commonly called George Wallace Jr., is a Democrat-turned-Republican formerly active in Alabama politics. He was twice elected state treasurer as a Democrat, and twice elected to the Alabama Public Service Commission. He lost a race in 2006 for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor. In 2010, Wallace Jr. failed by a wide margin to win the Republican nod to regain his former position as state treasurer.[citation needed] On January 4, 1971, Wallace wed the former Cornelia Ellis Snively (1939–2009), a niece of former Alabama governor Jim Folsom, known as "Big Jim". "C'nelia" had been a performer and was nicknamed "the Jackie Kennedy of the rednecks." The couple had a bitter divorce in 1978. A few months after that divorce, Cornelia told Parade magazine, "I don't believe George needs a family. He just needs an audience. The family as audience wasn't enough for his ego."[24] Snively died at the age of 69 on January 8, 2009.[83] On September 9, 1981, Wallace married Lisa Taylor, a country music singer; they divorced in 1987.[84] Peggy was 12 years old when her father ran successfully for governor. She has shared that she was not treated nicely out in public due to her father's segregationist views. Some people would not shake her hand because of her last name. She would go to school wanting to befriend the black students, but she assumed that they would not like her because of what her father had done.[85] Final years and death In a 1995 interview, Wallace said that he planned to vote for Republican Bob Dole in the 1996 presidential election, commenting, "He's a good man. His wife is a born-again Christian woman and I believe he is, too." He also revealed that he had voted for George H. W. Bush, another Republican, in 1992. His son, George Wallace Jr., officially switched from Democrat to Republican that same year. Wallace himself declined to identify as either a Republican or a Democrat. But he added, "The state is slowly going Republican because of Clinton being so liberal."[86] In his later years, Wallace grew deaf and developed Parkinson's disease.[86] At a restaurant a few blocks from the State Capitol, Wallace became something of a fixture. In constant pain, he was surrounded by an entourage of old friends and visiting well-wishers and continued this ritual until a few weeks before his death. Wallace died of septic shock from a bacterial infection in Jackson Hospital in Montgomery on September 13, 1998. He had respiratory problems in addition to complications from his gunshot spinal injury. His grave is located at Greenwood Cemetery, in Montgomery. Legacy and honors External videos video icon Booknotes interview with Stephen Lesher on George Wallace: American Populist, February 27, 1994, C-SPAN video icon Washington Journal interview with Dan T. Carter on the influence of George Wallace, June 23, 2001, C-SPAN With four failed runs for president, Wallace was unsuccessful in national politics.[87][88] However, his impact on American politics was enormous and earned him the appellation "the most influential loser" in 20th century American politics, according to biographers Dan T. Carter[89] and Stephan Lesher.[90] The George Wallace Tunnel on Interstate 10 is named in his honor. In a two-part documentary, Pat Buchanan stated that Wallace had never gotten credit for being the figure he was and having influenced "Nixon and Agnew, the Reagan movement, the Buchanan movement, the Perot movement."[91] Wallace was the subject of a documentary, George Wallace: Settin' the Woods on Fire (2000), shown by PBS on The American Experience.[22][92] It was funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities. The TNT cable network produced a movie, George Wallace (1997), directed by John Frankenheimer and starring Gary Sinise. Sinise received an Emmy Award for his performance during a ceremony held the day Wallace died. Sinise reprised this role in 2002 film Path to War. In the 2014 film Selma, which was set during the Civil Rights Movement, which then-Governor Wallace publicly opposed, Wallace was portrayed by actor Tim Roth. Over 50 songs have been released about or making reference to George Wallace.[93] Three community colleges in Alabama are named for Wallace: Wallace Community College, Wallace Community College Selma, and Wallace State Community College. Lurleen B. Wallace Community College is named for his wife. In 2020, amidst a change in public opinion, many Alabama universities were pushed to rename campus buildings that were originally named after Wallace. This included, but was not limited to, the University of Montevallo and Auburn University.[94] The University of Montevallo has been unsuccessful in renaming the George C. Wallace Speech and Hearing Center because the building was named via Act 110 by the Alabama Legislature in 1975.[95] See also flagAlabama portalBiography portal Electoral history of George Wallace Southern Democrats Footnotes Jere Beasley served as Acting Governor from June 5 to July 7, 1972, while Wallace recovered from an assassination attempt. Notes Carter (1996, p. 2) notes that Wallace later denied a similar quotation that appeared in a 1968 biography by Marshall Frady: "'Well boys,' he said tightly as he snuffed out his cigar, 'no other son-of-a-bitch will ever out-nigger me again.'" Riechers, Maggie (March–April 2000). "Racism to Redemption: The Path of George Wallace". Humanities. 21 (2). Archived from the original on December 10, 2017. Retrieved May 25, 2006. The exact wording is a matter of historical dispute. Some sources quote Wallace as using the word "outsegged". In an extended note in "The Politics of Rage" (1995), p. 96 & 96fn, Carter notes the denial, but says two witnesses confirm the use of the racist language on Election Night, in addition to Seymore Trammell's recollection of Wallace using similar phrasing the next day in his presence. According to Carter (1995, pp. 236–37), "But no one who knew Wallace well ever took seriously his earnest profession – uttered a thousand times after 1963 – that he [had been] a segregationist, not a racist. ... Wallace, like most white southerners of his generation, [had] genuinely believed blacks to be a separate, inferior race." References Cornwell, Rupert (September 15, 1998). "Obituary: George Wallace". The Independent. Retrieved August 23, 2019. "George C. Wallace". Encyclopædia Britannica. August 25, 2012. Retrieved August 25, 2012. Newfield, Jack (July 19, 1971). "A Populist Manifesto: The Making of a New Majority". New York. pp. 39–46. Retrieved January 6, 2015. Lesher, Stephan (1994). George Wallace: American Populist. Addison Wesley. p. 409. ISBN 978-0-201-62210-2. Eskew, Glenn T. (September 8, 2008). "George C. Wallace (1963–1967, 1971–1979, 1983–1987)". Encyclopedia of Alabama. "George Wallace, Segregation Symbol, Dies at 79". The New York Times. September 14, 1998. "The Top 50 Longest Serving Governors in US History (Updated)". May 29, 2017. Ostermeier, Eric (May 29, 2017). "The Top 50 Longest Serving Governors in US History (Updated)". Smart Politics. University of Minnesota. Archived from the original on March 1, 2021. Retrieved April 2, 2021. Carter (1995), pp. 19–21. Carter (1995), p. 41. Carter (1995), p. 137. Carter (1995), pp. 30–31. "Alabama Governor George Wallace, gubernatorial history". Archives.state.al.us. Archived from the original on March 22, 2016. Retrieved January 8, 2011. Bass, Jack. Taming the Storm: The Life and Times of Frank M. Jonson Jr., and the South's Fight over Civil Rights (Doubleday, New York, 1993). "A life marked by hate, violence George Wallace gave comfort to racists". Baltimore Sun. September 20, 1998. Frederick, Jeff (2007). Stand up for Alabama: Governor George Wallace. p. 13. ISBN 978-0817315740. Lesher (1994) pp. 47–61. Frederick, Stand Up for Alabama: Governor George Wallace, 2007, p. 12. Carter, Dan T. (1995). The politics of rage : George Wallace, the origins of the new conservatism, and the transformation of American politics. New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 236. ISBN 0684809168. OCLC 32739924. Carter, Dan T. (1995). The politics of rage : George Wallace, the origins of the new conservatism, and the transformation of American politics. New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 237. ISBN 0684809168. OCLC 32739924. Carter, Dan T. (1995). The politics of rage : George Wallace, the origins of the new conservatism, and the transformation of American politics. New York: Simon & Schuster. pp. 237–238. ISBN 0684809168. OCLC 32739924. Mccabe, Daniel (writer, director, producer), Paul Stekler (writer, director, producer), Steve Fayer (writer) (2000). George Wallace: Settin' the Woods on Fire (Documentary). Boston, USA: American Experience. Anderson, John (September 14, 1998). "Former governor shaped politics of Alabama, nation". The Huntsville Times. Huntsville, Alabama. p. A8. referencing Frady, Marshall (1968). Wallace. New York: World Pub. Co. ISBN 978-0679771289. OCLC 588644. Anderson, John (September 14, 1998). "Former governor shaped politics of Alabama, nation". The Huntsville Times. Huntsville, Alabama. p. A8. "George Wallace: Settin' the Woods on Fire: Wallace Quotes". The American Experience. Public Broadcasting Service. 2000. Retrieved September 5, 2006. Klarman, Michael J. (March–April 2004). "Brown v. Board: 50 Years Later". Humanities: The Magazine of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Archived from the original on February 1, 2017. Retrieved September 6, 2006. E. Culpepper Clark (1995). The Schoolhouse Door: Segregation's Last Stand at the University of Alabama. Oxford University Press. p. 195. ISBN 978-0195096583. Webb, Debbie. "Wallace in the Schoolhouse Door: Marking the 40th Anniversary of Alabama's Civil Rights Standoff". NPR.org. Retrieved August 17, 2012. A brief history of race and schools Archived April 23, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, The Huntsville Times Alabama Governor George Wallace, public statement of May 8, 1963 in The New York Times. (May 9, 1963). "Restore U.S. Sanity: Wallace". Chicago Tribune. September 18, 1964. Archived from the original on August 3, 2017. Retrieved May 5, 2017. "George C. Wallace". Encyclopædia Britannica. August 25, 2012. Retrieved August 25, 2012. Newfield, Jack (July 19, 1971). "A Populist Manifesto: The Making of a New Majority". New York. pp. 39–46. Retrieved January 6, 2015. Katsinas, Stephen G. (1994). "George C. Wallace and the Founding of Alabama's Public Two-Year Colleges". The Journal of Higher Education. 65 (4): 447–472. doi:10.2307/2943855. JSTOR 2943855. Carter (1995), p. 205. Carter (1995), pp. 198–225. Archie Vernon Huff, Greenville: the history of the city and county in the South Carolina Piedmont, Columbia: U South Carolina P, 1995, p. 404. Sword of the Lord (June 26, 1964) 2. Montgomery Advertiser, September 23, 1966; Bill Jones, The Wallace Story, pp. 324, 327, 340. The Tuscaloosa News, reprinted in The Birmingham News, September 5, 1964. Congressional Quarterly report, Volume 23, Issues 40–53, p. 2443. Billy Hathorn, "A Dozen Years in the Political Wilderness: The Alabama Republican Party, 1966–1978", Gulf Coast Historical Review, Vol. 9, No. 2 (Spring 1994), p. 22. "Alabama Constitution of 1901, Amendment 282, Section 116". Alabama State Legislature. Retrieved December 30, 2016. "A Dozen Years in the Political Wilderness", p. 22. The Huntsville Times, September 3, 4, 1966; Montgomery Advertiser, September 1, 6, 1966. Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report, October 7, 1966, p. 2350. Carter (1995), pp. 310–312, 317–320. Carter, Dan T. (1995). The politics of rage : George Wallace, the origins of the new conservatism, and the transformation of American politics. New York: Simon & Schuster. pp. 295–298. ISBN 0684809168. OCLC 32739924. Kauffman, Bill (May 19, 2008) When the Left Was Right, The American Conservative Brands 2010, p. 165. Carter, Dan, professor of history at Emory University, quoted in Anderson, John (September 14, 1998). "Former governor shaped politics of Alabama, nation". The Huntsville Times. Huntsville, Alabama. p. A1, A8. Lesher, Stephan (1994). George Wallace: American Populist. Addison Wesley. p. 409. ISBN 978-0201622102. LeMay and Chandler in Perlstein, Rick (2008). Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America. Simon and Schuster. p. 348. ISBN 978-0743243025. Diamond, Sara (1995). Roads to Dominion: Right-Wing Movements and Political Power in the United States. New York: Guilford Press. pp. 142–146. ISBN 978-0898628647. Trento, Joseph and Spear, Joseph, "How Nazi Nut Power Has Invaded Capitol Hill", True (November 1969): 39. Pearson & Anderson, "The Washington Merry-go-round", [url="Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 18, 2011. Retrieved August 8, 2010.], 1966. Carter (1995), pp. 296–297. Woodward, Bob; Scott Armstrong (1979). The Brethren. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0671241109. p. 56. William, Warren; et al. (1994). Alabama: The History of a Deep South State. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press. p. 576. ISBN 978-0585263670. "Steve Flowers Inside the Statehouse". Archived from the original on September 28, 2007. Retrieved October 25, 2006. Flowers, Steve, "Steve Flowers Inside the Statehouse", October 12, 2005. Carter, Dan T. (1996). From George Wallace to Newt Gingrich: Race in the Conservative Counterrevolution, 1963–1994. Louisiana State University Press. pp. 46–48. ISBN 978-0195076806. Swint, Di Kerwin C. (2006). Mudslingers: The Top 25 Negative Political Campaigns of All Time Countdown from No. 25 to No. 1. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 228. ISBN 978-0275985103. "Season Openers - Printout". Time. May 4, 1970. Archived from the original on September 14, 2012. Retrieved January 8, 2011. Rogers, 576. Parmet, pp. 595–597, 603. Carter (1996), pp. 17–32. Greider, William (May 16, 1972). "Wallace Is Shot, Legs Paralyzed; Suspect Seized at Laurel Rally". Washington Post. Retrieved August 20, 2013. Times, Walter Rugaber Special to The New York (May 17, 1972). "Wallace Off the Critical List; Sweeps Primary in Michigan and Wins Handily in Maryland". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 22, 2020. "1972 George Wallace Assassination Attempt". YouTube. Retrieved November 25, 2021. "Cheryl Truman, "David Dick, former CBS newsman from Ky., dies at age 80: CBS veteran embraced rural life", July 17, 2010". Lexington Herald-Leader. Archived from the original on July 15, 2014. Retrieved June 3, 2014. "Shirley Chisholm". The Blog of Death. January 4, 2005. Archived from the original on January 3, 2011. Retrieved January 8, 2011. "Election Results Archive - Governor". Alabama Secretary of State. December 8, 2010. Retrieved June 19, 2022. Wallace, George (September 14, 1998). "Wallace in his own words". The Huntsville Times. Huntsville, Alabama. p. A9. "Wallace enters race". Google News Search Archive. Charlottesville, Virginia: The Cavalier Daily. November 13, 1975. p. 1. Retrieved December 12, 2017. "Wallace presses the health issue". The New York Times. March 13, 1976. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 6, 2022. Edwards, George C., Government in America: people, politics, and policy(2009), Pearson Education, 80. Elliott, Debbie (September 14, 1998). "Remembering George Wallace". National Public Radio. Retrieved February 4, 2015. Foner, Eric; John Arthur Garraty; Society of American Historians (1991). The Reader's Companion to American History. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 1127. ISBN 978-0395513729. Daniel, Clifton (1999). 20th Century, Day by Day. New York: Dorling Kindersley. p. 1279. ISBN 978-0789446404. Lesher, Stephan (1994). George Wallace: American Populist. p. 49. ISBN 978-0201407983. "City Has Been Home of Four Governors". The Tuscaloosa News. April 24, 1969. p. 14E. Carter (1995), pp. 277–278. Former Alabama first lady Cornelia Wallace dies[permanent dead link], WZTV FOX17/Nashville Stephan Lesher (1995). George Wallace: American Populist. Da Capo Press. pp. 498–99. ISBN 978-0201407983.[permanent dead link] Blake, John (2007). Children of the movement. Hoopla digital. [United States]: Chicago Review Press. ISBN 978-1-56976-594-4. OCLC 1098920753. "Wallace backs Bob Dole for president". The Gadsden Times. September 16, 1995. Retrieved September 27, 2017. "Victorious Loser", Newsweek, May 13, 1964, p. 13. Irving Louis Horowitz (1984). Winners and Losers: Social and Political Polarities in America. Duke University Press. p. 164. Carter, Dan T. (1995). The Politics of Rage: George Wallace, the Origins of the New Conservatism, and the Transformation of American Politics. New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 468. ISBN 978-0807125977. Lesher, Stephan (1994). George Wallace: American Populist. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley. p. xi. ISBN 978-0201622102. "George Wallace Documentary - Part 2". YouTube. Retrieved July 29, 2022. "George Wallace: Settin' the Woods on Fire (web site)". The American Experience. Public Broadcasting Service. 1999. Retrieved May 25, 2006. Web site for the PBS documentary, including a complete transcript, references to other Wallace information, and tools for teachers. Brummer, Justin. "Governor George C. Wallace Songs". RYM. Retrieved August 9, 2019. Nail, Tim. "Petition calls for University to rename Wallace Hall". The Auburn Plainsman. Retrieved October 13, 2020. Balasky, Bri (September 30, 2020). "Board of Trustees votes to rename Bibb Graves and Comer". The Alabamian. Retrieved October 13, 2020. Bibliography Brands, H.W. (2010). American Dreams: The United States Since 1945. New York: Penguin Press. ISBN 978-1594202629. Parmet, Herbert S. (1990). Richard Nixon and His America. Boston: Little, Brown & Co. ISBN 978-0-316-69232-8. Further reading Peggy Wallace Kennedy (2019). The Broken Road: George Wallace and a Daughter's Journey to Reconciliation. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1635573657. Frady, Marshall. Wallace. In series, Meridian Books. New York: World Publishing Co., 1970, cop. 1968.

The dark side of history: https://thememoryhole.substack.com/ In United States politics, the "iron triangle" comprises the policy-making relationship among the congressional committees, the bureaucracy, and interest groups,[2] as described in 1981 by Gordon Adams.[3][4] Earlier mentions of this ‘iron triangle’ concept are in a 1956 Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report as, “Iron triangle: Clout, background, and outlook” and “Chinks in the Iron Triangle?”[5] Central assumption Central to the concept of an iron triangle is the assumption that bureaucratic agencies, as political entities, seek to create and consolidate their own power base.[6] In this view an agency's (such as State-owned enterprises of the United States, Independent agencies of the United States government or Regulatory agency) power is determined by its constituency, not by its consumers.[7] (For these purposes, "constituents" are politically active members sharing a common interest or goal; consumers are the expected recipients of goods or services provided by a governmental bureaucracy and often are identified in an agency's written goals or mission statement.)[8][9] Apparent bureaucratic dysfunction may be attributable to the alliances formed between the agency and its constituency.[10] The official goals of an agency may appear to be thwarted or ignored altogether, at the expense of the citizenry it is designed to serve.[11] Cultivation of constituency The necessity for a bureaucratic institution to establish a strong support base often results in the institution fostering ties with a specific group within its policy jurisdiction. This is accomplished by identifying potential allies that could significantly enhance its power in the political sphere, utilizing their civic intelligence to leverage collective social capital.[12] Notably, within the more junior tiers of the bureaucracy, the intended recipients of an agency's services may not possess significant influence, resulting in their perception as ineffective supporters. Large portions of the general public, whose interests are widespread, may lack political engagement, demonstrate inconsistent voting behaviors, suffer from disorganization or inertia, and frequently lack financial strength or resources.[13] In contrast, private entities or advocacy groups, including 501(c) and 527 organizations, often wield substantial power. These groups typically have robust organization, considerable resources, high mobilization capacity, and are highly active in political endeavors, evidenced by their voting patterns, campaign contributions, lobbying activities, and even initiating legislation.[14] Therefore, an agency might find it advantageous to shift its attention away from its designated service recipients towards a strategically chosen group of supporters. This enables the agency to pursue its objective of increasing its political clout. Dynamics In the United States, power is exercised in the Congress, and, particularly, in congressional committees and subcommittees. By aligning itself with selected constituencies, an agency may be able to affect policy outcomes directly in these committees and subcommittees.[15] This is where an iron triangle may manifest itself. The image above displays the concept. At one corner of the triangle are interest groups (constituencies) and non-state actors. These are the powerful interest groups that influence Congressional votes in their favor and can sufficiently influence the re-election of a member of Congress in return for support of their programs.[16] At another corner sit members of Congress who also seek to align themselves with a constituency for political and electoral support. These congressional members support legislation that advances an interest group's agenda.[17] Occupying the third corner of the triangle are bureaucrats, who often are pressured by the same powerful interest groups their agency is designated to regulate,[18] and in some cases have close ties to the regulated industry. The result is a three-way, stable alliance that sometimes is called a "sub-government" because of its durability, impregnability, and power to determine policy.[19] An iron triangle relationship can result in regulatory capture, the passing of very narrow, pork-barrel policies that benefit a small segment of the population. The interests of the agency's constituency (the interest groups) are met, while the needs of consumers (which may be the general public) are passed over.[20] That public administration may result in benefiting a small segment of the public in this way, may be viewed as problematic for the popular concept of democracy if the general welfare of all citizens is sacrificed for very specific interests. This is especially so if the passed legislation neglects or reverses the original purpose for which the agency was established. The Regulatory Capture Prevention Act of 2011 - Establishes the Office of Regulatory Integrity in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), requires investigation when (1) agency action or inaction that fails to advance the mission of the agency or is otherwise inimical to the public interest; (2) regulation, licensing, adjudication, grants, or other agency action that favors a limited number of economic interests or is otherwise inimical to the public interest; (3) enforcement priorities that are not reasonably calculated to accomplish regulatory goals; and (4) a loss of confidence in the integrity of the regulatory process.[21] Some maintain to the contrary, that such arrangements are natural outgrowths of, and not discordant with, the democratic process, since they frequently involve a majority block of voters implementing their will—through their elected representatives in government.[22] On January 27, 2011, FBI Director Robert Mueller used "iron triangles" to refer to "organized criminals, corrupt government officials, and business leaders" which he said "pose a significant national security threat".[23] See also Iron law of oligarchy Issue Network Policy Polity Policy analysis Public choice theory Regulatory capture Revolving door (politics) Military–industrial–congressional complex Project management triangle also called Iron Triangle Advocacy group Administrative Procedure Act (United States) References Wolfford, David. United states government & politics. Perfection learning. p. 1. Hayden, F. (June 2002). "Policymaking Network of the Iron-Triangle Subgovernment for Licensing Hazardous Waste Facilities". Journal of Economic Issues. 36 (2): 479. doi:10.1080/00213624.2002.11506492. S2CID 154590723. Retrieved 1 November 2013. Adams, Gordon, The Iron Triangle: The Politics of Defense Contracting, Council on Economic Priorities, New York, 1981. ISBN 0-87871-012-4. Connor O'Brian, David Brown, Meet Trump's acting Pentagon chief, Politico, December 23, 2018 - which notes, "Gordon Adams, a former Democratic White House budget official specializing in defense,..." "Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report". 1956: 30, 1627–1634. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help) Zaleznik, Abraham (May 1970). "Power and Politics in Organizational Life". Harvard Business Review. Martin, Lisa L.; Woods, Ngaire (October 2005). Multiple-State Constituencies in the IMF: An Agency Approach (PDF). IMF Sixth Annual Research Conference. "The American Tradition of Consumer Politics | the American Historian". Government Performance and Results Act Planning Document 1997-2002 (PDF). Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. "Treaties and Other International Agreements: The Role of the United States Senate". "The Decay of American Political Institutions". 8 December 2013. 590 Course readings Archived August 5, 2022, at the Wayback Machine "Political Typology Archives". Grossmann, Matt (2012). "Interest group influence on US policy change: An assessment based on policy history". Interest Groups & Advocacy. 1 (2): 171–192. doi:10.1057/iga.2012.9. S2CID 144801902. "Super PACs & Coordination | Brennan Center for Justice". "NIC Releases Global Trends - Paradox of Progress". "Political Representation". The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University. 2018. Baldwin, David A. (1971). "Money and Power". The Journal of Politics. 33 (3): 578–614. doi:10.2307/2128274. ISSN 0022-3816. McCool, Daniel (1990). "Subgovernments as Determinants of Political Viability". Political Science Quarterly. 105 (2): 269–293. doi:10.2307/2151026. JSTOR 2151026. "- Protecting the Public Interest: Understanding the Threat of Agency Capture". "S.1338 - 112th Congress (2011-2012): Regulatory Capture Prevention Act of 2011". 20 July 2011. "Texas Politics - Iron Triangles: Government's Secret Playbook?". "The Evolving Organized Crime Threat". FBI. Retrieved 2021-11-07. Bibliography Gordon Adams. The Iron Triangle: The Politics of Defense Contracting, Council on Economic Priorities, New York, 1981. ISBN 0-87871-012-4 Graham T. Allison, Philip Zelikow; Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis, Pearson Longman; ISBN 0-321-01349-2 (2nd edition, 1999) Dan Briody. The Iron Triangle: Inside the Secret World of the Carlyle Group, Wiley, New York, Chichester, 2004,. ISBN 0-471-66062-0 Peter Gemma, Op/Ed: "Iron Triangle" Rules Washington, USA Today, December 1988, Retrieved May 23, 2016 [1] Hugh Heclo; Issue Networks and the Executive Establishment Jack H. Knott, Gary J. Miller; Reforming Bureaucracy; Prentice-Hall; ISBN 0-13-770090-3 (1st edition, 1987) Francis E. Rourke; Bureaucracy, Politics, and Public Policy Harpercollins; ISBN 0-673-39475-1 (3rd edition, 1984) Hedrick Smith; The Power Game: How Washington Really Works Ralph Pulitzer, Charles H. Grasty The expression military–industrial complex (MIC) describes the relationship between a country's military and the defense industry that supplies it, seen together as a vested interest which influences public policy.[1][2][3][4] A driving factor behind the relationship between the military and the defense-minded corporations is that both sides benefit—one side from obtaining war weapons, and the other from being paid to supply them.[5] The term is most often used in reference to the system behind the armed forces of the United States, where the relationship is most prevalent due to close links among defense contractors, the Pentagon, and politicians.[6][7] The expression gained popularity after a warning of the relationship's detrimental effects, in the farewell address of President Dwight D. Eisenhower on January 17, 1961.[8][9] In the context of the United States, the appellation is sometimes extended to military–industrial–congressional complex (MICC), adding the U.S. Congress to form a three-sided relationship termed an "iron triangle".[10] Its three legs include political contributions, political approval for military spending, lobbying to support bureaucracies, and oversight of the industry; or more broadly, the entire network of contracts and flows of money and resources among individuals as well as corporations and institutions of the defense contractors, private military contractors, the Pentagon, Congress, and the executive branch.[11] Etymology In his farewell address, President Dwight D. Eisenhower famously warned U.S. citizens about the "military–industrial complex". Duration: 15 minutes and 31 seconds.15:31 Eisenhower's farewell address, January 17, 1961. The term military–industrial complex is used at 8:16. Length: 15:30. President of the United States (and five-star general since World War II) Dwight D. Eisenhower used the term in his Farewell Address to the Nation on January 17, 1961:[12] A vital element in keeping the peace is our military establishment. Our arms must be mighty, ready for instant action, so that no potential aggressor may be tempted to risk his own destruction... This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence—economic, political, even spiritual—is felt in every city, every statehouse, every office of the federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society. In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military–industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists, and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals so that security and liberty may prosper together. [emphasis added] The phrase was thought to have been "war-based" industrial complex before becoming "military" in later drafts of Eisenhower's speech, a claim passed on only by oral history.[13] Geoffrey Perret, in his biography of Eisenhower, claims that, in one draft of the speech, the phrase was "military–industrial–congressional complex", indicating the essential role that the United States Congress plays in the propagation of the military industry, but the word "congressional" was dropped from the final version to appease the then-currently elected officials.[14] James Ledbetter calls this a "stubborn misconception" not supported by any evidence; likewise a claim by Douglas Brinkley that it was originally "military–industrial–scientific complex".[14][15] Additionally, Henry Giroux claims that it was originally "military–industrial–academic complex".[16] The actual authors of the speech were Eisenhower's speechwriters Ralph E. Williams and Malcolm Moos.[17] The 20 largest US defense contractors ranked by their defense revenue as of 2020[18] Attempts to conceptualize something similar to a modern "military–industrial complex" existed before Eisenhower's address. Ledbetter finds the precise term used in 1947 in close to its later meaning in an article in Foreign Affairs by Winfield W. Riefler.[14][19] In 1956, sociologist C. Wright Mills had claimed in his book The Power Elite that a class of military, business, and political leaders, driven by mutual interests, were the real leaders of the state, and were effectively beyond democratic control. Friedrich Hayek mentions in his 1944 book The Road to Serfdom the danger of a support of monopolistic organization of industry from World War II political remnants: Another element which after this war is likely to strengthen the tendencies in this direction will be some of the men who during the war have tasted the powers of coercive control and will find it difficult to reconcile themselves with the humbler roles they will then have to play [in peaceful times].[20] Vietnam War–era activists, such as Seymour Melman, referred frequently to the concept, and use continued throughout the Cold War: George F. Kennan wrote in his preface to Norman Cousins's 1987 book The Pathology of Power, "Were the Soviet Union to sink tomorrow under the waters of the ocean, the American military–industrial complex would have to remain, substantially unchanged, until some other adversary could be invented. Anything else would be an unacceptable shock to the American economy."[21] U.S. military presence around the world in 2007. As of 2018, the United States still had many bases and troops stationed globally. In the late 1990s James Kurth asserted, "By the mid-1980s... the term had largely fallen out of public discussion." He went on to argue that "[w]hatever the power of arguments about the influence of the military–industrial complex on weapons procurement during the Cold War, they are much less relevant to the current era".[22] Contemporary students and critics of U.S. militarism continue to refer to and employ the term, however. For example, historian Chalmers Johnson uses words from the second, third, and fourth paragraphs quoted above from Eisenhower's address as an epigraph to Chapter Two ("The Roots of American Militarism") of a 2004 volume[23] on this subject. P. W. Singer's book concerning private military companies illustrates contemporary ways in which industry, particularly an information-based one, still interacts with the U.S. federal and the Pentagon.[24] The expressions permanent war economy and war corporatism are related concepts that have also been used in association with this term.[25][26] Post–Cold War United States Defense Spending 2001–2017 At the end of the Cold War, American defense contractors bewailed what they called declining government weapons spending.[27][28] They saw escalation of tensions, such as with Russia over Ukraine, as new opportunities for increased weapons sales, and have pushed the political system, both directly and through industry groups such as the National Defense Industrial Association, to spend more on military hardware. Pentagon contractor-funded American think tanks such as the Lexington Institute and the Atlantic Council have also demanded increased spending in view of the perceived Russian threat.[28][29] Independent Western observers such as William Huntzberger, director of the Arms & Security Project at the Center for International Policy, noted that "Russian saber-rattling has additional benefits for weapons makers because it has become a standard part of the argument for higher Pentagon spending—even though the Pentagon already has more than enough money to address any actual threat to the United States."[28][30] Eras History of U.S. expansion and influence Imperialism Exceptionalism Foreign policy Military history Military operations List of wars Military deployments Military bases abroad Territorial evolution Manifest destiny Non-interventionism Foreign interventions Pax Americana American Century America's Backyard Monroe Doctrine Involvement in regime change (Latin America) vte Some sources divide the history of the military–industrial complex into three distinct eras.[31] First era From 1797 to 1941, the government only relied on civilian industries while the country was actually at war. The government owned their own shipyards and weapons manufacturing facilities which they relied on through World War I. With World War II came a massive shift in the way that the American government armed the military. With the onset of World War II President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the War Production Board to coordinate civilian industries and shift them into wartime production. Throughout World War II arms production in the United States went from around one percent of the annual GDP to 40 percent of the GDP.[31] Various American companies, such as Boeing and General Motors, maintained and expanded their defense divisions.[31] These companies have gone on to develop various technologies that have improved civilian life as well, such as night-vision goggles and GPS.[31] Second era The second era is identified as beginning with the coining of the term by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. This era continued through the Cold War period, up to the end of the Warsaw Pact and the collapse of the Soviet Union. A 1965 article written by Marc Pilisuk and Thomas Hayden says benefits of the Military Industrial Complex of the United States include the advancement of the civilian technology market as civilian companies benefit from innovations from the MIC and vice versa.[32] In 1993 the Pentagon urged defense contractors to consolidate due to the collapse of communism and shrinking defense budget.[31] Third (current) era A pie chart showing global military expenditures by country for 2019, in US$ billions, according to SIPRI In the third era, defense contractors either consolidated or shifted their focus to civilian innovation. From 1992 to 1997 there was a total of US$55 billion worth of mergers in the defense industry, with major defense companies purchasing smaller competitors.[31] The American domestic economy is now tied directly to the success of the MIC which has led to concerns of repression as Cold War-era attitudes are still prevalent among the American public.[33] Shifts in values and the collapse of communism have ushered in a new era for the military–industrial complex. The Department of Defense works in coordination with traditional military–industrial complex aligned companies such as Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. Many former defense contractors have shifted operations to the civilian market and sold off their defense departments.[31] Military subsidy theory According to the military subsidy theory, the Cold War–era mass production of aircraft benefited the civilian aircraft industry. The theory asserts that the technologies developed during the Cold War along with the financial backing of the military led to the dominance of American aviation companies. There is also strong evidence that the United States federal government intentionally paid a higher price for these innovations to serve as a subsidy for civilian aircraft advancement.[34] Current applications Share of arms sales by country. Source is provided by SIPRI.[35] According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), total world spending on military expenses in 2022 was $2,240 billion. 39% of this total, or $837 billion, was spent by the United States. China was the second largest spender, with $292 billion and 13% of the global share.[36] The privatization of the production and invention of military technology also leads to a complicated relationship with significant research and development of many technologies. In 2011, the United States spent more (in absolute numbers) on its military than the next 13 countries combined.[37] The military budget of the United States for the 2009 fiscal year was $515.4 billion. Adding emergency discretionary spending and supplemental spending brings the sum to $651.2 billion.[38] This does not include many military-related items that are outside of the Defense Department budget. Overall, the U.S. federal government is spending about $1 trillion annually on military-related purposes.[39] In a 2012 story, Salon reported, "Despite a decline in global arms sales in 2010 due to recessionary pressures, the United States increased its market share, accounting for a whopping 53 percent of the trade that year. Last year saw the United States on pace to deliver more than $46 billion in foreign arms sales."[40] The military and arms industry also tend to contribute heavily to incumbent members of Congress.[41] Similar concepts See also: Industrial complex, List of industrial complexes, Medical–industrial complex, and Prison–industrial complex A thesis similar to the military–industrial complex was originally expressed by Daniel Guérin, in his 1936 book Fascism and Big Business, about the fascist government ties to heavy industry. It can be defined as, "an informal and changing coalition of groups with vested psychological, moral, and material interests in the continuous development and maintenance of high levels of weaponry, in preservation of colonial markets and in military-strategic conceptions of internal affairs."[42] An exhibit of the trend was made in Franz Leopold Neumann's book Behemoth: The Structure and Practice of National Socialism in 1942, a study of how Nazism came into a position of power in a democratic state. Within decades of its inception, the idea of the military–industrial complex gave rise to the ideas of other similar industrial complexes, including the animal–industrial complex, prison–industrial complex, pharmaceutical–industrial complex, entertainment-industrial complex, and medical–industrial complex.[43]: ix–xxv  Virtually all institutions in sectors ranging from agriculture, medicine, entertainment, and media, to education, criminal justice, security, and transportation, began reconceiving and reconstructing in accordance with capitalist, industrial, and bureaucratic models with the aim of realizing profit, growth, and other imperatives. According to Steven Best, all these systems interrelate and reinforce one another.[43] The concept of the military–industrial complex has been also expanded to include the entertainment and creative industries as well. For an example in practice, Matthew Brummer describes Japan's Manga Military and how the Ministry of Defense uses popular culture and the moe that it engenders to shape domestic and international perceptions.[44] An alternative term to describe the interdependence between the military-industrial complex and the entertainment industry is coined by James Der Derian as "Military-Industrial-Media-Entertainment-Network".[45] Ray McGovern extended this appellation to Military-Industrial-Congressional-Intelligence-Media-Academia-Think-Tank complex, MICIMATT.[46] See also iconEconomy portal Economics of national defense efforts List of defense contractors List of countries by military expenditures Top 100 Contractors of the U.S. federal government Corporate statism Erik Prince and Academi (formerly Blackwater) Government contractor Marketing of war Militarism Military budget Military-civil fusion Military-entertainment complex Military–industrial–media complex Military-digital complex Military Keynesianism National security state Private military company Project for the New American Century Rosoboronexport Upward Spiral War profiteering Literature and media War Is a Racket (1935 book by Smedley Butler) The Power Elite (1956 book by C. Wright Mills) Why We Fight (2005 documentary film by Eugene Jarecki) War Made Easy: How Presidents & Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death (2007 documentary film) The Complex: How the Military Invades Our Everyday Lives (2008 book by Nick Turse) Other complexes or axes Animal–industrial complex Politico-media complex Prison–industrial complex References Citations "military industrial complex". American Heritage Dictionary. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2015. Archived from the original on March 6, 2016. Retrieved March 3, 2016. "definition of military-industrial complex (American English)". OxfordDictionaries.com. Archived from the original on March 7, 2016. Retrieved March 3, 2016. "Definition of Military–industrial complex". Merriam-Webster. Retrieved March 3, 2016. Roland, Alex (2009). "The Military-Industrial Complex: lobby and trope". In Bacevich, Andrew J. (ed.). The Long War: A New History of U.S. National Security Policy Since World War II. Columbia University Press. pp. 335–370. ISBN 978-0231131599. "What is the Military-Industrial Complex?". Retrieved February 5, 2017. "Ike's Warning Of Military Expansion, 50 Years Later". NPR. January 17, 2011. Retrieved March 27, 2019. "SIPRI Year Book 2008; Armaments, Disarmaments and International Security" Oxford University Press 2008 ISBN 978-0199548958 "The Military–Industrial Complex; The Farewell Address of Presidente Eisenhower" Basements publications 2006 ISBN 0976642395 Held, David; McGrew, Anthony G.; Goldblatt, David (1999). "The expanding reach of organized violence". In Perraton, Jonathan (ed.). Global Transformations: Politics, Economics and Culture. Stanford University Press. p. 108. ISBN 978-0804736275. Higgs, Robert (2006). Depression, War, and Cold War : Studies in Political Economy: Studies in Political Economy. Oxford University Press. pp. ix, 138. ISBN 978-0195346084. Retrieved March 3, 2016. "Long-term Historical Reflection on the Rise of Military-Industrial, Managerial Statism or "Military-Industrial Complexes"". Kimball Files. University of Oregon. Retrieved June 21, 2014. "President Dwight Eisenhower Farewell Address". C-Span. January 17, 1961. John Milburn (December 10, 2010). "Papers shed light on Eisenhower's farewell address". Associated Press. Retrieved January 28, 2011. Ledbetter, James (January 25, 2011). "Guest Post: 50 Years of the "Military–Industrial Complex"". Schott's Vocab. New York Times. Retrieved January 25, 2011. Brinkley, Douglas (September 2001). "Eisenhower; His farewell speech as President inaugurated the spirit of the 1960s". American Heritage. 52 (6). Archived from the original on March 23, 2006. Retrieved January 25, 2011. Giroux, Henry (June 2007). "The University in Chains: Confronting the Military–Industrial–Academic Complex". Paradigm Publishers. Archived from the original on August 20, 2007. Retrieved May 16, 2011. Griffin, Charles "New Light on Eisenhower's Farewell Address", in Presidential Studies Quarterly 22 (Summer 1992): 469–479 "Top 100 | Defense News, News about defense programs, business, and technology". Riefler, Winfield W. (October 1947). "Our Economic Contribution to Victory". Foreign Affairs. 26 (1): 90–103. doi:10.2307/20030091. JSTOR 20030091. Hayek, F. A., (1976) "The Road to Serfdom", London: Routledge, p. 146, note 1 Kennan, George Frost (1997). At a Century's Ending: Reflections 1982–1995. W.W. Norton and Company. p. 118. ISBN 978-0393316094. Kurth 1999. Johnson, Chalmers (2004). The sorrows of empire: Militarism, secrecy, and the end of the republic. New York: Metropolitan Books. p. 39. Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2003. {{cite web|url=https://againstthecurrent.org/atc198/permanent-war/%7Ctitle=Sard’s Permanent War Economy|work=againstthecurrent.org|access-date=20230609|archive-date=201901| {{cite web|url=https://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/what-barry-says-its-war-corporatism/%7Ctitle=What Barry Says - It's War Corporatism|work=filmsforaction.org|access-date=20230609|archive-date=2004| Thomson Reuters Streetevents, 8 December 2015, "L-3 Communications Holding Inc. Investors Conference", p. 3, http://www.l-3com.com/sites/default/files/pdf/investor-pdf/2015_investor_conference_transcript.pdf Archived April 19, 2016, at the Wayback Machine The Intercept, 19 August 2016, "U.S. Defense Contractors Tell Investors Russian threat is Great for Business", https://theintercept.com/2016/08/19/nato-weapons-industry/ U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Armed Services, Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, 11 May 2016, Testimony of M. Thomas Davis, Senior Fellow, National Defense Industrial Association, "U.S. Industry Perspective on the Department of Defense's Policies, Roles and Responsibilities for Foreign Military Sales", http://docs.house.gov/meetings/AS/AS06/20160511/104900/HHRG-114-AS06-Bio-DavisT-20160511.pdf Shindler, Michael (June 22, 2018). "The Military Industrial Complex's Assault on Liberty". The American Conservative. Retrieved June 26, 2018. Lynn III, William (2017). "The End of the Military-Industrial Complex". Foreign Affairs. 93: 104–110 – via EBSCOhost. Pilisuk, Marc; Hayden, Thomas (July 1965). "Is There a Military Industrial Complex Which Prevents Peace?: Consensus and Countervailing Power in Pluralistic Systems". Journal of Social Issues. 21 (3): 67–117. doi:10.1111/j.1540-4560.1965.tb00506.x. ISSN 0022-4537. Moskos, Charles C. Jr. (April 1974). "The Concept of the Military-Industrial Complex: Radical Critique or Liberal Bogey?". Social Problems. 21 (4): 498–512. doi:10.2307/799988. ISSN 0037-7791. JSTOR 799988. Gholz, E. (January 6, 2011). "Eisenhower Versus the Spin-off Story: Did the Rise of the Military-Industrial Complex Hurt or Help America's Commercial Aircraft Industry?". Enterprise and Society. 12 (1): 46–95. doi:10.1093/es/khq134. ISSN 1467-2227. "Arms production | SIPRI". Assis, Ana; Tian, Nan; Lopes da Silva, Diego; Liang, Xiao; Scarazzato, Lorenzo; Béraud-Sudreau, Lucie (April 2023). "Trends in World Military Expenditure, 2022". Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Stockholm. doi:10.55163/pnvp2622. Plumer, Brad (January 7, 2013), "America's staggering defense budget, in charts", The Washington Post Gpoaccess.gov Archived 2012-01-07 at the Wayback Machine Robert Higgs. "The Trillion-Dollar Defense Budget Is Already Here". Retrieved March 15, 2007. "America, arms-dealer to the world", Salon, January 24, 2012. Jen DiMascio. "Defense goes all-in for incumbents - Jen DiMascio". POLITICO. Pursell, C. (1972). The military–industrial complex. Harper & Row Publishers, New York, New York. Steven Best; Richard Kahn; Anthony J. Nocella II; Peter McLaren, eds. (2011). "Introduction: Pathologies of Power and the Rise of the Global Industrial Complex". The Global Industrial Complex: Systems of Domination. Rowman & Littlefield. p. xvi. ISBN 978-0739136980. Diplomat, Matthew Brummer, The. "Japan: The Manga Military". The Diplomat. Retrieved January 22, 2016. "Virtuous War: Mapping the Military-Industrial-Media-Entertainment-Network". Routledge & CRC Press. Retrieved July 12, 2021. "Once We Were Allies; Then Came MICIMATT". consortium news. May 8, 2020. Retrieved June 9, 2023. Sources DeGroot, Gerard J. Blighty: British Society in the Era of the Great War, 144, London & New York: Longman, 1996, ISBN 0582061385 Eisenhower, Dwight D. Public Papers of the Presidents, 1035–1040. 1960.[ISBN missing] Eisenhower, Dwight D. "Farewell Address." In The Annals of America. Vol. 18. 1961–1968: The Burdens of World Power, 1–5. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 1968. Eisenhower, Dwight D. President Eisenhower's Farewell Address, Wikisource. Hartung, William D. "Eisenhower's Warning: The Military–Industrial Complex Forty Years Later." World Policy Journal 18, no. 1 (Spring 2001). Johnson, Chalmers The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic, New York: Metropolitan Books, 2004[ISBN missing] Kurth, James. "Military–Industrial Complex." In The Oxford Companion to American Military History, ed. John Whiteclay Chambers II, 440–442. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.[ISBN missing] Mills, C. Wright."Power Elite", New York, 1956[ISBN missing] Nelson, Lars-Erik. "Military–Industrial Man." In New York Review of Books 47, no. 20 (December 21, 2000): 6. Nieburg, H. L. In the Name of Science, Quadrangle Books, 1970[ISBN missing] Further reading Adams, Gordon, The Iron Triangle: The Politics of Defense Contracting, 1981.[ISBN missing] Andreas, Joel, Addicted to War: Why the U.S. Can't Kick Militarism, ISBN 1904859011. Cochran, Thomas B., William M. Arkin, Robert S. Norris, Milton M. Hoenig, U.S. Nuclear Warhead Production Harper and Row, 1987, ISBN 0887301258 Cockburn, Andrew, "The Military-Industrial Virus: How bloated budgets gut our defenses", Harper's Magazine, vol. 338, no. 2029 (June 2019), pp. 61–67. "The military-industrial complex could be said to be concerned, exclusively, with self-preservation and expansion.... The defense budget is not propelled by foreign wars. The wars are a consequence of the quest for bigger budgets." Cockburn, Andrew, "Why America Goes to War: Money drives the US military machine", The Nation, vol. 313, no. 6 (20–27 September 2021), pp. 24–27. Colby, Gerard, DuPont Dynasty, New York, Lyle Stuart, 1984.[ISBN missing] Friedman, George and Meredith, The Future of War: Power, Technology and American World Dominance in the 21st Century, Crown, 1996, ISBN 051770403X Good, Aaron (2022). American Exception: Empire and the Deep State. New York: Skyhorse Publishing. ISBN 978-1510769137. Hossein-Zadeh, Ismael, The Political Economy of US Militarism. New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2006.[ISBN missing] Keller, William W., Arm in Arm: The Political Economy of the Global Arms Trade. New York: Basic Books, 1995.[ISBN missing] Kelly, Brian, Adventures in Porkland: How Washington Wastes Your Money and Why They Won't Stop, Villard, 1992, ISBN 0679406565 Lassman, Thomas C. "Putting the Military Back into the History of the Military-Industrial Complex: The Management of Technological Innovation in the U.S. Army, 1945–1960", Isis (2015) 106#1 pp. 94–120 in JSTOR Mathews, Jessica T., "America's Indefensible Defense Budget", The New York Review of Books, vol. LXVI, no. 12 (18 July 2019), pp. 23–24. "For many years, the United States has increasingly relied on military strength to achieve its foreign policy aims.... We are [...] allocating too large a portion of the federal budget to defense as compared to domestic needs [...] accumulating too much federal debt, and yet not acquiring a forward-looking, twenty-first-century military built around new cyber and space technologies." (p. 24.) McCartney, James and Molly Sinclair McCartney, America's War Machine: Vested Interests, Endless Conflicts. New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2015.[ISBN missing] McDougall, Walter A., ...The Heavens and the Earth: A Political History of the Space Age, Basic Books, 1985, (Pulitzer Prize for History) ISBN 0801857481 Melman, Seymour, Pentagon Capitalism: The Political Economy of War, McGraw Hill, 1970[ISBN missing] Melman, Seymour, (ed.) The War Economy of the United States: Readings in Military Industry and Economy, New York: St. Martin's Press, 1971. Mills, C Wright, The Power Elite. New York, 1956.[ISBN missing] Mollenhoff, Clark R., The Pentagon: Politics, Profits and Plunder. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1967[ISBN missing] Patterson, Walter C., The Plutonium Business and the Spread of the Bomb, Sierra Club, 1984, ISBN 0871568373 Pasztor, Andy, When the Pentagon Was for Sale: Inside America's Biggest Defense Scandal, Scribner, 1995, ISBN 068419516X Pierre, Andrew J., The Global Politics of Arms Sales. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1982. Preble, Christoper (2008). "Military-Industrial Complex". In Hamowy, Ronald (ed.). The Encyclopedia of Libertarianism. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage; Cato Institute. pp. 328–329. ISBN 978-1412965804. Sampson, Anthony, The Arms Bazaar: From Lebanon to Lockheed. New York: Bantam Books, 1977.[ISBN missing] St. Clair, Jeffery, Grand Theft Pentagon: Tales of Corruption and Profiteering in the War on Terror. Common Courage Press, 2005.[ISBN missing] Sweetman, Bill, "In search of the Pentagon's billion dollar hidden budgets – how the US keeps its R&D spending under wraps", from Jane's International Defence Review, online Thorpe, Rebecca U. The American Warfare State: The Domestic Politics of Military Spending. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2014.[ISBN missing] Watry, David M., Diplomacy at the Brink, Eisenhower, Churchill, and Eden in the Cold War, Baton Rouge, Louisiana State University Press, 2014.[ISBN missing] Weinberger, Sharon, Imaginary Weapons, New York: Nation Books, 2006.[ISBN missing] External links Wikisource has original text related to this article: Military–Industrial Complex Speech Wikiquote has quotations related to Military–industrial complex. Duration: 3 minutes and 17 seconds.3:17Subtitles available.CC From the National Archives Khaki capitalism, The Economist, December 3, 2011 Militaryindustrialcomplex.com, Features running daily, weekly and monthly defense spending totals plus Contract Archives section. C. Wright Mills, Structure of Power in American Society, British Journal of Sociology, Vol. 9. No. 1 1958 Dwight David Eisenhower, Farewell Address On the military–industrial complex and the government–universities collusion – January 17, 1961 Dwight D. Eisenhower, Farewell Address As delivered transcript and complete audio from AmericanRhetoric.com William McGaffin and Erwin Knoll, The military–industrial complex, An analysis of the phenomenon written in 1969 The Cost of War & Today's Military Industrial Complex, National Public Radio, January 8, 2003. Human Rights First; Private Security Contractors at War: Ending the Culture of Impunity (2008) Fifty Years After Eisenhower's Farewell Address, A Look at the Military–Industrial Complex – video report by Democracy Now! Online documents, Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library 50th Anniversary of Eisenhower's Farewell Address – Eisenhower Institute Part 1 – Anniversary Discussion of Eisenhower's Farewell Address – Gettysburg College Part 2 – Anniversary Discussion of Eisenhower's Farewell Address – Gettysburg College

Dudman's near-death experience in Cambodia: https://thememoryhole.substack.com/p/be-careful-or-your-body-may-disappear This six-and-a-half hour 2001 interview with Richard Dudman, journalist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, contains his reflections on his 31-year career in journalism. This includes his two near-death experiences in Cambodia; the second after meeting with Pol Pot for an "interview." In a bizarre segment (Reel 12), he describes in detail what Pol Pot's handshake felt like, in contrast with other Cambodians. Contains time codes for skipping ahead to specific reels of the original tape: 0:00 REEL 1: Aspects of family and educational background. Aspects of early training and career in journalism/photography, 1930s. Recollections of period with Merchant Marine and Navy, 1940-1945: joining Merchant Marine as cabin boy; duties; attitude towards first shipping job; duties as chief cook on another ship; joining Navy as officer. Recollections of period as journalist, 1945-: re-entering profession, 1945. 30:00 REEL 2: writing story on case of racial discrimination; posting to Europe and GB to report on Jewish/Zionist emigration for Denver Post; visiting Displaced Person camps; covering the story of the 'Exodus'; style of reporting, 'reportage', 1940s; changes in style of writing from 1950s. 1:00:00 REEL 3: move to work as reporter for St Louis Post-Dispatch, 1950; covering cases of racial discrimination in St Louis; examples of racial discrimination in St. Louis; story of first ever mixed race lunch counter in St. Louis; reputation of St. Louis Post-Dispatch in US; independent stance of paper; visiting China, 1972; meeting with Zhou Enlai. 1:29:00 REEL 4: visit to China; reporting on CIA sponsored invasion of Guatemala; method of getting stories back to St Louis; following Fidel Castro and his forces in march across Cuba to Havana; attitude towards Castro's triumph in Cuba, 1959; attitude of Cuban people towards Castro; reporting on trial of suspected supporters of Batista in Cuba; language difficulties and attitude towards working through interpreter; attempt to get into training camps for Cuban emigres in Guatemala, 1961; visit to border between China and Vietnam to gather information on situation in China, 1961; evidence of American involvement in Vietnam, 1961. 1:59:00 REEL 5: evidence of American involvement in Vietnam, 1961; talking to US aircrew; visit to Laos, 1960; reporting on question of Chinese communist infiltration in Laos; attitude towards American claims of Sino/Soviet expansionist aims in Asia; gaining information on situation in China during visit to Vietnamese/Chinese border, 1961; care taken when using information from American official high level sources; contacts with I. F. Stone who ran a dissident newspaper. 2:29:00 REEL 6: nature of anti-Communist McCarthy period in USA, 1950s; reporting on 'Strategic Hamlets' in Vietnam; attitude towards American policy in Vietnam; taking helicopter flights into combat zones; decision not to wear military clothes or carry arms; belief in importance of maintaining neutrality; witnessing anti-Diem demonstrations by Buddhists in Huey; spread of Vietnam war into Cambodia; entering Cambodia with Elizabeth 'Beth' Pond and Michael 'Mike' Morrow to assess situation. 2:59:00 REEL 7: story of how Beth Pond, Mike Morrow and himself were ambushed by members of United Front of Cambodia (Front Uni National du Kampuchea), 1970; arrest and interrogation; treatment by captors; further interrogation by Vietminh; drive through jungle; decision to tell truth during interrogations; food rations during forty day captivity; efforts to keep fit; improvement in relations with captors. 3:27:00 REEL 8: concern of captors for their welfare; good relationship with captors; occasion when they were required to write down details of their life; evidence of captors influence in towns under American control; story of playing chess with captors; bombing of area by American aircraft; attitude towards lifestyle and military prowess of captors; story of how captors helped Beth deal with menstruation; living conditions; relations between Beth, Mike and himself; hearing news of their imminent release. 3:56:00 REEL 9: farewell dinner with captors and exchange of gifts; release; hitching a lift with South Vietnamese convoy; calling his wife Helen; writing first story on his experiences in captivity; refusing to disclose whereabouts of captors to CIA; attitude and beliefs of captors; American bombing of Cambodia; his family's attempts to get him released; promising captors that they would tell truth about their experiences; impact of period in captivity on health. 4:25:00 REEL 10: attempting to write about experiences whilst seriously ill in hospital; medical problems; reaction of colleagues at SLPD to his return; welcome home party; his wife's attitude towards meeting Beth Pond; arranging visit to Hanoi, North Vietnam; dispersal of troops and equipment to protect them from bombing; interviewing North Vietnamese Prime Minister; evidence of bomb damage; reaction to end of Vietnam war; his assessment of Vietnam war; attitude towards involvement of five American Presidents in the conflict; lessons of war. 4:55:00 REEL 11: impact of Vietnam war on American military policy; question of impact of anti-war movement on American policy and society; treatment of Vietnam veterans on return to USA; declining status of St Louis Post-Dispatch; visit to Phnom Penh with Elizabeth Becker of Washington Post and British academic, Malcolm Caldwell; description of city; difficult relationship with Becker. 5:25:00 REEL 12: 10 day tour of country; events staged by authorities to impress them; lack of contact with Cambodian people; visiting Angor Wat; interviewing Pol Pot; attitude of Malcolm Caldwell towards Khmer Rouge; story of how they were shot at by 'terrorists' and Malcolm Caldwell killed; taking Caldwell's body to British Embassy in Beijing; impact of experience on himself and Becker. 5:55:00 REEL 13: attitude towards rumors of mass executions by Khmer Rouge, 1975-1979; attitude towards common view of Pol Pot and Khmer Rouge; question of 'genocide' in Cambodia under Khmer Rouge; visit to Vietnam in 1993 to meet the General who was behind his capture in 1970; economic changes in Vietnam. Reflections on career and world today: impact of terrorist attacks in USA of 11/Sep/2001 on American government; attitude towards setting up of Military Courts; question of civil liberties. 6:25:00 REEL 14: question of anti-American feeling in world; impact of new technology on journalism and war reporting since 1950s; difficulties faced by local/regional newspapers; contacts with other war reporters; his aim to achieve exclusivity in reporting; dangers of war reporter's job.

More CIA stories from John Stockwell: https://thememoryhole.substack.com/ In this second part of the series, the spotlight is on the intricate and varied activities of U.S. intelligence agencies and their proxies. The discussion touches upon specific instances: the training of Salvadoran army troops in torture techniques by U.S. Green Berets, the Seychelles Islands coup attempt, Argentine torture squads, South African engagements in Angola and Namibia, the Klan coup attempt in Dominica, and efforts to destabilize the Mozambique government. These incidents are extensively covered in Louis Wolf's Covert Action Information Bulletin, an outlet the U.S. government aims to silence. Furthermore, the conversation delves into the methods employed by the CIA, focusing on "disinformation" tactics. These tactics involve manipulating public opinion through planted stories in the press and the financial and ideological support of right-wing newspapers. Recorded in May 1982 and drawing from news spanning June 1983 and May 1982, this installment brings to light a spectrum of covert operations and strategies, shedding crucial light on their impact both domestically and globally. The Guatemalan Civil War was a civil war in Guatemala fought from 1960 to 1996 between the government of Guatemala and various leftist rebel groups. The government forces have been condemned for committing genocide against the Maya population of Guatemala during the civil war and for widespread human rights violations against civilians.[15] The context of the struggle was based on longstanding issues of unfair land distribution. Wealthy Guatemalans, mainly European-descended, and foreign companies such as the American United Fruit Company had dominated control over much of the land, and paid almost zero taxes in return – leading to conflicts with the rural indigenous poor who worked the land under miserable terms. Democratic elections during the Guatemalan Revolution in 1944 and 1951 had brought popular leftist governments to power, who sought to ameliorate working conditions and implement land distribution. A United States-backed coup d'état in 1954 installed the military regime of Carlos Castillo Armas to prevent reform, who was followed by a series of right-wing military dictators. The Civil War started on 13 November 1960, when a group of left-wing junior military officers led a failed revolt against the government of General Ydigoras Fuentes. The surviving officers created a rebel movement known as MR-13. In 1970, Colonel Carlos Manuel Arana Osorio became the first of a series of military dictators representing the Institutional Democratic Party or PID. The PID dominated Guatemalan politics for twelve years through electoral frauds favoring two of Colonel Carlos Arana's protégés (General Kjell Eugenio Laugerud García in 1974 and General Romeo Lucas García in 1978). The PID lost its grip on Guatemalan politics when General Efraín Ríos Montt, together with a group of junior army officers, seized power in a military coup on 23 March 1982. In the 1970s social discontent continued among the large populations of indigenous people and peasants. Many organized into insurgent groups and began to resist the government forces.[16] During the 1980s, the Guatemalan military assured almost absolute government power for five years; it had successfully infiltrated and eliminated enemies in every socio-political institution of the nation, including the political, social, and intellectual classes.[17] In the final stage of the civil war, the military developed a parallel, semi-visible, low profile but high-effect, control of Guatemala's national life.[18] It is estimated that 140,000 to 200,000 people were killed or forcefully "disappeared" during the conflict, including 40,000 to 50,000 disappearances. While fighting took place between government forces and rebel groups, much of the violence was a large coordinated campaign of one-sided violence by the Guatemalan state against the civilian population from the mid-1960s onward. The military intelligence services coordinated killings and "disappearances" of opponents of the state. In rural areas, where the insurgency maintained its strongholds, the government repression led to large massacres of the peasantry, including entire villages. These took place first in the departments of Izabal and Zacapa (1966–68), and in the predominantly Mayan western highlands from 1978 onward. In the early 1980s, the widespread killing of the Mayan people was considered a genocide. Other victims of the repression included activists, suspected government opponents, returning refugees, critical academics, students, left-leaning politicians, trade unionists, religious workers, journalists, and street children.[16] The "Comisión para el Esclarecimiento Histórico" has estimated that government forces committed 93% of human right abuses in the conflict, with 3% committed by the guerrillas.[19] In 2009, Guatemalan courts sentenced former military commissioner Felipe Cusanero, the first person to be convicted of the crime of ordering forced disappearances. In 2013, the government conducted a trial of former president Efraín Ríos Montt on charges of genocide for the killing and disappearances of more than 1,700 indigenous Ixil Maya during his 1982–83 rule. The charges of genocide were based on the "Memoria del Silencio" report – prepared by the UN-appointed Commission for Historical Clarification. The Commission concluded that the government could have committed genocide in Quiché between 1981 and 1983.[8] Montt was the first former head of state to be tried for genocide by his own country's judicial system; he was found guilty and sentenced to 80 years in prison.[20] A few days later, however, the sentence was reversed by the country's high court. They called for a renewed trial because of alleged judicial anomalies. The trial began again on 23 July 2015, but the jury had not reached a verdict before Montt died in custody on 1 April 2018.[21] Background See also: Rafael Carrera, Manuel Estrada Cabrera, José María Orellana, Jorge Ubico, Juan José Arévalo, and United Fruit Company After the 1871 revolution, the Liberal government of Justo Rufino Barrios escalated coffee production in Guatemala, which required much land and many workers. Barrios established the Settler Rule Book, which forced the native population to work for low wages for the landowners, who were Criollos and later German settlers.[22] Barrios also confiscated the common native land, which had been protected during the Spanish Colony and during the Conservative government of Rafael Carrera.[23] He distributed it to his Liberal friends, who became major landowners.[22] In the 1890s, the United States began to implement the Monroe Doctrine, pushing out European colonial powers in Latin America. Its commercial interests established U.S. hegemony over resources and labor in the region. The dictators that ruled Guatemala during the late 19th and early 20th centuries were very accommodating to U.S. business and political interests, because they personally benefitted. Unlike in such nations as Haiti, Nicaragua, and Cuba, the U.S. did not have to use overt military force to maintain dominance in Guatemala. The Guatemalan military/police worked closely with the U.S. military and State Department to secure U.S. interests. The Guatemalan government exempted several U.S. corporations from paying taxes, especially the United Fruit Company. It also privatized and sold off publicly owned utilities, and gave away huge swaths of public land.[24] President Manuel Estrada Cabrera's official portrait from his last presidential term. During his government, the American United Fruit Company became a major economic and political force in Guatemala. Societal structure Main article: Manuel Estrada Cabrera In 1920, the prince Wilhelm of Sweden visited Guatemala and described Guatemalan society and Estrada Cabrera government in his book Between Two Continents, notes from a journey in Central America, 1920.[25] He analyzed Guatemalan society at the time, pointing out that even though it called itself a "Republic", Guatemala had three sharply defined classes:[26] Criollos: a minority made up of descendants of the Spaniards who conquered Central America; by 1920, the Criollos made up much of the members of both political parties and the elite in the country. For centuries they had intermarried with Indians and other people of European ancestry. The great majority had some indigenous ancestry but largely identified with European culture.[27] They led the country both politically and intellectually, partly because their education was far superior to that of most of the rest of the residents. Only criollos were admitted to the main political parties,[26] and their families largely controlled and, for the most part, owned the cultivated parts of the country.[27] Ladinos: middle class. Descendants of peoples of indigenous, African, and criollo ancestry, they held almost no political power in 1920. They made up the bulk of artisans, storekeepers, tradesmen, and minor officials.[28] In the eastern part of the country, they worked as agricultural laborers.[28] Indians: The majority of the population was composed of native or indigenous Guatemalans, most of whom were Mayan peoples. Many had little to no formal education. Many natives served as soldiers for the Army, and they were often raised to positions of considerable trust.[28] They made up most of the agricultural workers. The prince classified them into three categories: "Mozos colonos": settled on the plantations. Were given a small piece of land to cultivate on their own account, in return for work in the plantations a certain number of months a year, similar to sharecroppers or tenant farmers in the US.[28] "Mozos jornaleros": day-laborers who were contracted to work for certain periods of time.[28] They were paid a daily wage. In theory, each "mozo" was free to dispose of his labor as he or she pleased, but they were bound to the property by economic ties. They could not leave until they had paid off their debt to the owner. They were often victimized by owners, who encouraged them to get into debt by granting credit or lending cash. The owners recorded the accounts and the mozos were usually illiterate and at a disadvantage. [29] If the mozos ran away, the owner could have them pursued and imprisoned by the authorities. Associated costs would be added to the ever-increasing debt of the mozo. If one of them refused to work, he or she was put in prison on the spot.[29] The wages were also extremely low. The work was done by contract, but since every "mozo" starts with a large debt, the usual advance on engagement, they effectively became servants indentured to the landowner.[30] "Independent tillers": Living in the most remote provinces, some people, often Mayan, survived by growing crops of maize, wheat or beans. They tried to cultivate some excess to sell in the market places of the towns. They often carried their goods on their back for up to 40 kilometres (25 mi) a day to reach such markets.[30] Jorge Ubico regime Main article: Jorge Ubico In 1931, the dictator General Jorge Ubico came to power, backed by the United States. While an efficient administrator,[31] he initiated one of the most brutally repressive military regimes in Central American history. Just as Estrada Cabrera had done during his government, Ubico created a widespread network of spies and informants and had political opponents tortured and put to death. A wealthy aristocrat (with an estimated income of $215,000 per year in 1930s dollars) and a staunch anti-communist, he consistently sided with the United Fruit Company, Guatemalan landowners and urban elites in disputes with peasants. After the crash of the New York Stock Exchange in 1929, the peasant system established by Barrios in 1875 to jump start coffee production in the country[32] faltered, and Ubico was forced to implement a system of debt slavery and forced labor to make sure that there was enough labor available for the coffee plantations and that the UFCO workers were readily available.[22] Allegedly, he passed laws allowing landowners to execute workers as a "disciplinary" measure.[33][34][35][36][37] He also identified as a fascist; he admired Mussolini, Franco, and Hitler, saying at one point: "I am like Hitler. I execute first and ask questions later."[38][39][40][41][42] Ubico was disdainful of the indigenous population, calling them "animal-like", and stated that to become "civilized" they needed mandatory military training, comparing it to "domesticating donkeys". He gave away hundreds of thousands of hectares to the United Fruit Company, exempted them from taxes in Tiquisate, and allowed the U.S. military to establish bases in Guatemala.[33][34][35][36][37] Ubico considered himself to be "another Napoleon". He dressed ostentatiously and surrounded himself with statues and paintings of the emperor, regularly commenting on the similarities between their appearances. He militarized numerous political and social institutions—including the post office, schools, and even symphony orchestras—and placed military officers in charge of many government posts. He frequently travelled around the country performing "inspections" in dress uniform, followed by a military escort, a mobile radio station, an official biographer, and cabinet members.[33][43][44][45][46] After 14 years, Ubico's repressive policies and arrogant demeanor finally led to pacific disobedience by urban middle-class intellectuals, professionals, and junior army officers in 1944. On 1 July 1944, Ubico resigned from office amidst a general strike and nationwide protests. He had planned to hand over power to the former director of policy, General Roderico Anzueto, whom he felt he could control. But his advisors noted that Anzueto's pro-Nazi sympathies had made him unpopular and that he would not be able to control the military. So Ubico instead chose to select a triumvirate of Major General Buenaventura Piñeda, Major General Eduardo Villagrán Ariza, and General Federico Ponce Vaides. The three generals promised to convene the national assembly to hold an election for a provisional president, but when the congress met on 3 July, soldiers held everyone at gunpoint and forced them to vote for General Ponce rather than the popular civilian candidate, Dr. Ramón Calderón. Ponce, who had previously retired from military service due to alcoholism, took orders from Ubico and kept many of the officials who had worked in the Ubico administration. The repressive policies of the Ubico administration were continued.[33][47][48] John Foster Dulles, Secretary of State of the Eisenhower administration and board member of the United Fruit Company. Opposition groups began organizing again, this time joined by many prominent political and military leaders, who deemed the Ponce regime unconstitutional. Among the military officers in the opposition were Jacobo Árbenz and Major Francisco Javier Arana. Ubico had fired Árbenz from his teaching post at the Escuela Politécnica, and since then Árbenz had been living in El Salvador, organizing a band of revolutionary exiles. On 19 October 1944, a small group of soldiers and students led by Árbenz and Arana attacked the National Palace in what later became known as the "October Revolution".[49] Ponce was defeated and driven into exile; Árbenz, Arana, and a lawyer named Jorge Toriello established a junta. They declared that democratic elections would be held before the end of the year.[50] The winner of the 1944 elections was a teaching major named Juan José Arévalo, Ph.D., who had earned a scholarship in Argentina during the government of general Lázaro Chacón due to his superb professor skills. Arévalo remained in South America for a few years, working as a university professor in several countries. Back in Guatemala during the early years of the Jorge Ubico regime, his colleagues asked him to present a project to the president to create the Faculty of Humanism at the National University, to which Ubico was strongly opposed. Realizing the dictatorial nature of Ubico, Arévalo left Guatemala and went back to Argentina. He went back to Guatemala after the 1944 Revolution and ran under a coalition of leftist parties known as the Partido Acción Revolucionaria ("Revolutionary Action Party", PAR), and won 85 percent of the vote in elections that are widely considered to have been fair and open.[51] Arévalo implemented social reforms, including minimum wage laws, increased educational funding, near-universal suffrage (excluding illiterate women), and labor reforms. But many of these changes only benefited the upper-middle classes and did little for the peasant agricultural laborers who made up the majority of the population. Although his reforms were relatively moderate, he was widely disliked by the United States government, the Catholic Church, large landowners, employers such as the United Fruit Company, and Guatemalan military officers, who viewed his government as inefficient, corrupt, and heavily influenced by communists. At least 25 coup attempts took place during his presidency, mostly led by wealthy liberal military officers.[52][53] In 1944, the "October Revolutionaries" took control of the government. They instituted liberal economic reform, benefiting and politically strengthening the civil and labor rights of the urban working class and the peasants. Elsewhere, a group of leftist students, professionals, and liberal-democratic government coalitions developed, led by Juan José Arévalo and Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán. Decree 900, passed in 1952, ordered the redistribution of fallow land on large estates, threatening the interests of the landowning elite and, mainly, the United Fruit Company. Given the strong ties of the UFCO with high Eisenhower administration officers such as the brothers John Foster Dulles and Allen Dulles, who were Secretary of State and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director, respectively, and were both in the company board,[54] the U.S. government ordered the CIA to launch Operation PBFortune (1952–1954) and halt Guatemala's "communist revolt", as perceived by the United Fruit Company and the U.S. State Department.[54] The CIA chose right-wing Guatemalan Army Colonel Carlos Castillo Armas to lead an "insurrection" in the 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état. Upon deposing the Árbenz Guzmán government, Castillo Armas began to dissolve a decade of social and economic reform and legislative progress, and banned labor unions and left-wing political parties, a disfranchisement of left-wing Guatemalans.[55] He also returned all the confiscated land to the United Fruit and the elite landlords.[54] A series of military coups d'état followed, featuring fraudulent elections in which only military personnel were the winner candidates. Aggravating the general poverty and political repression motivating the civil war was the widespread socioeconomic discrimination and racism practiced against Guatemalan indigenous peoples, such as the Maya; many later fought in the civil war. Although the indigenous Guatemalans constitute more than half of the national populace, they were landless, having been dispossessed of their lands since the Justo Rufino Barrios times. The landlord upper classes of the oligarchy, generally descendants of Spanish and other Europe immigrants to Guatemala, although often with some mestizo ancestry as well, controlled most of the land after the Liberal Reform of 1871.[56] Initial phase of the civil war: 1960s and early 1970s On 13 November 1960, a group of left-wing junior military officers of the Escuela Politécnica national military academy led a failed revolt against the autocratic government (1958–63) of General Ydígoras Fuentes, who had usurped power in 1958, after the assassination of the incumbent Colonel Castillo Armas. The young officers' were outraged by the staggering corruption of the Ydígoras regime, the government's showing of favoritism in giving military promotions and other rewards to officers who supported Ydígoras, and what they perceived as incompetence in running the country. The immediate trigger for their revolt, however, was Ydígoras' decision to allow the U.S. to train an invasion force in Guatemala to prepare for the planned Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba without consulting the Guatemalan military and without sharing with the military the payoff he received in exchange from the U.S. government. The military was concerned about the infringement on the sovereignty of their country as unmarked U.S. warplanes piloted by US-based Cuban exiles flew in large numbers over their country and the U.S. established a secret airstrip and training camp at Retalhuleu to prepare for its invasion of Cuba. The rebellion was not ideological in its origins.[57] The CIA flew B-26 bombers disguised as Guatemalan military jets to bomb the rebel bases because the coup threatened U.S. plans for the invasion of Cuba as well as the Guatemalan regime it supported. The rebels fled to the hills of eastern Guatemala and neighboring Honduras and formed the kernel of what became known as MR-13 (Movimiento Revolucionario 13 Noviembre).[58] The surviving officers fled into the hills of eastern Guatemala, and later established communication with the Cuban government of Fidel Castro. By 1962, those surviving officers had established an insurgent movement known as the MR-13, named after the date of the officers' revolt. MR-13 attacks United Fruit Company office They returned in early 1962, and on 6 February 1962 in Bananera they attacked the offices of the United Fruit Company (present-day Chiquita Brands), an American corporation that controlled vast territories in Guatemala as well as in other Central American countries. The attack sparked sympathetic strikes and university student walkouts throughout the country, to which the Ydígoras regime responded with a violent crackdown. This violent crackdown sparked the civil war.[58] Through the early phase of the conflict, the MR-13 was a principal component of the insurgent movement in Guatemala.[59] The MR-13 later initiated contact with the outlawed PGT (Guatemalan Labour Party, composed and led by middle-class intellectuals and students) and a student organization called the Movimiento 12 de Abril (12 April Movement) and merged into a coalition guerilla organization called the Rebel Armed Forces (FAR) in December 1962. Also affiliated with the FAR was the FGEI (Edgar Ibarra Guerrilla Front). The MR-13, PGT and the FGEI each operated in different parts of the country as three separate "frentes" (fronts); the MR-13 established itself in the mostly Ladino departments of Izabal and Zacapa, the FGEI established itself in Sierra de las Minas and the PGT operated as an urban guerrilla front. Each of these three "frentes" (comprising no more than 500 combatants) were led by former members of the 1960 army revolt, who had previously been trained in counterinsurgency warfare by the United States.[60][61][62][63][64] U.S. intelligence and counterinsurgency assistance to government 1961 CIA map of British Honduras-Guatemala border In 1964 and 1965, the Guatemalan Armed Forces began engaging in counterinsurgency operations against the MR-13 in eastern Guatemala. In February and March 1964, the Guatemalan Air Force began a selective bombing campaign against MR-13 bases in Izabal, which was followed by a counterinsurgency sweep in the neighboring province of Zacapa under the code-name "Operation Falcon" in September and October of the following year.[65] It was at this phase in the conflict that the U.S. government sent Green Berets and CIA advisers to instruct the Guatemalan military in counterinsurgency (anti-guerrilla warfare). In addition, U.S. police and "Public Safety" advisers were sent to reorganize the Guatemalan police forces.[66] In response to increased insurgent activity in the capital, a specialty squad of the National Police was organized in June 1965 called Comando Seis ('Commando Six') to deal with urban guerilla assaults. 'Commando Six' received special training from the U.S. Public Safety Program and money and weapons from U.S. Public Safety Advisors.[67] In November 1965, U.S. Public Safety Advisor John Longan arrived in Guatemala on temporary loan from his post in Venezuela to assist senior military and police officials in establishing an urban counterinsurgency program.[68] With the assistance of Longan, the Guatemalan Military launched "Operation Limpieza" (Operation Cleanup) an urban counterinsurgency program under the command of Colonel Rafael Arriaga Bosque. This program coordinated the activities of all of the country's main security agencies (including the Army, the Judicial Police and the National Police) in both covert and overt anti-guerrilla operations. Under Arriaga's direction, the security forces began to abduct, torture and kill the PGT's key constituents.[69] With money and support from U.S. advisors, President Enrique Peralta Azurdia established a Presidential Intelligence Agency in the National Palace, under which a telecommunications database is known as the Regional Telecommunications Center or La Regional existed, linking the National Police, the Treasury Guard, the Judicial Police, the Presidential House and the Military Communications Center via a VHF-FM intracity frequency. La Regional also served as a depository for the names of suspected "subversives" and had its own intelligence and operational unit attached to it known as the Policía Regional.[70] This network was built on the "Committees against Communism" created by the CIA after the coup in 1954.[71] Escalation of state terror On 3 and 5 March 1966, the G-2 (military intelligence) and the Judicial Police raided three houses in Guatemala City, capturing twenty-eight trade unionists and members of the PGT. Those captured included most of the PGT's central committee and peasant federation leader Leonardo Castillo Flores. All subsequently "disappeared" while in the custody of the security force and became known in subsequent months by the Guatemalan press as "the 28". This incident was followed by a wave of unexplained "disappearances" and killings in Guatemala City and in the countryside which were reported by the Guatemala City press. When press censorship was lifted for a period, relatives of "the 28" and of others who had "disappeared" in the Zacapa-Izabal military zone went to the press or to the Association of University Students (AEU). Using its legal department, the AEU subsequently pressed for habeas corpus on behalf of the "disappeared" persons. The government denied any involvement in the killings and disappearances. On 16 July 1966, the AEU published a detailed report on abuses in the last months of the Peralta regime in which it named thirty-five individuals as involved in killings and disappearances, including military commissioners and members of the Ambulant Military Police (PMA) in coordination with the G-2.[72] After the publication of this report, "death-squad" attacks on the AEU and on the University of San Carlos began to intensify. Many law students and members of the AEU were assassinated.[73] The use of such tactics increased dramatically after the inauguration of President Julio César Méndez Montenegro, who – in a bid to placate and secure the support of the military establishment – gave it carte blanche to engage in "any means necessary" to pacify the country. The military subsequently ran the counterinsurgency program autonomously from the Presidential House and appointed Vice-Defense Minister, Col. Manuel Francisco Sosa Avila as the main "counterinsurgency coordinator". In addition, the Army General Staff and the Ministry of Defense took control of the Presidential Intelligence Agency – which controlled the La Regional annex – and renamed it the Guatemalan National Security Service (Servicio de Seguridad Nacional de Guatemala – SSNG).[74] In the city and in the countryside, persons suspected of leftist sympathies began to disappear or turn up dead at an unprecedented rate. In the countryside most "disappearances" and killings were carried out by uniformed army patrols and by locally known PMA or military commissioners, while in the cities the abductions and "disappearances" were usually carried out by heavily armed men in plainclothes, operating out of the army and police installations.[75] The army and police denied responsibility, pointing the finger at right-wing paramilitary death squads autonomous from the government. One of the most notorious death squads operating during this period was the MANO, also known as the Mano Blanca ("White Hand"); initially formed by the MLN as a paramilitary front in June 1966 to prevent President Méndez Montenegro from taking office, the MANO was quickly taken over by the military and incorporated into the state's counter-terror apparatus.[76] The MANO – while being the only death squad formed autonomously from the government – had a largely military membership, and received substantial funding from wealthy landowners.[77] The MANO also received information from military intelligence through La Regional, with which it was linked to the Army General Staff and all of the main security forces.[78] The first leaflets by the MANO appeared on 3 June 1966 in Guatemala City, announcing the impending creation of the "White Hand" or "the hand that will eradicate National Renegades and traitors to the fatherland."[79] In August 1966, MANO leaflets were distributed over Guatemala City by way of light aircraft openly landing in the Air Force section of La Aurora airbase. Their main message was that all patriotic citizen must fully support the army's counterinsurgency initiative and that the army was "the institution of the greatest importance at any latitude, representative of Authority, of Order, and of Respect" and that to "attack it, divide it, or to wish its destruction is indisputedly treason to the fatherland."[80] Counterinsurgency in Zacapa With increased military aid from the United States, the 5,000-man Guatemalan Army mounted a larger pacification effort in the departments of Zacapa and Izabal in October 1966 dubbed "Operation Guatemala." Colonel Arana Osorio was appointed commander of the Zacapa-Izabal Military Zone and took charge of the counter-terror program with guidance and training from 1,000 U.S. Green Berets.[81] Under Colonel Arana's jurisdiction, military strategists armed and fielded various paramilitary death squads to supplement regular army and police units in clandestine terror operations against the FAR's civilian support base. Personnel, weapons, funds and operational instructions were supplied to these organizations by the armed forces.[82] The death squads operated with impunity – permitted by the government to kill any civilians deemed to be either insurgents or insurgent collaborators.[76] The civilian membership of the army's paramilitary units consisted largely of right-wing fanatics with ties to the MLN, founded and led by Mario Sandoval Alarcón, a former participant in the 1954 coup. By 1967, the Guatemalan army claimed to have 1,800 civilian paramilitaries under its direct control. [83] Blacklists were compiled of suspected guerilla's collaborators and those with communist leanings,[84] as troops and paramilitaries moved through Zacapa systematically arresting suspected insurgents and collaborators; prisoners were either killed on the spot or "disappeared" after being taken to clandestine detention camps for interrogation. [75] In villages which the Army suspected were pro-guerrilla, the Army rounded up all of the peasant leaders and publicly executed them, threatening to kill additional civilians if the villagers did not cooperate with the authorities. In a 1976 report, Amnesty International cited estimates that between 3,000 and 8,000 peasants were killed by the army and paramilitary organizations in Zacapa and Izabal between October 1966 and March 1968.[60][85] [86] Other estimates put the death toll at 15,000 in Zacapa during the Mendez period.[87] As a result, Colonel Arana Osorio subsequently earned the nickname "The Butcher of Zacapa" for his brutality. State of Siege On 2 November 1966 a nationwide 'state of siege' was declared in Guatemala in which civil rights – including the right to habeas corpus – were suspended. The entire security apparatus – including local police and private security guards – was subsequently placed under then Minister of Defense, Col. Rafael Arriaga Bosque. Press censorship was imposed alongside these security measures, including measures designed to keep the Zacapa campaign entirely shrouded in secrecy. These controls ensured that the only reports made public on the counter-terror program in Zacapa were those handed out by the army's public relations office. Also on the day of the 'state of siege,' a directive was published banning publication of reports on arrests until authorization by military authorities.[79] At the time of the Zacapa campaign, the government launched a parallel counter-terror program in the cities. Part of this new initiative was the increased militarization of the police forces and the activation of several new counter-terror units of the army and the National Police for performing urban counter-terror functions, particularly extralegal activities against opponents of the state. The National Police were subsequently transformed into an adjunct of the military and became a frontline force in the government's urban pacification program against the left.[88] In January 1967, the Guatemalan Army formed the 'Special Commando Unit of the Guatemalan Army' – SCUGA – a thirty-five man commando unit composed of anti-communist army officers and right-wing civilians, which was placed under the command of Colonel Máximo Zepeda. The SCUGA – which the CIA referred to as a "government-sponsored terrorist organization...used primarily for assassinations and political abductions"[89] – carried out abductions, bombings, street assassinations, torture, "disappearances" and summary executions of both real and suspected communists. The SCUGA also worked with the Mano Blanca for a period before inter-agency rivalry took over.[90] In March 1967, after Vice-Defense Minister and counterinsurgency coordinator Col. Francisco Sosa Avila was named director-general of the National Police, a special counterinsurgency unit of the National Police known as the Fourth Corps was created to carry out extralegal operations alongside the SCUGA.[91] The Fourth Corps was an illegal fifty-man assassination squad which operated in secrecy from other members of the National Police, taking orders from Col. Sosa and Col. Arriaga.[92] Operations carried out under by the SCUGA and the Fourth Corps were usually carried out under the guise of paramilitary fronts, such as RAYO, NOA, CADEG and others.[90] By 1967, at least twenty such death squads operated in Guatemala City which posted blacklists of suspected "communists" who were then targeted for murder. These lists were often published with police mugshots and passport photographs which were only accessible to the Ministry of the Interior.[93] In January 1968, a booklet containing 85 names was distributed throughout the country entitled People of Guatemala, Know the Traitors, the Guerillas of the FAR. Many of those named in the booklet were killed or forced to flee. Death threats and warnings were sent to both individuals and organizations; for example, a CADEG leaflet addressed to the leadership of the labor federation FECETRAG read: "Your hour has come. Communists at the service of Fidel Castro, Russia, and Communist China. You have until the last day of March to leave the country."[93] Victims of government repression in the capital included guerrilla sympathizers, labor union leaders, intellectuals, students, and other vaguely defined "enemies of the government." Some observers referred to the policy of the Guatemalan government as "White Terror" -a term previously used to describe similar periods of anti-communist mass killings in countries such as Taiwan and Spain.[94] By the end of 1967, the counterinsurgency program had resulted in the virtual defeat of the FAR insurgency in Zacapa and Izabal and the retreat of many of its members to Guatemala City. President Mendez Montenegro suggested in his annual message to congress in 1967 that the insurgents had been defeated. Despite the defeat of the insurgency, the government's killings continued. In December 1967, 26-year-old Rogelia Cruz Martinez, former "Miss Guatemala" of 1959, who was known for her left-wing sympathies, was picked up and found dead. Her body showed signs of torture, rape and mutilation. Amidst the outcry over the murder, the FAR opened fire on a carload of American military advisors on 16 January 1968. Colonel John D. Webber (chief of the U.S. military mission in Guatemala) and Naval Attache Lieutenant Commander Ernest A. Munro were killed instantly; two others were wounded. The FAR subsequently issued a statement claiming that the killings were a reprisal against the Americans for creating "genocidal forces" which had "resulted in the death of nearly 4,000 Guatemalans" during the previous two years.[citation needed] The kidnapping of Archbishop Casariego On 16 March 1968, kidnappers apprehended Roman Catholic Archbishop Mario Casariego y Acevedo within 100 yards of the National Palace in the presence of heavily armed troops and police. The kidnappers (possible members of the security forces on orders from the army high command) intended to stage a false flag incident by implicating guerilla forces in the kidnapping; the Archbishop was well known for his extremely conservative views and it was considered that he might have organized a "self-kidnapping" to harm the reputation of the guerillas. However, he refused to go along with the scheme and his kidnappers plan to "create a national crisis by appealing to the anti-communism of the Catholic population."[95] The Archbishop was released unharmed after four days in captivity. In the aftermath of the incident, two civilians involved in the operation – Raul Estuardo Lorenzana and Ines Mufio Padilla – were arrested and taken away in a police patrol car. In transit, the car stopped and the police officers exited the vehicle as gunmen sprayed it with submachine gunfire. One press report said Lorenzana's body had 27 bullet wounds and Padilla's 22. The police escorts were unharmed in the assassination. Raul Lorenzana was a known "front man" for the MANO death squad and had operated out of the headquarters of the Guatemalan Army's Cuartel de Matamoros and a government safe house at La Aurora airbase.[96] The army was not left unscathed by the scandal and its three primary leaders of the counterinsurgency program were replaced and sent abroad. Defense Minister Rafael Arriaga Bosque was sent to Miami, Florida to become Consul General; Vice-Defense Minister and Director-General of the National Police, Col. Francisco Sosa Avila was dispatched as a military attache to Spain and Col. Arana Osorio was sent as Ambassador to Nicaragua, which was under the rule of Anastasio Somoza Debayle at the time. Political murders by "death squads" declined in subsequent months and the "state of siege" was reduced to a "state of alarm" on 24 June 1968.[97] The assassinations of Ambassador John Gordon Mein and Count Karl Von Sprite The lull in political violence in the aftermath of the "kidnapping" of Archbishop Casariego ended after several months. On 28 August 1968, U.S. Ambassador John Gordon Mein was assassinated by FAR rebels one block from the U.S. consulate on Avenida Reforma in Guatemala City. U.S. officials believed that FAR intended to kidnap him in order to negotiate an exchange, but instead, they shot him when he attempted to escape.[98] Some sources suggested that the high command of the Guatemalan Army was involved in the assassination of Ambassador Mein. This was alleged years later to U.S. investigators by a reputed former bodyguard of Col. Arana Osorio named Jorge Zimeri Saffie, who had fled to the U.S. in 1976 and had been arrested on firearms charges in 1977.[99][100] The Guatemalan police claimed to have "solved" the crime almost immediately, announcing that they had located a suspect on the same day. The suspect "Michele Firk, a French socialist who had rented the car used to kidnap Mein" shot herself as police came to interrogate her.[95] In her notebook Michele had written: It is hard to find the words to express the state of putrefaction that exists in Guatemala, and the permanent terror in which the inhabitants live. Everyday bodies are pulled out of the Motagua River, riddled with bullets and partially eaten by fish. Every day men are kidnapped right in the street by unidentified people in cars, armed to the teeth, with no intervention by the police patrols.[101] The assassination of Ambassador Mein led to public calls for tougher counterinsurgency measures by the military and an increase in U.S. security assistance. This was followed by a renewed wave of "death squad" killings of members of the opposition, under the guise of new Defense Minister Col. Rolando Chinchilla Aguilar and Army chief of staff Col. Doroteo Reyes, who were both subsequently promoted to the rank of "General" in September 1968. [102] On 31 March 1970 West German Ambassador Count Karl Von Sprite was kidnapped when his car was intercepted by armed men belonging to the FAR. The FAR subsequently put out a ransom note in which they demanded $700,000 ransom and the release of 17 political prisoners (which was eventually brought up to 25). The Mendez government refused to cooperate with the FAR, causing outrage among the diplomatic community and the German government. Ten days later on 9 April 1970, Von Sprite was found dead after an anonymous phone call was made disclosing the whereabouts of his remains. Domination by military rulers Main article: Carlos Arana Osorio In July 1970, Colonel Carlos Arana Osorio assumed the presidency. Arana, backed by the army, represented an alliance of the MLN – the originators of the MANO death squad – and the Institutional Democratic Party (MLN-PID). Arana was the first of a string of military rulers allied with the Institutional Democratic Party who dominated Guatemalan politics in the 1970s and 1980s (his predecessor, Julio César Méndez, while dominated by the army, was a civilian). Colonel Arana, who had been in charge of the terror campaign in Zacapa, was an anti-communist hardliner who once stated, "If it is necessary to turn the country into a cemetery in order to pacify it, I will not hesitate to do so."[103][104] Despite minimal armed insurgent activity at the time, Arana announced another "state of siege" on 13 November 1970 and imposed a curfew from 9:00 PM to 5:00 AM, during which time all vehicle and pedestrian traffic — including ambulances, fire engines, nurses, and physicians—were forbidden throughout the national territory. The siege was accompanied by a series of house to house searches by the police, which reportedly led to 1,600 detentions in the capital in the first fifteen days of the "State of Siege." Arana also imposed dress codes, banning miniskirts for women and long hair for men.[105] High government sources were cited at the time by foreign journalists as acknowledging 700 executions by security forces or paramilitary death squads in the first two months of the "State of Siege".[106] This is corroborated by a January 1971 secret bulletin of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency detailing the elimination of hundreds of suspected "terrorists and bandits" in the Guatemalan countryside by the security forces.[107] While government repression continued in the countryside, the majority of victims of government repression under Arana were residents of the capital. "Special commandos" of the military and the Fourth Corps of the National Police acting "under government control but outside the judicial processes",[108] abducted, tortured and killed thousands of leftists, students, labor union leaders and common criminals in Guatemala City. In November 1970, the 'Judicial Police' were formally disbanded and a new semi-autonomous intelligence agency of the National Police was activated known as the 'Detectives Corps' – with members operating in plainclothes – which eventually became notorious for repression.[109] One method of torture commonly used by the National Police at the time consisted of placing a rubber "hood" filled with insecticide over the victim's head to the point of suffocation.[60] Some of the first victims of Arana's state of the siege were his critics in the press and in the university. In Guatemala City on 26 November 1970, security forces captured and disappeared journalists Enrique Salazar Solorzano and Luis Perez Diaz in an apparent reprisal for newspaper stories condemning the repression. On 27 November, National University law professor and government critic Julio Camey Herrera was found murdered. On the following day, radio station owner Humberto Gonzalez Juarez, his business associate Armando Bran Valle and a secretary disappeared, their bodies were subsequently found in a ravine. Later in 1975, a former member of the Detective Corps of the National Police – jailed for a non-political murder – took credit for the killing.[110] In October 1971, over 12,000 students at the University of San Carlos of Guatemala went on a general strike to protest the killing of students by the security forces; they called for an end to the "state of siege." On 27 November 1971, the Guatemalan military responded with an extensive raid on the main campus of the university, seeking cached weapons. It mobilized 800 army personnel, as well as tanks, helicopters and armored cars, for the raid. They conducted a room-to-room search of the entire campus but found no evidence or supplies.[111] A number of death squads – run by the police and intelligence services – emerged in the capital during this period. In one incident on 13 October 1972, ten people were knifed to death in the name of a death squad known as the "Avenging Vulture." Guatemalan government sources confirmed to the U.S. Department of State that the "Avenging Vulture" and other similar death squads operating during the time period were a "smokescreen" for extralegal tactics being employed by the National Police against non-political delinquents.[112] Another infamous death squad active during this time was the 'Ojo por Ojo' (Eye for an Eye), described in a U.S. State Department intelligence cable as "a largely military membership with some civilian cooperation".[113] The 'Ojo por Ojo' tortured, killed and mutilated scores of civilians linked to the PGT or suspected of collaborating with the FAR in the first half of the 1970s.[8] According to Amnesty International and domestic human rights organizations such as 'Committee of Relatives of Disappeared Persons', over 7,000 civilian opponents of the security forces were 'disappeared' or found dead in 1970 and 1971, followed by an additional 8,000 in 1972 and 1973.[114] In the period between January and September 1973, the Guatemalan Human Rights Commission documented the deaths and forced disappearances of 1,314 individuals by death squads.[115] The Guatemalan Human Rights Commission estimated 20,000 people killed or "disappeared" between 1970 and 1974.[116] Amnesty International mentioned Guatemala as one of several countries under a human rights state of emergency, while citing "the high incidence of disappearances of Guatemalan citizens" as a major and continuing problem in its 1972–1973 annual report.[117][118] Overall, as many as 42,000 Guatemalan civilians were killed or "disappeared" between 1966 and 1973.[119] Franja Transversal del Norte Main article: Franja Transversal del Norte Location of Franja Transversal del Norte -Northern Transversal Strip- in Guatemala. The first settler project in the FTN was in Sebol-Chinajá in Alta Verapaz. Sebol, then regarded as a strategic point and route through Cancuén river, which communicated with Petén through the Usumacinta River on the border with Mexico and the only road that existed was a dirt one built by President Lázaro Chacón in 1928. In 1958, during the government of General Miguel Ydígoras Fuentes, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) financed infrastructure projects in Sebol.[b] In 1960, then Army captain Fernando Romeo Lucas García inherited Saquixquib and Punta de Boloncó farms in northeastern Sebol. In 1963 he bought the farm "San Fernando" El Palmar de Sejux and finally bought the "Sepur" farm near San Fernando. During those years, Lucas was in the Guatemalan legislature and lobbied in Congress to boost investment in that area of the country.[120] In those years, the importance of the region was in livestock, exploitation of precious export wood, and archaeological wealth. Timber contracts were granted to multinational companies such as Murphy Pacific Corporation from California, which invested US$30 million for the colonization of southern Petén and Alta Verapaz, and formed the North Impulsadora Company. Colonization of the area was made through a process by which inhospitable areas of the FTN were granted to native peasants.[121] In 1962, the DGAA became the National Institute of Agrarian Reform (INTA), by Decree 1551 which created the law of Agrarian Transformation. In 1964, INTA defined the geography of the FTN as the northern part of the departments of Huehuetenango, Quiché, Alta Verapaz and Izabal and that same year priests of the Maryknoll order and the Order of the Sacred Heart began the first process of colonization, along with INTA, carrying settlers from Huehuetenango to the Ixcán sector in Quiché.[122] It is of public interest and national emergency, the establishment of Agrarian Development Zones in the area included within the municipalities: San Ana Huista, San Antonio Huista, Nentón, Jacaltenango, San Mateo Ixtatán, and Santa Cruz Barillas in Huehuetenango; Chajul and San Miguel Uspantán in Quiché; Cobán, Chisec, San Pedro Carchá, Lanquín, Senahú, Cahabón and Chahal, in Alta Verapaz and the entire department of Izabal. -- Decreto 60–70, artítulo 1o.[123] The Northern Transversal Strip was officially created during the government of General Carlos Arana Osorio in 1970, by Legislative Decree 60–70, for agricultural development.[124] Guerrilla Army of the Poor Main article: Guerrilla Army of the Poor On 19 January 1972, members of a new Guatemalan guerrilla movement (made up of surviving former leaders of the FAR) entered Ixcán, from Mexico, and were accepted by many farmers; in 1973, after an exploratory foray into the municipal seat of Cotzal, the insurgent group decided to set up camp underground in the mountains of Xolchiché, municipality of Chajul.[125] In 1974 the insurgent guerrilla group held its first conference, where it defined its strategy of action for the coming months and called itself Guerrilla Army of the Poor (-Ejército Guerrillero de Los Pobres -EGP-). In 1975 the organization had spread around the area of the mountains of northern municipalities of Nebaj and Chajul. As part of its strategy, EGP decided to perpetrate notorious acts which also symbolized the establishment of a "social justice" against the inefficiency and ineffectiveness of the judicial and administrative State institutions. They also wanted that with these actions the indigenous rural population of the region identified with the insurgency, thus motivating them to join their ranks. As part of this plan it was agreed to do the so-called "executions"; in order to determine who would be subject to "execution", the EGP gathered complaints received from local communities. For example, they selected two victims: Guillermo Monzón, who was a military Commissioner in Ixcán and José Luis Arenas, the largest landowner in the area, and who had been reported to the EGP for allegedly having land conflicts with neighboring settlements and abusing their workers.[125][c] Mass movement for social reforms: 1974–1976 For several years after the "state of siege," the insurgency was largely inactive, having been defeated and demoralized on all fronts. Massive economic inequality persisted, compounded by external factors such the 1973 oil crisis, which led to rising food prices, fuel shortages, and decreased agricultural output due to the lack of imported goods and petrol-based fertilizers. A blatant electoral fraud during the 1974 presidential elections favored Arana's Defense Minister, General Kjell Eugenio Laugerud García, who was also a veteran of the 1966–68 Zacapa campaign.[126] Laugerud, like his predecessor, represented the right-wing alliance between the MLN and the Institutional Democratic Party (MLN-PID), this time against a center-left alliance promoting the ticket of Christian Democrat General José Efraín Ríos Montt (later president from 1982 to 1983) and leftist economist Alberto Fuentes Mohr. Inflation, imbalance, public outrage at the electoral fraud, and discontent with human rights violations generated widespread protest and civil disobedience. A mass social movement emerged that persisted throughout much of the decade. Coinciding with the election of Kjell Laugerud was the rise to prominence of labor organizations in rural Guatemala, such as the CUC. When the CUC (Committee for Peasant Unity) first began organizing in the countryside in the early 1970s more than 300,000 rural peasants left the Guatemalan altiplano every year to work on plantations on the Pacific coast to supplement their minuscule earnings. The CUC was the first Indian-led national labor organization and the first to unite Ladino workers and Indian farmers in a struggle for better working conditions.[127] The growth of cooperatives could be attributed to the fact that the new military government – at least on the surface – appeared to support the establishment of cooperatives and unions to improve working conditions. Unlike his predecessor, General Laugerud did not begin his term with the use of military repression to consolidate power and seemed to favor negotiation between unions and industries over than silencing the workers through violence.[128] The public support given to cooperatives under General Laugerud prompted the U.S. Agency for International Development (AID) to grant Guatemala $4,500,000 to finance the purchase of fertilizers and other supplies, while the Inter-American Development Bank granted an additional $15,000,000 for "cooperative development" in early 1976.[129] On Saturday, 7 June 1975 landowner José Luis Arenas was assassinated on the premises of his farm "La Perla." In front of his office there were approximately two to three hundred peasant workers to receive payment. Hidden among the workers were four members of the EGP, who destroyed the communication radio of the farm and executed Arenas. Following the assassination, the guerrillas spoke in Ixil language to the farmers, informing them that they were members of the Guerrilla Army of the Poor and had killed the "Ixcán Tiger" due to his alleged multiple crimes against community members. The attackers then fled towards Chajul,[125] while José Luis Arenas' son, who was in San Luis Ixcán at the time, took refuge in a nearby mountain and awaited the arrival of a plane to take him directly to Guatemala City to the presidential palace. There he immediately reported the matter to Minister of Defense, General Fernando Romeo Lucas García. Romeo Lucas replied, "You are mistaken, there are no guerrillas in the area".[125] Despite the Defense Minister's denial of the presence of guerrillas in Ixcán, the government responded to these new guerrilla actions by systematically eliminating many cooperative leaders in the Guatemalan highlands. While the new government appeared to support cooperative development on the surface, previous statements had been made by General Laugerud in which he had condemned cooperatives as a facade for Soviet Communism.[130] Due to the fact that cooperatives had largely been drawn out into the open, it was relatively easy for the intelligence services to collate the names of cooperative members in order to designate targets for an extermination program, which seems to have begun shortly thereafter. On 7 July 1975, one month to the date after the assassination of Arenas, a contingent of army paratroopers arrived in the marketplace of Ixcán Grande. There they seized 30 men who were members of the Xalbal cooperative and took them away in helicopters; all were subsequently "disappeared".[131] The case of the thirty men seized on 7 July, as well as seven other cases of "disappearances" among the same cooperative were named in a sworn statement to General Kjell Laugerud in November 1975. The Ministry of the Interior responded by denying that the "disappeared" persons had been taken by the government.[132] That same month, a disturbing mimeographed letter sent to Guatemala City cooperatives in the name of the MANO "death squad" was reported in the press: We know of your PROCOMMUNIST attitude...We know by experience that all labor organizations and cooperatives always fall into the power of Communist Leaders infiltrated into them. We have the organization and the force to prevent this from happening again... There are THIRTY THOUSAND CLANDESTINE PEASANT GRAVES TO BEAR WITNESS....[133] A total of 60 cooperative leaders were murdered or "disappeared" in Ixcan between June and December 1975. An additional 163 cooperative and village leaders were assassinated by death squads between 1976 and 1978. Believing that the Catholic Church constituted a major part of the social base of the EGP, the regime also began singling out targets among the catechists. Between November 1976 and December 1977, death squads murdered 143 Catholic Action catechists of the 'Diocese of El Quiche.'[134] Documented cases of killings and forced disappearances during this time represent a small fraction of the true number of killings by government forces, especially in the indigenous highlands, as many killings of persons went unreported. On 4 February 1976, a devastating 7.5 Mw earthquake shook Guatemala. Over 23,000 Guatemalans perished in the disaster and close to a million were left without adequate housing. The earthquake had a political effect as well: the visible incapacity and corruption of the government to deal with the effects of the catastrophe led to a rise in independent organizing and left many survivors deeply critical of the government. The political system was ineffective to ensure the welfare of the populace. In the aftermath of the earthquake, more citizens wanted infrastructural reforms, and many saw it as the government's responsibility to invest in these improvements. In the poor barrios disproportionately affected by the quake, due to poor infrastructure, neighborhood groups helped to rescue victims or dig out the dead, distribute water, food and reconstruction materials, and prevent looting by criminals.[135] The political pressures generated in the aftermath of the earthquake put greater pressure on the military government of Guatemala to induce reforms. The security forces subsequently took advantage of the disorder to engage in a wave of political assassinations in Guatemala City, of which 200 cases were documented by Amnesty International.[136] A period of increased militarization began in the Indian highlands after the earthquake, accompanied by additional counterinsurgency operations. At the same time, the Guatemalan government was becoming increasing isolated internationally. In 1977, the administration of US-president Jimmy Carter targeted Guatemala and several other Latin American regimes for a reduction in military assistance in pursuance with Section 502B of the Foreign Assistance Act, which stated that no assistance will be provided to a government "engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights."[137] Transition between Laugerud and Lucas Garcia regimes Due to his seniority in both the military and economic elites in Guatemala, as well as the fact that he spoke q’ekchi perfectly, one of the Guatemalan indigenous languages, Lucas García became the ideal candidate for the 1978 elections; and to further enhance his image, he was paired with the leftist doctor Francisco Villagrán Kramer as his running mate. Villagrán Kramer was a man of recognized democratic trajectory, having participated in the Revolution of 1944, and was linked to the interests of transnational corporations and elites, as he was one of the main advisers of agricultural, industrial and financial chambers of Guatemala.[138] Despite the democratic facade, the electoral victory was not easy and the establishment had to impose Lucas García, causing further discredit the electoral system[138] -which had already suffered a fraud when General Laugerud was imposed in the 1974 elections. In 1976 student group called "FRENTE" emerged in the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala, which completely swept all student body positions that were up for election that year. FRENTE leaders were mostly members of the Patriotic Workers' Youth, the youth wing of the Guatemalan Labor Party -Partido Guatemalteco del Trabajo- (PGT),[17] the Guatemalan communist party who had worked in the shadows since it was illegalized in 1954. Unlike other Marxist organizations in Guatemala at the time, PGT leaders trusted the mass movement to gain power through elections.[17] FRENTE used its power within the student associations to launch a political campaign for the 1978 university general elections, allied with leftist Faculty members grouped in "University Vanguard". The alliance was effective and Oliverio Castañeda de León was elected as President of the Student Body and Saúl Osorio Paz as President of the university; plus they had ties with the university workers union (STUSC) through their PGT connections.[17] Osorio Paz gave space and support to the student movement and instead of having a conflictive relationship with students, different representations combined to build a higher education institution of higher social projection. In 1978 the University of San Carlos became one of the sectors with more political weight in Guatemala; that year the student movement, faculty and University Governing Board -Consejo Superior Universitario-[d] united against the government and were in favor of opening spaces for the neediest sectors. In order to expand its university extension, the Student Body (AEU) rehabilitated the "Student House" in downtown Guatemala City; there, they welcomed and supported families of villagers and peasant already sensitized politically. They also organized groups of workers in the informal trade.[17] At the beginning of his tenure as president, Saúl Osorio founded the weekly Siete Días en la USAC (Seven Days in USAC), which besides reporting on the activities of the university, constantly denounced the violation of human rights, especially the repression against the popular movement. It also told what was happening with revolutionary movements in both Nicaragua and El Salvador. For a few months, the state university was a united and progressive institution, preparing to confront the State head on.[17] Now, FRENTE had to face the radical left, represented then by the Student Revolutionary Front "Robin García" (FERG), which emerged during the Labor Day march of 1 May 1978. FERG coordinated several student associations on

The dark side of history: https://thememoryhole.substack.com/ James Walter McCord Jr. (January 26, 1924 – June 15, 2017)[2] was an American CIA officer, later head of security for President Richard Nixon's 1972 reelection campaign. He was involved as an electronics expert in the burglaries which precipitated the Watergate scandal.[3] Career McCord was born in Waurika, Oklahoma.[4][5] He served as a bombardier with the rank of second lieutenant in the Army Air Forces during World War II.[6] He briefly attended Baylor University before receiving a B.B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin in 1949.[7] In 1965, he received an M.S. in international affairs from George Washington University.[7][8] After beginning his career at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), McCord worked for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), ultimately ascending to the GS-15 directorship of the Agency's Office of Security.[9] For a period of time, he was in charge of physical security at the Agency's Langley headquarters.[10] L. Fletcher Prouty, a former colonel in the United States Air Force, claimed then-Director of Central Intelligence Allen Dulles introduced McCord to him as "my top man.".[11] In 1961, under his direction, a counter-intelligence program was launched against the Fair Play for Cuba Committee.[12] He also held the rank of lieutenant colonel in the United States Air Force Reserve.[13] John M. Newman says in his 2022 book, Uncovering Popov's Mole, that Bruce Solie and McCord were probably KGB "moles" in the CIA's Office of Security, and that McCord very likely protected Solie and another "mole," Pyotr Semyonovich Popov's honey-trapped and recruited-by-KGB dead drop arranger, Edward Ellis Smith, from being uncovered by U.S. Intelligence.[14] Watergate scandal Shortly after resigning from the CIA, McCord was interviewed and then hired by Jack Caulfield in January 1972 "for strict, solely defensive security work at the Republican National Committee (RNC) and the Committee to Re-Elect the President (CRP)."[15] Some of the money from this contract came from the RNC, which was led by Bob Dole who was called "Nixon's Doberman pinscher" and a Republican Party fixer, and was used during the Watergate scandal.[16] McCord and four other accomplices were arrested during the second break-in to the Democratic National Committee's headquarters at the Watergate complex on June 17, 1972. The arrests led to the Watergate scandal and Nixon's resignation. McCord asserted that the White House knew of and approved the break ins, and proceeded to cover up the incident. Because of McCord's statements, the Watergate investigators pursued many more leads.[15] McCord was one of the first men convicted in the Watergate criminal trial; on eight counts of conspiracy, burglary and wiretapping. On March 21, 1973, three days before sentencing, McCord, after speaking to a probation officer and thus surmising that he might be facing a lengthy prison sentence, submitted a letter to the judge in the case, John Sirica, in which he claimed that he and the other defendants had committed perjury in their trial and that there was pressure from higher up for them to have done so.[17] On March 23, the day of the sentencing, Sirica sentenced the other defendants provisionally, citing a statute that allowed for maximum sentences of several decades as a means to "research" more information needed for the final sentencing. This was a means to pressure the defendants into revealing more information about the burglary.[18] McCord's sentencing was postponed until June and then postponed again. Finally, in November 1973, McCord was sentenced to one to five years [19] and began serving his sentence in March 1975, but was released after only four months because of his cooperation in the Watergate investigation.[20][21] Post-Watergate After serving four months in prison, McCord continued with McCord Associates, which was his own security firm located in Rockville, retiring later to Pennsylvania.[15][22][23] McCord died at the age of 93 from pancreatic cancer on June 15, 2017, at his home in Douglassville, Pennsylvania. His death was not reported in local and national news outlets until 2019.[24][6] McCord was portrayed in All the President's Men, the 1976 film retelling the events of the Watergate scandal, by Richard Herd. McCord was portrayed in Gaslit, the 2022 television adaptation of the podcast Slow Burn by Chris Bauer,[25][26] and in the TV-series White House Plumbers he was portrayed by Toby Huss.[27] See also G. Gordon Liddy E. Howard Hunt All the President's Men by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward Tennent H. Bagley References Dean, John (1976). Blind Ambition: The White House Years. New York, New York: Simon and Schuster. p. 90. ISBN 0671224387. "US Department of Veterans Affairs, Nation Cemetery Administration". Archived from the original on April 3, 2019. Retrieved April 2, 2019. Gerald Gold, ed. (1973). The Watergate hearings: break-in and cover-up; proceedings. New York: Viking Press. p. 147. ISBN 0-670-75152-9. OCLC 865966. Dickinson, William B.; Mercer Cross; Barry Polsky (1973). Watergate: chronology of a crisis. Vol. 1. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Inc. p. 40. ISBN 0871870592. OCLC 20974031. This book is volume 1 of a two volume set. Both volumes share the same ISBN and Library of Congress call number, E859 .C62 1973 Dash, Samuel, Mads (1976). Chief counsel: inside the Ervin Committee – the untold story of Watergate. New York: Random House. p. 59. ISBN 0394408535. OCLC 2388043. Langer, Emily; Smith, Harrison; Morgan, Kate (April 18, 2019). "Watergate conspirator James McCord Jr. died two years ago. His death was never announced". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 19, 2019. Hearings Before and Special Reports Made by Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives on Subjects Affecting the Naval and Military Establishments. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1975. The Michigan Journal. University of Michigan-Dearborn. 1974. Edmund Callis Berkeley (1972). Computers and Automation. Edmund C. Berkeley and Associates. Stafford T. Thomas (1983). The U.S. Intelligence Community. University Press of America. ISBN 978-0819130983. "Key Watergate Figure". The New York Times. March 29, 1973. p. 28. Retrieved March 8, 2023. Newman, John. Oswald and the CIA. p. 138. United States. Congress. House. Government Operations (1972). U.S. Government Information Policies and Practices – problems of Congress in Obtaining Information from the Executive Branch: Hearings Before a Subcommittee. U.S. Government Printing Office. Newman, John M. (2022). Uncovering Popov's Mole. United States: Self-published. pp. 280–281. ISBN 9798355050771. Fox, Steve, ed. (2002). "Revisiting Watergate: James McCord". Washington Post (updated May 2005). Archived from the original on September 12, 2005. Retrieved September 9, 2021. Fox, Steve, ed. (2002). "Revisiting Watergate: Bob Dole". Washington Post (updated May 2005). Archived from the original on September 12, 2005. Retrieved September 9, 2021. Sirica, John (1979). To Set the Record Straight. New York: Norton Publishing. pp. 93–97. ISBN 0393012344. Sirica, John (1979). To Set the Record Straight. Norton. p. 90. ISBN 0393012344. Sirica, p. 120 Popovici, Alice (September 27, 2018). "Watergate: Where are they now?". History.com. Retrieved January 20, 2021. "McCord surrenders at prison to begin Watergate sentence". The New York Times. Associated Press. March 22, 1975. Retrieved January 20, 2021. Marble, Steve (April 19, 2019). "The mysterious life of James McCord, Watergate burglar whose death went unnoticed for 2 years". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 11, 2019. "BBC Radio 4 – Last Word, Professor Murray Gell-Mann, Nan Winton, James McCord, Gregory Gray". Last Word. BBC Radio 4. 31 May 2019. McFadden, Robert D. (April 18, 2019). "James W. McCord Jr., Who Led the Watergate Break-In, Is Dead at 93". The New York Times. Retrieved April 19, 2019. Otterson, Joe (1 July 2021). "Allison Tolman, Chris Bauer Among Five Cast in Starz Watergate Series 'Gaslit'". Variety. Petski, Denise (1 July 2021). "'Gaslit': Allison Tolman, J.C. MacKenzie, Chris Bauer, Hamish Linklater, Chris Messina Join Starz's Watergate Drama". Deadline Hollywood. Kain, Erik (May 2, 2023). "'White House Plumbers' Review: Justin Theroux And Woody Harrelson Light Up HBO's New Watergate Comedy". Forbes. Retrieved 2023-05-29. Bibliography Perlstein, Rick (2008). Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America. Simon and Schuster. pp. 655, 666–67, 676–80, 683–84, 722. ISBN 978-0-7432-4302-5. Further reading McCord wrote a book about his connection with the Watergate burglary: McCord, James W. (1974). A Piece of Tape: The Watergate Story – Fact and Fiction. Rockville, Maryland: Washington Media Services. ISBN 0914286005. OCLC 1031449. External links James McCord testifying at the Watergate Hearings WETA-TV Public Television, 1973 Watergate Hearings James W. McCord Jr. at Find a Grave Appearances on C-SPAN Authority control databases Edit this at Wikidata International FAST ISNI VIAF National United States Other NARA Categories: 1924 births2017 deathsAmerican perjurersAmerican spiesBaylor University alumniCIA agents convicted of crimesDeaths from cancer in PennsylvaniaDeaths from pancreatic cancerElliott School of International Affairs alumniMembers of the Committee for the Re-Election of the PresidentMilitary personnel from OklahomaPennsylvania RepublicansPeople convicted in the Watergate scandalPeople from Berks County, PennsylvaniaPeople from Waurika, OklahomaUnited States Air Force colonelsUnited States Air Force reservistsUnited States Army Air Forces officersUnited States Army Air Forces personnel of World War IIVirginia RepublicansWatergate SevenWriters from Oklahoma White House Plumbers is an American satirical political drama television miniseries created and written by Alex Gregory and Peter Huyck and directed by David Mandel, based on the 2007 book Integrity by Egil Krogh and Matthew Krogh.[1][2] The series stars Woody Harrelson, Justin Theroux, Domhnall Gleeson, Kiernan Shipka, and Lena Headey and it premiered on HBO on May 1, 2023.[3] Premise Watergate masterminds and President Richard Nixon's political operatives E. Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy are part of the "White House Plumbers". Charged with plugging press leaks by any means necessary, they accidentally overturned the Presidency they were trying to protect. Cast and characters Main Woody Harrelson as E. Howard Hunt: A CIA officer who, as part of the White House Plumbers, was tasked with identifying the sources of national security leaks following the publication of the Pentagon Papers in 1971. Hunt was convicted of burglary, conspiracy, and wiretapping and served 33 months in prison for the charges. Justin Theroux as G. Gordon Liddy: A White House lawyer who worked alongside Hunt to direct the burglary of the DNC headquarters in the Watergate building. Liddy was convicted of burglary, conspiracy, and refusing to testify to the Senate committee investigating Watergate. He served nearly 52 months in federal prison for the charges. Lena Headey as Dorothy Hunt: wife of E. Howard Hunt. Mrs. Hunt was one of 45 people killed in the crash of United Air Lines Flight 553 on December 8, 1972, in the Chicago neighborhood of West Lawn. Domhnall Gleeson as John Dean: An attorney who served as Nixon's White House Counsel from July 1970 until April 1973. Following his role in the cover-up of the Watergate scandal, he testified to Congress as a witness and pled guilty to a single felony in exchange for a reduced sentence if he would serve as a key witness for the Watergate prosecution. Dean was disbarred as a lawyer following his guilty plea. Judy Greer as Fran Liddy: wife of G. Gordon Liddy Kim Coates as Frank Sturgis Gary Cole as Mark Felt Toby Huss as James W. McCord Jr. Liam James as Saint John Hunt Tony Plana as Eugenio "Muscolito" Martínez Yul Vazquez as Bernard "Macho" Barker Zoe Levin as Lisa Hunt Nelson Ascencio as Virgilio "Villo" Gonzalez Rich Sommer as Egil "Bud" Krogh Tre Ryder as David Hunt Alexis Valdés as Felipe De Diego Ike Barinholtz as Jeb Stuart Magruder John Carroll Lynch as John N. Mitchell Joel Murray as Don Emily Pendergast as Edwina Kathleen Turner as Dita Beard Zak Orth as Alfred C. Baldwin III Kiernan Shipka as Kevan Hunt Marc Menchaca as Carl Shoffler David Pasquesi as James Jesus Angleton Eddie K. Robinson as Frank Wills F. Murray Abraham as Judge John Sirica Corbin Bernsen as Richard Kleindienst David Krumholtz as William Bittman Neil Casey as Douglas Caddy Prema Cruz as Michele Clark Peter Serafinowicz as William F. Buckley Jr. Steven Bauer as Dr. Manuel Artime Annie Fitzgerald Peter Grosz as Earl Silbert Robert Smigel as Inmate Friedman Guest Jim Downey as Spencer Oliver Joel Van Liew as David Young J. P. Manoux as Robert Mardian Additionally, Robert Redford makes an uncredited voice-only cameo as Bob Woodward, the same role he played in All the President's Men.[4] Episodes No. Title Directed by Written by Original air date U.S. viewers (millions) 1 "The Beverly Hills Burglary" David Mandel Alex Gregory & Peter Huyck May 1, 2023 0.216[5] In 1971, former CIA agent E. Howard Hunt and former FBI agent G. Gordon Liddy are assigned by United States Under Secretary of Transportation Egil Krogh to steal the papers of Pentagon Papers leaker Daniel Ellsberg's psychiatrist. They go to Beverly Hills and scope out his office, and Hunt and his wife Dorothy have dinner with Liddy upon their return, though she is put off by his obsession with Adolf Hitler. Hunt and Liddy, now the "Plumbers", return to Beverly Hills and the former recruits his associates Bernard Barker, Felipe De Diego, and Eugenio Martínez to break into the office and photograph the papers, but they trash the office in the process and make up a hasty cover story which passes by the police. White House Counsel John Dean replaces Krogh and informs the Plumbers that Liddy has been made a member of the CRP, and approves the Plumbers' request for a million dollar budget. 2 "Please Destroy This, Huh?" David Mandel Alex Gregory & Peter Huyck May 8, 2023 0.163[6] 3 "Don't Drink the Whiskey at the Watergate" David Mandel Alex Gregory & Peter Huyck May 15, 2023 0.195[7] 4 "The Writer's Wife" David Mandel Alex Gregory & Peter Huyck May 22, 2023 0.172[8] 5 "True Believers" David Mandel Alex Gregory & Peter Huyck May 29, 2023 N/A Production Watergate scandal The Watergate complex in 2006 Events List People Watergate burglars Groups CRP White House Judiciary Journalists Intelligence community Congress Related vte Development On December 4, 2019, it was announced that HBO had ordered the five-episode limited series created and executive produced by Alex Gregory, Peter Huyck, David Mandel, Frank Rich, Ruben Fleischer, and David Bernad. Gregory and Huyck were attached to write the miniseries with Mandel directing all episodes.[9] The series premiered on May 1, 2023.[3] Casting Alongside the series order announcement, Woody Harrelson and Justin Theroux were set to star in lead roles as well as executive produce.[9] In April 2021, Domhnall Gleeson and Lena Headey were cast in main roles.[10][11] In May 2021, Kiernan Shipka, Ike Barinholtz, Yul Vazquez, David Krumholtz, Rich Sommer, Kim Coates, and Liam James joined the cast in starring roles while Nelson Ascencio, Gary Cole, Toby Huss, Zoe Levin, John Carroll Lynch, Zak Orth, and Tony Plana were cast in undisclosed capacities.[12][13] In the same month, the following week, Kathleen Turner joined the main cast.[14] In June 2021, Judy Greer was cast in a main role.[15] In July 2021, Corbin Bernsen and Alexis Valdés were cast in undisclosed capacities.[16] Filming The series began principal photography on May 3, 2021, and ended on October 21, 2021. Filming took place in Poughkeepsie, New York on Zack's Way, New York City, Albany, New York, Washington, D.C., Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands,[17] Beverly Hills, California,[18] and Redondo Beach, California.[19] On August 5, 2021, production was suspended after an audio recording reportedly captured Mandel berating and threatening the head of props, and the props department walked off the set.[20] Filming resumed on August 12 with additional protocols following the incident.[21] Reception On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds a 68% approval rating, with an average rating of 6.1/10, based on 44 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "White House Plumbers gets clogged up by its overstuffed adherence to real history, but with actors this appealing and material that truly is stranger than fiction, it flushes down easy enough."[22] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, has assigned a score of 62 out of 100 based on 22 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[23] References "HBO Releases Official Trailer For The Limited Series WHITE HOUSE PLUMBERS, Debuting May 1". Warner Media (Press release). March 30, 2023. Archived from the original on April 4, 2023. Retrieved April 4, 2023. Krogh, Egil; Krogh, Matthew (2007). Integrity: Good People, Bad Choices, and Life Lessons from the White House (1st ed.). New York: Public Affairs – via Internet Archive (subscription required). ISBN 978-1-58648-467-5. OCLC 141852377. Bergeson, Samantha (March 30, 2023). "'White House Plumbers' Trailer: Woody Harrelson and Justin Theroux Protect Nixon's Presidency". IndieWire. Archived from the original on March 30, 2023. Retrieved March 31, 2023. Whiting, Amanda (May 22, 2023). "'White House Plumbers Recap: The Watergate Crash': Overnights". Vulture. Retrieved June 4, 2023. Salem, Mitch (May 2, 2023). "ShowBuzzDaily's Monday 5.1.2023 Top 150 Cable Originals & Network Finals Updated". Showbuzz Daily. Archived from the original on May 3, 2023. Retrieved May 2, 2023. Metcalf, Mitch (May 9, 2023). "ShowBuzzDaily's Monday 5.8.2023 Top 150 Cable Originals & Network Finals Updated". Showbuzz Daily. Retrieved May 9, 2023. Salem, Mitch (May 16, 2023). "ShowBuzzDaily's Monday 5.15.2023 Top 150 Cable Originals & Network Finals Updated". Showbuzz Daily. Retrieved May 16, 2023. Metcalf, Mitch (May 23, 2023). "ShowBuzzDaily's Monday 5.22.2023 Top 150 Cable Originals & Network Finals Updated". Showbuzz Daily. Retrieved May 23, 2023. Andreeva, Nellie (December 4, 2019). "Woody Harrelson & Justin Theroux To Star In 'The White House Plumbers' HBO Limited Series About Watergate". Deadline. Archived from the original on December 7, 2019. Retrieved April 28, 2021. Andreeva, Nellie (April 27, 2021). "'The White House Plumbers': Domhnall Gleeson To Play John Dean In HBO's Watergate Limited Series". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on May 15, 2021. Retrieved April 28, 2021. Andreeva, Nellie (April 29, 2021). "Lena Headey Joins 'The White House Plumbers' HBO Watergate Limited Series". Deadline. Archived from the original on April 29, 2021. Retrieved April 29, 2021. Petski, Denise (May 12, 2021). "Kiernan Shipka, Ike Barinholtz, Kim Coates, Liam James Among 7 Cast In 'The White House Plumbers' HBO Watergate Limited Series". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on May 12, 2021. Retrieved May 12, 2021. Turchiano, Danielle (May 14, 2021). "Gary Cole, Zoe Levin, John Carroll Lynch Among Eight Added to HBO's Watergate Series (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Archived from the original on May 14, 2021. Retrieved May 15, 2021. Petski, Denise (May 20, 2021). "Kathleen Turner Joins 'The White House Plumbers' HBO Watergate Limited Series". Deadline. Archived from the original on May 20, 2021. Retrieved May 20, 2021. Andreeva, Nellie (June 3, 2021). "Judy Greer Joins 'The White House Plumbers' HBO Watergate Limited Series". Deadline. Archived from the original on June 3, 2021. Retrieved June 3, 2021. Andreeva, Nellie (July 19, 2021). "'The White House Plumbers': Corbin Bernsen & Alexis Valdés Join HBO's Watergate Limited Series". Deadline. Archived from the original on July 19, 2021. Retrieved July 19, 2021. "The White House Plumbers". Production List. March 22, 2021. Archived from the original on April 28, 2021. Retrieved April 28, 2021. "Woody Harrelson is seen filming scenes for his HBO show "White House Plumbers"". Getty Images. October 14, 2021. Archived from the original on October 20, 2021. Retrieved October 20, 2021. Meyer, Garth (October 20, 2021). "Nixon-era HBO series filming in town". Easy Reader & Peninsula Magazine. Hermosa Beach CA. Archived from the original on October 21, 2021. Andreeva, Nellie (August 6, 2021). "'The White House Plumbers': HBO Pauses Production To Investigate "Alleged Unprofessional Behavior" On Set". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on August 15, 2021. Retrieved August 6, 2021. Andreeva, Nellie (August 16, 2021). "'The White House Plumbers' Resumes Production With Additional Protocols After Investigation Into "Alleged Unprofessional Behavior" On Set Of HBO Series". Deadline. Archived from the original on August 16, 2021. Retrieved August 16, 2021. "White House Plumbers: Season 1". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved May 19, 2023. "White House Plumbers: Season 1". Metacritic. Retrieved May 6, 2023.

The dark side of history: https://thememoryhole.substack.com/ Communism (from Latin communis, 'common, universal')[1][2] is a left-wing to far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement,[1] whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered around common ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange that allocates products to everyone in the society based on need.[3][4][5] A communist society would entail the absence of private property and social classes,[1] and ultimately money[6] and the state (or nation state).[7][8][9] Communists often seek a voluntary state of self-governance but disagree on the means to this end. This reflects a distinction between a more libertarian socialist approach of communization, revolutionary spontaneity, and workers' self-management, and a more authoritarian vanguardist or communist party-driven approach through the development of a socialist state, followed by the withering away of the state.[10] As one of the main ideologies on the political spectrum, communism is placed on the left-wing alongside socialism, and communist parties and movements have been described as radical left or far-left.[11][12][note 1] Variants of communism have been developed throughout history, including anarchist communism, Marxist schools of thought, and religious communism, among others. Communism encompasses a variety of schools of thought, which broadly include Marxism, Leninism, and libertarian communism, as well as the political ideologies grouped around those. All of these different ideologies generally share the analysis that the current order of society stems from capitalism, its economic system, and mode of production, that in this system there are two major social classes, that the relationship between these two classes is exploitative, and that this situation can only ultimately be resolved through a social revolution.[20][note 2] The two classes are the proletariat, who make up the majority of the population within society and must sell their labor power to survive, and the bourgeoisie, a small minority that derives profit from employing the working class through private ownership of the means of production.[22] According to this analysis, a communist revolution would put the working class in power,[23] and in turn establish common ownership of property, the primary element in the transformation of society towards a communist mode of production.[24][25][26] Communism in its modern form grew out of the socialist movement in 19th-century Europe, which blamed capitalism for the misery of urban factory workers.[1] In the 20th century, several ostensibly Communist governments espousing Marxism–Leninism and its variants came into power,[27][note 3] first in the Soviet Union with the Russian Revolution of 1917, and then in portions of Eastern Europe, Asia, and a few other regions after World War II.[33] As one of the many types of socialism, communism became the dominant political tendency, along with social democracy, within the international socialist movement by the early 1920s.[34] During most of the 20th century, around one-third of the world's population lived under Communist governments. These governments, which have been criticized by other leftists and socialists, were characterized by one-party rule by a communist party, the rejection of private property and capitalism, state control of economic activity and mass media, restrictions on freedom of religion, and suppression of opposition and dissent. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, several previously Communist governments repudiated or abolished Communist rule altogether.[1][35][36] Afterwards, only a small number of nominally Communist governments remained, which are China,[37] Cuba, Laos, North Korea,[note 4] and Vietnam.[44] With the exception of North Korea, all of these states have started allowing more economic competition while maintaining one-party rule.[1] The decline of communism in the late 20th century has been attributed to the inherent inefficiencies of communist economies and the general trend of communist governments towards authoritarianism and bureaucracy.[1][44][45] While the emergence of the Soviet Union as the world's first nominally Communist state led to communism's widespread association with the Soviet economic model, several scholars posit that in practice the model functioned as a form of state capitalism.[46][47] Public memory of 20th-century Communist states has been described as a battleground between the anti anti-communist political left and the anti-communist political right.[48] Many authors have written about mass killings under communist regimes and mortality rates,[note 5] such as excess mortality in the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin,[note 6] which remain controversial, polarized, and debated topics in academia, historiography, and politics when discussing communism and the legacy of Communist states.[66][67] Etymology and terminology Communism derives from the French word communisme, a combination of the Latin-rooted word communis (which literally means common) and the suffix isme (an act, practice, or process of doing something).[68][69] Semantically, communis can be translated to "of or for the community", while isme is a suffix that indicates the abstraction into a state, condition, action, or doctrine. Communism may be interpreted as "the state of being of or for the community"; this semantic constitution has led to numerous usages of the word in its evolution. Prior to becoming associated with its more modern conception of an economic and political organization, it was initially used to designate various social situations. Communism came to be primarily associated with Marxism, most specifically embodied in The Communist Manifesto, which proposed a particular type of communism.[1][70] One of the first uses of the word in its modern sense is in a letter sent by Victor d'Hupay to Nicolas Restif de la Bretonne around 1785, in which d'Hupay describes himself as an auteur communiste ("communist author").[71] In 1793, Restif first used communisme to describe a social order based on egalitarianism and the common ownership of property.[72] Restif would go on to use the term frequently in his writing and was the first to describe communism as a form of government.[73] John Goodwyn Barmby is credited with the first use of communism in English, around 1840.[68] Communism and socialism The hammer and sickle is a common theme of communist symbolism. This is an example of a hammer and sickle and red star design from the flag of the Soviet Union. Since the 1840s, communism has usually been distinguished from socialism. The modern definition and usage of the latter would be settled by the 1860s, becoming predominant over alternative terms associationist (Fourierism), co-operative, and mutualist, which had previously been used as synonyms; instead, communism fell out of use during this period.[74] An early distinction between communism and socialism was that the latter aimed to only socialize production, whereas the former aimed to socialize both production and consumption (in the form of common access to final goods).[5] This distinction can be observed in Marx's communism, where the distribution of products is based on the principle of "to each according to his needs", in contrast to a socialist principle of "to each according to his contribution".[25] Socialism has been described as a philosophy seeking distributive justice, and communism as a subset of socialism that prefers economic equality as its form of distributive justice.[75] By 1888, Marxists employed socialism in place of communism which had come to be considered an old-fashioned synonym for the former. It was not until 1917, with the October Revolution, that socialism came to refer to a distinct stage between capitalism and communism, introduced by Vladimir Lenin as a means to defend the Bolshevik seizure of power against traditional Marxist criticism that Russia's productive forces were not sufficiently developed for socialist revolution.[24] A distinction between communist and socialist as descriptors of political ideologies arose in 1918 after the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party renamed itself to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, where Communist came to specifically refer to socialists who supported the politics and theories of Bolshevism, Leninism, and later in the 1920s those of Marxism–Leninism,[76] although Communist parties continued to describe themselves as socialists dedicated to socialism.[74] Both communism and socialism eventually accorded with the cultural attitude of adherents and opponents towards religion. In European Christendom, communism was believed to be the atheist way of life. In Protestant England, communism was too phonetically similar to the Roman Catholic communion rite, hence English atheists denoted themselves socialists.[77] Friedrich Engels stated that in 1848, at the time when The Communist Manifesto was first published,[78] socialism was respectable on the continent, while communism was not; the Owenites in England and the Fourierists in France were considered respectable socialists, while working-class movements that "proclaimed the necessity of total social change" denoted themselves communists. This latter branch of socialism produced the communist work of Étienne Cabet in France and Wilhelm Weitling in Germany.[79] While liberal democrats looked to the Revolutions of 1848 as a democratic revolution, which in the long run ensured liberty, equality, and fraternity, Marxists denounced 1848 as a betrayal of working-class ideals by a bourgeoisie indifferent to the legitimate demands of the proletariat.[80] According to The Oxford Handbook of Karl Marx, "Marx used many terms to refer to a post-capitalist society—positive humanism, socialism, Communism, realm of free individuality, free association of producers, etc. He used these terms completely interchangeably. The notion that 'socialism' and 'Communism' are distinct historical stages is alien to his work and only entered the lexicon of Marxism after his death."[81] According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, "Exactly how communism differs from socialism has long been a matter of debate, but the distinction rests largely on the communists' adherence to the revolutionary socialism of Karl Marx."[1] Associated usage and Communist states In the United States, communism is widely used as a pejorative term as part of a Red Scare, much like socialism, and mainly in reference to authoritarian socialism and Communist states. The emergence of the Soviet Union as the world's first nominally Communist state led to the term's widespread association with Marxism–Leninism and the Soviet-type economic planning model.[1][82][83] In his essay "Judging Nazism and Communism",[84] Martin Malia defines a "generic Communism" category as any Communist political party movement led by intellectuals; this umbrella term allows grouping together such different regimes as radical Soviet industrialism and the Khmer Rouge's anti-urbanism.[85] According to Alexander Dallin, the idea to group together different countries, such as Afghanistan and Hungary, has no adequate explanation.[86] While the term Communist state is used by Western historians, political scientists, and news media to refer to countries ruled by Communist parties, these socialist states themselves did not describe themselves as communist or claim to have achieved communism; they referred to themselves as being a socialist state that is in the process of constructing communism.[87] Terms used by Communist states include national-democratic, people's democratic, socialist-oriented, and workers and peasants' states.[88] History Main article: History of communism Early communism Further information: Pre-Marxist communism, Primitive communism, Religious communism, Scientific socialism, and Utopian socialism According to Richard Pipes,[89] the idea of a classless, egalitarian society first emerged in Ancient Greece. Since the 20th century, Ancient Rome has been examined in this context, as well as thinkers such as Aristotle, Cicero, Demosthenes, Plato, and Tacitus. Plato, in particular, has been considered as a possible communist or socialist theorist,[90] or as the first author to give communism a serious consideration.[91] The 5th-century Mazdak movement in Persia (modern-day Iran) has been described as communistic for challenging the enormous privileges of the noble classes and the clergy, criticizing the institution of private property, and striving to create an egalitarian society.[92][93] At one time or another, various small communist communities existed, generally under the inspiration of religious text.[51] In the medieval Christian Church, some monastic communities and religious orders shared their land and their other property. Sects deemed heretical such as the Waldensians preached an early form of Christian communism.[94][95] As summarized by historians Janzen Rod and Max Stanton, the Hutterites believed in strict adherence to biblical principles, church discipline, and practised a form of communism. In their words, the Hutterites "established in their communities a rigorous system of Ordnungen, which were codes of rules and regulations that governed all aspects of life and ensured a unified perspective. As an economic system, communism was attractive to many of the peasants who supported social revolution in sixteenth century central Europe."[96] This link was highlighted in one of Karl Marx's early writings; Marx stated that "[a]s Christ is the intermediary unto whom man unburdens all his divinity, all his religious bonds, so the state is the mediator unto which he transfers all his Godlessness, all his human liberty."[97] Thomas Müntzer led a large Anabaptist communist movement during the German Peasants' War, which Friedrich Engels analyzed in his 1850 work The Peasant War in Germany. The Marxist communist ethos that aims for unity reflects the Christian universalist teaching that humankind is one and that there is only one god who does not discriminate among people.[98] Thomas More, whose Utopia portrayed a society based on common ownership of property Communist thought has also been traced back to the works of the 16th-century English writer Thomas More.[99] In his 1516 treatise titled Utopia, More portrayed a society based on common ownership of property, whose rulers administered it through the application of reason and virtue.[100] Marxist communist theoretician Karl Kautsky, who popularized Marxist communism in Western Europe more than any other thinker apart from Engels, published Thomas More and His Utopia, a work about More, whose ideas could be regarded as "the foregleam of Modern Socialism" according to Kautsky. During the October Revolution in Russia, Vladimir Lenin suggested that a monument be dedicated to More, alongside other important Western thinkers.[101] In the 17th century, communist thought surfaced again in England, where a Puritan religious group known as the Diggers advocated the abolition of private ownership of land. In his 1895 Cromwell and Communism,[102] Eduard Bernstein stated that several groups during the English Civil War (especially the Diggers) espoused clear communistic, agrarianist ideals and that Oliver Cromwell's attitude towards these groups was at best ambivalent and often hostile.[103][104] Criticism of the idea of private property continued into the Age of Enlightenment of the 18th century through such thinkers as Gabriel Bonnot de Mably, Jean Meslier, Étienne-Gabriel Morelly, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau in France.[105] During the upheaval of the French Revolution, communism emerged as a political doctrine under the auspices of François-Noël Babeuf, Nicolas Restif de la Bretonne, and Sylvain Maréchal, all of whom can be considered the progenitors of modern communism, according to James H. Billington.[106] In the early 19th century, various social reformers founded communities based on common ownership. Unlike many previous communist communities, they replaced the religious emphasis with a rational and philanthropic basis.[107] Notable among them were Robert Owen, who founded New Harmony, Indiana, in 1825, and Charles Fourier, whose followers organized other settlements in the United States, such as Brook Farm in 1841.[1] In its modern form, communism grew out of the socialist movement in 19th-century Europe. As the Industrial Revolution advanced, socialist critics blamed capitalism for the misery of the proletariat—a new class of urban factory workers who labored under often-hazardous conditions. Foremost among these critics were Marx and his associate Engels. In 1848, Marx and Engels offered a new definition of communism and popularized the term in their famous pamphlet The Communist Manifesto.[1] Revolutionary wave of 1917–1923 Further information: Revolutions of 1917–1923 In 1917, the October Revolution in Russia set the conditions for the rise to state power of Vladimir Lenin's Bolsheviks, which was the first time any avowedly communist party reached that position. The revolution transferred power to the All-Russian Congress of Soviets in which the Bolsheviks had a majority.[108][109][110] The event generated a great deal of practical and theoretical debate within the Marxist movement, as Marx stated that socialism and communism would be built upon foundations laid by the most advanced capitalist development; however, the Russian Empire was one of the poorest countries in Europe with an enormous, largely illiterate peasantry, and a minority of industrial workers. Marx warned against attempts "to transform my historical sketch of the genesis of capitalism in Western Europe into a historico-philosophy theory of the arche générale imposed by fate upon every people, whatever the historic circumstances in which it finds itself",[111] and stated that Russia might be able to skip the stage of bourgeois rule through the Obshchina.[112][note 7] The moderate Mensheviks (minority) opposed Lenin's Bolsheviks (majority) plan for socialist revolution before the capitalist mode of production was more fully developed. The Bolsheviks' successful rise to power was based upon the slogans such as "Peace, Bread, and Land", which tapped into the massive public desire for an end to Russian involvement in World War I, the peasants' demand for land reform, and popular support for the soviets.[116] By November 1917, the Russian Provisional Government had been widely discredited by its failure to withdraw from World War I, implement land reform, or convene the Russian Constituent Assembly to draft a constitution, leaving the soviets in de facto control of the country. The Bolsheviks moved to hand power to the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies in the October Revolution; after a few weeks of deliberation, the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries formed a coalition government with the Bolsheviks from November 1917 to July 1918, while the right-wing faction of the Socialist Revolutionary Party boycotted the soviets and denounced the October Revolution as an illegal coup. In the 1917 Russian Constituent Assembly election, socialist parties totaled well over 70% of the vote. The Bolsheviks were clear winners in the urban centres, and took around two-thirds of the votes of soldiers on the Western Front, obtaining 23.3% of the vote; the Socialist Revolutionaries finished first on the strength of support from the country's rural peasantry, who were for the most part single issue voters, that issue being land reform, obtaining 37.6%, while the Ukrainian Socialist Bloc finished a distant third at 12.7%, and the Mensheviks obtained a disappointing fourth place at 3.0%.[117] Most of the Socialist Revolutionary Party's seats went to the right-wing faction. Citing outdated voter-rolls, which did not acknowledge the party split, and the assembly's conflicts with the Congress of Soviets, the Bolshevik–Left Socialist-Revolutionaries government moved to dissolve the Constituent Assembly in January 1918. The Draft Decree on the Dissolution of the Constituent Assembly was issued by the Central Executive Committee of the Soviet Union, a committee dominated by Lenin, who had previously supported a multi-party system of free elections. After the Bolshevik defeat, Lenin started referring to the assembly as a "deceptive form of bourgeois-democratic parliamentarianism."[117] Some argued this was the beginning of the development of vanguardism as an hierarchical party–elite that controls society,[118] which resulted in a split between anarchism and Marxism, and Leninist communism assuming the dominant position for most of the 20th century, excluding rival socialist currents.[119] Other communists and Marxists, especially social democrats who favored the development of liberal democracy as a prerequisite to socialism, were critical of the Bolsheviks from the beginning due to Russia being seen as too backward for a socialist revolution.[24] Council communism and left communism, inspired by the German Revolution of 1918–1919 and the wide proletarian revolutionary wave, arose in response to developments in Russia and are critical of self-declared constitutionally socialist states. Some left-wing parties, such as the Socialist Party of Great Britain, boasted of having called the Bolsheviks, and by extension those Communist states which either followed or were inspired by the Soviet Bolshevik model of development, establishing state capitalism in late 1917, as would be described during the 20th century by several academics, economists, and other scholars,[46] or a command economy.[120][121][122] Before the Soviet path of development became known as socialism, in reference to the two-stage theory, communists made no major distinction between the socialist mode of production and communism;[81] it is consistent with, and helped to inform, early concepts of socialism in which the law of value no longer directs economic activity. Monetary relations in the form of exchange-value, profit, interest, and wage labor would not operate and apply to Marxist socialism.[26] While Joseph Stalin stated that the law of value would still apply to socialism and that the Soviet Union was socialist under this new definition, which was followed by other Communist leaders, many other communists maintain the original definition and state that Communist states never established socialism in this sense. Lenin described his policies as state capitalism but saw them as necessary for the development of socialism, which left-wing critics say was never established, while some Marxist–Leninists state that it was established only during the Stalin era and Mao era, and then became capitalist states ruled by revisionists; others state that Maoist China was always state capitalist, and uphold People's Socialist Republic of Albania as the only socialist state after the Soviet Union under Stalin,[123][124] who first stated to have achieved socialism with the 1936 Constitution of the Soviet Union.[125] Communist states Soviet Union Further information: Communist state and Soviet Union War communism was the first system adopted by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War as a result of the many challenges.[126] Despite communism in the name, it had nothing to do with communism, with strict discipline for workers, strike actions forbidden, obligatory labor duty, and military-style control, and has been described as simple authoritarian control by the Bolsheviks to maintain power and control in the Soviet regions, rather than any coherent political ideology.[127] The Soviet Union was established in 1922. Before the broad ban in 1921, there were several factions in the Communist party, more prominently among them the Left Opposition, the Right Opposition, and the Workers' Opposition, which debated on the path of development to follow. The Left and Workers' oppositions were more critical of the state-capitalist development and the Workers' in particular was critical of bureaucratization and development from above, while the Right Opposition was more supporting of state-capitalist development and advocated the New Economic Policy.[126] Following Lenin's democratic centralism, the Leninist parties were organized on a hierarchical basis, with active cells of members as the broad base. They were made up only of elite cadres approved by higher members of the party as being reliable and completely subject to party discipline.[128] Trotskyism overtook the left communists as the main dissident communist current, while more libertarian communisms, dating back to the libertarian Marxist current of council communism, remained important dissident communisms outside the Soviet Union. Following Lenin's democratic centralism, the Leninist parties were organized on a hierarchical basis, with active cells of members as the broad base. They were made up only of elite cadres approved by higher members of the party as being reliable and completely subject to party discipline. The Great Purge of 1936–1938 was Joseph Stalin's attempt to destroy any possible opposition within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. In the Moscow trials, many old Bolsheviks who had played prominent roles during the Russian Revolution or in Lenin's Soviet government afterwards, including Lev Kamenev, Grigory Zinoviev, Alexei Rykov, and Nikolai Bukharin, were accused, pleaded guilty of conspiracy against the Soviet Union, and were executed.[129][128] The devastation of World War II resulted in a massive recovery program involving the rebuilding of industrial plants, housing, and transportation as well as the demobilization and migration of millions of soldiers and civilians. In the midst of this turmoil during the winter of 1946–1947, the Soviet Union experienced the worst natural famine in the 20th century.[130] There was no serious opposition to Stalin as the secret police continued to send possible suspects to the gulag. Relations with the United States and Britain went from friendly to hostile, as they denounced Stalin's political controls over eastern Europe and his Berlin Blockade. By 1947, the Cold War had begun. Stalin himself believed that capitalism was a hollow shell and would crumble under increased non-military pressure exerted through proxies in countries like Italy. He greatly underestimated the economic strength of the West and instead of triumph saw the West build up alliances that were designed to permanently stop or contain Soviet expansion. In early 1950, Stalin gave the go-ahead for North Korea's invasion of South Korea, expecting a short war. He was stunned when the Americans entered and defeated the North Koreans, putting them almost on the Soviet border. Stalin supported China's entry into the Korean War, which drove the Americans back to the prewar boundaries, but which escalated tensions. The United States decided to mobilize its economy for a long contest with the Soviets, built the hydrogen bomb, and strengthened the NATO alliance that covered Western Europe.[131] According to Gorlizki and Khlevniuk, Stalin's consistent and overriding goal after 1945 was to consolidate the nation's superpower status and in the face of his growing physical decrepitude, to maintain his own hold on total power. Stalin created a leadership system that reflected historic czarist styles of paternalism and repression yet was also quite modern. At the top, personal loyalty to Stalin counted for everything. Stalin also created powerful committees, elevated younger specialists, and began major institutional innovations. In the teeth of persecution, Stalin's deputies cultivated informal norms and mutual understandings which provided the foundations for collective rule after his death.[130] For most Westerners and anti-communist Russians, Stalin is viewed overwhelmingly negatively as a mass murderer; for significant numbers of Russians and Georgians, he is regarded as a great statesman and state-builder.[132] China After the Chinese Civil War, Mao Zedong and the Chinese Communist Party came to power in 1949 as the Nationalist government headed by the Kuomintang fled to the island of Taiwan. In 1950–1953, China engaged in a large-scale, undeclared war with the United States, South Korea, and United Nations forces in the Korean War. While the war ended in a military stalemate, it gave Mao the opportunity to identify and purge elements in China that seemed supportive of capitalism. At first, there was close cooperation with Stalin, who sent in technical experts to aid the industrialization process along the line of the Soviet model of the 1930s.[133] After Stalin's death in 1953, relations with Moscow soured—Mao thought Stalin's successors had betrayed the Communist ideal. Mao charged that Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev was the leader of a "revisionist clique" which had turned against Marxism and Leninism and was now setting the stage for the restoration of capitalism.[134] The two nations were at sword's point by 1960. Both began forging alliances with communist supporters around the globe, thereby splitting the worldwide movement into two hostile camps.[135] Rejecting the Soviet model of rapid urbanization, Mao Zedong and his top aide Deng Xiaoping launched the Great Leap Forward in 1957–1961 with the goal of industrializing China overnight, using the peasant villages as the base rather than large cities.[136] Private ownership of land ended and the peasants worked in large collective farms that were now ordered to start up heavy industry operations, such as steel mills. Plants were built in remote locations, due to the lack of technical experts, managers, transportation, or needed facilities. Industrialization failed, and the main result was a sharp unexpected decline in agricultural output, which led to mass famine and millions of deaths. The years of the Great Leap Forward in fact saw economic regression, with 1958 through 1961 being the only years between 1953 and 1983 in which China's economy saw negative growth. Political economist Dwight Perkins argues: "Enormous amounts of investment produced only modest increases in production or none at all. ... In short, the Great Leap was a very expensive disaster."[137] Put in charge of rescuing the economy, Deng adopted pragmatic policies that the idealistic Mao disliked. For a while, Mao was in the shadows but returned to center stage and purged Deng and his allies in the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976).[138] The Cultural Revolution was an upheaval that targeted intellectuals and party leaders from 1966 through 1976. Mao's goal was to purify communism by removing pro-capitalists and traditionalists by imposing Maoist orthodoxy within the Chinese Communist Party. The movement paralyzed China politically and weakened the country economically, culturally, and intellectually for years. Millions of people were accused, humiliated, stripped of power, and either imprisoned, killed, or most often, sent to work as farm laborers. Mao insisted that those he labelled revisionists be removed through violent class struggle. The two most prominent militants were Marshall Lin Biao of the army and Mao's wife Jiang Qing. China's youth responded to Mao's appeal by forming Red Guard groups around the country. The movement spread into the military, urban workers, and the Communist party leadership itself. It resulted in widespread factional struggles in all walks of life. In the top leadership, it led to a mass purge of senior officials who were accused of taking a "capitalist road", most notably Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping. During the same period, Mao's personality cult grew to immense proportions. After Mao's death in 1976, the survivors were rehabilitated and many returned to power.[139][page needed] Mao's government was responsible for vast numbers of deaths with estimates ranging from 40 to 80 million victims through starvation, persecution, prison labour, and mass executions.[140][141][142][143] Mao has also been praised for transforming China from a semi-colony to a leading world power, with greatly advanced literacy, women's rights, basic healthcare, primary education, and life expectancy.[144][145][146][147] Cold War Further information: Cold War and Eastern Bloc States that had communist governments in red, states that the Soviet Union believed at one point to be moving toward socialism in orange, and states with constitutional references to socialism in yellow Its leading role in World War II saw the emergence of the industrialized Soviet Union as a superpower.[148][149] Marxist–Leninist governments modeled on the Soviet Union took power with Soviet assistance in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Poland, Hungary, and Romania. A Marxist–Leninist government was also created under Josip Broz Tito in Yugoslavia; Tito's independent policies led to the Tito–Stalin split and expulsion of Yugoslavia from the Cominform in 1948, and Titoism was branded deviationist. Albania also became an independent Marxist–Leninist state following the Albanian–Soviet split in 1960,[123][124] resulting from an ideological fallout between Enver Hoxha, a Stalinist, and the Soviet government of Nikita Khrushchev, who enacted a period of de-Stalinization and re-approached diplomatic relations with Yugoslavia in 1976.[150] The Communist Party of China, led by Mao Zedong, established the People's Republic of China, which would follow its own ideological path of development following the Sino-Soviet split.[151] Communism was seen as a rival of and a threat to Western capitalism for most of the 20th century.[152] In Western Europe, communist parties were part of several post-war governments, and even when the Cold War forced many of those countries to remove them from government, such as in Italy, they remained part of the liberal-democratic process.[153][154] There were also many developments in libertarian Marxism, especially during the 1960s with the New Left.[155] By the 1960s and 1970s, many Western communist parties had criticized many of the actions of communist states, distanced from them, and developed a democratic road to socialism, which became known as Eurocommunism.[153] This development was criticized by more orthodox supporters of the Soviet Union as amounting to social democracy.[156] Since 1957, communists have been frequently voted into power in the Indian state of Kerala.[157] In 1959, Cuban communist revolutionaries overthrew Cuba's previous government under the dictator Fulgencio Batista. The leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, ruled Cuba from 1959 until 2008.[158] Dissolution of the Soviet Union Further information: Dissolution of the Soviet Union With the fall of the Warsaw Pact after the Revolutions of 1989, which led to the fall of most of the former Eastern Bloc, the Soviet Union was dissolved on 26 December 1991. It was a result of the declaration number 142-Н of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union.[159] The declaration acknowledged the independence of the former Soviet republics and created the Commonwealth of Independent States, although five of the signatories ratified it much later or did not do it at all. On the previous day, Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev (the eighth and final leader of the Soviet Union) resigned, declared his office extinct, and handed over its powers, including control of the Cheget, to Russian president Boris Yeltsin. That evening at 7:32, the Soviet flag was lowered from the Kremlin for the last time and replaced with the pre-revolutionary Russian flag. Previously, from August to December 1991, all the individual republics, including Russia itself, had seceded from the union. The week before the union's formal dissolution, eleven republics signed the Alma-Ata Protocol, formally establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States, and declared that the Soviet Union had ceased to exist.[160][161] Post-Soviet communism See also: List of socialist parties with national parliamentary representation A poster of the Communist Party of Vietnam in Hanoi As of 2023, states controlled by Marxist–Leninist parties under a single-party system include the People's Republic of China, the Republic of Cuba, the Lao People's Democratic Republic, and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.[note 4] Communist parties, or their descendant parties, remain politically important in several other countries. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the Fall of Communism, there was a split between those hardline Communists, sometimes referred to in the media as neo-Stalinists, who remained committed to orthodox Marxism–Leninism, and those, such as The Left in Germany, who work within the liberal-democratic process for a democratic road to socialism;[162] other ruling Communist parties became closer to democratic socialist and social-democratic parties.[163] Outside Communist states, reformed Communist parties have led or been part of left-leaning government or regional coalitions, including in the former Eastern Bloc. In Nepal, Communists (CPN UML and Nepal Communist Party) were part of the 1st Nepalese Constituent Assembly, which abolished the monarchy in 2008 and turned the country into a federal liberal-democratic republic, and have democratically shared power with other communists, Marxist–Leninists, and Maoists (CPN Maoist), social democrats (Nepali Congress), and others as part of their People's Multiparty Democracy.[164][165] The Communist Party of the Russian Federation has some supporters, but is reformist rather than revolutionary, aiming to lessen the inequalities of Russia's market economy.[1] Chinese economic reforms were started in 1978 under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping, and since then China has managed to bring down the poverty rate from 53% in the Mao era to just 8% in 2001.[166] After losing Soviet subsidies and support, Vietnam and Cuba have attracted more foreign investment to their countries, with their economies becoming more market-oriented.[1] North Korea, the last Communist country that still practices Soviet-style Communism, is both repressive and isolationist.[1] Theory Communist political thought and theory are diverse but share several core elements.[a] The dominant forms of communism are based on Marxism or Leninism but non-Marxist versions of communism also exist, such as anarcho-communism and Christian communism, which remain partly influenced by Marxist theories, such as libertarian Marxism and humanist Marxism in particular. Common elements include being theoretical rather than ideological, identifying political parties not by ideology but by class and economic interest, and identifying with the proletariat. According to communists, the proletariat can avoid mass unemployment only if capitalism is overthrown; in the short run, state-oriented communists favor state ownership of the commanding heights of the economy as a means to defend the proletariat from capitalist pressure. Some communists are distinguished by other Marxists in seeing peasants and smallholders of property as possible allies in their goal of shortening the abolition of capitalism.[168] For Leninist communism, such goals, including short-term proletarian interests to improve their political and material conditions, can only be achieved through vanguardism, an elitist form of socialism from above that relies on theoretical analysis to identify proletarian interests rather than consulting the proletarians themselves,[168] as is advocated by libertarian communists.[10] When they engage in elections, Leninist communists' main task is that of educating voters in what are deemed their true interests rather than in response to the expression of interest by voters themselves. When they have gained control of the state, Leninist communists' main task was preventing other political parties from deceiving the proletariat, such as by running their own independent candidates. This vanguardist approach comes from their commitments to democratic centralism in which communists can only be cadres, i.e. members of the party who are full-time professional revolutionaries, as was conceived by Vladimir Lenin.[168] Marxist communism Main article: Marxism See also: List of communist ideologies and Marxist schools of thought A monument dedicated to Karl Marx (left) and Friedrich Engels (right) in Shanghai Marxism is a method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand social class relations and social conflict and a dialectical perspective to view social transformation. It originates from the works of 19th-century German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. As Marxism has developed over time into various branches and schools of thought, no single, definitive Marxist theory exists.[169] Marxism considers itself to be the embodiment of scientific socialism but does not model an ideal society based on the design of intellectuals, whereby communism is seen as a state of affairs to be established based on any intelligent design; rather, it is a non-idealist attempt at the understanding of material history and society, whereby communism is the expression of a real movement, with parameters that are derived from actual life.[170] According to Marxist theory, class conflict arises in capitalist societies due to contradictions between the material interests of the oppressed and exploited proletariat—a class of wage laborers employed to produce goods and services—and the bourgeoisie—the ruling class that owns the means of production and extracts its wealth through appropriation of the surplus product produced by the proletariat in the form of profit. This class struggle that is commonly expressed as the revolt of a society's productive forces against its relations of production, results in a period of short-term crises as the bourgeoisie struggle to manage the intensifying alienation of labor experienced by the proletariat, albeit with varying degrees of class consciousness. In periods of deep crisis, the resistance of the oppressed can culminate in a proletarian revolution which, if victorious, leads to the establishment of the socialist mode of production based on social ownership of the means of production, "To each according to his contribution", and production for use. As the productive forces continued to advance, the communist society, i.e. a classless, stateless, humane society based on common ownership, follows the maxim "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs."[81] While it originates from the works of Marx and Engels, Marxism has developed into many different branches and schools of thought, with the result that there is now no single definitive Marxist theory.[169] Different Marxian schools place a greater emphasis on certain aspects of classical Marxism while rejecting or modifying other aspects. Many schools of thought have sought to combine Marxian concepts and non-Marxian concepts, which has then led to contradictory conclusions.[171] There is a movement toward the recognition that historical materialism and dialectical materialism remain the fundamental aspects of all Marxist schools of thought.[93] Marxism–Leninism and its offshoots are the most well-known of these and have been a driving force in international relations during most of the 20th century.[172] Classical Marxism is the economic, philosophical, and sociological theories expounded by Marx and Engels as contrasted with later developments in Marxism, especially Leninism and Marxism–Leninism.[173] Orthodox Marxism is the body of Marxist thought that emerged after the death of Marx and which became the official philosophy of the socialist movement as represented in the Second International until World War I in 1914. Orthodox Marxism aims to simplify, codify, and systematize Marxist method and theory by clarifying the perceived ambiguities and contradictions of classical Marxism. The philosophy of orthodox Marxism includes the understanding that material development (advances in technology in the productive forces) is the primary agent of change in the structure of society and of human social relations and that social systems and their relations (e.g. feudalism, capitalism, and so on) become contradictory and inefficient as the productive forces develop, which results in some form of social revolution arising in response to the mounting contradictions. This revolutionary change is the vehicle for fundamental society-wide changes and ultimately leads to the emergence of new economic systems.[174] As a term, orthodox Marxism represents the methods of historical materialism and of dialectical materialism, and not the normative aspects inherent to classical Marxism, without implying dogmatic adherence to the results of Marx's investigations.[175] Marxist concepts Class conflict and historical materialism Main articles: Class conflict and Historical materialism At the root of Marxism is historical materialism, the materialist conception of history which holds that the key characteristic of economic systems through history has been the mode of production and that the change between modes of production has been triggered by class struggle. According to this analysis, the Industrial Revolution ushered the world into the new capitalist mode of production. Before capitalism, certain working classes had ownership of instruments used in production; however, because machinery was much more efficient, this property became worthless and the mass majority of workers could only survive by selling their labor to make use of someone else's machinery, and making someone else profit. Accordingly, capitalism divided the world between two major classes, namely that of the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. These classes are directly antagonistic as the latter possesses private ownership of the means of production, earning profit via the surplus value generated by the proletariat, who have no ownership of the means of production and therefore no option but to sell its labor to the bourgeoisie.[176] According to the materialist conception of history, it is through the furtherance of its own material interests that the rising bourgeoisie within feudalism captured power and abolished, of all relations of private property, only the feudal privilege, thereby taking the feudal ruling class out of existence. This was another key element behind the consolidation of capitalism as the new mode of production, the final expression of class and property relations that has led to a massive expansion of production. It is only in capitalism that private property in itself can be abolished.[177] Similarly, the proletariat would capture political power, abolish bourgeois property through the common ownership of the means of production, therefore abolishing the bourgeoisie, ultimately abolishing the proletariat itself and ushering the world into communism as a new mode of production. In between capitalism and communism, there is the dictatorship of the proletariat; it is the defeat of the bourgeois state but not yet of the capitalist mode of production, and at the same time the only element which places into the realm of possibility moving on from this mode of production. This dictatorship, based on the Paris Commune's model,[178] is to be the most democratic state where the whole of the public authority is elected and recallable under the basis of universal suffrage.[179] Critique of political economy Main article: Critique of political economy Critique of political economy is a form of social critique that rejects the various social categories and structures that constitute the mainstream discourse concerning the forms and modalities of resource allocation and income distribution in the economy. Communists, such as Marx and Engels, are described as prominent critics of political economy.[180][181][182] The critique rejects economists' use of what its advocates believe are unrealistic axioms, faulty historical assumptions, and the normative use of various descriptive narratives.[183] They reject what they describe as mainstream economists' tendency to posit the economy as an a priori societal category.[184] Those who engage in critique of economy tend to reject the view that the economy and its categories is to be understood as something transhistorical.[185][186] It is seen as merely one of many types of historically specific ways to distribute resources. They argue that it is a relatively new mode of resource distribution, which emerged along with modernity.[187][188][189] Critics of economy critique the given status of the economy itself, and do not aim to create theories regarding how to administer economies.[190][191] Critics of economy commonly view what is most commonly referred to as the economy as being bundles of metaphysical concepts, as well as societal and normative practices, rather than being the result of any self-evident or proclaimed economic laws.[184] They also tend to consider the views which are commonplace within the field of economics as faulty, or simply as pseudoscience.[192][193] Into the 21st century, there are multiple critiques of political economy; what they have in common is the critique of what critics of political economy tend to view as dogma, i.e. claims of the economy as a necessary and transhistorical societal category.[194] Marxian economics Main article: Marxian economics Marxian economics and its proponents view capitalism as economically unsustainable and incapable of improving the living standards of the population due to its need to compensate for falling rates of profit by cutting employee's wages, social benefits, and pursuing military aggression. The communist mode of production would succeed capitalism as humanity's new mode of production through workers' revolution. According to Marxian crisis theory, communism is not an inevitability but an economic necessity.[195] Socialization versus nationalization Main articles: Socialization (economics) and Socialization (Marxism) An important concept in Marxism is socialization, i.e. social ownership, versus nationalization. Nationalization is state ownership of property whereas socialization is control and management of property by society. Marxism considers the latter as its goal and considers nationalization a tactical issue, as state ownership is still in the realm of the capitalist mode of production. In the words of Friedrich Engels, "the transformation ... into State-ownership does not do away with the capitalistic nature of the productive forces. ... State-ownership of the productive forces is not the solution of the conflict, but concealed within it are the technical conditions that form the elements of that solution."[b] This has led Marxist groups and tendencies critical of the Soviet model to label states based on nationalization, such as the Soviet Union, as state capitalist, a view that is also shared by several scholars.[46][120][122] Leninist communism Main article: Leninism We want to achieve a new and better order of society: in this new and better society there must be neither rich nor poor; all will have to work. Not a handful of rich people, but all the working people must enjoy the fruits of their common labour. Machines and other improvements must serve to ease the work of all and not to enable a few to grow rich at the expense of millions and tens of millions of people. This new and better society is called socialist society. The teachings about this society are called "socialism". Vladimir Lenin, To the Rural Poor (1903)[196] Leninism is a political ideology developed by Russian Marxist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin that proposes the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat, led by a revolutionary vanguard party, as the political prelude to the establishment of communism. The function of the Leninist vanguard party is to provide the working classes with the political consciousness (education and organisation) and revolutionary leadership necessary to depose capitalism in the Russian Empire (1721–1917).[197] Leninist revolutionary leadership is based upon The Communist Manifesto (1848), identifying the Communist party as "the most advanced and resolute section of the working class parties of every country; that section which pushes forward all others." As the vanguard party, the Bolsheviks viewed history through the theoretical framework of dialectical materialism, which sanctioned political commitment to the successful overthrow of capitalism, and then to instituting socialism; and as the revolutionary national government, to realize the socio-economic transition by all means.[198][full citation needed] Marxism–Leninism Main article: Marxism–Leninism Vladimir Lenin statue in Kolkata, West Bengal Marxism–Leninism is a political ideology developed by Joseph Stalin.[199] According to its proponents, it is based on Marxism and Leninism. It describes the specific political ideology which Stalin implemented in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and in a global scale in the Comintern. There is no definite agreement between historians about whether Stalin actually followed the principles of Marx and Lenin.[200] It also contains aspects which according to some are deviations from Marxism such as socialism in one country.[201][202] Marxism–Leninism was the official ideology of 20th-century Communist parties (including Trotskyist), and was developed after the death of Lenin; its three principles were dialectical materialism, the leading role of the Communist party through democratic centralism, and a planned economy with industrialization and agricultural collectivization. Marxism–Leninism is misleading because Marx and Lenin never sanctioned or supported the creation of an -ism after them, and is revealing because, being popularized after Lenin's death by Stalin, it contained those three doctrinal and institutionalized principles that became a model for later Soviet-type regimes; its global influence, having at its height covered at least one-third of the world's population, has made Marxist–Leninist a convenient label for the Communist bloc as a dynamic ideological order.[203][c] During the Cold War, Marxism–Leninism was the ideology of the most clearly visible communist movement and is the most prominent ideology associated with communism.[172][note 8] Social fascism was a theory supported by the Comintern and affiliated Communist parties during the early 1930s, which held that social democracy was a variant of fascism because it stood in the way of a dictatorship of the proletariat, in addition to a shared corporatist economic model.[205] At the time, leaders of the Comintern, such as Stalin and Rajani Palme Dutt, stated that capitalist society had entered the Third Period in which a proletariat revolution was imminent but could be prevented by social democrats and other fascist forces.[205][206] The term social fascist was used pejoratively to describe social-democratic parties, anti-Comintern and progressive socialist parties and dissenters within Comintern affiliates throughout the interwar period. The social fascism theory was advocated vociferously by the Communist Party of Germany, which was largely controlled and funded by the Soviet leadership from 1928.[206] Within Marxism–Leninism, anti-revisionism is a position which emerged in the 1950s in opposition to the reforms and Khrushchev Thaw of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. Where Khrushchev pursued an interpretation that differed from Stalin, the anti-revisionists within the international communist movement remained dedicated to Stalin's ideological legacy and criticized the Soviet Union under Khrushchev and his successors as state capitalist and social imperialist due to its hopes of achieving peace with the United States. The term Stalinism is also used to describe these positions but is often not used by its supporters who opine that Stalin practiced orthodox Marxism and Leninism. Because different political trends trace the historical roots of revisionism to different eras and leaders, there is significant disagreement today as to what constitutes anti-revisionism. Modern groups which describe themselves as anti-revisionist fall into several categories. Some uphold the works of Stalin and Mao Zedong and some the works of Stalin while rejecting Mao and universally tend to oppose Trotskyism. Others reject both Stalin and Mao, tracing their ideological roots back to Marx and Lenin. In addition, other groups uphold various less-well-known historical leaders such as Enver Hoxha, who also broke with Mao during the Sino-Albanian split.[123][124] Social imperialism was a term used by Mao to criticize the Soviet Union post-Stalin. Mao stated that the Soviet Union had itself become an imperialist power while maintaining a socialist façade.[207] Hoxha agreed with Mao in this analysis, before later using the expression to also condemn Mao's Three Worlds Theory.[208] Stalinism Main article: Stalinism 1942 portrait of Joseph Stalin, the longest-serving leader of the Soviet Union Stalinism represents Stalin's style of governance as opposed to Marxism–Leninism, the socioeconomic system and political ideology implemented by Stalin in the Soviet Union, and later adapted by other states based on the ideological Soviet model, such as central planning, nationalization, and one-party state, along with public ownership of the means of production, accelerated industrialization, pro-active development of society's productive forces (research and development), and nationalized natural resources. Marxism–Leninism remained after de-Stalinization whereas Stalinism did not. In the last letters before his death, Lenin warned against the danger of Stalin's personality and urged the Soviet government to replace him.[93] Until the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953, the Soviet Communist party referred to its own ideology as Marxism–Leninism–Stalinism.[168] Marxism–Leninism has been criticized by other communist and Marxist tendencies, which state that Marxist–Leninist states did not establish socialism but rather state capitalism.[46][120][122] According to Marxism, the dictatorship of the proletariat represents the rule of the majority (democracy) rather than of one party, to the extent that the co-founder of Marxism, Friedrich Engels, described its "specific form" as the democratic republic.[209] According to Engels, state property by itself is private property of capitalist nature,[b] unless the proletariat has control of political power, in which case it forms public property.[e] Whether the proletariat was actually in control of the Marxist–Leninist states is a matter of debate between Marxism–Leninism and other communist tendencies. To these tendencies, Marxism–Leninism is neither Marxism nor Leninism nor the union of both but rather an artificial term created to justify Stalin's ideological distortion,[210] forced into the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Comintern. In the Soviet Union, this struggle against Marxism–Leninism was represented by Trotskyism, which describes itself as a Marxist and Leninist tendency.[211] Trotskyism Main article: Trotskyism Detail of Man, Controller of the Universe, fresco at Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City showing Leon Trotsky, Friedrich Engels, and Karl Marx Trotskyism, developed by Leon Trotsky in opposition to Stalinism,[212] is a Marxist and Leninist tendency that supports the theory of permanent revolution and world revolution rather than the two-stage theory and Stalin's socialism in one country. It supported another communist revolution in the Soviet Union and proletarian internationalism.[213] Rather than representing the dictatorship of the proletariat, Trotsky claimed that the Soviet Union had become a degenerated workers' state under the leadership of Stalin in which class relations had re-emerged in a new form. Trotsky's politics differed sharply from those of Stalin and Mao, most importantly in declaring the need for an international proletarian revolution—rather than socialism in one country—and support for a true dictatorship of the proletariat based on democratic principles. Struggling against Stalin for power in the Soviet Union, Trotsky and his supporters organized into the Left Opposition,[214] the platform of which became known as Trotskyism.[212] Stalin eventually succeeded in gaining control of the Soviet regime and Trotskyist attempts to remove Stalin from power resulted in Trotsky's exile from the Soviet Union in 1929. While in exile, Trotsky continued his campaign against Stalin, founding in 1938 the Fourth International, a Trotskyist rival to the Comintern.[215][216][217] In August 1940, Trotsky was assassinated in Mexico City on Stalin's orders. Trotskyist currents include orthodox Trotskyism, third camp, Posadism, and Pabloism.[218][219] Maoism Main articles: Maoism and Marxism–Leninism–Maoism Long Live the Victory of Mao Zedong Thought monument in Shenyang Maoism is the theory derived from the teachings of the Chinese political leader Mao Zedong. Developed from the 1950s until the Deng Xiaoping Chinese economic reform in the 1970s, it was widely applied as the guiding political and military ideology of the Communist Party of China and as the theory guiding revolutionary movements around the world. A key difference between Maoism and other forms of Marxism–Leninism is that peasants should be the bulwark of the revolutionary energy which is led by the working class.[220] Three common Maoist values are revolutionary populism, being practical, and dialectics.[221] The synthesis of Marxism–Leninism–Maoism,[f] which builds upon the two individual theories as the Chinese adaption of Marxism–Leninism, did not occur during the life of Mao. After de-Stalinization, Marxism–Leninism was kept in the Soviet Union, while certain anti-revisionist tendencies like Hoxhaism and Maoism stated that such had deviated from its original concept. Different policies were applied in Albania and China, which became more distanced from the Soviet Union. From the 1960s, groups who called themselves Maoists, or those who upheld Maoism, were not unified around a common understanding of Maoism, instead having their own particular interpretations of the political, philosophical, economical, and military works of Mao. Its adherents claim that as a unified, coherent higher stage of Marxism, it was not consolidated until the 1980s, first being formalized by the Shining Path in 1982.[222] Through the experience of the people's war waged by the party, the Shining Path were able to posit Maoism as the newest development of Marxism.[222] Eurocommunism Main article: Eurocommunism Enrico Berlinguer, the secretary of the Italian Communist Party and main proponent of Eurocommunism Eurocommunism was a revisionist trend in the 1970s and 1980s within various Western European communist parties, claiming to develop a theory and practice of social transformation more relevant to their region. Especially prominent within the French Communist Party, Italian Communist Party, and Communist Party of Spain, Communists of this nature sought to undermine the influence of the Soviet Union and its All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) during the Cold War.[153] Eurocommunists tended to have a larger attachment to liberty and democracy than their Marxist–Leninist counterparts.[223] Enrico Berlinguer, general secretary of Italy's major Communist party, was widely considered the father of Eurocommunism.[224] Libertarian Marxist communism Main article: Libertarian Marxism Libertarian Marxism is a broad range of economic and political philosophies that emphasize the anti-authoritarian aspects of Marxism. Early currents of libertarian Marxism, known as left communism,[225] emerged in opposition to Marxism–Leninism[226] and its derivatives such as Stalinism and Maoism, as well as Trotskyism.[227] Libertarian Marxism is also critical of reformist positions such as those held by social democrats.[228] Libertarian Marxist currents often draw from Marx and Engels' later works, specifically the Grundrisse and The Civil War in France,[229] emphasizing the Marxist belief in the ability of the working class to forge its own dest

What Happened to the Jeffrey Epstein Tapes? https://thememoryhole.substack.com/p/what-happened-to-the-jeffrey-epstein Jeffrey Edward Epstein (/ˈɛpstiːn/ EP-steen;[1] January 20, 1953 – August 10, 2019) was an American financier and sex offender.[2][3] Born and raised in New York City, Epstein began his professional life by teaching at the Dalton School despite lacking a college degree. After his dismissal from the school, he entered the banking and finance sector, working at Bear Stearns in various roles before starting his own firm. Epstein developed an elite social circle and procured many women and children whom he and his associates sexually abused.[4][3][5][6] In 2005, police in Palm Beach, Florida, began investigating Epstein after a parent reported that he had sexually abused her 14-year-old daughter. Federal officials had identified thirty-six girls, some as young as 14-years-old, whom Epstein had allegedly sexually abused.[7] Epstein pleaded guilty and was convicted in 2008 by a Florida state court of procuring a child for prostitution and of soliciting a prostitute.[4][8] He was convicted of only these two crimes as part of a controversial plea deal, and served almost thirteen months in custody but with extensive work release.[9][10] Epstein was arrested again on July 6, 2019, on federal charges for the sex trafficking of minors in Florida and New York.[11][12] He died in his jail cell on August 10, 2019.[13] The medical examiner ruled that his death was a suicide by hanging.[14] Epstein's lawyers have disputed the ruling, and there has been significant public skepticism about the true cause of his death, resulting in numerous conspiracy theories.[15][16] Since Epstein's death precluded the possibility of pursuing criminal charges against him, a judge dismissed all criminal charges on August 29, 2019.[17][18] Epstein had a decades-long association with the British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, leading to her 2021 conviction on U.S. federal charges of sex trafficking and conspiracy for helping him procure girls, including a 14-year-old, for child sexual abuse and prostitution.[19][20][21][22] Early life Epstein's childhood neighborhood of Sea Gate, Brooklyn Jeffrey Edward Epstein was born on January 20, 1953, in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. His parents Pauline "Paula" Stolofsky (1918–2004) and Seymour George Epstein (1916–1991) were Jewish and had married in 1952 shortly before his birth.[23] Pauline worked as a school aide and was a homemaker.[23][24][25] "Paula was a wonderful mother and homemaker, despite the fact that she had a full-time job," according to a former childhood friend of Epstein's.[26] Seymour worked for the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation as a groundskeeper and gardener.[23][25] Jeffrey was the older of two siblings; he and his brother Mark grew up in the working-class neighborhood of Sea Gate, a private gated community in Coney Island, Brooklyn. Epstein was referred to as "Bear" by his parents while Mark was known as "Puggie". Neighbors described the Epstein family as being, "so gentle, the most gentle people".[24] Epstein attended local public schools, first attending Public School 188, and then Mark Twain Junior High School nearby and usually earned money by tutoring classmates. Acquaintances considered Epstein "sweet and generous", although "quiet and nerdy", and nicknamed him "Eppy". "He was just an average boy, very smart in math, slightly overweight, freckles, always smiling," a female friend later said.[24] In 1967, Epstein attended the National Music Camp at the Interlochen Center for the Arts.[27] He began playing the piano when he was five, and was regarded as a talented musician by friends.[28] He graduated in 1969 from Lafayette High School at age 16, having skipped two grades.[29][30] Later that year, he attended advanced math classes at Cooper Union until he changed colleges in 1971.[29] From September 1971, he attended the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University studying mathematical physiology, but left without receiving a degree in June 1974.[29][30] Career Teaching Epstein started working in September 1974 as a physics and mathematics teacher for teens at the Dalton School on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.[29][31] Donald Barr, who served as the headmaster until June 1974,[32][33][34] was known to have made several unconventional recruitments at the time, although it is unclear whether he had a direct role in hiring Epstein.[31][35][36] Three months after Barr's departure, Epstein began to teach at the school, despite his lack of credentials.[36][31] Epstein was known for having a charismatic personality and treating his students more like friends than their teacher. However, he also allegedly showed inappropriate behavior toward underage female students at the time, paying them constant attention, and even showing up at a party where young people were drinking, according to a former student.[35] Other former students also often saw him flirting with female students. Eventually, Epstein became acquainted with Alan Greenberg, the chief executive officer of Bear Stearns, whose son and daughter were attending the school. Greenberg's daughter, Lynne Koeppel, pointed to a parent-teacher conference where Epstein influenced another Dalton parent into advocating for him to Greenberg.[33] In June 1976, after Epstein was dismissed from Dalton for "poor performance",[31][37][38] Greenberg offered him a job at Bear Stearns.[28][39] Banking Epstein joined Bear Stearns in 1976 as a low-level junior assistant to a floor trader.[40] He swiftly moved up to become an options trader, working in the special products division, and then advised the bank's wealthiest clients, such as Seagram president Edgar Bronfman, on tax mitigation strategies.[30][41][42] Jimmy Cayne, the bank's later chief executive officer, praised Epstein's skill with wealthy clients and complex products. In 1980, four years after joining Bear Stearns, Epstein became a limited partner.[40] In 1981, Epstein was asked to leave Bear Stearns for, according to his sworn testimony, being guilty of a "Reg D violation".[43][30][28] Even though Epstein departed abruptly, he remained close to Cayne and Greenberg and was a client of Bear Stearns until its collapse in 2008.[40] Financial consulting Epstein in an advertisement published in the July 1980 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine In August 1981, Epstein founded his own consulting firm, Intercontinental Assets Group Inc. (IAG),[44] which assisted clients in recovering stolen money from fraudulent brokers and lawyers.[28] Epstein described his work at this time as being a high-level bounty hunter. He told friends that he worked sometimes as a consultant for governments and the very wealthy to recover embezzled funds, while at other times he worked for clients who had embezzled funds.[28][45] Spanish actress and heiress Ana Obregón was one such wealthy client, whom Epstein helped in 1982 to recover her father's millions in lost investments, which had disappeared when Drysdale Government Securities collapsed because of fraud.[46] Epstein also stated to some people at the time that he was an intelligence agent.[47] During the 1980s, Epstein possessed an Austrian passport that had his photo, but with a false name. The passport showed his place of residence in Saudi Arabia.[48][49] In 2017 "a former senior White House official" reported that Alexander Acosta, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida who had handled Epstein's criminal case in 2008, had stated to Trump transition interviewers, that "I was told Epstein 'belonged to intelligence' and to 'leave it alone'", and that Epstein was "above his pay grade".[50][51] During this period, one of Epstein's clients was the Saudi Arabian businessman Adnan Khashoggi, who was the middleman in transferring American weapons from Israel to Iran, as part of the Iran–Contra affair in the 1980s.[5] Khashoggi was one of several defense contractors that he knew.[28][47] In the mid-1980s, Epstein traveled multiple times between the United States, Europe, and Southwest Asia.[48][49] While in London, Epstein met Steven Hoffenberg. They had been introduced through Douglas Leese, a defense contractor, and John Mitchell, the former U.S. Attorney General.[28] Towers Financial Corporation Steven Hoffenberg hired Epstein in 1987 as a consultant for Towers Financial Corporation (unaffiliated with the company of the same name founded in 1998, and acquired by Old National Bancorp in 2014),[52] a collection agency that bought debts people owed to hospitals, banks, and phone companies.[53][54] Hoffenberg set Epstein up in offices in the Villard Houses in Manhattan and paid him US$25,000 per month for his consulting work (equivalent to $64,000 in 2022).[28] Hoffenberg and Epstein then refashioned themselves as corporate raiders using Towers Financial as their raiding vessel. One of Epstein's first assignments for Hoffenberg was to implement what turned out to be an unsuccessful bid to take over Pan American World Airways in 1987. A similar unsuccessful bid in 1988 was made to take over Emery Air Freight Corp. During this period, Hoffenberg and Epstein worked closely together and traveled everywhere on Hoffenberg's private jet.[28] In 1993, Towers Financial Corporation imploded when it was exposed as one of the biggest Ponzi schemes in American history, losing over US$450 million of its investors' money (equivalent to $911,610,000 in 2022).[28] In court documents, Hoffenberg claimed that Epstein was intimately involved in the scheme.[55][56] Epstein left the company by 1989 and was never charged for involvement in the massive investor fraud committed. It is unknown if Epstein acquired any stolen funds from the Towers Ponzi scheme.[28] Financial management firm The Limitless moored in Palma de Mallorca In 1988, while Epstein was still consulting for Hoffenberg, he founded his financial management firm, J. Epstein & Company.[54][44] The company was said by Epstein to have been formed to manage the assets of clients with more than US$1 billion in net worth, although others have expressed skepticism that he was restrictive of the clients that he took.[30] The only publicly known billionaire client of Epstein was Leslie Wexner, chairman and CEO of L Brands (formerly The Limited, Inc.) and Victoria's Secret.[28][57] In 1986, Epstein met Wexner through their mutual acquaintances, insurance executive Robert Meister and his wife, in Palm Beach, Florida. A year later, Epstein became Wexner's financial adviser and served as his right-hand man. Within the year, Epstein had sorted out Wexner's entangled finances.[30][58] In July 1991, Wexner granted Epstein full power of attorney over his affairs. The power of attorney allowed Epstein to hire people, sign checks, buy and sell properties, borrow money, and do anything else of a legally binding nature on Wexner's behalf.[59] Epstein managed Wexner's wealth and various projects such as the building of his yacht, the Limitless.[28] By 1995, Epstein was a director of the Wexner Foundation and Wexner Heritage Foundation. He was also the president of Wexner's Property, which developed part of the town of New Albany outside Columbus, Ohio, where Wexner lived. Epstein made millions in fees by managing Wexner's financial affairs. Although never employed by L Brands, he frequently corresponded with the company executives. Epstein often attended Victoria's Secret fashion shows, and hosted the models at his New York City home, as well as helping aspiring models get work with the company.[58][59] In 1996, Epstein changed the name of his firm to the Financial Trust Company[30] and, for tax advantages, based it on the island of St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands.[30] By relocating to the U.S. Virgin Islands, Epstein was able to reduce federal income taxes by 90 percent. The U.S. Virgin Islands acted as an offshore tax haven, while at the same time offering the advantages of being part of the United States banking system.[60] Media activities In 2003, Epstein bid to acquire New York magazine.[61] Other bidders included advertising executive Donny Deutsch, investor Nelson Peltz, media mogul and New York Daily News publisher Mortimer Zuckerman, and film producer Harvey Weinstein. The ultimate buyer was Bruce Wasserstein, a longtime Wall Street investment banker, who paid US$55 million.[61] In 2004, Epstein and Zuckerman committed up to US$25 million to finance Radar, a celebrity and pop culture magazine founded by Maer Roshan. Epstein and Zuckerman were equal partners in the venture. Roshan, as its editor-in-chief, retained a small ownership stake. It folded after three issues as a print publication and became exclusively an online one.[62] Liquid Funding Ltd. Epstein was the president of the company Liquid Funding Ltd. between 2000 and 2007.[63][64] The company was an early pioneer in expanding the kind of debt that could be accepted on repurchase, or the repo market, which involves a lender giving money to a borrower in exchange for securities that the borrower then agrees to buy back at an agreed-upon later time and price. The innovation of Liquid Funding, and other early companies, was that instead of having stocks and bonds as the underlying securities, it had commercial mortgages and investment-grade residential mortgages bundled into complex securities as the underlying security.[63] Liquid Funding was initially 40 percent owned by Bear Stearns. Through the help of the credit rating agencies – Standard & Poor's, Fitch Ratings and Moody's Investors Service – the new bundled securities were able to be created for companies so that they got a gold-plated AAA rating. The implosion of such complex securities, because of their inaccurate ratings, led to the collapse of Bear Stearns in March 2008 and set in motion the financial crisis of 2007–2008 and the subsequent Great Recession. If Liquid Funding were left holding large amounts of such securities as collateral, it could have lost large amounts of money.[63][65] Investments Hedge funds Between 2002 and 2005, Epstein invested $80 million in the D.B. Zwirn Special Opportunities Fund, a hedge fund that invested in illiquid debt securities.[66][67] In November 2006, Epstein attempted to redeem his investment after he was informed of accounting irregularities in the fund.[68] By this time, his investment had grown to $140 million. The D.B. Zwirn fund refused to redeem the investment. Hedge funds that invest in illiquid securities typically have years-long "lockups" on their capital for all investors and require redemption requests to be made in writing 60 to 90 days in advance.[66] The fund was closed in 2008, and its remaining assets of approximately $2 billion, including Epstein's investment, were transferred to Fortress Investment Group when that firm bought the assets in 2009.[66][67] Epstein later went to arbitration with Fortress over his redemption attempt. The outcome of that arbitration is not publicly known.[66] The U.S. government began negotiation with Epstein for a plea agreement in mid-2007, as the Bear Stearns hedge fund began to collapse. In August 2006, Epstein, a month after the federal investigation of him began,[69] invested $57 million in the Bear Stearns High-Grade Structured Credit Strategies Enhanced Leverage hedge fund.[66][70] This fund was highly leveraged in mortgage-backed collateralized debt obligations (CDOs).[70] On April 18, 2007, an investor in the fund, who had $57 million invested, discussed redeeming his investment.[71] At this time, the fund had a leverage ratio of 17:1, which meant for every dollar invested there were seventeen dollars of borrowed funds; therefore, the redemption of this investment would have been equivalent to removing $1 billion from the thinly traded CDO market.[72] The selling of CDO assets to meet the redemptions that month began a repricing process and general freeze in the CDO market. The repricing of the CDO assets caused the collapse of the fund three months later in July, and the eventual collapse of Bear Stearns in March 2008. It is likely Epstein lost most of this investment, but it is not known how much was his.[71][70] By the time that the Bear Stearns fund began to fail in May 2007, Epstein had begun to negotiate a plea deal with the U.S. Attorney's Office concerning imminent charges for sex with minors.[66][69] In August 2007, a month after the fund collapsed, the U.S. attorney in Miami, Alexander Acosta, entered into direct discussions about the plea agreement.[69] Acosta brokered a lenient deal, according to him, because he had been ordered by higher government officials, who told him that Epstein was an individual of importance to the government.[50][51] As part of the negotiations, according to the Miami Herald, Epstein provided "unspecified information" to the Florida federal prosecutors for a more lenient sentence and was supposedly an unnamed key witness for the New York federal prosecutors in their unsuccessful June 2008 criminal case against the two managers of the failed Bear Stearns hedge fund. Alan Dershowitz, one of Epstein's Florida attorneys on the case, told Fox Business Network "We would have been touting that if he had [cooperated]. The idea that Epstein helped in any prosecution is news to me."[9][66][73] Israeli startup In 2015, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that Epstein invested in the startup Reporty Homeland Security (rebranded as Carbyne in 2018).[74][75][76] The startup was connected with Israel's defense industry. It was headed by former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who was also at one time the defense minister, and chief of staff of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). The CEO of the company is Amir Elihai, a special forces officer, and Pinchas Bukhris, a director of the company and former defense ministry director general and commander of IDF cyber unit 8200.[77] Epstein and Barak, the head of Carbyne, were close, and Epstein often offered him lodging at one of his apartment units at 301 East 66th Street in Manhattan.[78][79] Epstein had past experience with Israel's research and military sector.[80] In April 2008, he went to Israel and met with a number of research scientists and visited different Israeli military bases.[80] Video recordings Epstein installed concealed cameras in numerous places on his properties to allegedly record sexual activity with underage girls of prominent people for criminal purposes such as blackmail.[81] Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's long-term girlfriend and companion, told a friend that Epstein's private island in the Virgin Islands was completely wired for video and the friend believed that Maxwell and Epstein were videotaping everyone on the island as an insurance policy.[82] When police raided his Palm Beach residence in 2006, two hidden cameras were discovered in his home.[83] It was also reported that Epstein's mansion in New York was wired extensively with a video surveillance system.[84] Maria Farmer, an artist who worked for Epstein in 1996, noted that Epstein showed her a media room in the New York mansion where there were individuals monitoring the pinhole cameras throughout the house. The media room was accessed through a hidden door. She stated that in the media room "there were men sitting here. And I looked on the cameras, and I saw toilet, toilet, bed, bed, toilet, bed." She added that "It was very obvious that they were, like, monitoring private moments."[85] Epstein allegedly "lent" girls to powerful people to ingratiate himself with them and also to gain possible blackmail information.[86] According to the Department of Justice, he kept compact discs locked in his safe in his New York mansion with handwritten labels that included the description: "young [name] + [name]".[87] Epstein implied that he had blackmail material when he told a New York Times reporter in 2018, off the record, that he had dirt on powerful people, including information about their sexual proclivities and recreational drug use.[88] Legal proceedings First criminal case Initial developments (2005–2006) Epstein in 2006 Epstein mugshot taken following his indictment for soliciting a prostitute in July 2006 In March 2005, a woman contacted Florida's Palm Beach Police Department and alleged that her 14-year-old stepdaughter had been taken to Epstein's mansion by an older girl. While there, she was allegedly paid $300 (equivalent to $450 in 2022) to strip and massage Epstein.[89] She had allegedly undressed, but left the encounter wearing her underwear.[90] Palm Beach Police began a thirteen-month undercover investigation of Epstein, including a search of his home.[69][91] During the investigation, Palm Beach Police Chief Michael Reiter publicly accused the Palm Beach County state prosecutor, Barry Krischer, of being too lenient and called for help from the FBI.[89] The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) then became involved. Subsequently, the police alleged that Epstein had paid several girls to perform sexual acts with him.[86] Interviews with five alleged victims and seventeen witnesses under oath, a high-school transcript and other items found in Epstein's trash and home allegedly showed that some of the girls involved were under 18, the youngest being 14, with many under 16.[92][93] The police search of Epstein's home found two hidden cameras and large numbers of photos of girls throughout the house, some of whom the police had interviewed in the course of their investigation.[90] Adriana Ross, a former model from Poland who became an Epstein assistant, reportedly removed computer drives and other electronic equipment from the financier's Florida mansion before Palm Beach Police searched the home as part of their investigation.[94] The court documents record that a search of Epstein's residence by Palm Beach Police detective Joseph Recarey in 2005 uncovered an incriminating Amazon receipt containing books on S&M. The books he ordered are titled: SM 101: A Realistic Introduction, SlaveCraft: Roadmaps for Erotic Servitude – Principles, Skills and Tools and Training with Miss Abernathy: A Workbook for Erotic Slaves and Their Owners.[95] A former employee told the police that Epstein would receive massages three times a day.[90] Eventually the FBI compiled reports on "34 confirmed minors" eligible for restitution (increased to forty in the non-prosecution agreement) whose allegations of sexual abuse by Epstein included corroborating details.[96] Julie Brown's 2018 exposés in the Miami Herald identified eighty victims and located about sixty of them.[9][69][97] She quotes the then police chief Reiter as saying "This was 50-something 'shes' and one 'he'—and the 'shes' all basically told the same story."[9] Details from the investigation included allegations that 12-year-old triplets were flown in from France for Epstein's birthday, and flown back the following day after being sexually abused by the financier. It was alleged that young girls were recruited from Brazil and other South American countries, former Soviet countries, and Europe, and that Jean-Luc Brunel's "MC2" modeling agency was also supplying girls to Epstein.[92][98][99] In May 2006, Palm Beach police filed a probable cause affidavit saying that Epstein should be charged with four counts of unlawful sex with minors and one count of sexual abuse.[90][100] On July 27, 2006, Epstein was arrested by the Palm Beach Police Department on state felony charges of procuring a minor for prostitution and solicitation of a prostitute. He was booked at the Palm Beach County jail and later released on a $3,000 bond.[4][8][101][102] State prosecutor Krischer later convened a Palm Beach County grand jury, which was usually only done in capital cases. Presented evidence from only two victims, the grand jury returned a single charge of felony solicitation of prostitution,[103] to which Epstein pleaded not guilty in August 2006.[104] Epstein's defense lawyers included Roy Black, Gerald Lefcourt, Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz, and former U.S. Solicitor General Ken Starr.[89][105] Linguist Steven Pinker also assisted.[106] Non-prosecution agreement (NPA) (2006–2008) Epstein's October 2007 non-prosecution agreement In July 2006, the FBI began its own investigation of Epstein, nicknamed "Operation Leap Year".[107] It resulted in a fifty-three page indictment in June 2007.[69] Alexander Acosta, then the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, agreed to a plea deal, which Alan Dershowitz helped to negotiate,[108] to grant immunity from all federal criminal charges to Epstein, along with four named co-conspirators and any unnamed "potential co-conspirators". According to the Miami Herald, the non-prosecution agreement "essentially shut down an ongoing FBI probe into whether there were more victims and other powerful people who took part in Epstein's sex crimes". At the time, this halted the investigation and sealed the indictment. The Miami Herald said: "Acosta agreed, despite a federal law to the contrary, that the deal would be kept from the victims."[9] Acosta later said he offered a lenient plea deal because he was told that Epstein "belonged to intelligence", was "above his pay grade" and to "leave it alone".[50][51][109] Epstein agreed to plead guilty in Florida state court to two felony prostitution charges, serve eighteen months in prison, register as a sex offender, and pay restitution to three dozen victims identified by the FBI.[9][86] The plea deal was later described as a "sweetheart deal".[110] External videos video icon Documentary: Who is Jeffrey Epstein, accused of sexually abusing teen girls? Perversion of Justice, Miami Herald, November 29, 2018. A federal judge later found that the prosecutors had violated victims' rights by concealing the agreement from the victims and instead urging them to have "patience".[111][112] According to an internal review conducted by the Department of Justice's Office of Professional Responsibility, released in November 2020, Acosta showed "poor judgment" in granting Epstein a non-prosecution agreement and failing to notify Epstein's alleged victims about the agreement.[113] Conviction and sentencing (2008–2011) On June 30, 2008, after Epstein pleaded guilty to a state charge of procuring for prostitution a girl below age 18,[114] he was sentenced to eighteen months in prison. While most convicted sex offenders in Florida are sent to state prison, Epstein was instead housed in a private wing of the Palm Beach County Stockade and, according to the sheriff's office, was, after 3+1⁄2 months, allowed to leave the jail on "work release" for up to twelve hours a day, six days a week. This contravened the sheriff's own policies requiring a maximum remaining sentence of ten months and making sex offenders ineligible for the privilege. He was allowed to come and go outside of specified release hours.[97] Epstein's cell door was left unlocked, and he had access to the attorney room where a television was installed for him, before he was moved to the Stockade's previously unstaffed infirmary. He worked at the office of a foundation he had created shortly before reporting to jail; he dissolved it after he had served his time. The Sheriff's Office received $128,000 from Epstein's non-profit to pay for the costs of extra services being provided during his work release. His office was monitored by "permit deputies" whose overtime was paid by Epstein. They were required to wear suits, and checked in "welcomed guests" at the "front desk". Later the Sheriff's Office said these guest logs were destroyed per the department's "records retention" rules, although the Stockade visitor logs were not.[115] Epstein was allowed to use his own driver to drive him between jail and his office and other appointments.[97][115] "Epstein in 2013" Epstein pictured in 2013, photographed for the sex offender registry Epstein served almost thirteen months before being released on July 22, 2009, for a year of probation on house arrest until August 2010.[116][117][118] While on probation, he was allowed numerous trips on his corporate jet to his residences in Manhattan and the U.S. Virgin Islands. He was allowed long shopping trips and walks around Palm Beach "for exercise".[97] After a contested hearing in January 2011, and an appeal, he stayed registered in New York State as a "level three" (high risk of repeat offense) sex offender, a lifelong designation.[119][120] At that hearing, the Manhattan District Attorney, Cyrus Vance Jr., argued unsuccessfully that the level should be reduced to a low-risk "level one" and was chided by the judge. Despite opposition from Epstein's lawyer that he had a "main" home in the U.S. Virgin Islands, the judge confirmed he personally must check in with the New York Police Department every ninety days. Though Epstein had been a level-three registered sex offender in New York since 2010, the New York Police Department never enforced the ninety day regulation, though non-compliance is a felony.[112] Reactions The immunity agreement and Epstein's lenient treatment were the subject of ongoing public dispute. The Palm Beach police chief accused the state of giving him preferential treatment,[89] and the Miami Herald said U.S. Attorney Acosta gave Epstein "the deal of a lifetime".[9] Following Epstein's arrest in July 2019, on sex trafficking charges, Acosta resigned as Secretary of Labor effective July 19, 2019.[121] After the accusations against Epstein became public, several persons and institutions returned donations that they had received from him, including Eliot Spitzer, Bill Richardson,[122] and the Palm Beach Police Department.[93] Harvard University announced it would not return any money.[122] Various charitable donations that Epstein had made to finance children's education were also questioned.[114] On June 18, 2010, Epstein's former house manager, Alfredo Rodriguez, was sentenced to eighteen months' incarceration after being convicted on an obstruction charge for failing to turn over to police, and subsequently trying to sell, a journal in which he had recorded Epstein's activities. FBI Special Agent Christina Pryor reviewed the material and agreed it was information "that would have been extremely useful in investigating and prosecuting the case, including names and contact information of material witnesses and additional victims".[123][124] Civil cases Jane Does v. Epstein (2008) External videos video icon How teen runaway Virginia Roberts became one of Jeffrey Epstein's victims Perversion of Justice, Miami Herald, November 30, 2018. On February 6, 2008, an anonymous Virginia woman, known as Jane Doe No. 2, filed a $50-million civil lawsuit[125] in federal court against Epstein, saying that when she was a 16-year-old minor in 2004 and 2005, she was "recruited to give Epstein a massage". She claims she was taken to his mansion, where he exposed himself and had sexual intercourse with her, and paid her $200 immediately afterward.[103] A similar $50-million suit was filed in March 2008 by a different woman, who was represented by the same lawyer.[126] These and several similar lawsuits were dismissed.[127] All other lawsuits had been settled by Epstein out of court;[128] Epstein made many out-of-court settlements with alleged victims.[127] Victims' rights: Jane Does v. United States (2014) A December 30, 2014, federal civil suit was filed in Florida by Jane Doe 1 (Courtney Wild) and Jane Doe 2 against the United States for violations of the Crime Victims' Rights Act by the U.S. Department of Justice's NPA with Epstein and his limited 2008 state plea. There was a later, unsuccessful effort to add Virginia Roberts (Jane Doe 3) and another woman (Jane Doe 4) as plaintiffs to that case.[129] The addition accused Alan Dershowitz of sexually abusing a minor, Jane Doe 3, provided by Epstein.[130] The allegations against Dershowitz were stricken by the judge and eliminated from the case because he said they were outside the intent of the suit to re-open the plea agreement.[131][132] A document filed in court alleges that Epstein ran a "sexual abuse ring", and lent underage girls to "prominent American politicians, powerful business executives, foreign presidents, a well-known prime minister, and other world leaders".[133] This long-running lawsuit is pending in federal court, aimed at vacating the federal plea agreement on the grounds that it violated victims' rights.[134] On April 7, 2015, Judge Kenneth Marra ruled that the allegations made by alleged victim Virginia Roberts against Prince Andrew had no bearing on the lawsuit by alleged victims seeking to reopen Epstein's non-prosecution plea agreement with the federal government; the judge ordered that allegation to be struck from the record.[131] Judge Marra made no ruling as to whether claims by Roberts are true or false. Though he did not allow Jane Does 3 and 4 to join the suit, Marra specifically said that Roberts may later give evidence when the case comes to court.[135] On February 21, 2019, in the case of Two Jane Does v. United States, Senior Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida Kenneth Marra said federal prosecutors violated the law by failing to notify victims before they allowed him to plead guilty to only the two Florida offenses. The judge left open what the possible remedy could be.[136] Virginia Giuffre v. Epstein (2015) External videos video icon Where are they now? The biggest players in the Jeffrey Epstein case Perversion of Justice, The Miami Herald, November 29, 2018. In a December 2014 Florida court filing by Bradley Edwards and Paul G. Cassell meant for inclusion in the Crime Victims Rights Act lawsuit,[137] Virginia Giuffre (then known as Virginia Roberts), alleged in a sworn affidavit that at age 17, she had been sexually trafficked by Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell for their own use and for use by several others, including Prince Andrew[138] and retired Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz.[7][139] Giuffre also claimed that Epstein, Maxwell and others had physically and sexually abused her.[140] She alleged that the FBI may have been involved in a cover-up.[141] She said she had served as Epstein's sex slave from 1999 to 2002, and had recruited other underage girls.[142] Prince Andrew, Epstein, and Dershowitz all denied having had sex with Giuffre. Dershowitz took legal action over the allegations.[143][144][145] Giuffre filed a defamation suit against Dershowitz, claiming he purposefully made "false and malicious defamatory statements" about her.[108] A diary purported to belong to Giuffre was published online.[146][147] Epstein entered an out-of-court settlement with Giuffre, as he had done in several other lawsuits.[86] In 2019, Giuffre was interviewed by the BBC's Panorama where she continued to attest that Epstein had trafficked her to Prince Andrew.[148] She appealed directly to the public by stating: "I implore the people in the UK to stand up beside me, to help me fight this fight, to not accept this as being ok."[148] These accusations had not been tested in any court of law.[149] Virginia Giuffre v. Ghislaine Maxwell (2015) As a result of Giuffre's allegations and Maxwell's comments about them, Giuffre sued Maxwell for defamation in September 2015. After much legal confrontation, the case was settled under seal in May 2017. The Miami Herald, other media, and Alan Dershowitz filed to have the documents about the settlement unsealed. After the judge dismissed their request, the matter was appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.[150] On March 11, 2019, in the appeal of the district judge's refusal to unseal the documents relating to the 2017 defamation settlement of Giuffre v. Maxwell, the Second Circuit Court gave parties one week to provide good cause as to why they should remain under seal, without which they would be unsealed on March 19, 2019. Later the Court ordered these documents to be unsealed after having them redacted to protect innocent parties. In Giuffre's testimony, she claims that she was "directed" by Maxwell to give erotic massages and engage in sexual activities with Prince Andrew; Jean-Luc Brunel; Glenn Dubin; Marvin Minsky; Governor Bill Richardson; another unnamed prince; an unnamed foreign president; "a well known Prime Minister"; and an unnamed hotel chain owner from France, among others.[151] The deposition does not claim that any of these men in fact engaged with Giuffre, and none of these men have been indicted or sued for related sex crimes.[151] Giuffre testified: "my whole life revolved around just pleasing these men and keeping Ghislaine and Jeffrey happy. Their whole entire lives revolved around sex."[151][150] On August 9, less than twenty-four hours before Epstein's death, 2,000 pages of previously sealed documents from the case were released. Two sets of additional sealed documents will be analyzed by a federal judge to determine whether they should also be made public. A "John Doe" asked the judge on September 3 to permanently keep the documents secret, claiming "unproven allegations of impropriety" could damage his reputation, though he had no evidence his name was included.[152] Jane Doe v. Epstein and Trump (2016) Main article: List of lawsuits involving Donald Trump Main article: Donald Trump sexual misconduct allegations A federal lawsuit filed in California in April 2016, against Epstein and Donald Trump by a California woman alleged that the two men sexually assaulted her at a series of parties at Epstein's Manhattan residence in 1994, when she was 13-years-old. The suit was dismissed by a federal judge in May 2016 because it did not raise valid claims under federal law. The woman filed another federal suit in New York in June 2016, but it was withdrawn three months later, apparently without being served on the defendants. A third federal suit was filed in New York in September 2016.[153][154] The two latter suits included affidavits by an anonymous witness who attested to the accusations in the suits, asserting Epstein employed her to procure underage girls for him, and an anonymous person who declared the plaintiff had told him/her about the assaults at the time they occurred. The plaintiff, who had filed anonymously as Jane Doe, was scheduled to appear in a Los Angeles press conference six days before the 2016 election, but abruptly canceled the event; her lawyer Lisa Bloom asserted that the woman had received threats. The suit was dropped on November 4, 2016. Trump attorney Alan Garten denied the allegations, while Epstein declined to comment.[155][156][157] Sarah Ransome v. Epstein and Maxwell (2017) Epstein was accused of sex trafficking of minors at his mansion at 9 East 71st Street. In 2017, Sarah Ransome filed a suit against Epstein and Maxwell, alleging that Maxwell had hired her to give massages to Epstein and later threatened to physically harm her or destroy her career prospects if she did not comply with their sexual demands at his mansion in New York City and on his private Caribbean island, Little Saint James. The suit was settled in 2018 under undisclosed terms.[158][20][159] Bradley Edwards' defamation v. Epstein (2018) A state civil lawsuit in Florida filed by attorney Bradley Edwards against Epstein was scheduled for trial in December 2018. The trial was expected to provide victims with their first opportunity to make their accusations in public. However, the case was settled on the first day of the trial, with Epstein publicly apologizing to Edwards; other terms of the settlement were confidential.[134][160] Maria Farmer v. Epstein and Maxwell (2019) On April 16, 2019, Maria Farmer went public and filed a sworn affidavit in federal court in New York, alleging that she and her 15-year-old sister, Annie, had been sexually assaulted by Epstein and Maxwell in separate locations in 1996. Farmer met Epstein and Maxwell at her graduate art gallery reception at the New York Academy of Art in 1995. The following year, in the summer of 1996, they hired her to work on an art project in Leslie Wexner's Ohio mansion, where she was then sexually assaulted.[161] Farmer reported the incident to the New York City Police Department and the FBI.[162] Farmer's affidavit also stated that during the same summer, Epstein flew her then-15-year-old sister to his New Mexico property where he and Maxwell sexually abused her on a massage table.[163] Jennifer Araoz v. Epstein and Maxwell (2019) On July 22, 2019, while in jail awaiting trial, Epstein was served with a petition regarding a pending state civil lawsuit filed by Jennifer Araoz.[164] She stated that an associate for Epstein had recruited her outside Talent Unlimited High School at age 14 and she was gradually groomed for over a year before Epstein raped her in his New York City mansion when she was 15.[165] Araoz filed her suit on August 14, 2019, when New York State law was updated to allow one year for adult survivors of child sexual abuse to sue for previous offenses, regardless of how long ago the abuse took place.[166] In October 2019, Araoz amended her complaint to include over twenty corporate entities associated with Epstein and named the additional individuals Lesley Groff and Cimberly Espinosa as enablers.[167] Katlyn Doe, et al. v. Epstein's estate (2019) Three women (Katlyn Doe, Lisa Doe and Priscilla Doe) sued the estate of Jeffrey Epstein on August 20, 2019. Two of the women were 17 and one was 20 when they met Epstein. The women allege they were recruited, subjected to unwanted sex acts, and controlled by Epstein and a "vast enterprise" of co-conspirators.[168][169] Jane Doe v. Epstein's estate (2019) A New York accuser of Epstein, known only as Jane Doe, announced a federal lawsuit against his estate in the Southern District of New York on September 18, 2019, stating that she was recruited in 2002 and sexually abused by Epstein for three years starting at age 14.[170] Teresa Helm, et al. v. Epstein's estate (2019) Five women (Teresa Helm, Annie Farmer, Maria Farmer, Juliette Bryant, and an unidentified woman), represented by David Boies, sued Epstein's estate in Federal District Court in Manhattan in November 2019, accusing him of rape, battery and false imprisonment and seeking unspecified damages.[171] Jane Doe 15 v. Epstein's estate (2019) On November 18, 2019, a woman identified as Jane Doe 15 made a public appearance with her attorney Gloria Allred to announce that she was suing the estate of Jeffrey Epstein in the District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleging that he manipulated, trafficked, and sexually abused her in 2004, when she was 15-years-old.[172] Teala Davies v. Epstein's estate (2019) On November 21, 2019, Teala Davies appeared with her attorney Gloria Allred and announced her lawsuit in Manhattan federal court against Epstein's estate.[173][174] Davies stated that after meeting Epstein in 2002, he sexually assaulted and trafficked her in New York, New Mexico, Florida, the Virgin Islands and France.[173] Jane Does 1-9 v. Epstein's estate (2019) On December 3, 2019, lawyer Jordan Merson filed a lawsuit in New York on behalf of nine anonymous accusers (Jane Does 1–9) and against Epstein's estate for battery, assault, and intentional emotional distress.[175] The claims date from 1985 through the 2000s, and include individuals who were 13, 14, and 15 when they first encountered Epstein.[175] JJ Doe v. Epstein's estate (2019) The lawsuit was filed by Bradley Edwards on behalf of his client in late December 2019. The accuser, JJ Doe, is described as being a 14-year-old resident of Palm Beach County at the time Epstein abused her in 2004.[176] US Virgin Islands v. Epstein's estate, et al. (2020) A lawsuit was filed in Superior Court of the U.S. Virgin Islands in January 2020 alleging that Epstein ran a sex trafficking conspiracy for over two decades, through 2018, with children as young as 11-years-old on Epstein's Caribbean islands.[177] According to Attorney General Denise George, his alleged criminal activities on the islands were concealed through a complex network of companies.[177] Jane Doe v. Maxwell and Epstein's estate (2020) In January 2020, a lawsuit was filed against Maxwell and Epstein alleging that they recruited a 13-year-old music student at the Interlochen Center for the Arts in 1994 and subjected her to sexual abuse[178] The suit states that Jane Doe was repeatedly sexually assaulted by Epstein over a four-year period and that Maxwell played a key role in both her recruitment and by participating in the assaults.[178] Jane Does v. Epstein estate (2020) In August 2020, nine Jane Does filed suit accusing Epstein of sexual abuse. The alleged victims in the lawsuit include an 11-and-13-year-old and a victim who alleged abuse in 1975.[179] Jane Doe v. Epstein estate (2020) In August 2020, Epstein was sued by a Jane Doe accusing him of sexually abusing her for over a year, beginning when she was 18-years-old.[180] Kelly Brennan v. Epstein estate (2021) A civil suit was filed against Epstein's estate in 2021 by Long Island native, Kelly Brennan, who accused Epstein of sexually assaulting her at a club restaurant in New York City called Cipriani. She accused Epstein of brutally raping and torturing her in his Manhattan residence in 2003.[181] Jane Doe v. Epstein estate (2021) A civil suit was filed against Epstein's estate in March 2021 by a Broward County woman who accused Epstein and Maxwell of trafficking her after repeatedly raping her in Florida in 2008.[182] Second criminal case Sex trafficking charges U.S. v. Jeffrey Epstein indictment[2] On July 6, 2019, Epstein was arrested by the FBI-NYPD Crimes Against Children Task Force at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey on sex trafficking charges.[25][183][184][185] He was jailed at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City.[186] According to witnesses and sources on the day of his arrest, about a dozen FBI agents forced open the door to his Manhattan townhouse, the Herbert N. Straus House, with search warrants. The search of his townhouse turned up evidence of sex trafficking and also found "hundreds – and perhaps thousands – of sexually suggestive photographs of fully – or partially – nude females". Some of the photos were confirmed as those of underage females. In a locked safe, compact discs were found with handwritten labels including the descriptions: "Young [Name] + [Name]", "Misc nudes 1", and "Girl pics nude".[87] Also found in the safe were $70,000 in cash, forty-eight diamonds,[187] and a fraudulent Austrian passport, which expired in 1987, that had Epstein's photo but another name. The passport had numerous entrance and exit stamps, including entrance stamps that showed the use of the passport to enter France, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Saudi Arabia in the 1980s. The passport showed his place of residence as Saudi Arabia.[48][49][188][189][190] According to his attorneys, Epstein had been advised to acquire the passport because "as an affluent member of the Jewish faith", he was in danger of being kidnapped while traveling abroad.[191] On July 8, prosecutors with the Public Corruption Unit of the Southern District of New York charged him with sex trafficking and conspiracy to traffic minors for sex. The grand jury indictment alleges that "dozens" of underage girls were brought into Epstein's mansions for sexual encounters.[11][12][192] Judge Kenneth Marra was to decide whether the non-prosecution agreement that protected Epstein from the more serious charges should still stand.[193] Federal paperwork regarding Epstein being denied bail Epstein requested to be released on bond, offering to post $100 million with the condition that he would also submit to house arrest in his New York City mansion.[194] U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman denied the request on July 18, saying that Epstein posed a danger to the public and a serious flight risk to avoid prosecution.[194] On August 29, 2019, nineteen days after Epstein was found dead in his jail cell, the case against Epstein was closed by Judge Berman.[17][18] Prosecutors stated they would continue an investigation for potential co-conspirators.[18] Investigation in France On August 23, 2019, the prosecutor's office in Paris, France, opened a preliminary investigation into Epstein. He is being investigated for rape and sexual assault of minors under and over the age of 15, criminal association with a view to committing crimes, and association with criminals with a view to committing offenses. The prosecutors said that the goal of the investigation is to find possible crimes committed in France and elsewhere against French citizens.[195] Personal life Previous long-term girlfriends associated with Epstein include Eva Andersson-Dubin[196][197] and publishing heiress Ghislaine Maxwell.[28] Epstein was romantically linked to Andersson-Dubin for an 11-year period[198] mostly in the 1980s and the two later remained friendly well after her marriage to Glenn Dubin.[196][197] Epstein met Maxwell, daughter of disgraced media baron Robert Maxwell, by 1991.[159][199][200] Epstein had Maxwell come to the United States in 1991 to recover from her grief following the death of her father.[201] Maxwell was implicated by several of Epstein's accusers as procuring or recruiting underage girls in addition to once being Epstein's girlfriend.[158][159][200] In a 2009 deposition, several of Epstein's household employees testified that Maxwell had a central role in both his public and private life, referring to her as his "main girlfriend" who also handled the hiring, supervising, and firing of staff starting around 1992. In 1995, Epstein renamed one of his companies the Ghislaine Corporation in Palm Beach, Florida; the company was dissolved in 1998.[162] In 2000, Maxwell moved into a 7,000-square-foot townhouse, less than ten blocks from Epstein's New York mansion. This townhome was purchased for $4.95 million by an anonymous limited liability company, with an address that matches the office of J. Epstein & Co. Representing the buyer was Darren Indyke, Epstein's longtime lawyer.[20] In a 2003 Vanity Fair exposé, Epstein refers to Maxwell as "my best friend".[28] Epstein was a longtime acquaintance of Prince Andrew and Tom Barrack,[202] and attended parties with many prominent people, including Bill Clinton, George Stephanopoulos, Donald Trump,[203] Katie Couric, Woody Allen,[204] and Harvey Weinstein.[205] His contacts included Rupert Murdoch, Michael Bloomberg, Richard Branson, Alec Baldwin and the Kennedys.[206] His contacts also included Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak, British prime minister Tony Blair, and Saudi Arabian crown prince Mohammed bin Salman.[207][208][209] Both Clinton[210] and Trump[211] claimed that they never visited Epstein's island. Epstein was associated with former Trump chief Strategist Steve Bannon.[212][213] According to Michael Wolff, Bannon and Epstein were introduced in December 2017.[213] Bannon met with Epstein several times at his mansion in New York.[213][212] Also according to Wolff, Bannon coached Epstein for a 60 Minutes interview which never occurred.[214][215] A New York Times article reported that Bill Gates's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein started in 2011, just a few years after Epstein's conviction, and continued for some years.[216] In August 2021, Gates said the reason he had meetings with Epstein was because Gates hoped Epstein could provide money for philanthropic work, though nothing came of the idea. Gates added, "It was a huge mistake to spend time with him, to give him the credibility of being there."[217] Epstein owned a private Boeing 727 jet and traveled in it frequently, logging "600 flying hours a year ... usually with guests on board".[218] The jet was nicknamed the Lolita Express by the locals in the Virgin Islands, because of its frequent arrivals at Little Saint James with apparently underage girls.[219] In 2003, Epstein flew to Cuba aboard his plane with Colombian president Andrés Pastrana Arango at the invitation of Cuban president Fidel Castro. According to Fabiola Santiago of the Miami Herald, Epstein was likely considering relocating to Cuba in order to escape U.S. law enforcement; Epstein was under investigation from U.S. law enforcement at the time.[220] In 2009, Epstein's brother Mark claimed Trump had flown on Epstein's plane at least once. He later told The Washington Post that Trump flew "numerous times" on Epstein's airplane, although Mark was present on only one of the flights.[221][222] According to Michael Corcoran, Trump flew Epstein on his own airplane at least once.[223] In September 2002, Epstein flew Clinton, Kevin Spacey, and Chris Tucker to Africa in this jet.[30][224][225] Flight records obtained in 2016 show Bill Clinton flew twenty-seven times to at least a dozen international locations.[226] Flight logs did not list any Secret Service detail for at least five flights, on an Asia trip,[226] and Secret Service stated that there is no evidence of the former president making a trip to Epstein's private island.[226] In 2019, a Clinton spokesperson stated that, in 2002 and 2003, Clinton took four trips on Epstein's airplane, making stops on three continents, all with his staff and Secret Service detail.[227] At the time of Epstein's 2019 arrest, Clinton's spokeswoman Angel Ureña stated that Clinton had "not spoken to Epstein in well over a decade, and has never been to Little St. James Island, Epstein's ranch in New Mexico, or his residence in Florida".[228] President Trump, in July 2019, stated: "I knew him like everybody in Palm Beach knew him." In a profile of Epstein in New York magazine in 2002 Donald Trump remarked: "I've known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy. He's a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it – Jeffrey enjoys his social life."[229] In July 2019, Trump said "I knew him like everybody in Palm Beach knew him", stating four times he had not been "a fan" of Epstein and that he had not spoken to him in about fifteen years. A video shot in 1992 surfaced showing the two men partying together at Mar-a-Lago.[230][231][232][233] By 2007, Trump reportedly banned Epstein from his Mar-a-Lago club for unseemly pursuit of young females.[234][235][236][237] The ban allegation was included in court documents filed by attorney Bradley Edwards,[238] although Edwards later said it was a rumor he tried to, but could not, confirm.[239][240] In 2002, a spokesman of Bill Clinton lauded Epstein as "a committed philanthropist" with "insights and generosity".[241] At the time Epstein was on the board of Rockefeller University, a member of the Trilateral Commission and the Council on Foreign Relations, and was a major donor to Harvard University.[30] Epstein visited the White House while Clinton was president on four known occasions.[242] In 1993, he went to a donor event at the White House with his companion Ghislaine Maxwell. Around the same time, he also met with President Clinton's aide Mark Middleton on at least three occasions at the White House. In 1995, financier Lynn Forester discussed "Jeffrey Epstein and currency stabilization" with Clinton.[242] Epstein, according to his own accounts, was heavily involved in the foreign exchange market and traded large amounts of currency in the unregulated forex market.[28][30] In 1995, Epstein also attended a small political fundraiser dinner for Bill Clinton which included fourteen other people including Ron Perelman, Don Johnson, Jimmy Buffett, and dinner organizer Paul Prosperi.[243] From the 1990s to mid-2000s, Epstein often socialized with the future President Donald Trump.[244] Author Michael Wolff wrote that Trump, Epstein, and Tom Barrack were at the time like a "set of nightlife musketeers" on the social scene.[5][245] Epstein and Trump socialized both in New York City and Palm Beach, where they both had houses.[232][244] In April 2003, New York magazine reported Epstein hosted a dinner party in his Manhattan residence to honor Bill Clinton, who did not attend, although Trump did attend.[246] According to The Washington Post, one person who knew Epstein and Trump during this time noted that "they were tight" and "they were each other's wingmen". In November 2004, Epstein and Trump's friendship ran into trouble when they became embroiled in a bidding war for a $40 million mansion, Maison de L'Amitie, which was being auctioned in Palm Beach. Trump won the auction for $41 million, and successfully sold the property four years later for $95 million to the Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev. That month was the last time Epstein and Trump were recorded to have interacted.[221] Wealth Swiss Leaks files indicate Epstein had millions stored in offshore accounts. Map shows global extent of account holders in the leaked files.[63] The exact origin of Epstein's wealth is unknown.[247] Leslie Wexner was one source of Epstein's original wealth.[247] An assistant of Epstein also stated that he got his fortune started through Robert Maxwell, the media mogul father of Ghislaine Maxwell.[248][249] When Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting and procuring prostitution, his lawyers stated he was a billionaire with a net worth of over one billion dollars.[247] A number of sources, however, have questioned the extent of Epstein's wealth and his status as a billionaire. According to an article in The New York Times, his "fortune may be more illusion than fact". Epstein lost "large sums of money" in the 2008 financial crisis, and "friends and patrons"—including retail billionaire Leslie Wexner—"deserted him" following his pleading guilty to prostitution charges in 2008.[54] New York magazine claimed that "there's scant proof" of Epstein's "financial bona fides",[247] and Forbes also ran an article entitled "Why sex offender Jeffrey Epstein is not a billionaire".[250] Spencer Kuvin, an attorney for three of Epstein's alleged victims in the case where Epstein pleaded guilty to sexual activity with minors, stated that "he and his team 'pursued every possible angle' to find out Epstein's net worth but found that much of his wealth is offshore".[250] An investigation by the Miami Herald of the Swiss Leaks documents indicated that Epstein had multiple financial accounts with millions of dollars in offshore tax havens. In the Paradise Papers, records showed that Epstein in February 1997, became a client of Appleby, a Bermuda-based law firm which specialized in the creation of offshore companies and investment vehicles for the ultra-wealthy. A client profile of Epstein described his job cryptically as the "Manager of Fortune".[63][64] Federal prosecutors on July 12, 2019, stated in court documents that, based on records from one financial institution, Jeffrey Epstein was "extravagantly wealthy" and had assets worth at least $500 million and earned more than $10 million a year. The extent of his wealth, however, was not known, since he had not filled out a financial affidavit for his bail application.[251][252][253] According to Bloomberg News, "Today, so little is known about Epstein's current business or clients that the only things that can be valued with any certainty are his properties."[254] The Miami Herald in their investigation of the Paradise Papers and Swiss Leaks documents concluded that Epstein's wealth is likely spread secretly across the globe.[63] In 2020, Epstein estate's finances revealed that it had paid out nearly $50 million between June 2020 and December 2020 to more than one-hundred women who brought claims to the "Epstein Victims Compensation Fund" set up in the U.S. Virgin Islands.[255] By February 2021, the estate was valued at about $240 million, down from estimates of $630 million a year earlier. This prompted the attorney general of the U.S. Virgin Islands, Denise George, to file an emergency motion seeking the immediate asset freeze. She contended in the court filing, which the victims joined, that the estate executors had "mismanaged" the money.[256] Residences Epstein's private island of Little St. James in the U.S. Virgin Islands Epstein owned the Herbert N. Straus House on 9 East 71st Street in the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City.[257][258] It was originally purchased for $13.2 million in 1989 by Epstein's mentor, Les Wexner, who renovated it completely.[184][259][260] Epstein moved into the mansion in 1995 after Wexner married and moved with his wife to Columbus, Ohio, to raise their family.[30][259] He took full possession of the mansion in 1998, when he paid Wexner $20 million for it.[54] The house was valued in 2019 by federal prosecutors at $77 million, while the city assessed its value at $56 million.[257] The mansion is reputedly the largest private residence in Manhattan at 21,000 sq ft (2,000 m2).[184][257] Hidden under a flight of stairs, there is a lead-lined bathroom fitted with its own closed-circuit television screens and a telephone, both concealed in a cabinet under the sink. The house also has its own heated sidewalk to melt away the snow.[84] The entrance hall is lined with rows of individually framed prosthetic eyeballs that were made in England for injured soldiers.[28] The financier's other properties include a residence in Palm Beach, Florida, purchased in 1990;[261] seven units in an apartment building near the Arc de Triomphe at 22 Avenue Foch in Paris, France;[257] a 7,500-acre (30 km2) ranch named Zorro Ranch near Stanley, New Mexico, purchased in 1993;[259][262][263] a private island near Saint Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands called Little Saint James, which includes a mansion and guest houses, purchased in 1998; and the neighboring island of Great Saint James purchased in 2016.[264][265] Epstein was building a compound on the latter including an amphitheater and "underwater office & pool" but ran into problems when a stop-work order was issued in late 2018; work continued despite the order.[266] Epstein, previous to his final Manhattan home, lived in a spacious townhouse, which was a former Iranian government building that had been taken over by the State Department during the Iranian revolution, at 34 East 69th Street for a rate of $15,000 a month from 1992 to 1995.[267] He also previously owned a mansion outside Columbus, Ohio, near Wexner's home from 1992 to 1998 which he purchased from his mentor.[59] Before the Herbert Straus house was purchased, Wexner purchased in 1988 the adjacent townhouse at 11 East 71st Street. Like in the case of the 9 East 71st Street house, Epstein was on the deed of the 11 East 71st Street house as the trustee. The townhouse was sold in 1996 to the Comet trust which holds part of the assets of the de Gunzburg/Bronfman family.[268] Epstein rented offices for his business dealings in the Villard House at 457 Madison Avenue.[89] Steven Hoffenberg originally set up the offices for Epstein in 1987 when he was consulting for Tower Financial.[28] Epstein used these offices until at least 2003. Around this time, Michael Wolff saw the financier in his office, which in the past were the offices of Random House.[89] Wolff noted that Epstein's offices were a strange place which did not have a corporate feel at all. Wolff stated that the offices were "almost European. It's old—old-fashioned, unrehabbed in its way." Wolff continued t

The dark side of history: https://thememoryhole.substack.com/ Mark Lane (February 24, 1927 – May 10, 2016) was an American attorney, New York state legislator, civil rights activist, and Vietnam war-crimes investigator. Sometimes referred to as a gadfly, Lane is best known as a leading researcher, author, and conspiracy theorist on the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy. Lane authored 10 books on the JFK assassination, including Rush to Judgment, the 1966 number-one bestselling critique of the Warren Commission and Last Word: My Indictment of the CIA in the Murder of JFK, published in 2011. Early career Mark Lane was born in The Bronx, New York,[7] the son of Harry Arnold and Elizabeth Levin (Levin was changed to Lane in the 1920s), and raised in Brooklyn, New York. From 1945 to 1946, he served in the United States Army after World War II and was stationed in Austria. After attending Long Island University, he received a Bachelor of Laws from Brooklyn Law School in 1951.[8][9][3] As a law student, Lane was the administrative assistant to the National Lawyers Guild and orchestrated a fund-raising event at Town Hall in New York City that featured American folk singer Pete Seeger. Following his admission to the New York bar in 1951, Lane established a practice with Seymour Ostrow in East Harlem. Although Lane acquired a reputation as "a defender of the poor and oppressed," Ostrow later asserted that Lane was "motivated more by his ambition and quest for publicity than any dedication to a cause or concern for the interest of his clients." Their partnership dissolved in the late 1950s.[10] In 1959, Lane helped found the Reform Democrat movement within the New York Democratic Party. He was elected with the support of Eleanor Roosevelt and presidential candidate John F. Kennedy[clarification needed] to the New York Legislature in 1960. During his own campaign, he also managed the New York City area's campaign for Kennedy's 1960 presidential bid.[11] He was a member of the New York State Assembly (New York County's 10th District, encompassing East Harlem and Yorkville, where Lane resided) in 1961 and 1962.[12] In the legislature, Lane spent considerable time working to abolish capital punishment. As he promised, Lane served for only one term and then managed the campaign for his replacement. In June 1961, during the civil rights movement, Lane was the only sitting legislator to be arrested for opposing segregation as a Freedom Rider.[13] In 1962, he ran for Congress in the Democratic primary and lost.[14] In the 1968 presidential election, Lane appeared on the ballot as a third party vice-presidential candidate, running on the Freedom and Peace Party ticket (an offshoot of the Peace and Freedom Party) with Dick Gregory. President Kennedy assassination Warren Commission After the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Lane wrote a letter to Chief Justice Earl Warren on December 17, 1963, requesting that the Warren Commission give consideration to appointing defense counsel to advocate for Lee Harvey Oswald's rights, and enclosed a 10,000 word "brief" that he had submitted for publication.[15][16] Published less than four weeks after the assassination, Lane's article in the December 19 issue of National Guardian, "Oswald Innocent? A Lawyer’s Brief", attempted to rebut various assertions made by Dallas County District Attorney Henry Wade regarding the assassination and to offer a defense of Oswald.[15][1] Oswald's mother, Marguerite Oswald, reached out to Lane after reading the article.[1] In December, Lane travelled to Dallas to question Oswald's family, and three days later suggested to Mrs. Oswald that she sue the city of Dallas for the death of her son. Lane said: "It would be an attempt to give Lee Oswald in death what he could not obtain life—a fair trial."[17] Mrs. Oswald announced on January 14 that she had hired Lane to represent her son before the Warren Commission.[18] After Lane notified the commission that he had been retained by Marguerite Oswald to represent her deceased son, the Commission's general counsel J. Lee Rankin replied: "The Commission does not believe that it would be useful or desirable to permit an attorney representing Lee Harvey Oswald to have access to the investigative materials within the possession of the Commission or to participate in any hearings to be conducted by the Commission."[16][19] Although Warren reversed that position with a statement released on February 25 that said Walter E. Craig, president of the American Bar Association, had been appointed by the Commission to represent the interests of Oswald, Lane remarked that he still considered himself to be Oswald's counsel.[19] Lane testified before the Warren Commission on March 4, 1964 and again on July 2, 1964.[20] In his March 4 testimony,[21] Lane testified that he had contacted witness Helen Markham during the five days preceding his appearance before the Commission and that she had described Tippit's killer to him as "short, a little on the heavy side, and his hair was somewhat bushy".[22] He added, "I think it is fair to state that an accurate description of Oswald would be average height, quite slender with thin and receding hair."[22] At the beginning of April, Mrs. Oswald asked Lane for a copy of his report, asked him to stop any organized effort on behalf of her son through his Citizens Committee of Inquiry, and terminated his representation.[23] During the July 2 hearing, exchanges between Lane and Chief Justice Warren were often heated.[20] After Lane reiterated his request to appear before the Commission as Oswald's counsel, Warren reminded him that the Commission had already denied his request to act as counsel, explaining that Marina Oswald was Lee Harvey Oswald's legal representative and that she was already represented by counsel.[24] In addressing the assertion that Markham's description of Tippit's killer was not consistent with the appearance of Oswald, the Warren Commission stated that they had reviewed the telephone transcript in which she was alleged to have made it.[25][26] The Commission wrote: "A review of the complete transcript has satisfied the Commission that Mrs. Markham strongly reaffirmed her positive identification of Oswald and denied having described the killer as short, stocky and having bushy hair."[27] As a result of this, Lane was called to reappear before the Warren Commission in July 1964. Warren told Lane that the commission had "every reason to doubt the truthfulness" of some of his testimony due to the appearance of his misrepresentation of what Markham told him.[28][29] It was observed that Chief Justice Warren displayed significant contempt for Lane. According to biographer Ed Cray, Warren deemed Lane "a publicity seeker who played fast and loose with the subject." Prior to his death, Warren maintained that the Commission had investigated all leads and left no witness unheard.[30] Lane's work on the assassination prompted Bertrand Russell to rally support for the formation of a Who Killed Kennedy Committee in Britain.[31] In 1975, Lane became the director of the Citizens Commission of Inquiry (CCI) – different from the Citizens Commission of Inquiry that disbanded in 1971 – which challenged the veracity of official accounts of the assassination.[32] Rush to Judgment Lane's critique of the Warren Commission, Rush to Judgment, was published in 1966. The book became a number one best seller and spent 29 weeks on the New York Times best-seller list.[33] It was adapted into a documentary film in 1967. Rush to Judgment criticizes in detail the work and conclusions of the Warren Commission. Lane questions, among other things, the Warren Commission conclusion that three shots were fired from the Texas School Book Depository and focuses on the witnesses who had recounted seeing or hearing shots coming from the grassy knoll in Dealey Plaza. Lane questions whether Oswald was guilty of the murder of policeman J.D. Tippit shortly after the Kennedy murder. Lane also states that none of the Warren Commission firearm experts were able to duplicate Oswald's shooting feat.[34] At a news conference a few months after the release of the book, Texas Governor John Connally described Lane as "journalistic scavanger".[35] Lane responded that Connally had showed "an abysmal ignorance to the implications of his own testimony" and was seeking to "bring back the days of McCarthyism.[35] According to former KGB officer Vasili Mitrokhin in his 1999 book The Sword and the Shield, the KGB helped finance Lane's research on Rush to Judgment without the author's knowledge.[36] The KGB allegedly used journalist Genrikh Borovik as a contact and provided Lane with $2000 for research and travel in 1964.[14][37] Lane called the allegation "an outright lie" and wrote, "Neither the KGB nor any person or organization associated with it ever made any contribution to my work."[38] Other books by Lane on the topic Lane later wrote A Citizen's Dissent, documenting his response to the Warren Commission's findings on the Kennedy assassination. He also wrote the first screenplay of the 1973 film Executive Action (starring Burt Lancaster and Robert Ryan), with Donald Freed. Lane's associate, Steve Jaffe, was supervising producer and credited with supplying much of the research material for the film.[39] Lane asserted in his 1991 book Plausible Denial that he only worked on the first draft of the screenplay which was ultimately credited to Dalton Trumbo. He noted that he collaborated with Donald Freed on it and after seeing subsequent drafts, they complained both privately to the producer and publicly at press conferences, pointing out errors in the work.[40] In 1991, Lane described Plausible Denial as his "last word" on the subject and told Patricia Holt of the San Francisco Chronicle: "I'll never write another sentence about the (JFK) assassination".[41] In November 2011, Lane published a third major book on the JFK assassination titled Last Word: My Indictment of the CIA in the Murder of JFK.[42] Liberty Lobby appeal trial The political advocacy group Liberty Lobby published an article in The Spotlight newspaper in 1978 implicating E. Howard Hunt (a convicted Watergate burglar and former CIA agent) in the Kennedy assassination. Hunt sued Liberty Lobby for defamation and was awarded $650,000 in damages. Representing Liberty Lobby on appeal, Lane succeeded in having this judgment reversed, due to an error in the jury instructions.[43] Lane then represented Liberty Lobby at a retrial of the case, winning a verdict rejecting Hunt's libel claim. This case became the basis for Lane's book Plausible Denial. In the book, Lane claimed that he convinced the jury that Hunt was involved in the JFK assassination, but mainstream news accounts asserted that some jurors decided the case on the issue of whether The Spotlight had acted with "actual malice," as required by the Supreme Court's First Amendment precedents governing libel cases against public figures.[44] Lane also represented Willis Carto, a founder of Liberty Lobby, after Carto lost control of the Institute for Historical Review in 1993.[45] Random House suit In 1995, Lane lost a defamation suit against book publisher Random House, which used the caption "Guilty of Misleading the American Public" under a photo of Lane in an advertisement for Gerald Posner's Case Closed.[5] He sought $10 million in damages for disparagement of his integrity and the unauthorized use of his photograph.[5] Lane was rebuked by Judge Royce C. Lamberth of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, who said: "A conspiracy theory warrior outfitted with Lane's acerbic tongue and pen should not expect immunity from an occasional, constrained chastisement."[5] [46] A similar suit filed by Robert J. Groden against Random House was dismissed the previous year by a federal judge in New York.[47][48] Vietnam War crimes investigations In 1970, Lane involved himself in several war crime inquiries being conducted primarily by antiwar organizations such as the National Committee for a Citizens Commission of Inquiry on U.S. War Crimes in Vietnam (Citizens Commission of Inquiry) and the Vietnam Veterans Against the War. Lane used his contacts and raised funds to support these events, including what would become the National Committee for a Citizens Commission of Inquiry on U.S. War Crimes in Vietnam National Veterans Inquiry and the VVAWs Winter Soldier Investigation. National Committee for a Citizens Commission of Inquiry on U.S. War Crimes in Vietnam and VVAW had originally combined their efforts toward the production of one large war crime investigation, and Lane was initially invited to join the organizing steering committee. Lane suggested the Winter Soldier name, based on Thomas Paine's description of the "summer soldiers" at Valley Forge shrinking from service to their country in a time of crisis. Lane would often travel with fellow activist Jane Fonda to antiwar speaking engagements and fundraising rallies. Lane was also writing a book, Conversations with Americans, a collection of interviews with US servicemen about war crimes in the Vietnam War. Lane's close association with the National Committee for a Citizens Commission of Inquiry on U.S. War Crimes in Vietnam and VVAW would be short lived. Tod Ensign recalled It was a mistake to think that celebrities like Jane Fonda and Mark Lane who were used to operating as free agents would submit to the discipline of a steering committee. We should have placed them, instead, on an advisory panel where their visibility and political and money contacts would have been used without having to tangle with them on broader strategic and tactical questions.[49] National Committee for a Citizens Commission of Inquiry on U.S. War Crimes in Vietnam staffers criticized Lane as being arrogant and sensationalistic, and said the book he was writing had "shoddy reporting in it". National Committee for a Citizens Commission of Inquiry on U.S. War Crimes in Vietnam leaders refused to work with Lane further and gave the VVAW leaders a "Lane or us" ultimatum. VVAW did not wish to lose the monetary support of Lane and Fonda, so the National Committee for a Citizens Commission of Inquiry on U.S. War Crimes in Vietnam split from the project. The following month, after caustic reviews of Lane's book by authors and a Vietnam expert, VVAW also distanced itself from Lane.[50] James Reston Jr., in the Saturday Review, calls Lane's book disreputable, in that all of the reports contained in it are admittedly unverified, and lean toward the salacious. "Lane makes no pretense of distinguishing between fact and a soldier's talent for embellishment", Reston observed. Commenting on the book's redeeming social value, Reston added that "it would be to show that a pattern of atrocities exists in Vietnam, proving that while My Lai was larger, it was not unique. This needs to be demonstrated, since the Pentagon continues to insist that My Lai was an isolated case. But the effort will have to be left to more responsible parties, like the National Veterans Inquiry."[51] A review of Lane's book by Neil Sheehan in the New York Times Book Review claimed that four of the 32 servicemen interviewed by Lane for the book had misrepresented their military service, according to the Defense Department. Lane responded to Sheehan's inquiries by stating that the Defense Department is the least reliable of all sources for verification of atrocity accounts and that verification of simple facts about the interviewees was "not relevant." Sheehan called Lane's book irresponsible, concluding that, "Some of the horror tales in this book are undoubtedly true", and the "men who now run the military establishment cannot conduct a credible investigation... But until the country does summon up the courage to convene a responsible inquiry, we probably deserve the Mark Lanes."[52] Because of Sheehan's review, Simon and Schuster reneged on the contract for the book. When Lane disproved Sheehan's charges, they were forced to settle with him.[53] The controversial book reviews caused concern in the VVAW leadership, as Andrew E. Hunt notes, Sheehan's exposé had placed VVAW leaders in a difficult position. Lane's involvement with the planning of the Winter Soldier Investigation had been extensive. His legal and financial assistance had proven invaluable. Few VVAWers doubted his sincerity or devotion to the effort. Yet they feared associating with Lane could tarnish months of difficult work. "Then the question became, 'How do we protect our integrity?'" recalled Joe Urgo, "'How do we separate ourselves from this guy?'" Organizers hoped Lane would maintain a low profile. Their wishes were fulfilled.[54] VVAW veterans involved with the WSI event then realized they needed to take control, and insisted that there be no more interference from the likes of Lane. A new, all-veteran steering committee was formed without Lane. Ultimately, the WSI was an event produced by veterans only, without the need of civilians such as Lane and Fonda.[55] Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Lane wrote Murder In Memphis with Dick Gregory (previously titled Code Name Zorro, after the CIA's code name for King) about the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., in which he alleged a conspiracy and government coverup.[56] Lane represented James Earl Ray, King's alleged assassin, before the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) inquiry in 1978. The HSCA said of Lane in its report, "Many of the allegations of conspiracy that the committee investigated were first raised by Mark Lane". He wrote an audio docudrama, Trial of James Earl Ray, that was broadcast on KPFK on April 3, 1978, casting doubt on Ray's guilt [57] Lane was Ray's lawyer for a time. He alleged that Ray was an innocent pawn in a government plot.[3] Peoples Temple Engagement and work for the Peoples Temple In 1978, Lane began to represent the Peoples Temple. Temple leader Jim Jones hired Lane and Donald Freed to help make the case of what it alleged to be a "grand conspiracy" by intelligence agencies against the Peoples Temple. Jones told Lane he wanted to "pull an Eldridge Cleaver", referring to the fugitive Black Panther who was able to return to the United States after repairing his reputation.[58]: 440  In September 1978, Lane visited Jonestown, spoke to Jonestown residents, provided support for the theory that intelligence agencies conspired against Jonestown and drew parallels between Martin Luther King Jr. and Jim Jones. Lane then held press conferences stating that "none of the charges" against the Temple "are accurate or true" and that there was a "massive conspiracy" against the Temple by "intelligence organizations," naming the CIA, FBI, FCC and the U.S. Post Office. Though Lane represented himself as disinterested, the Temple paid Lane $6,000 per month to help generate such theories.[58]: 440–441  Regarding the effect of the work of Lane and Freed upon Temple members, Temple member Annie Moore wrote that "Mom and Dad have probably shown you the latest about the conspiracy information that Mark Lane, the famous attorney in the ML King case and Don Freed the other famous author in the Kennedy case have come up with regarding activities planned against us—Peoples Temple."[59]: 282  Another Temple member, Carolyn Layton, wrote that Don Freed told them that "anything this drug out could be nothing less than conspiracy".[59]: 272  Jonestown tragedy Lane was present in Jonestown during the evening of November 18, 1978, and witnessed or heard part of the events claiming at least 408 lives (out of a total recount of 915 carried out five days later); these events involved a collective suicide and murder by cyanide poisoning and were compounded by the murder of Congressman Leo Ryan and four others at a nearby airstrip.[60] For months before that tragedy, Jones frequently created fear among members by stating that the CIA and other intelligence agencies were conspiring with "capitalist pigs" to destroy Jonestown and harm its members.[61] This included mentions of CIA involvement in the address Jones gave the day before the arrival of Congressman Ryan.[62] During the visit of Congressman Ryan, Lane helped represent the Temple along with its other attorney, Charles R. Garry, who was furious with Lane for holding numerous press conferences and alleging the existence of conspiracies against the Peoples Temple.[63] Garry was also displeased with Lane for making a veiled threat that the Temple might move to the Soviet Union in a letter to Congressman Ryan.[64] Late in the afternoon of November 18, two men wielding rifles approached Lane and Garry, who had earlier been sent to a small wooden house by Jones.[65] It is not clear whether the gunmen were sent to kill Lane and Garry, but one of the gunmen recognized Garry as an attorney in a trial that the gunman had attended.[65] After a relatively friendly exchange, the men informed Garry and Lane that they were going to "commit revolutionary suicide" to "expose this racist and fascist society".[65] The gunmen then gave Garry and Lane directions to exit Jonestown.[65] Garry and Lane then sneaked into the jungle, where they hid and called a temporary truce while the tragedy unfolded.[66] On a tape made while members committed suicide by ingesting cyanide-poisoned punch, the reason given by Jones to commit suicide was consistent with Jones's previously stated conspiracy theories of intelligence organizations allegedly conspiring against the Temple, that men would "parachute in here on us", "shoot some of our innocent babies" and "they'll torture our children, they'll torture some of our people here, they'll torture our seniors".[67] Parroting Jones's prior statements that hostile forces would convert captured children to fascism, one temple member states, "[T]he ones that they take captured, they're gonna just let them grow up and be dummies".[67] After the tragedy Lane later wrote a book about the tragedy, The Strongest Poison.[68] Lane reported hearing automatic weapon fire and presumes that U.S. forces killed Jonestown survivors.[69] While Lane blames Jones and Peoples Temple leadership for the deaths at Jonestown, he also claims that U.S. officials exacerbated the possibility of violence by employing agents provocateurs.[69] For example, Lane claimed that Temple attorney (and later defector) Timothy Stoen, who, Lane alleged, had repeatedly prompted the Temple to take radical action before defecting, "had evidently led three lives", one of those being a government informant or agent.[70] Later career and death Lane is the author of the 1970 book Arcadia in which he details the effort to prove that James Joseph Richardson, a black migrant worker in Florida, had been falsely accused of killing his seven children. He was convicted of the murders through corrupt means used by the authorities involved. Richardson had been on death row for almost five years for the crimes, escaping execution by virtue of the Furman v. Georgia Supreme Court decision. Nineteen years after the book was published he received a hearing in which the charges were dropped thanks to the interventions of Lane and Miami's then- prosecutor, Janet Reno.[71] Richardson was released from prison after 21 years, and Richardson's babysitter, though suffering from dementia, later confessed to the murders.[72][71] Lane resided in Charlottesville, Virginia.[73] He continued to practice law and lectured on many subjects, especially the importance of the United States Constitution (mainly the Bill Of Rights and the First Amendment) and civil rights. At the annual Law Library of Congress and American Bar Association Law Day symposium 2001, on the question, "Who are the paradigms for the lawyer as reformer in American culture?", Mark Lane was one of the twelve legal figures featured by panel moderator, Bernard Hibbitts, professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.[74] On May 10, 2016, Lane died of a heart attack at his home in Charlottesville at the age of 89.[75] Works Arcadia. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1970, ISBN 978-0030818547. Chicago Eyewitness. Astor-Honor, 1968. Citizen Lane: Defending our Rights in the Courts, the Capitol, and the Streets, Laurence Hill Books, 2012, ISBN 978-1613740019. A Citizen's Dissent: Mark Lane Replies to the Defenders of the Warren Report. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1968. Code Name Zorro. Pocket, 1978, ISBN 978-0671811679 (with Dick Gregory), Reissued as: Murder in Memphis: The FBI and the Assassination of Martin Luther King. Thunder's Mouth Press, 1993, ISBN 978-1560250562. Conversations with Americans: Testimony from 32 Vietnam Veterans. Simon & Schuster, 1970, ISBN 978-0671207687. Last Word: My Indictment of the CIA in the Murder of JFK. Skyhorse Publishing, 2011, ISBN 978-1616084288. Plausible Denial: Was the CIA Involved in the Assassination of JFK? Thunder's Mouth Press, 1991, ISBN 978-1560250005. Rush to Judgment. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1966; 2nd edition issued Thunder's Mouth Press, 1992, ISBN 978-1560250432. Norden, Eric; Worthy, William; March, Andrew; Lane, Mark (1966). The Silent Slaughter: the role of the United States in the Indonesian massacre. New York: Marzani & Munsell for Youth Against War and Fascism. OCLC 1075621167. The Strongest Poison, Hawthorne Books, 1980, ISBN 080153206X. Sources Bugliosi, Vincent. Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy. 2007, Norton, ISBN 978-0393045253. Documentary Citizen Lane. US, 2013 (102 min) – directed by Pauley Perrette[76] References Kidder, Tracy (March 1979). "Washington: The Assassination Tangle". The Atlantic. No. March 1979. Retrieved October 9, 2022. Reiterman, Tim; John Jacobs (1982). Raven: The Untold Story of Reverend Jim Jones and His People. Dutton. p. 434. ISBN 0525241361. Schudel, Matt (May 14, 2016). "Mark Lane, gadfly lawyer, author who promoted JFK conspiracy theory, dies at 89". National. The Washington Post. Retrieved October 23, 2022. "Mark Lane, conspiracy theorist – obituary". The Telegraph. May 18, 2016. Retrieved October 23, 2022. Rosenthal, Harry F. (January 26, 1995). "Judge Rebukes Conspiracy Theorist Mark Lane". Associated Press. AP. Retrieved February 28, 2013. name=Hawes Publications | url=http://www.hawes.com/1966/1966-12-25.pdf, page 2 "Citizen Lane", Chapter 1, Page 1 "Columbia Spectator 5 March 1962 — Columbia Spectator". "Mark Lane". Retrieved May 13, 2016. "Ocala Star-Banner". Retrieved May 13, 2016 – via Google News Archive Search. Citizen Lane: Defending Our Rights in the Courts, the Capitol, and the Streets; Mark Lane; Chicago Review Press; 2011. pages 113–115 Mark Lane. "Citizen Lane". Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved May 13, 2016. Bugliosi, page 1011 Bugliosi, page 1001 "Lawyer Urges Defense for Oswald at Inquiry". New York Times. December 19, 1963. p. 24. Retrieved October 9, 2022. "Exhibits 1976 to 2189". Hearings Before the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Vol. XXIV. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office. 1964. pp. 444–445. "Lane Suggests Suit By Oswald's Mother". New York Times. January 3, 1964. p. 20. Retrieved October 5, 2022. "Mrs. Oswald Picks New York Lawyer To Defend Her Son". New York Times. January 15, 1964. p. 14. Retrieved October 5, 2022. "Bar Head Will Represent Oswald in Warren Inquiry". New York Times. February 26, 1964. p. 1. Retrieved October 6, 2022. "Mark Lane Silent at Warren Inquiry". New York Times. July 3, 1964. p. 7. Retrieved October 6, 2022. "Testimony of Mark Lane". Hearings Before the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Volume II. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office. 1964. pp. 32–60. Hearings Before the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Volume II 1964, p. 51. "Mother of Oswald Ends Tie With Lane". New York Times. April 2, 1964. p. 37. Retrieved October 5, 2022. "Testimony of Mark Lane Resumed". Hearings Before the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Vol. V. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office. 1964. pp. 444–445. "Chapter 4: The Assassin". Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office. 1964. p. 167. "Appendix 12: Speculations and Rumors". Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office. 1964. p. 652. Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Chapter 4 1964, p. 167. "Warren Doubtful Of Lane Testimony On Assassination". New York Times. July 4, 1964. p. 5. Retrieved October 6, 2022. 'Warren Committee Challenged by Lane', New York Times, July 8, 1964 Cray, Ed (1997). "Facts So Simple". Chief Justice: A Biography of Earl Warren. New York: Simon & Schuster. pp. 430–431. ISBN 0684808528. Retrieved June 19, 2017. Peter Knight, The Kennedy Assassination, Edinburgh University Press Ltd., 2007, page 77. Citizens Commission of Inquiry, newsletter, Harold Weisberg Archive, Hood College. http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg%20Subject%20Index%20Files/L%20Disk/Lane%20Mark/Lane%20Mark%201975/Item%2009.pdf name=Hawes Publications | url=http://www.hawes.com/1966/1966-09-11.pdf, p.2 | url=http://www.hawes.com/1967/1967-03-26.pdf Bugliosi, page 1005 "Connally blasts Warren Report critics: 'journalistic scavangers'". Sherbrooke Daily Record. Sherbrooke,Quebec: Sherbrooke Daily Record Company Ltd. AP. November 24, 1966. p. 1. Retrieved October 23, 2022. Persico, Joseph E. (October 31, 1999). "Secrets From the Lubyanka: A historian examines an archive of Soviet files smuggled to the West by a former K.G.B. agent". The New York Times. New York. Retrieved March 31, 2013. Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin, The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB, Basic Books, 1999. Excerpted here. According to the book, Soviet journalists, including KGB agent Genrikh Borovik, met with Lane to encourage him in his research. "Letter to The Nation from Lane". Farber, Stephen (June 13, 1979). "Kennedy assassination subject of film". The Miami News. Miami. p. 4B. Retrieved May 26, 2013. Plausible Denial, Thunder's Mouth Press copyright 1991 page 326 Holt, Patricia (December 31, 1991). "Mark Lane's Hunt For JFK Assassins" (PDF). San Francisco Chronicle. San Francisco. Retrieved May 4, 2015. "Last Word, My Indictment of the CIA in the Murder of JFK". Archived from the original on December 8, 2015. Retrieved 2015-12-03. E. Howard Hunt, Jr., Plaintiff-appellant, v. Victor L. Marchetti, Defendant, Liberty Lobby, a D.C. Corp., Defendant-appellee, 824 F.2d 916 (11th Cir. 1987) [1] "Plausible Denial, Mark Lane, E. Howard Hunt, and the Liberty Lobby Trial". Retrieved May 13, 2016. Berlet, Chip; Lyons, Matthew M. (2000). "9 The Pillars of U.S. Populist Conspiracism; The John Birch Society and the Liberty Lobby". Right-wing Populism in America: Too Close for Comfort. New York: Guilford Press. p. 191. ISBN 978-1572305625. Retrieved September 10, 2014. Lane v. Random House, Inc., 985 F. Supp. 141, 149 (D.D.C. 1995). "Random prevails in suit over 'Case Closed' ad". Publishers Weekly. 241 (38): 9. September 19, 1994. Groden v. Random House, Inc., 61 F.3d 1045 (2d Cir. 1995). Tod Ensign; Viet Nam Generation: A Journal of Recent History and Contemporary Issues, March 1994 Hunt, Andrew E. (1999). The Turning: A History of Vietnam Veterans Against the War. New York University Press. pp. 63, 67. ISBN 978-0814736357. Retrieved June 29, 2011. James Reston Jr., Saturday Review, January 9, 1971, p. 26 New York Times Book Review, December 27, 1970 by Neil Sheehan Mark Lane; Citizen Lane, Chicago Review Press, 2012, pages 218–220. Andrew E. Hunt; The Turning: A History of Vietnam Veterans Against the War; New York University Press, 1999; page 67 Gerald Nicosia; Home to War: A History of the Vietnam Veterans' Movement, 2001, page 84 Bugliosi, p. 1002 The Trial of James Earl Ray : a docu-drama / written by Mark Lane ; directed by Donald Dreed; produced by Mike Hodel and Lucia Chappelle. Reiterman, Tim (1982). Raven: The Untold Story of The Rev. Jim Jones and His People. Dutton. ISBN 0525241361. Moore, Rebecca. A Sympathetic History of Jonestown. Lewiston: E. Mellen Press. ISBN 0889468605 Reiterman 1982, p. 484. See, e.g., Jim Jones, Transcript of Recovered FBI tape Q 234, Q 322, Q 051 Jim Jones, Transcript of Recovered FBI tape Q 050 Reiterman 1982, p. 460. Reiterman 1982, p. 461. Reiterman 1982, p. 541. Tim Reiterman (1982) Raven: The Untold Story of The Rev. Jim Jones and His People ISBN 0525241361, p. 563 "Jonestown Audiotape Primary Project" Alternative Considerations of Jonestown and Peoples Temple. San Diego State University. Lane, Mark, The Strongest Poison, Hawthorne Books, 1980, ISBN 080153206X Moore, Rebecca, "Reconstructing Reality: Conspiracy Theories About Jonestown", Journal of Popular Culture 36, number 2 (Fall 2002): pages 200–20 Lane, Mark, The Strongest Poison, Hawthorne Books, 1980, ISBN 080153206X, p. 290 Frail and aged, man returns to Arcadia and a hurtful past, Sarasota Herald Tribune, Ian Cummings, October 27, 2013. Retrieved June 1, 2019. "A Man Who Loves Challenges". Archived from the original on December 3, 2013. Retrieved November 30, 2013. "Rushing to judgment-- and everywhere". The Hook. November 23, 2006. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved December 9, 2006. "Law Day 2001 (June 2001) – Library of Congress Information Bulletin". Library of Congress. Retrieved May 13, 2016. Schneider, Keith (May 13, 2016). "Mark Lane, Early Kennedy Assassination Conspiracy Theorist, Dies at 89". The New York Times. p. B14. Retrieved May 22, 2016. 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The dark side of history: https://thememoryhole.substack.com/ Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; 18 December [O.S. 6 December] 1878 – 5 March 1953) was a Soviet revolutionary and politician who was the leader of the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1922–1952) and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union (1941–1953). Initially governing the country as part of a collective leadership, he consolidated power to become a dictator by the 1930s. Ideologically adhering to the Leninist interpretation of Marxism, he formalised these ideas as Marxism–Leninism, while his own policies are called Stalinism. Born to a poor family in Gori in the Russian Empire (now Georgia), Stalin attended the Tbilisi Spiritual Seminary before joining the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. He edited the party's newspaper, Pravda, and raised funds for Vladimir Lenin's Bolshevik faction via robberies, kidnappings and protection rackets. Repeatedly arrested, he underwent several internal exiles to Siberia. After the Bolsheviks seized power in the October Revolution and created a one-party state under the new Communist Party in 1917, Stalin joined its governing Politburo. Serving in the Russian Civil War before overseeing the Soviet Union's establishment in 1922, Stalin assumed leadership over the country following Lenin's death in 1924. Under Stalin, socialism in one country became a central tenet of the party's ideology. As a result of his Five-Year Plans, the country underwent agricultural collectivisation and rapid industrialisation, creating a centralised command economy. Severe disruptions to food production contributed to the famine of 1930–33, including the Asharshylyk in Kazakhstan and the Holodomor in Ukraine. To eradicate accused "enemies of the working class", Stalin instituted the Great Purge, in which over a million were imprisoned, largely in the Gulag system of forced labour camps, and at least 700,000 executed between 1934 and 1939. By 1937, he had absolute control over the party and government. Stalin promoted Marxism–Leninism abroad through the Communist International and supported European anti-fascist movements during the 1930s, particularly in the Spanish Civil War. In 1939, his regime signed a non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany, resulting in the Soviet invasion of Poland. Germany ended the pact by invading the Soviet Union in 1941. Despite initial catastrophes, the Soviet Red Army repelled the German invasion and captured Berlin in 1945, ending World War II in Europe. Amid the war, the Soviets annexed the Baltic states and Bessarabia and North Bukovina, subsequently establishing Soviet-aligned governments throughout Central and Eastern Europe and in parts of East Asia. The Soviet Union and the United States emerged as global superpowers and entered a period of tension, the Cold War. Stalin presided over the Soviet post-war reconstruction and its development of an atomic bomb in 1949. During these years, the country experienced another major famine and an antisemitic campaign that culminated in the doctors' plot. After Stalin's death in 1953, he was eventually succeeded by Nikita Khrushchev, who subsequently denounced his rule and initiated the de-Stalinisation of Soviet society. Widely considered to be one of the 20th century's most significant figures, Stalin was the subject of a pervasive personality cult within the international Marxist–Leninist movement, which revered him as a champion of the working class and socialism. Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Stalin has retained popularity in Russia and Georgia as a victorious wartime leader who cemented the Soviet Union's status as a leading world power. Conversely, his totalitarian regime has been widely condemned for overseeing mass repression, ethnic cleansing, wide-scale deportation, hundreds of thousands of executions, and famines that killed millions. Early life Main article: Early life of Joseph Stalin 1878–1899: Childhood to young adulthood 1893 class table of Gori Religious School including a photo of Stalin. Some of the photos may be from earlier dates, but it is believed that this photo of Stalin was taken in 1893. Stalin was born in Georgia in the town of Gori,[3] then part of the Tiflis Governorate of the Russian Empire and home to a mix of Georgians, Azerbaijanis, Armenians, Russians, and Jews.[4] He was born on 18 December [O.S. 6 December] 1878[5][h] and baptised on 29 December.[7] His birth name was Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili,[d] and he was nicknamed "Soso", a diminutive of "Ioseb".[8] His parents were Besarion Jughashvili and Ekaterine Geladze.[9] He was their only child to survive past infancy.[10] Besarion was a cobbler who was employed in a workshop owned by another man;[11] it was initially a financial success but later fell into decline,[12] and the family found itself living in poverty.[13] Besarion became an alcoholic[14] and drunkenly beat his wife and son.[15] Ekaterine and Stalin left the home by 1883 and began a wandering life, moving through nine different rented rooms over the next decade.[16] In 1886, they moved into the house of a family friend, Father Christopher Charkviani.[17] Ekaterine worked as a house cleaner and launderer and was determined to send her son to school.[18] In September 1888, Stalin enrolled at the Orthodox Gori Church School,[19] a place secured by Charkviani.[20] Although he got into many fights,[21] Stalin excelled academically,[22] displaying talent in painting and drama classes,[23] writing his own poetry,[24] and singing as a choirboy.[25] Stalin faced several severe health problems: An 1884 smallpox infection left him with facial scars;[26] and at age 12 he was seriously injured when he was hit by a phaeton, probably the cause of a lifelong disability in his left arm.[27] In 1894 Stalin began his studies at the Tiflis Theological Seminary (pictured here in the 1870s). In August 1894, Stalin enrolled in the Russian Orthodox Theological Seminary in Tiflis, enabled by a scholarship that allowed him to study at a reduced rate.[28] He joined 600 trainee priests who boarded there,[29] and he achieved high grades.[30] He continued writing poetry; five of his poems, on themes such as nature, land and patriotism, were published under the pseudonym of "Soselo" in Ilia Chavchavadze's newspaper Iveria (Georgia).[31] According to Stalin's biographer Simon Sebag Montefiore, they became "minor Georgian classics"[32] and were included in various anthologies of Georgian poetry over the coming years.[32] As he grew older, Stalin lost interest in priestly studies, his grades dropped,[33] and he was repeatedly confined to a cell for his rebellious behaviour.[34] The seminary's journal noted that he declared himself an atheist, stalked out of prayers and refused to doff his hat to monks.[35] Stalin joined a forbidden book club at the school;[36] he was particularly influenced by Nikolay Chernyshevsky's 1863 pro-revolutionary novel What Is To Be Done?[37] Another influential text was Alexander Kazbegi's The Patricide, with Stalin adopting the nickname "Koba" from that of the book's bandit protagonist.[38] The pseudonym may also have been a tribute to his wealthy benefactor, Yakobi "Koba" Egnatashvili, who paid for his schooling at the Tiflis seminary. ("Koba" is the Georgian diminutive of Yakobi, or Jacob, and Stalin later named his first-born son in Egnatashvili's honour.)[39] He also read Das Kapital, the 1867 book by German sociological theorist Karl Marx.[40] Stalin devoted himself to Marx's socio-political theory, Marxism,[41] which was then on the rise in Georgia, one of various forms of socialism opposed to the Tsarist empire's authorities.[42] At night, he attended secret workers' meetings[43] and was introduced to Silibistro "Silva" Jibladze, the Marxist founder of Mesame Dasi ("Third Group"), a Georgian socialist group.[44] Stalin left the seminary in April 1899 and never returned.[45] 1899–1904: Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party Police photograph of Stalin, taken in 1902, when he was 23 years old In October 1899, Stalin began work as a meteorologist at the Tiflis observatory.[46] He had a light workload and therefore had plenty of time for revolutionary activity. He attracted a group of supporters through his classes in socialist theory[47] and co-organised a secret workers' mass meeting for May Day 1900,[48] at which he successfully encouraged many of the men to take strike action.[49] By this point, the empire's secret police, the Okhrana, were aware of Stalin's activities in Tiflis' revolutionary milieu.[49] They attempted to arrest him in March 1901, but he escaped and went into hiding,[50] living off the donations of friends and sympathisers.[51] Remaining underground, he helped plan a demonstration for May Day 1901, in which 3,000 marchers clashed with the authorities.[52] He continued to evade arrest by using aliases and sleeping in different apartments.[53] In November 1901, he was elected to the Tiflis Committee of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP), a Marxist party founded in 1898.[54] That month, Stalin travelled to the port city of Batumi.[55] His militant rhetoric proved divisive among the city's Marxists, some of whom suspected that he might be an agent provocateur working for the government.[56] He found employment at the Rothschild refinery storehouse, where he co-organised two workers' strikes.[57] After several strike leaders were arrested, he co-organised a mass public demonstration which led to the storming of the prison; troops fired upon the demonstrators, 13 of whom were killed.[58] Stalin organised another mass demonstration on the day of their funeral,[59] before being arrested in April 1902.[60] Held first in Batumi Prison[61] and then Kutaisi Prison,[62] in mid-1903 he was sentenced to three years of exile in eastern Siberia.[63] Stalin left Batumi in October, arriving at the small Siberian town of Novaya Uda in late November 1903.[64] There, he lived in a two-room peasant's house, sleeping in the building's larder.[65] He made two escape attempts: On the first, he made it to Balagansk before returning due to frostbite.[66] His second attempt, in January 1904, was successful and he made it to Tiflis.[67] There, he co-edited a Georgian Marxist newspaper, Proletariatis Brdzola ("Proletarian Struggle"), with Filipp Makharadze.[68] He called for the Georgian Marxist movement to split from its Russian counterpart, resulting in several RSDLP members accusing him of holding views contrary to the ethos of Marxist internationalism and calling for his expulsion from the party; he soon recanted his opinions.[69] During his exile, the RSDLP had split between Vladimir Lenin's "Bolsheviks" and Julius Martov's "Mensheviks".[70] Stalin detested many of the Mensheviks in Georgia and aligned himself with the Bolsheviks.[71] Although he established a Bolshevik stronghold in the mining town of Chiatura,[72] Bolshevism remained a minority force in the Menshevik-dominated Georgian revolutionary scene.[73] 1905–1912: Revolution of 1905 and its aftermath Stalin first met Vladimir Lenin at a 1905 conference in Tampere, in the Grand Duchy of Finland. Lenin became "Stalin's indispensable mentor".[74] In January 1905, government troops massacred protesters in Saint Petersburg. Unrest soon spread across the Russian Empire in what came to be known as the Revolution of 1905.[75] Georgia was particularly affected.[76] Stalin was in Baku in February when ethnic violence broke out between Armenians and Azeris; at least 2,000 were killed.[77] He publicly lambasted the "pogroms against Jews and Armenians" as being part of Tsar Nicholas II's attempts to "buttress his despicable throne".[78] Stalin formed a Bolshevik Battle Squad which he used to try to keep Baku's warring ethnic factions apart; he also used the unrest as a cover for stealing printing equipment.[78] Amid the growing violence throughout Georgia he formed further Battle Squads, with the Mensheviks doing the same.[79] Stalin's squads disarmed local police and troops,[80] raided government arsenals,[81] and raised funds through protection rackets on large local businesses and mines.[82] They launched attacks on the government's Cossack troops and pro-Tsarist Black Hundreds,[83] co-ordinating some of their operations with the Menshevik militia.[84] In November 1905, the Georgian Bolsheviks elected Stalin as one of their delegates to a Bolshevik conference in Saint Petersburg.[85] On arrival, he met Lenin's wife Nadezhda Krupskaya, who informed him that the venue had been moved to Tampere in the Grand Duchy of Finland.[86] At the conference Stalin met Lenin for the first time.[87] Although Stalin held Lenin in deep respect, he was vocal in his disagreement with Lenin's view that the Bolsheviks should field candidates for the forthcoming election to the State Duma; Stalin saw the parliamentary process as a waste of time.[88] In April 1906, Stalin attended the RSDLP Fourth Congress in Stockholm; this was his first trip outside the Russian Empire.[89] At the conference, the RSDLP — then led by its Menshevik majority — agreed that it would not raise funds using armed robbery.[90] Lenin and Stalin disagreed with this decision[91] and later privately discussed how they could continue the robberies for the Bolshevik cause.[92] Stalin married Kato Svanidze in an Orthodox church ceremony at Senaki in July 1906.[93] In March 1907 she bore a son, Yakov.[94] By that year — according to the historian Robert Service — Stalin had established himself as "Georgia's leading Bolshevik".[95] He attended the Fifth RSDLP Congress, held at the Brotherhood Church in London in May–June 1907.[96] After returning to Tiflis, Stalin organised the robbing of a large delivery of money to the Imperial Bank in June 1907. His gang ambushed the armed convoy in Erivansky Square with gunfire and home-made bombs. Around 40 people were killed, but all of his gang escaped alive.[97] After the heist, Stalin settled in Baku with his wife and son.[98] There, Mensheviks confronted Stalin about the robbery and voted to expel him from the RSDLP, but he took no notice of them.[99] A mugshot of Stalin made in 1911 by the Tsarist secret police In Baku, Stalin secured Bolshevik domination of the local RSDLP branch[100] and edited two Bolshevik newspapers, Bakinsky Proletary and Gudok ("Whistle").[101] In August 1907, he attended the Seventh Congress of the Second International — an international socialist organisation — in Stuttgart, German Empire.[102] In November 1907, his wife died of typhus,[103] and he left his son with her family in Tiflis.[104] In Baku he had reassembled his gang, the Outfit,[105] which continued to attack Black Hundreds and raised finances by running protection rackets, counterfeiting currency, and carrying out robberies.[106] They also kidnapped the children of several wealthy figures to extract ransom money.[107] In early 1908, he travelled to the Swiss city of Geneva to meet with Lenin and the prominent Russian Marxist Georgi Plekhanov, although the latter exasperated him.[108] In March 1908, Stalin was arrested and interned in Bailov Prison in Baku.[109] There he led the imprisoned Bolsheviks, organised discussion groups, and ordered the killing of suspected informants.[110] He was eventually sentenced to two years exile in the village of Solvychegodsk, Vologda Province, arriving there in February 1909.[111] In June, he escaped the village and made it to Kotlas disguised as a woman and from there to Saint Petersburg.[112] In March 1910, he was arrested again and sent back to Solvychegodsk.[113] There he had affairs with at least two women; his landlady, Maria Kuzakova, later gave birth to his second son, Konstantin.[114] In June 1911, Stalin was given permission to move to Vologda, where he stayed for two months,[115] having a relationship with Pelageya Onufrieva.[116] He escaped to Saint Petersburg,[117] where he was arrested in September 1911 and sentenced to a further three-year exile in Vologda.[118] 1912–1917: Rise to the Central Committee and editorship of Pravda The first issue of Pravda, the Bolshevik newspaper of which Stalin was editor In January 1912, while Stalin was in exile, the first Bolshevik Central Committee was elected at the Prague Conference.[119] Shortly after the conference, Lenin and Grigory Zinoviev decided to co-opt Stalin to the committee.[119] Still in Vologda, Stalin agreed, remaining a Central Committee member for the rest of his life.[120] Lenin believed that Stalin, as a Georgian, would help secure support for the Bolsheviks from the empire's minority ethnicities.[121] In February 1912, Stalin again escaped to Saint Petersburg,[122] tasked with converting the Bolshevik weekly newspaper, Zvezda ("Star") into a daily, Pravda ("Truth").[123] The new newspaper was launched in April 1912,[124] although Stalin's role as editor was kept secret.[124] In May 1912, he was arrested again and imprisoned in the Shpalerhy Prison, before being sentenced to three years exile in Siberia.[125] In July, he arrived at the Siberian village of Narym,[126] where he shared a room with a fellow Bolshevik Yakov Sverdlov.[127] After two months, Stalin and Sverdlov escaped back to Saint Petersburg.[128] During a brief period back in Tiflis, Stalin and the Outfit planned the ambush of a mail coach, during which most of the group — although not Stalin — were apprehended by the authorities.[129] Stalin returned to Saint Petersburg, where he continued editing and writing articles for Pravda.[130] Stalin in 1915 After the October 1912 Duma elections, where six Bolsheviks and six Mensheviks were elected, Stalin wrote articles calling for reconciliation between the two Marxist factions, for which Lenin criticised him.[131] In late 1912, Stalin twice crossed into the Austro-Hungarian Empire to visit Lenin in Cracow,[132] eventually bowing to Lenin's opposition to reunification with the Mensheviks.[133] In January 1913, Stalin travelled to Vienna,[134] where he researched the "national question" of how the Bolsheviks should deal with the Russian Empire's national and ethnic minorities.[135] Lenin, who encouraged Stalin to write an article on the subject,[136] wanted to attract those groups to the Bolshevik cause by offering them the right of secession from the Russian state, but also hoped they would remain part of a future Bolshevik-governed Russia.[137] Stalin's article Marxism and the National Question[138] was first published in the March, April, and May 1913 issues of the Bolshevik journal Prosveshcheniye;[139] Lenin was pleased with it.[140] According to Montefiore, this was "Stalin's most famous work".[137] The article was published under the pseudonym "K. Stalin",[140] a name he had used since 1912.[141] Derived from the Russian word for steel (stal),[142] this has been translated as "Man of Steel";[143] Stalin may have intended it to imitate Lenin's pseudonym.[144] Stalin retained the name for the rest of his life, possibly because it was used on the article that established his reputation among the Bolsheviks.[145] In February 1913, Stalin was arrested while back in Saint Petersburg.[146] He was sentenced to four years exile in Turukhansk, a remote part of Siberia from which escape was particularly difficult.[147] In August, he arrived in the village of Monastyrskoe, although after four weeks was relocated to the hamlet of Kostino.[148] In March 1914, concerned over a potential escape attempt, the authorities moved Stalin to the hamlet of Kureika on the edge of the Arctic Circle.[149] In the hamlet, Stalin had a relationship with Lidia Pereprygina, who was fourteen at the time but within the legal age of consent in Tsarist Russia.[150] In or about December 1914, their child was born but the infant soon died.[151] Their second child, Alexander, was born circa April 1917.[152] In Kureika, Stalin lived among the indigenous Tunguses and Ostyak peoples,[153] and spent much of his time fishing.[154] 1917: Russian Revolution While Stalin was in exile, Russia entered the First World War, and in October 1916 Stalin and other exiled Bolsheviks were conscripted into the Russian Army, leaving for Monastyrskoe.[155] They arrived in Krasnoyarsk in February 1917,[156] where a medical examiner ruled Stalin unfit for military service because of his crippled arm.[157] Stalin was required to serve four more months of his exile, and he successfully requested that he serve it in nearby Achinsk.[158] Stalin was in the city when the February Revolution took place; uprisings broke out in Petrograd — as Saint Petersburg had been renamed — and Tsar Nicholas II abdicated to escape being violently overthrown. The Russian Empire became a de facto republic, headed by a Provisional Government dominated by liberals.[159] In a celebratory mood, Stalin travelled by train to Petrograd in March.[160] There, Stalin and a fellow Bolshevik Lev Kamenev assumed control of Pravda,[161] and Stalin was appointed the Bolshevik representative to the executive committee of the Petrograd Soviet, an influential council of the city's workers.[162] In April, Stalin came third in the Bolshevik elections for the party's Central Committee; Lenin came first and Zinoviev came second.[163] This reflected his senior standing in the party at the time.[164] The existing government of landlords and capitalists must be replaced by a new government, a government of workers and peasants. The existing pseudo-government which was not elected by the people and which is not accountable to the people must be replaced by a government recognised by the people, elected by representatives of the workers, soldiers and peasants and held accountable to their representatives. — Stalin's editorial in Pravda, October 1917[165] Stalin helped organise the July Days uprising, an armed display of strength by Bolshevik supporters.[166] After the demonstration was suppressed, the Provisional Government initiated a crackdown on the Bolsheviks, raiding Pravda.[167] During this raid, Stalin smuggled Lenin out of the newspaper's office and took charge of the Bolshevik leader's safety, moving him between Petrograd safe houses before smuggling him to Razliv.[168] In Lenin's absence, Stalin continued editing Pravda and served as acting leader of the Bolsheviks, overseeing the party's Sixth Congress, which was held covertly.[169] Lenin began calling for the Bolsheviks to seize power by toppling the Provisional Government in a coup d'état. Stalin and a fellow senior Bolshevik Leon Trotsky both endorsed Lenin's plan of action, but it was initially opposed by Kamenev and other party members.[170] Lenin returned to Petrograd and secured a majority in favour of a coup at a meeting of the Central Committee on 10 October.[171] On 24 October, police raided the Bolshevik newspaper offices, smashing machinery and presses; Stalin salvaged some of this equipment to continue his activities.[172] In the early hours of 25 October, Stalin joined Lenin in a Central Committee meeting in the Smolny Institute, from where the Bolshevik coup — the October Revolution — was directed.[173] Bolshevik militia seized Petrograd's electric power station, main post office, state bank, telephone exchange, and several bridges.[174] A Bolshevik-controlled ship, the Aurora, opened fire on the Winter Palace; the Provisional Government's assembled delegates surrendered and were arrested by the Bolsheviks.[175] Although he had been tasked with briefing the Bolshevik delegates of the Second Congress of Soviets about the developing situation, Stalin's role in the coup had not been publicly visible.[176] Trotsky and other later Bolshevik opponents of Stalin used this as evidence that his role in the coup had been insignificant, although later historians reject this.[177] According to the historian Oleg Khlevniuk, Stalin "filled an important role [in the October Revolution]... as a senior Bolshevik, member of the party's Central Committee, and editor of its main newspaper";[178] the historian Stephen Kotkin similarly noted that Stalin had been "in the thick of events" in the build-up to the coup.[179] In Lenin's government Main article: Joseph Stalin during the Russian Revolution, Civil War, and the Polish–Soviet War 1917–1918: Consolidating power Joseph Stalin in 1917 as a young People's Commissar On 26 October 1917, Lenin declared himself chairman of a new government, the Council of People's Commissars ("Sovnarkom").[180] Stalin backed Lenin's decision not to form a coalition with the Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionary Party, although they did form a coalition government with the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries.[181] Stalin became part of an informal foursome leading the government, alongside Lenin, Trotsky, and Sverdlov;[182] of these, Sverdlov was regularly absent and died in March 1919.[183] Stalin's office was based near to Lenin's in the Smolny Institute,[184] and he and Trotsky were the only individuals allowed access to Lenin's study without an appointment.[185] Although not so publicly well known as Lenin or Trotsky,[186] Stalin's importance among the Bolsheviks grew.[187] He co-signed Lenin's decrees shutting down hostile newspapers,[188] and along with Sverdlov, he chaired the sessions of the committee drafting a constitution for the new Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.[189] He strongly supported Lenin's formation of the Cheka security service and the subsequent Red Terror that it initiated; noting that state violence had proved an effective tool for capitalist powers, he believed that it would prove the same for the Soviet government.[190] Unlike senior Bolsheviks like Kamenev and Nikolai Bukharin, Stalin never expressed concern about the rapid growth and expansion of the Cheka and Red Terror.[190] The Moscow Kremlin, which Stalin moved into in 1918 Having dropped his editorship of Pravda,[191] Stalin was appointed the People's Commissar for Nationalities.[192] He took Nadezhda Alliluyeva as his secretary[193] and at some point, married her, although the wedding date is unknown.[194] In November 1917, he signed the Decree on Nationality, according ethnic and national minorities living in Russia the right of secession and self-determination.[195] The decree's purpose was primarily strategic; the Bolsheviks wanted to gain favour among ethnic minorities but hoped that the latter would not actually desire independence.[196] That month, he travelled to Helsingfors to talk with the Finnish Social Democrats, granting Finland's request for independence in December.[196] His department allocated funds for establishment of presses and schools in the languages of various ethnic minorities.[197] Socialist revolutionaries accused Stalin's talk of federalism and national self-determination as a front for Sovnarkom's centralising and imperialist policies.[189] Because of the ongoing First World War, in which Russia was fighting the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary, Lenin's government relocated from Petrograd to Moscow in March 1918. Stalin, Trotsky, Sverdlov, and Lenin lived at the Kremlin.[198] Stalin supported Lenin's desire to sign an armistice with the Central Powers regardless of the cost in territory.[199] Stalin thought it necessary because — unlike Lenin — he was unconvinced that Europe was on the verge of proletarian revolution.[200] Lenin eventually convinced the other senior Bolsheviks of his viewpoint, resulting in the signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in March 1918.[201] The treaty gave vast areas of land and resources to the Central Powers and angered many in Russia; the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries withdrew from the coalition government over the issue.[202] The governing RSDLP party was soon renamed, becoming the Russian Communist Party.[203] 1918–1921: Military command After the Bolsheviks seized power, both right and left-wing armies rallied against them, generating the Russian Civil War.[204] In May 1918, amid a diwndling food supply, Sovnarkom sent Stalin to Tsaritsyn to take charge of food procurement in Southern Russia.[205] Eager to prove himself as a commander,[206] once there he took control of regional military operations.[207] He befriended two military figures, Kliment Voroshilov and Semyon Budyonny, who would form the nucleus of his military and political support base.[208] Believing that victory was assured by numerical superiority, he sent large numbers of Red Army troops into battle against the region's anti-Bolshevik White armies, resulting in heavy losses; Lenin was concerned by this costly tactic.[209] In Tsaritsyn, Stalin commanded the local Cheka branch to execute suspected counterrevolutionaries, sometimes without trial[210] and — in contravention of government orders — purged the military and food collection agencies of middle-class specialists, some of whom he also executed.[211] His use of state violence and terror was at a greater scale than most Bolshevik leaders approved of;[212] for instance, he ordered several villages to be torched to ensure compliance with his food procurement program.[213] In December 1918, Stalin was sent to Perm to lead an inquiry into how Alexander Kolchak's White forces had been able to decimate Red troops based there.[214] He returned to Moscow between January and March 1919,[215] before being assigned to the Western Front at Petrograd.[216] When the Red Third Regiment defected, he ordered the public execution of captured defectors.[215] In September, he was returned to the Southern Front.[215] During the war, he proved his worth to the Central Committee, displaying decisiveness, determination, and willingness to take on responsibility in conflict situations.[206] At the same time, he disregarded orders and repeatedly threatened to resign when affronted.[217] He was reprimanded by Lenin at the 8th Party Congress for employing tactics which resulted in far too many deaths of Red Army soldiers.[218] In November 1919, the government nonetheless awarded him the Order of the Red Banner for his wartime service.[219] The Bolsheviks won the Russian Civil War by the end of 1919.[220] By that time, Sovnarkom had turned its attention to spreading proletarian revolution abroad, to this end forming the Communist International in March 1919; Stalin attended its inaugural ceremony.[221] Although Stalin did not share Lenin's belief that Europe's proletariat were on the verge of revolution, he acknowledged that as long as it stood alone, Soviet Russia remained vulnerable.[222] In December 1918, he drew up decrees recognising Marxist-governed Soviet republics in Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia;[223] during the civil war these Marxist governments were overthrown and the Baltic countries became fully independent of Russia, an act Stalin regarded as illegitimate.[224] In February 1920, he was appointed to head the Workers' and Peasants' Inspectorate;[225] that same month he was also transferred to the Caucasian Front.[226] Joseph Stalin in 1920 Following earlier clashes between Polish and Russian troops, the Polish–Soviet War broke out in early 1920, with the Poles invading Ukraine and taking Kiev on 7 May.[227] On 26 May, Stalin was moved to Ukraine, on the Southwest Front.[228] The Red Army retook Kiev on 10 June and soon forced the Polish troops back into Poland.[229] On 16 July, the Central Committee decided to take the war into Polish territory.[230] Lenin believed that the Polish proletariat would rise up to support the Russians against Józef Piłsudski's Polish government.[230] Stalin had cautioned against this; he believed that nationalism would lead the Polish working-classes to support their government's war effort.[230] He also believed that the Red Army was ill-prepared to conduct an offensive war and that it would give White armies a chance to resurface in Crimea, potentially reigniting the civil war.[230] Stalin lost the argument, after which he accepted Lenin's decision and supported it.[226] Along the Southwest Front, he became determined to conquer Lvov; in focusing on this goal, he disobeyed orders in early August to transfer his troops to assist Mikhail Tukhachevsky's forces that were attacking Warsaw.[231] In mid-August 1920, the Poles repulsed the Russian advance, and Stalin returned to Moscow to attend the Politburo meeting.[232] Tukhachevsky blamed Stalin for his defeat at the Battle of Warsaw.[233] In Moscow, Lenin and Trotsky also blamed him for his behaviour in the Polish–Soviet War.[234] Stalin felt humiliated and under-appreciated; on 17 August, he demanded demission from the military, which was granted on 1 September.[235] At the 9th Bolshevik Conference in late September, Trotsky accused Stalin of "strategic mistakes" in his handling of the war.[236] Trotsky claimed that Stalin sabotaged the campaign by disobeying troop transfer orders.[237] Lenin joined Trotsky in criticising him, and nobody spoke on his behalf at the conference.[238] Stalin felt disgraced and his antipathy toward Trotsky increased.[218] The Polish–Soviet War ended on 18 March 1921, when a peace treaty was signed in Riga.[239] 1921–1923: Lenin's final years Stalin wearing an Order of the Red Banner. According to info published in Pravda (Pravda. 24 December 1939. No: 354 (8039)), this photograph was taken in Ordzhonikidze's house in 1921. The Soviet government sought to bring neighbouring states under its domination; in February 1921 it invaded the Menshevik-governed Georgia,[240] while in April 1921, Stalin ordered the Red Army into Turkestan to reassert Russian state control.[241] As People's Commissar for Nationalities, Stalin believed that each national and ethnic group should have the right to self-expression,[242] facilitated through "autonomous republics" within the Russian state in which they could oversee various regional affairs.[243] In taking this view, some Marxists accused him of bending too much to bourgeois nationalism, while others accused him of remaining too Russocentric by seeking to retain these nations within the Russian state.[242] Stalin's native Caucasus posed a particular problem because of its highly multi-ethnic mix.[244] Stalin opposed the idea of separate Georgian, Armenian, and Azeri autonomous republics, arguing that these would likely oppress ethnic minorities within their respective territories; instead, he called for a Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic.[245] The Georgian Communist Party opposed the idea, resulting in the Georgian affair.[246] In mid-1921, Stalin returned to the South Caucasus, there calling on Georgian communists to avoid the chauvinistic Georgian nationalism which marginalised the Abkhazian, Ossetian, and Adjarian minorities in Georgia.[247] On this trip, Stalin met with his son Yakov, and brought him back to Moscow;[248] Nadezhda had given birth to another of Stalin's sons, Vasily, in March 1921.[248] After the civil war, workers' strikes and peasant uprisings broke out across Russia, largely in opposition to Sovnarkom's food requisitioning project; as an antidote, Lenin introduced market-oriented reforms: the New Economic Policy (NEP).[249] There was also internal turmoil in the Communist Party, as Trotsky led a faction calling for abolition of trade unions; Lenin opposed this, and Stalin helped rally opposition to Trotsky's position.[250] Stalin also agreed to supervise the Department of Agitation and Propaganda in the Central Committee Secretariat.[251] At the 11th Party Congress in 1922, Lenin nominated Stalin as the party's new General Secretary. Although concerns were expressed that adopting this new post on top of his others would overstretch his workload and give him too much power, Stalin was appointed to the position.[252] For Lenin, it was advantageous to have a key ally in this crucial post.[253] Stalin is too crude, and this defect which is entirely acceptable in our milieu and in relationships among us as communists, becomes unacceptable in the position of General Secretary. I therefore propose to comrades that they should devise a means of removing him from this job and should appoint to this job someone else who is distinguished from comrade Stalin in all other respects only by the single superior aspect that he should be more tolerant, more polite and more attentive towards comrades, less capricious, etc. — Lenin's Testament, 4 January 1923;[254] this was possibly composed by Krupskaya rather than Lenin himself.[255] In May 1922, a massive stroke left Lenin partially paralysed.[256] Residing at his Gorki dacha, Lenin's main connection to Sovnarkom was through Stalin, who was a regular visitor.[257] Lenin twice asked Stalin to procure poison so that he could commit suicide, but Stalin never did so.[258] Despite this comradeship, Lenin disliked what he referred to as Stalin's "Asiatic" manner and told his sister Maria that Stalin was "not intelligent".[259] Lenin and Stalin argued on the issue of foreign trade; Lenin believed that the Soviet state should have a monopoly on foreign trade, but Stalin supported Grigori Sokolnikov's view that doing so was impractical at that stage.[260] Another disagreement came over the Georgian affair, with Lenin backing the Georgian Central Committee's desire for a Georgian Soviet Republic over Stalin's idea of a Transcaucasian one.[261] They also disagreed on the nature of the Soviet state. Lenin called for establishment of a new federation named the "Union of Soviet Republics of Europe and Asia", reflecting his desire for expansion across the two continents and insisted that the Russian state should join this union on equal terms with the other Soviet states.[262] Stalin believed this would encourage independence sentiment among non-Russians, instead arguing that ethnic minorities would be content as "autonomous republics" within the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.[263] Lenin accused Stalin of "Great Russian chauvinism"; Stalin accused Lenin of "national liberalism".[264] A compromise was reached, in which the federation would be renamed the "Union of Soviet Socialist Republics" (USSR).[262] The USSR's formation was ratified in December 1922; although officially a federal system, all major decisions were taken by the governing Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in Moscow.[265] Their differences also became personal; Lenin was particularly angered when Stalin was rude to his wife Krupskaya during a telephone conversation.[266] In the final years of his life, Krupskaya provided governing figures with Lenin's Testament, a series of increasingly disparaging notes about Stalin. These criticised Stalin's rude manners and excessive power, suggesting that Stalin should be removed from the position of general secretary.[267] Some historians have questioned whether Lenin ever produced these, suggesting instead that they may have been written by Krupskaya, who had personal differences with Stalin;[255] Stalin, however, never publicly voiced concerns about their authenticity.[268] Most historians consider the document to be an accurate reflection of Lenin's views.[269] According to Stalin's secretary, Boris Bazhanov, Lenin "in general leaned towards a collegial leadership, with Trotsky in the first position".[270] Consolidation of power Main article: Joseph Stalin's rise to power 1924–1927: Succeeding Lenin (From left to right) Stalin, Alexei Rykov, Lev Kamenev, and Grigori Zinoviev in 1925. The latter three later all fell out with Stalin and were executed during the Great Purge Lenin died in January 1924.[271] Stalin took charge of the funeral and was one of its pallbearers; against the wishes of Lenin's widow, the Politburo embalmed his corpse and placed it within a mausoleum in Moscow's Red Square.[272] It was incorporated into a growing personality cult devoted to Lenin, with Petrograd being renamed "Leningrad" that year.[273] To bolster his image as a devoted Leninist, Stalin gave nine lectures at Sverdlov University on the Foundations of Leninism, later published in book form.[274] During the 13th Party Congress in May 1924, Lenin's Testament was read only to the leaders of the provincial delegations.[275] Embarrassed by its contents, Stalin offered his resignation as General Secretary; this act of humility saved him, and he was retained in the position.[276] According to Stalin's secretary, Boris Bazhanov, Stalin was jubilant over Lenin's death while "publicly putting on the mask of grief".[277] As General Secretary, Stalin had a free hand in making appointments to his own staff, implanting his loyalists throughout the party and administration.[278] Favouring new Communist Party members from proletarian backgrounds to the "Old Bolsheviks" who tended to be middle class university graduates,[279] he ensured he had loyalists dispersed across the country's regions.[280] Stalin had much contact with young party functionaries,[281] and the desire for promotion led many provincial figures to seek to impress Stalin and gain his favour.[282] Stalin also developed close relations with the trio at the heart of the secret police (first the Cheka and then its replacement, the State Political Directorate): Felix Dzerzhinsky, Genrikh Yagoda, and Vyacheslav Menzhinsky.[283] In his private life, he divided his time between his Kremlin apartment and a dacha at Zubalova;[284] his wife gave birth to a daughter, Svetlana, in February 1926.[285] In the wake of Lenin's death, various protagonists emerged in the struggle to become his successor: alongside Stalin was Trotsky, Zinoviev, Kamenev, Bukharin, Alexei Rykov, and Mikhail Tomsky.[286] Stalin saw Trotsky — whom he personally despised[287] — as the main obstacle to his dominance within the party.[288] While Lenin had been ill Stalin with Kamenev and Zinoviev had formed an unofficial Triumvirate (also known by its Russian name Troika), a political alliance aimed at Trotsky.[289] Although Zinoviev was concerned about Stalin's growing authority, he rallied behind him at the 13th Congress as a counterweight to Trotsky, who now led a party faction known as the Left Opposition.[290] The Left Opposition believed the NEP conceded too much to capitalism; Stalin was called a "rightist" for his support of the policy.[291] Stalin built up a retinue of his supporters in the Central Committee,[292] while the Left Opposition were gradually removed from their positions of influence.[293] He was supported in this by Bukharin, who, like Stalin, believed that the Left Opposition's proposals would plunge the Soviet Union into instability.[294] Stalin and his close associates Anastas Mikoyan and Sergo Ordzhonikidze in Tbilisi, 1925 In late 1924, Stalin moved against Kamenev and Zinoviev, removing their supporters from key positions.[295] In 1925, the two moved into open opposition to Stalin and Bukharin.[296] At the 14th Party Congress in December, they launched an attack against Stalin's faction, but it was unsuccessful.[297] Stalin in turn accused Kamenev and Zinoviev of reintroducing factionalism — and thus instability — into the party.[297] In mid-1926, Kamenev and Zinoviev joined with Trotsky's supporters to form the United Opposition against Stalin;[298] in October they agreed to stop factional activity under threat of expulsion, and later publicly recanted their views under Stalin's command.[299] The factionalist arguments continued, with Stalin threatening to resign in October and then December 1926 and again in December 1927.[300] In October 1927, Zinoviev and Trotsky were removed from the Central Committee;[301] the latter was exiled to Kazakhstan and later deported from the country in 1929.[302] Some of those United Opposition members who were repentant were later rehabilitated and returned to government.[303] Stalin was now the party's supreme leader,[304] although he was not the head of government, a task he entrusted to his key ally Vyacheslav Molotov.[305] Other important supporters on the Politburo were Voroshilov, Lazar Kaganovich, and Sergo Ordzhonikidze,[306] with Stalin ensuring his allies ran the various state institutions.[307] According to Montefiore, at this point "Stalin was the leader of the oligarchs but he was far from a dictator".[308] His growing influence was reflected in naming of various locations after him; in June 1924 the Ukrainian mining town of Yuzovka became Stalino,[309] and in April 1925, Tsaritsyn was renamed Stalingrad on the order of Mikhail Kalinin and Avel Enukidze.[310] In 1926, Stalin published On Questions of Leninism.[311] Here, he argued for the concept of "socialism in one country", which he presented as an orthodox Leninist perspective. It nevertheless clashed with established Bolshevik views that socialism could not be established in one country but could only be achieved globally through the process of world revolution.[311] 1927–1931: Dekulakisation, collectivisation, and industrialisation Economic policy We have fallen behind the advanced countries by fifty to a hundred years. We must close that gap in ten years. Either we do this or we'll be crushed. This is what our obligations before the workers and peasants of the USSR dictate to us. — Stalin, February 1931[312] The Soviet Union lagged behind the industrial development of Western countries,[313] and there had been a shortfall of grain; 1927 produced only 70% of grain produced in 1926.[314] Stalin's government feared attack from Japan, France, the United Kingdom, Poland, and Romania.[315] Many communists, including in Komsomol, OGPU, and the Red Army, were eager to be rid of the NEP and its market-oriented approach;[316] they had concerns about those who profited from the policy: affluent peasants known as "kulaks" and small business owners or "NEPmen".[317] At this point, Stalin turned against the NEP, which put him on a course to the "left" even of Trotsky or Zinoviev.[318] In early 1928, Stalin travelled to Novosibirsk, where he alleged that kulaks were hoarding their grain and ordered that the kulaks be arrested and their grain confiscated, with Stalin bringing much of the area's grain back to Moscow with him in February.[319] At his command, grain procurement squads surfaced across Western Siberia and the Urals, with violence breaking out between these squads and the peasantry.[320] Stalin announced that both kulaks and the "middle peasants" must be coerced into releasing their harvest.[321] Bukharin and several other Central Committee members were angry that they had not been consulted about this measure, which they deemed rash.[322] In January 1930, the Politburo approved the liquidation of the kulak class; accused kulaks were rounded up and exiled to other parts of the country or to concentration camps.[323] Large numbers died during the journey.[324] By July 1930, over 320,000 households had been affected by the de-kulakisation policy.[323] According to Stalin biographer Dmitri Volkogonov, de-kulakisation was "the first mass terror applied by Stalin in his own country."[325] Aleksei Grigorievich Stakhanov with a fellow miner; Stalin's government initiated the Stakhanovite movement to encourage hard work.[326] In 1929, the Politburo announced the mass collectivisation of agriculture,[327] establishing both kolkhozy collective farms and sovkhoz state farms.[328] Stalin barred kulaks from joining these collectives.[329] Although officially voluntary, many peasants joined the collectives out of fear they would face the fate of the kulaks; others joined amid intimidation and violence from party loyalists.[330] By 1932, about 62% of households involved in agriculture were part of collectives, and by 1936 this had risen to 90%.[331] Many of the collectivised peasants resented the loss of their private farmland,[332] and productivity slumped.[333] Famine broke out in many areas,[334] with the Politburo frequently ordering distribution of emergency food relief to these regions.[335] Armed peasant uprisings against dekulakisation and collectivisation broke out in Ukraine, the North Caucasus, Southern Russia, and Central Asia, reaching their apex in March 1930; these were suppressed by the Red Army.[336] Stalin responded to the uprisings with an article insisting that collectivisation was voluntary and blaming any violence and other excesses on local officials.[337] Although he and Stalin had been close for many years,[338] Bukharin expressed concerns about these policies; he regarded them as a return to Lenin's old "war communism" policy and believed that it would fail. By mid-1928 he was unable to rally sufficient support in the party to oppose the reforms.[339] In November 1929 Stalin removed him from the Politburo.[340] Officially, the Soviet Union had replaced the "irrationality" and "wastefulness" of a market economy with a planned economy organised along a long-term, precise, and scientific framework; in reality, Soviet economics were based on ad hoc commandments issued from the centre, often to make short-term targets.[341] In 1928, the first five-year plan was launched, its main focus on boosting heavy industry;[342] it was finished a year ahead of schedule, in 1932.[343] The USSR underwent a massive economic transformation.[344] New mines were opened, new cities like Magnitogorsk constructed, and work on the White Sea–Baltic Canal began.[344] Millions of peasants moved to the cities, although urban house building could not keep up with the demand.[344] Large debts were accrued purchasing foreign-made machinery.[345] Many of major construction projects, including the White Sea–Baltic Canal and the Moscow Metro, were constructed largely through forced labour.[346] The last elements of workers' control over industry were removed, with factory managers increasing their authority and receiving privileges and perks;[347] Stalin defended wage disparity by pointing to Marx's argument that it was necessary during the lower stages of socialism.[348] To promote intensification of labour, a series of medals and awards as well as the Stakhanovite movement were introduced.[326] Stalin's message was that socialism was being established in the USSR while capitalism was crumbling amid the Wall Street crash.[349] His speeches and articles reflected his utopian vision of the Soviet Union rising to unparalleled heights of human development, creating a "new Soviet person".[350] Cultural and foreign policy In 1928, Stalin declared that class war between the proletariat and their enemies would intensify as socialism developed.[351] He warned of a "danger from the right", including in the Communist Party itself.[352] The first major show trial in the USSR was the Shakhty Trial of 1928, in which several middle-class "industrial specialists" were convicted of sabotage.[353] From 1929 to 1930, further show trials were held to intimidate opposition:[354] these included the Industrial Party Trial, Menshevik Trial, and Metro-Vickers Trial.[355] Aware that the ethnic Russian majority may have concerns about being ruled by a Georgian,[356] he promoted ethnic Russians throughout the state hierarchy and made the Russian language compulsory throughout schools and offices, albeit to be used in tandem with local languages in areas with non-Russian majorities.[357] Nationalist sentiment among ethnic minorities was suppressed.[358] Conservative social policies were promoted to enhance social discipline and boost population growth; this included a focus on strong family units and motherhood, re-criminalisation of homosexuality, restrictions placed on abortion and divorce, and abolition of the Zhenotdel women's department.[359] Photograph taken of the 1931 demolition of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow in order to make way for the planned Palace of the Soviets Stalin desired a "cultural revolution",[360] entailing both creation of a culture for the "masses" and wider dissemination of previously elite culture.[361] He oversaw proliferation of schools, newspapers, and libraries, as well as advancement of literacy and numeracy.[362] Socialist realism was promoted throughout arts,[363] while Stalin personally wooed prominent writers, namely Maxim Gorky, Mikhail Sholokhov, and Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy.[364] He also expressed patronage for scientists whose research fitted within his preconceived interpretation of Marxism; for instance, he endorsed research of an agrobiologist Trofim Lysenko despite the fact that it was rejected by the majority of Lysenko's scientific peers as pseudo-scientific.[365] The government's anti-religious campaign was re-intensified,[366] with increased funding given to the League of Militant Atheists.[358] Priests, imams, and Buddhist monks faced persecution.[354] Many religious buildings were demolished, most notably Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, destroyed in 1931 to make way for the (never completed) Palace of the Soviets.[367] Religion retained an influence over much of the population; in the 1937 census, 57% of respondents were willing to admit to being religious.[368] Throughout the 1920s and beyond, Stalin placed a high priority on foreign policy.[369] He personally met with a range of Western visitors, including George Bernard Shaw and H. G. Wells, both of whom were impressed with him.[370] Through the Communist International, Stalin's government exerted a strong influence over Marxist parties elsewhere in the world;[371] initially, Stalin left the running of the organisation largely to Bukharin.[372] At its 6th Congress in July 1928, Stalin informed delegates that the main threat to socialism came not from the right but from non-Marxist socialists and social democrats, whom he called "social fascists";[373] Stalin recognised that in many countries, the social democrats were the Marxist-Leninists' main rivals for working-class support.[374] This preoccupation with opposing rival leftists concerned Bukharin, who regarded the growth of fascism and the far right across Europe as a far greater threat.[372] After Bukharin's departure, Stalin placed the Communist International under the administration of Dmitry Manuilsky and Osip Piatnitsky.[371] Stalin faced problems in his family life. In 1929, his son Yakov unsuccessfully attempted suicide; his failure earned Stalin's contempt.[375] His relationship with Nadezhda was also strained amid their arguments and her mental health problems.[376] In November 1932, after a group dinner in the Kremlin in which Stalin flirted with other women, Nadezhda shot herself.[377] Publicly, the cause of death was given as appendicitis; Stalin also concealed the real cause of death from his children.[378] Stalin's friends noted that he underwent a significant change following her suicide, becoming emotionally harder.[379] 1932–1939: Major crises Famine Further information: Soviet famine of 1930–1933, Holodomor, and Kazakh famine of 1930–1933 Soviet famine of 1930–33. Areas of most disastrous famine marked with black. Within the Soviet Union, there was widespread civic disgruntlement against Stalin's government.[380] Social unrest, previously restricted largely to the countryside, was increasingly evident in urban areas, prompting Stalin to ease on some of his economic policies in 1932.[381] In May 1932, he introduced a system of kolkhoz markets where peasants could trade their surplus produce.[382] At the same time, penal sanctions became more severe; at Stalin's instigation, in August 1932 a decree was introduced wherein the theft of even a handful of grain could be a capital offence.[383] The second five-year plan had its production quotas reduced from that of the first, with the main emphasis now being on improving living conditions.[381] It therefore emphasised the expansion of housing space and the production of consumer goods.[381] Like its predecessor, this plan was repeatedly amended to meet changing situations; there was for instance an increasing emphasis placed on armament production after Adolf Hitler became German chancellor in 1933.[384] The Soviet Union experienced a major famine which peaked in the winter of 1932–33;[385] between five and seven million people died.[386] The worst affected areas were Ukraine and the North Caucasus, although the famine also affected Kazakhstan and several Russian provinces.[387] Historians have long debated whether Stalin's government had intended the famine to occur or not;[388] there are no known documents in which Stalin or his government explicitly called for starvation to be used against the population.[389] The 1931 and 1932 harvests had been poor ones because of weather conditions[390] and had followed several years in which lower productivity had resulted in a gradual decline in output.[386] Government policies—including the focus on rapid industrialisation, the socialisation of livestock, and the emphasis on sown areas over crop rotation—exacerbated the problem;[391] the state had also failed to build reserve grain stocks for such an emergency.[392] Stalin blamed the famine on hostile elements and sabotage within the peasantry;[393] his government provided small amounts of food to famine-struck rural areas, although this was wholly insufficient to deal with the levels of starvation.[394] The Soviet government believed that food supplies should be prioritised for the urban workforce;[395] for Stalin, the fate of Soviet industrialisation was far more important than the lives of the peasantry.[396] Grain exports, which were a major means of Soviet payment for machinery, declined heavily.[394] Stalin would not acknowledge that his policies had contributed to the famine,[383] the existence of which was kept secret from foreign observers.[397] Ideological and foreign affairs See also: 1931 Prussian Landtag referendum, Moscow Trials, and Stalin's cult of personality In 1935–36, Stalin oversaw a new constitution; its dramatic liberal features were designed as propaganda weapons, for all power rested in the hands of Stalin and his Politburo.[398] He declared that "socialism, which is the first phase of communism, has basically been achieved in this country".[398] In 1938, The History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks), colloquially known as the Short Course, was released;[399] biographer Robert Conquest later referred to it as the "central text of Stalinism".[400] A number of authorised Stalin biographies were also published,[401] although Stalin generally wanted to be portrayed as the embodiment of the Communist Party rather than have his life story explored.[402] During the later 1930s, Stalin placed "a few limits on the worship of his own greatness".[402] By 1938, Stalin's inner circle had gained a degree of stability, containing the personalities who would remain there until Stalin's death.[403] Review of Soviet armoured fighting vehicles used to equip the Republican People's Army during the Spanish Civil War Seeking improved international relations, in 1934 the Soviet Union secured membership of the League of Nations, from which it had previously been excluded.[404] Stalin initiated confidential communications with Hitler in October 1933, shortly after the latter came to power in Germany.[405] Stalin admired Hitler, particularly his manoeuvres to remove rivals within the Nazi Party in the Night of the Long Knives.[406] Stalin nevertheless recognised the threat posed by fascism and sought to establish better links with the liberal democracies of Western Europe;[407] in May 1935, the Soviets signed a treaty of mutual assistance with France and Czechoslovakia.[408] At the Communist International's 7th Congress, held in July–August 1935, the Soviet government encouraged Marxist-Leninists to unite with other leftists as part of a popular front against fascism.[409] In turn, the anti-communist governments of Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Imperial Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact of 1936.[410] When the Spanish Civil War broke out in July 1936, the Soviets sent 648 aircraft and 407 tanks to the left-wing Republican faction; these were accompanied by 3,000 Soviet troops and 42,000 members of the International Brigades set up by the Communist International.[411] Stalin took a strong personal involvement in the Spanish situation.[412] Germany and Italy backed the Nationalist faction, which was ultimately victorious in March 1939.[413] With the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in July 1937, the Soviet Union and China signed a non-aggression pact the following August.[414] Stalin aided the Chinese Communist Party as they had suspended their civil war with the Kuomintang (KMT) nationalists and formed the desired United Front against Japanese aggression.[415] The Great Terror Main article: Great Purge Exhumed mass grave of the Vinnitsia massacre Stalin often gave conflicting signals regarding state repression.[416] In May 1933, he released from prison many convicted of minor offences, ordering the security services not to enact further mass arrests and deportations.[417] In September 1934, he launched a commission to investigate false imprisonments; that same month he called for the execution of workers at the Stalin Metallurgical Factory accused of spying for Japan.[416] This mixed approach began to change in December 1934, after prominent party member Sergey Kirov was murdered.[418] After the murder, Stalin became increasingly concerned by the threat of assassination, improved his personal security, and rarely went out in public.[419] State repression intensified after Kirov's death;[420] Stalin instigated this, reflecting his prioritisation of security above other considerations.[421] Stalin issued a decree establishing NKVD troikas which could mete out rulings without involving the courts.[422] In 1935, he ordered the NKVD to expel suspected counterrevolutionaries from urban areas;[384] in early 1935, over 11,000 were expelled from Leningrad.[384] In 1936, Nikolai Yezhov became head of the NKVD.[423] Stalin orchestrated the arrest of many former opponents in the Communist Party as well as sitting members of the Central Committee: denounced as Western-backed mercenaries, many were imprisoned or exiled internally.[424] The first Moscow Trial took place in August 1936; Kamenev and Zinoviev were among those accused of plotting assassinations, found guilty in a show trial, and executed.[425] The second Moscow Show Trial took place in January 1937,[426] and the third in March 1938, in which Bukharin and Rykov were accused of involvement in the alleged Trotskyite-Zinovievite terrorist plot and sentenced to death.[427] By late 1937, all remnants of collective leadership were gone from the Politburo, which was controlled entirely by Stalin.[428] There were mass expulsions from the party,[429] with Stalin commanding foreign communist parties to also purge anti-Stalinist elements.[430] Victims of Stalin's Great Terror in the Bykivnia mass graves Repressions further intensified in December 1936 and remained at a high level until November 1938, a period known as the Great Purge.[421] In May 1937, this was followed by the arrest of most members of the military Supreme Command and mass arrests throughout the military, often on fabricated charges.[431] By the latter part of 1937, the purges had moved beyond the party and were affecting the wider population.[432] In July 1937, the Politburo ordered a purge of "anti-Soviet elements" in society, targeting anti-Stalin Bolsheviks, former Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries, priests, ex-White Army soldiers, and common criminals.[433] That month, Stalin and Yezhov signed Order No. 00447, listing 268,950 people for arrest, of whom 75,950 were executed.[434] He also initiated "national operations", the ethnic cleansing of non-Soviet ethnic groups—amo

This film delves into the harrowing reality of the British prison system, shining a spotlight on the plight of individuals incarcerated without trial or convicted of minor offenses. It uncovers a disturbing truth: a staggering number of individuals, including first-time offenders, minors, and innocent people, find themselves trapped within a system that bears a resemblance to oppressive regimes devoid of fundamental human rights. The documentary paints a grim picture of the conditions within these prisons, where individuals endure deplorable treatment and confinement. Through firsthand accounts, viewers witness the stark and often inhumane conditions faced by inmates—overcrowded cells, unsanitary facilities, restricted movement, and limited access to essential medications. Stories of individuals forced to share cells with hardened criminals underscore the severe repercussions of the system's failings. This investigation reveals a startling statistic: a significant portion of those remanded in custody are eventually proven innocent or receive minimal penalties. This revelation prompts a critical examination of the judicial process, with insights from legal professionals highlighting the shortcomings of magistrates who may overlook crucial case details or adopt punitive attitudes without due consideration. Moreover, the documentary sheds light on the devastating mental toll exacted on prisoners, evident in the alarming rate of attempted suicides within these institutions. The despair and hopelessness experienced by those on remand serve as a poignant reminder of their dire circumstances and the absence of proper guidance and support within a justice system that feels distant and indifferent to their plight. The documentary is a powerful exposé that challenges the very essence of justice and raises poignant questions about the treatment of individuals ensnared in a system that often fails to uphold their rights and dignity. A presumption of guilt is any presumption within the criminal justice system that a person is guilty of a crime, for example a presumption that a suspect is guilty unless or until proven to be innocent.[1] Such a presumption may legitimately arise from a rule of law or a procedural rule of the court or other adjudicating body which determines how the facts in the case are to be proved, and may be either rebuttable or irrebuttable. An irrebuttable presumption of fact may not be challenged by the defense, and the presumed fact is taken as having been proved. A rebuttable presumption shifts the burden of proof onto the defense, who must collect and present evidence to prove the suspect's innocence, in order to obtain acquittal.[2] Rebuttable presumptions of fact, arising during the course of a trial as a result of specific factual situations (for example that the accused has taken flight),[3] are common; an opening presumption of guilt based on the mere fact that the suspect has been charged is considered illegitimate in many countries,[4] and contrary to international human rights standards. In the United States, an irrebuttable presumption of guilt is considered to be unconstitutional. Informal and legally illegitimate presumptions of guilt may also arise from the attitudes or prejudices of those such as judges, lawyers or police officers who administer the system. Such presumptions may result in suspects who are innocent being brought before a court to face criminal charges, with a risk of improperly being found guilty. Definition According to Herbert L. Packer, "It would be a mistake to think of the presumption of guilt as the opposite of the presumption of innocence that we are so used to thinking of as the polestar of the criminal process and which... occupies an important position in the Due Process Model."[5] The presumption of guilt prioritizes speed and efficiency over reliability, and prevails when due process is absent.[5] In State v. Brady (1902) 91 NW 801, Weaver J said "'Presumptions of guilt' and 'prima facie' cases of guilt in the trial of a party charged with crime mean no more than that from the proof of certain facts the jury will be warranted in convicting the accused of the offense with which he is charged".[6] Human rights In Director of Public Prosecutions v. Labavarde and Anor, Neerunjun C.J. said that article 11(1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and article 6(2) of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms would be infringed if "the whole burden is ... cast on the defence by the creation of a presumption of guilt on the mere preferment of the criminal charge".[7][8] Inquisitorial systems It is sometimes said that in inquisitorial systems, a defendant is guilty until proven innocent.[9] It has also been said that this is a myth,[10] as well as a former "common conceit of English lawyers" who asserted this was the case in France.[11][12] A presumption of guilt is incompatible with the presumption of innocence and moves an accusational system of justice toward the inquisitional.[13] Common law presumptions There have existed at least two types of presumption of guilt under the law of England, which arose from a rule of law or a procedural rule of the court or other adjudicating body and determined how the facts in the case were to be proven, and could be either rebuttable or irrebuttable. Those were:[14] Presumption of guilt arising from the conduct of the party charged Presumption of guilt arising from the possession of provable stolen property Consequences Plea bargaining has been said to involve a presumption of guilt.[15] The American Bar Association states that people with limited resources accused of a crime "find themselves trapped by a system that presumes their guilt."[16] Presumption of guilt on the part of investigators may result in false confessions,[17] as was postulated in Making a Murderer, an American documentary television series.[18] Preventive detention, detaining an individual for a crime they may commit, has been said to involve a presumption of guilt, or something very close to one.[19][20] A fixed penalty notice or on-the-spot fine are penalties issued by police for minor offences which are difficult and expensive to appeal.[21] Unconstitutional, illegitimate and informal presumptions An irrebuttable presumption of guilt is unconstitutional in the United States.[22] An arrest, however, often becomes synonymous or "fused" with guilt, postulates Anna Roberts, a United States law professor.[23] In the minds of jurors, the person charged must have done something wrong.[18] In Japan the criminal justice system has been criticized for its wide use of detentions during which suspects are forced to make false confessions during interrogations.[24][25] In 2020, Japan's Justice Minister Masako Mori tweeted regarding the need for someone to prove their innocence in a court of law. She later deleted the tweet and called it "verbal gaffe".[26] High Court judge Sir Richard Henriques has criticized UK police training and methods which allegedly assert that "only 0.1% of rape allegations are false", and in which all complainants are treated as "victims" from the start.[27][28] It is difficult to assess the true prevalence of false rape allegations, but it is generally agreed that rape accusations are false at least 2% to 10% of the time, with a greater proportion of cases not being proven to be true or false.[29][30] The American actor and producer Jeremy Piven has spoken out against the Me Too movement, which he claims, "put lives in jeopardy without a hearing, due process or evidence". Writing about Piven's comment, journalist Brendan O'Neill, suggests that the presumption of innocence is being weakened.[31] An illegitimate presumption of guilt may be caused or motivated by factors such as racial prejudice,[32] "media frenzy",[18][33] cognitive bias,[18][32][34] and others. See also Blackstone's ratio False accusation Give me the man and I will give you the case against him Kangaroo court Prosecutor's fallacy Understanding References Raj Bhala. Modern GATT Law: A Treatise on the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. Sweet & Maxwell. 2005. Page 935. Roscoe, H.; Granger, T.C.; Sharswood, G. (1852). A Digest of the Law of Evidence in Criminal Cases. T. & J.W. Johnson. Retrieved 11 March 2020. This is how presumptions have traditionally been classified: Zuckerman, The Principles of Criminal Evidence, 1989, pp 112 to 115. An irrebuttable presumption of guilt is unconstitutional in the United States: Florida Businessmen for Free Enterprise v. State of Fla. See United States Code Annotated. An example of a rebuttable presumption of guilt is (1983) 301 SE 2d 984. "The presumption of guilt arising from the flight of the accused is a presumption of fact": Hickory v United States (1896) 160 United States Reports 408 (headnote published 1899). Ralph A Newman (ed). Equity in the World's Legal Systems. Établissements Émile Bruylant. 1973. p 559. Packer, Herbert L. (November 1964). "Two Models of the Criminal Process". University of Pennsylvania Law Review. Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania. 113 (1): 1–68. doi:10.2307/3310562. JSTOR 3310562. Archived from the original on 27 April 2019. Retrieved 7 May 2019. Wigmore, John Henry (1905). A Treatise on the System of Evidence in Trials at Common Law. Vol. 4. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. p. 3562, Note 1 to section 2513 – via Internet Archive. Director of Public Prosecutions v. Labavarde and Anor. (1965) 44 International Law Reports 104 at 106; Mauritius Reports, 1965 72 at 74, Mauritius, High Court Lauterpacht, E. (1972). International Law Reports. International Law Reports 160 Volume Hardback Set. Cambridge University Press. p. 104. ISBN 978-0-521-46389-8. Retrieved 11 March 2020. For example, Scottish International, vols 6 to 7, p 146 Dammer and Albanese. Comparative Criminal Justice Systems. Wadsworth. 2014. p 128. Roberts and Redmayne. Innovations in Evidence and Proof: Integrating Theory, Research and Teaching. Hart Publishing. Oxford and Portland, Oregon. 2007. p 379. For the origins of this belief in South Africa, see (1970) 87 South African Law Journal 413 Ingraham, Barton L. (1996). "The Right of Silence, the Presumption of Innocence, the Burden of Proof, and a Modest Proposal". Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology. 86 (2): 559. doi:10.2307/1144036. JSTOR 1144036. Retrieved 31 August 2021. Roscoe, H.; Granger, T.C. (1840). A Digest of the Law of Evidence in Criminal Cases. p. 13. Retrieved 11 March 2020. "5. The Presumption of Guilt" (1973) 82 Yale Law Journal 312; "The Skeleton of Plea Bargaing" (1992) 142 New Law Journal 1373; (1995) 14 UCLA Pacific Basin Law Journal 129 & 130; (1986) 77 Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology 950; Stumpf, American Judicial Politics, Prentice Hall, 1998, pp 305 & 328; Rhodes, Plea Bargaining: Who Gains? Who Loses?, Institute for Law and Social Research, 1978, p 9. Lewis, John; Stevenson, Bryan (1 January 2014). "On the Presumption of Guilt". American Bar. Green and Heilbrun, Wrightsman's Psychology and the Legal System, 8th Ed, Wadsworth, 2014, p 169; Roesch and Zapf and Hart, Forensic Psychology and Law, Wiley, 2010, p 158, Kocsis (ed), Applied Criminal Psychology, Charles C Thomas, 2009, p 200; Michael Marshall, "Police Presumption of Guilt Key in False Confessions". 12 November 2002. University of Virginia School of Law. Findley, Keith (19 January 2016). "Opinion | The presumption of innocence exists in theory, not reality". Washington Post. Archived from the original on 18 August 2019. Retrieved 11 March 2020. "Preventive Detention: Prevention of Human Rights" (1991) 2 Yale Journal of Law and Liberation 29 at 31; Selected Decisions of the Human Rights Committee under the Optional Protocol, United Nations, 2007, vol 8, p 347 New York Review, 'How internment became legal' Archived 8 October 2019 at the Wayback Machine, John Townsend Rich, 22/6/2017 Goodman, Emily Jane (7 October 2010). "With Parking Tickets, New Yorkers Are Guilty Until Proven Innocent". Gotham Gazette. Archived from the original on 21 November 2017. Retrieved 11 March 2020. Florida Businessmen for Free Enterprise v. State of Fla (1980) 499 F.Supp. 346. See United States Code Annotated. Roberts, Anna (23 April 2018). "Arrests As Guilt". SSRN 3167521. Hirano, Keiji (13 October 2005). "Justice system flawed by presumed guilt". Japan Times Online. Archived from the original on 21 December 2014. Retrieved 10 March 2020. Kingston, Jeff (8 January 2020). "The Carlos Ghosn case shines a light into the dark corners of Japanese justice". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 29 February 2020. Retrieved 10 March 2020. Adelstein, Jake; Salmon, Andrew (13 January 2020). "'Guilty until proven guilty' in Japan and Korea". Asia Times. Archived from the original on 5 March 2020. Retrieved 10 March 2020. ""If he's clean as he says he is, then he should fairly and squarely prove his innocence in the court of law."" Marco Giannangeli, "Police must stop training 'Presumption of Guilt', says High Court judge" Archived 7 February 2018 at the Wayback Machine, Daily Express, 24 December 2017. Accessed 6 February 2018. "Former High Court judge warns calling complainants 'victims' creates presumption of guilt", Scottish Legal News, 6 August 2019 DiCanio, M. The encyclopedia of violence: origins, attitudes, consequences. New York: Facts on File, 1993. ISBN 978-0-8160-2332-5. Lisak, David; Gardinier, Lori; Nicksa, Sarah C.; Cote, Ashley M. (2010). "False Allegations of Sexual Assault: An Analysis of Ten Years of Reported Cases". Violence Against Women. 16 (12): 1318–1334. doi:10.1177/1077801210387747. PMID 21164210. S2CID 15377916. Archived from the original on 15 March 2017. Retrieved 7 February 2018. Brendan O'Neill, "Whatever Happened to the Presumption of Innocence?" Archived 7 February 2018 at the Wayback Machine, Los Angeles Times, 16 November 2017. Accessed 6 February 2018. Stevenson, Bryan (24 June 2017). "A Presumption of Guilt". The New York Review of Books. Archived from the original on 12 December 2019. Retrieved 5 March 2020. "SHEPPARD v. MAXWELL (1966), No. 490, Argued: February 28, 1966 Decided: June 6, 1966". FindLaw's United States Supreme Court. Archived from the original on 6 December 2019. Retrieved 30 November 2019. "Cognitive Bias and Its Impact on Expert Witnesses and the Court". Archived from the original on 23 December 2019. Retrieved 23 December 2019. Further reading "Prima Facie Presumptions of Guilt" (1972) 121 University of Pennsylvania Law Review 531 Fellman. "Statutory Presumptions of Guilt". The Defendant's Rights Today. University of Wisconsin Press. 1977. p 106. Martin, "The Burden of Proof as Affected by Statutory Presumptions of Guilt" (1939) 17 Canadian Bar Review 37 Roscoe, H.; Granger, T.C. (1840). A Digest of the Law of Evidence in Criminal Cases. Wharton. A Treatise on the Criminal Law of the United States. 1857. Sections 714, 727, 728 Presumption of Guilt: The Global Overuse of Pretrial Detention published by Open Society Foundations

The dark side of history: https://thememoryhole.substack.com/ Jessica Lucy "Decca" Treuhaft (née Freeman-Mitford, later Romilly; 11 September 1917 – 23 July 1996) was an English author, one of the six aristocratic Mitford sisters noted for their sharply conflicting politics. Jessica married her second cousin Esmond Romilly, who was killed in World War II, and then American civil rights lawyer Robert Treuhaft, with whom she joined the Communist Party USA and worked closely in the Civil Rights Congress. Both refused to testify in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee. They resigned from the party in 1958. Her 1960 memoir Hons and Rebels and her 1963 book of social commentary The American Way of Death both became classics. Early life and ancestry Born at Asthall Manor, Oxfordshire,[4] the sixth of seven children, Jessica Mitford was the daughter of David Freeman-Mitford, 2nd Baron Redesdale, and his wife Sydney (daughter of politician and publisher Thomas Bowles). She grew up in a series of her father's country houses. She had little formal education. Her sisters Unity and Diana were well-known Fascists. Jessica (known as "Decca" to family and friends) later described her conservative father as "one of nature's fascists", renounced her privileged background while still a teenager, and became an adherent of communism.[5] Mitford said that her parents had "appeased Hitler and Nazism. ... He had crushed the trade unions, he had crushed the Communist Party and he had crushed the Jews ... and don't forget there's a huge strain of anti-Semitism that runs through that class in England."[6] She was known as the "red sheep" of the family.[1] The Mitford family 1928; Front row, L to R, mother (Sydney Bowles), Unity, Jessica and Deborah, father (David Freeman-Mitford, 2nd Baron Redesdale); middle row, Diana and Pamela ; back row, Nancy and Tom. The Mitford family 1928; Front row, L to R, mother (Sydney Bowles), Unity, Jessica and Deborah, father (David Freeman-Mitford, 2nd Baron Redesdale); middle row, Diana and Pamela ; back row, Nancy and Tom. Nancy, Unity, Jessica and Diana Mitford. Nancy, Unity, Jessica and Diana Mitford. Rear view of Asthall Manor, the Mitford family home Rear view of Asthall Manor, the Mitford family home Marriages and family Life with Esmond Romilly At the age of 19, Mitford fell in love with her second cousin, Esmond Romilly, who was recuperating from dysentery caught while defending Madrid with the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War. Romilly was a nephew (by marriage) of Winston Churchill.[7] The cousins eloped to Spain, where Romilly picked up work as a reporter for the News Chronicle. After some legal difficulties caused by their relatives' opposition, they married. They moved to London and lived in the East End, then mostly a poor industrial area. Mitford gave birth at home to a daughter, Julia Decca Romilly, on 20 December 1937. The baby died in a measles epidemic the following May. Jessica Mitford rarely spoke of Julia in later life and she is not referred to by name in Mitford's 1960 autobiography, Hons and Rebels.[5] In 1939, Romilly and Mitford emigrated to the United States. They travelled around, working odd jobs.[5] At the outset of World War II, Romilly enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force; Mitford was living in Washington D.C., and considered joining him once he was posted to England. While living in D.C, with contemporaries Virginia Foster Durr and Clifford Durr, she gave birth to another daughter, Constancia Romilly ("the Donk" or "Dinky") on 9 February 1941.[8] Her husband went missing in action on 30 November 1941, on his way back from a bombing raid over Nazi Germany. Life with Robert Treuhaft Mitford threw herself into war work. Through this, she met and married the American civil rights lawyer Robert Treuhaft in 1943 and eventually settled in Oakland, California.[9] She became an American citizen in 1944.[10] There, the couple had two sons; Nicholas, born in 1944 (who was killed in 1955 when hit by a bus), and Benjamin, born in 1947.[4] Mitford approached her motherhood in a spirit of "benign neglect", described by her children as "matter-of-fact" and "not touchy-feely".[11] She became closer to her own mother by letter over the decades, but remained estranged from her sister Diana for the rest of her life. Career and politics Communism and left-wing politics Mitford and Treuhaft became active members of the Communist Party in 1943. Mitford spent much of the early 1950s working as executive secretary of the local Civil Rights Congress chapter. Through this and her husband's legal practice, she was involved in a number of civil rights campaigns, notably the failed attempt to stop the execution of Willie McGee, an African-American convicted of raping a white woman. In 1953, as Communist Party members at the height of McCarthyism and the 'Red Scare', they were summoned to testify in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee. Both refused to name radical groups and friends or testify about their participation in Communist organisations, and were dismissed as 'unresponsive'.[12][6] In 1956, Mitford published a pamphlet, "Lifeitselfmanship or How to Become a Precisely-Because Man". In response to Noblesse Oblige, the book her sister Nancy co-wrote and edited on the class distinctions in British English, popularising the phrases "U and non-U English" (upper class and non-upper class), Jessica described L and non-L (Left and non-Left) English, mocking the clichés used by her comrades in the all-out class struggle.[13][14] (The title alludes to Stephen Potter's satirical series of books that included Lifemanship.) Mitford and Treuhaft resigned from the American Communist Party in 1958, because they had come to the conclusion they could pursue their ideals more effectively outside the party.[15] Mitford felt the party had become "rather useless".[16] In 1960, Mitford published her first book Hons and Rebels (US title: Daughters and Rebels), a memoir covering her youth in the Mitford household. Investigative journalism In May 1961, Mitford travelled to Montgomery, Alabama, while working on an article about Southern attitudes for Esquire. While there, she and a friend went to meet the arrival of a group of Freedom Riders and became caught up in a riot when a mob, led by the Ku Klux Klan, attacked the civil rights activists. After the riot, Mitford proceeded to a rally led by Martin Luther King Jr. The church at which this was held was also attacked by the Klan, and Mitford and the group spent the night barricaded inside until the siege was ended by the arrival of Alabama National Guard troops. Through his work with unions and death benefits, Treuhaft became interested in the funeral industry and persuaded Mitford to write an investigative article on the subject. Though the article, "Saint Peter Don't You Call Me", published in Frontier magazine, was not widely disseminated, it caught considerable attention when Mitford appeared on a local television broadcast with two industry representatives. Convinced of public interest, she wrote The American Way of Death, which was published in 1963. In the book, Mitford harshly criticised the industry for using unscrupulous business practices to take advantage of grieving families. The book became a major best-seller and led to Congressional hearings on the funeral industry. The book was one of the inspirations for filmmaker Tony Richardson's 1965 film The Loved One, which was based on Evelyn Waugh's short satirical 1948 novel of the same name,[17] subtitled "An Anglo-American Tragedy". After The American Way of Death, Mitford continued with her investigative journalism. In 1970, she published an article in the Atlantic Monthly, "Let Us Now Appraise Famous Writers", an exposé of the Famous Writers School, a correspondence course of questionable business practices founded by Bennett Cerf. She published The Trial of Dr. Spock, the Rev. William Sloane Coffin, Jr., Michael Ferber, Mitchell Goodman and Marcus Raskin, an account of the five men's 1970 trial on charges of conspiracy to violate the draft laws, followed by a harsh critique of the American prison system entitled Kind and Usual Punishment: The Prison Business (1973), an allusion to the phrase "cruel and unusual punishment". Mitford was a distinguished professor for the one semester in 1973 at San Jose State University, where she taught a course called "The American Way" that covered the Watergate scandal and the McCarthy era. Because of disagreements with the dean over her taking a loyalty oath and submitting to fingerprinting, the campus was thrown into protests and she was forced to go to court to remain able to teach.[18] Books and music Mitford appearing on British TV show After Dark in 1988 Mitford's second memoir, A Fine Old Conflict (1977), comically describes her experiences joining and eventually leaving the Communist Party USA. Mitford titled the book after what, in her youth, she thought were the lyrics to the Communist anthem, "The Internationale", which actually are "Tis the final conflict". Mitford recounts how she was invited to join the Communist Party by her co-worker Dobby, to whom she responded "We thought you'd never ask!" She bristled against the conservative structure in the CP, at one point upsetting the women's caucus by printing a poster with "Girls! Girls! Girls!" to draw people to an event. She mercilessly teased an elder Communist about what she perceived as his paranoia when he wrote out the name of a town where she could get chickens donated from "loyal party members" for a fund raiser. When he wrote Petaluma on a scrap of paper to avoid being overheard by possible bugs, she asked in jest how the chickens should be prepared, and wrote, "Fried or broiled". In addition to writing and activism, Mitford tried her hand at music as singer for "Decca and the Dectones", a cowbell and kazoo orchestra. She performed at numerous benefits and opened for Cyndi Lauper on the roof of the Virgin Records store in San Francisco. She recorded two short albums: one[19] contains her rendition of "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" and "Grace Darling",[20] and the other, two duets with friend and poet Maya Angelou.[21] Her last work was an update entitled The American Way of Death Revisited. Death Mitford died of lung cancer in 1996, aged 78. In keeping with her wishes, she had an inexpensive funeral, costing $533.31 – she was cremated without a ceremony, her ashes scattered at sea.[1][22] At the time of her death, the San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen wrote "In this strangely flat era of 'diversity,' she was the rarest of birds, an exotic creature who rose each morning to become the sun around whom thousands of lives revolved."[23] Her widower, Robert Treuhaft, survived her by five years. Descendants Two of her four children pre-deceased her. Her surviving daughter, Constancia Romilly, continued the activist tradition, working for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, which campaigned for African-American civil rights; she eventually became an emergency room nurse. Romilly had two children with Committee director James Forman: James Forman Jr., a Yale professor and Pulitzer Prize-winning author, and Chaka Forman, an actor. Her younger son, Ben Treuhaft, is a piano tuner based in Coventry, UK.[24] Legacy and influence John Pilger, who had interviewed Mitford in 1983 for his series Outsiders, said she "combined a finely honed social conscience and a wonderful gallows humour. She inverted stereotypes. I liked her enormously".[6] The author Christopher Hitchens expressed his admiration for Jessica Mitford and praised Hons and Rebels.[25] J. K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, stated in 2002: My most influential writer, without a doubt, is Jessica Mitford. When my grand-aunt gave me Hons and Rebels when I was 14, she instantly became my heroine. She ran away from home to fight in the Spanish Civil War, taking with her a camera that she had charged to her father's account. I wished I'd had the nerve to do something like that. I love the way she never outgrew some of her adolescent traits, remaining true to her politics — she was a self-taught socialist — throughout her life. I think I've read everything she wrote. I even called my daughter Jessica Rowling Arantes after her.[26] Rowling reviewed Mitford's book of letters, Decca, in The Sunday Telegraph in 2006.[27] In 2010, Leslie Brody’s biography of Mitford, Irrepressible, The Life and Times of Jessica Mitford was published by Counterpoint Press.[28] In 2013, the singer David Bowie named The American Way of Death as one of his favourite books.[29] Works Hons and Rebels (U.S.: Daughters and Rebels), 1960 The American Way of Death, 1963 The Trial of Dr. Spock, the Rev. William Sloane Coffin, Jr., Michael Ferber, Mitchell Goodman, and Marcus Raskin, Macdonald, 1969 Kind and Usual Punishment: The Prison Business, Alfred A. Knopf, 1973 A Fine Old Conflict, London: Michael Joseph, 1977 The Making of a Muckraker, London: Michael Joseph, 1979 Poison Penmanship: The Gentle Art of Muckraking, 1979 Grace Had an English Heart: The Story of Grace Darling, Heroine and Victorian Superstar, E. P. Dutton & Co, 1988. ISBN 0-525-24672-X The American Way of Birth, 1992 The American Way of Death Revisited, 1998 Decca: The Letters of Jessica Mitford, edited by journalist Peter Y. Sussman. Alfred A. Knopf, 2006. ISBN 0-375-41032-5 Dramatisations and portrayals Extracts from Decca: The Letters of Jessica Mitford were dramatised for Book of the Week, BBC Radio 4, five 15-minute programmes broadcast in November 2006. The readers were Rosamund Pike and Tom Chadbon; the producer was Chris Wallis. Mitford is portrayed by Sienna Guillory in the 2020 film Son of the South. See also The Mitfords: Letters Between Six Sisters Asthall Manor List of people from Oakland, California References Thomas Mallon, "Red Sheep: How Jessica Mitford found her voice", The New Yorker, 16 October 2006. Jessica Mitford, Incisive Critic of American Ways and a BritishUpbringing, Dies at 78 Caen, Herb (26 July 1996). "The Mourning Fog". SFGATE. Hearst Newspapers. Retrieved 15 November 2020. Anne Chisholm, "Obituary: Jessica Mitford", The Independent, 25 July 1996. Mitford, Jessica (1960). Hons and Rebels. Isis. ISBN 978-1-85089-441-4. "The Outsiders: Jessica Mitford". johnpilger.com. Retrieved 23 August 2020. Romilly, Esmond (1937). Boadilla. (A Personal Record of the English Group of the Thaelmann Battalion of the International Brigade in Spain.). London. Salmond, John A. (1990). The Conscience of a Lawyer: Clifford J. Durr and American Civil Liberties, 1899-1975. Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press. p. 264. ISBN 978-0-8173-0453-9. "Communist on The Hit Parade" (PDF). Tocsin. Vol. 5, no. 9. Oakland, CA. 4 March 1964. p. 1 Col A. Retrieved 25 May 2018. Lovell, Mary S. (2008). The Mitford Girls: The Biography of an Extraordinary Family. Little, Brown. p. 403. ISBN 978-0-7481-0921-0. Guthmann, Edward (17 November 2006). "Great writer. But as a mother? Jessica Mitford's children recall the woman they called Decca". The San Francisco Chronicle. Vangen, A.D. (2011). Honoring God to the Very, Very, Very End!. Xulon Press. p. 113. ISBN 978-1-61379-893-5. Severo, Richard (23 July 1996). "Jessica Mitford, Mordant Critic of American Ways, and a British Upbringing, Dies at 78". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 12 October 2007. Retrieved 28 October 2007. Cohen, Nick (20 August 2001). "Do you speak New Labour?". New Statesman. Retrieved 28 October 2007. Chisholm, Anne (8 January 2015). "Mitford, Jessica Lucy Freeman- (1917–1996), writer and journalist". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/60652. ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.) Mallon, Thomas (9 October 2006). "Red Sheep". The New Yorker. Retrieved 11 September 2021. Hill, Lee (2010). A Grand Guy: The Art And Life of Terry Southern. HarperCollins. p. 135. ISBN 978-0-06-201283-8. Mitford, Jessica (1 October 1974). "My Short and Happy Life As a Distinguished Professor". The Atlantic. Retrieved 12 September 2016. "CD Baby: JESSICA MITFORD: Decca and the Dectones". Archived from the original on 18 January 2012. Retrieved 6 April 2008. Patricia Holt, "Jessica Mitford Does the Beatles", SF Gate, 2 February 1995. "Maya Angelou & Jessica Mitford: 'There Is a Moral to It All'" Archived 2 August 2014 at the Wayback Machine, "Don't Quit Your Day Job" Records. An expensive way to go. (The Business of Bereavement), The Economist (US edition), 4 January 1997. Herb Caen, "The Mourning Fog", SF Gate, 26 July 1996 "Underwater Piano Shop - Tuner in Coventry and Edinburgh". The Underwater Piano Shop - Coventry. Retrieved 1 November 2021. "Christopher Hitchens interviews Jessica Mitford (1988)" on YouTube Fraser, Lindsay (9 November 2002). "Harry and me". The Scotsman. Archived from the original on 9 June 2021. Retrieved 7 January 2022. J. K. Rowling, "The first It Girl", The Sunday Telegraph, 26 November 2006. "Irrepressible: The Life and Times of Jessica Mitford by Leslie Brody". Sherwin, Adam (1 October 2013). "From Homer to Orwell: David Bowie's 100 favourite books revealed". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 8 June 2022. External links Jessica Mitford memorial site The Mitford Institute Jessica Mitford Papers Archived 17 May 2021 at the Wayback Machine at The Ohio State University's Rare Books & Manuscripts Library Peter Y. Sussman's main page on Decca: The Letters of Jessica Mitford Albion Monitor report on Jessica Mitford Correspondence Between Clinton, Treuhaft, and Mitford[permanent dead link] Jessica Mitford's papers at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin Robert Boynton website Archived 30 November 2021 at the Wayback Machine Audio interview by Christopher Hitchens with Jessica Mitford (1988) Edward Guthmann (14 November 2006). "Great writer. But as a mother? Jessica Mitford's children recall the woman they called Decca". San Francisco Chronicle. Jessica Mitford at IMDb James Forman Jr. – Grandson of Jessica Mitford The Official Nancy Mitford Website The Outsiders: John Pilger interviews Jessica Mitford Wilfred Authority control databases Edit this at Wikidata International FAST ISNI VIAF National Norway Spain France BnF data Catalonia Germany Italy Israel Belgium United States Sweden Japan Czech Republic Australia Croatia Netherlands Poland Portugal Academics CiNii Artists MusicBrainz People Trove Other SNAC IdRef Categories: 1917 births1996 deaths20th-century English women writers20th-century English memoirists20th-century American memoirists20th-century American women writersAmerican women memoiristsBritish communistsCommunist women writersDaughters of baronsDeaths from lung cancer in CaliforniaEnglish emigrants to the United StatesEnglish expatriates in the United StatesNaturalized citizens of the United StatesEnglish journalistsEnglish socialitesWriters from GloucestershirePeople from West Oxfordshire DistrictPersons involved with death and dyingSan Jose State University facultyWriters from Oakland, CaliforniaMitford familyMembers of the Communist Party USA

The dark side of history: https://thememoryhole.substack.com/ Morton Lyon Sahl (May 11, 1927 – October 26, 2021) was a Canadian-born American comedian, actor, and social satirist, considered the first modern comedian.[1][2] He pioneered a style of social satire that pokes fun at political and current event topics using improvised monologues and only a newspaper as a prop. Sahl spent his early years in Los Angeles and moved to the San Francisco Bay Area where he made his professional stage debut at the hungry i nightclub in 1953.[3] His popularity grew quickly, and after a year at the club, he traveled the country doing shows at established nightclubs, theaters, and college campuses. In 1960 he became the first comedian to be featured in a Time cover story. He appeared on various television shows, played a number of film roles, and performed a one-man show on Broadway. Television host Steve Allen said that Sahl was "the only real political philosopher we have in modern comedy". His social satire performances broke new ground in live entertainment, as a stand-up comic talking about the real world of politics at that time was considered "revolutionary". It inspired many later comics to become stage comedians, including Lenny Bruce, Jonathan Winters, George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Lewis Black and Woody Allen. Allen credits Sahl's new style of humor with "opening up vistas for people like me".[4]: 545  Numerous politicians became his fans, with John F. Kennedy asking him to write his jokes for campaign speeches, though Sahl later turned his barbs at the president. After Kennedy's assassination in 1963, Sahl focused on what he said were the Warren Report's inaccuracies and conclusions and spoke about it often during his shows. This alienated much of his audience and led to a decline in his popularity for the remainder of the 1960s. By the 1970s, his shows and popularity staged a partial comeback that continued over the ensuing decades.[5] A biography of Sahl, Last Man Standing, by James Curtis, was released in 2017.[6] Early life and education Sahl was born on May 11, 1927, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada,[7][8] the only child of Jewish parents.[4][9] His father, Harry Sahl, came from an immigrant family on New York City's Lower East Side, and hoped to become a Broadway playwright. Harry had met his wife, Dorothy (Schwartz),[10] when she responded to an advertisement he placed in a poetry magazine. Unable to break into the writing field, they moved to Canada where he owned a tobacco store in Montreal.[2] Sahl's family later relocated to Los Angeles, where his father, unable to become a Hollywood writer, worked as a clerk and court reporter for the FBI. Sahl notes, "My dad was disappointed in his dreams and he distrusted that world for me." Sahl went to Belmont High School in Los Angeles, where he wrote for the school's newspaper. Actor Richard Crenna was a classmate.[4]: 55  When the U.S. entered World War II after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Sahl, then aged 14, joined the school's Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC). He won a medal for marksmanship and an American Legion "Americanism award".[4]: 55  Wanting to express his patriotism, he wore his ROTC uniform to school and in public[2] and, when he turned fifteen, he dropped out of high school to join the United States Army by lying about his age.[4]: 55  His mother tracked him down and brought him back home two weeks later after she had revealed his true age.[4]: 55  After Sahl graduated from high school, his father tried to get him into West Point and had received his Congressman's help, but Sahl had by then already enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces. He was later stationed in Alaska with the 93rd Air Depot Group. In the military, however, he resisted the discipline and authoritarian control it exerted over his life. He expressed his nonconformity by growing a beard and refusing to wear a cap as required. He also wrote articles for a small newspaper criticizing the military that resulted in his being penalized with three months of KP duty.[2] In an interview, Sahl stated he found his military experience a good one, that he described as "spiritual".[11] Sahl was discharged in 1947 and enrolled in Compton College, followed by the University of Southern California. He received a B.S. degree in 1950 with majors in traffic engineering and city management.[2][8] He continued with a masters program, but dropped out to become an actor and playwright.[2] Career Breaking into comedy Between 1950 and 1953 Sahl attempted to get jobs as a stand-up comedian in about 30 nightclubs throughout Los Angeles, but with no success. NBC, where he once auditioned, told him he would never succeed as a comedian.[2] He even offered to perform free during intermissions for the chance to show his talent. He recalled that period: "Despite all the folklore about the faith of friends in the struggling young artist, my friends constantly discouraged me."[4]: 56  He and a friend then rented an old theater, which they called Theater X, for "experimental," and he began writing and staging one-act plays. One of his plays was titled Nobody Trusted the Truth.[2] Unable to attract a large enough audience, they eventually closed the theater.[citation needed] For income, Sahl began doing odd jobs and writing. He worked as a used car salesman and a messenger, and wrote a novel, which went unpublished, and short stories. He went to New York hoping to sell his plays, but only managed to earn about eighteen dollars a week. He recalled ... "I couldn't get a thing going. I was working on a novel, I was out of work, and I was out of gas." As a result, he decided to try something different, by performing his plays as monologues. He felt it would be easier to do his monologue on stage instead of trying to sell it to others. "I knew that if I was going to get anything done, I'd have to do it myself," he says.[4]: 56  He returned to Los Angeles where he appeared at some clubs, but his new style of monologue comedy received little attention.[citation needed] In 1953 he began dating a woman named Sue Babior. When she moved to Berkeley to study at the University of California, Sahl hitchhiked there to be with her. He spent his time auditing classes and hanging out at local coffee houses. For income, he wrote for a few avant-garde publications. He slept in the back seat of a friend's car, since Babior was living with roommates. "Things were simple then," he said. "... All we had to worry about was the destiny of man."[12] He felt at home in the San Francisco Bay Area, commenting, "I was 'born' in San Francisco." He stated that the three years he lived in Berkeley were a valuable experience.[4]: 57  Sahl sought out any clubs where he could perform as a stand-up, and Babior suggested he audition for the hungry i, a nightclub in San Francisco.[8] Its owner, Enrico Banducci, took an immediate liking to Sahl's comedy style and offered him a job at $75 a week (about $720 in 2020 money), which became his first steady job as a stand-up comedian.[2] Word about Sahl's satirical comedy act spread quickly. He received good reviews from influential newspaper columnist Herb Caen that gave him instant credibility: "I don't know where Mr. Sahl came from but I'm glad he's here," he wrote after watching his show. Caen began inviting his own friends, such as film comedians Danny Kaye and Eddie Cantor, to watch Sahl's performances.[4]: 62  Cantor took him "under his wing" and gave him suggestions.[4]: 71 By the end of his first year at the hungry i, Sahl was earning $3,000 a week (about $29,000 a week in 2020 money) and performing to packed houses. Later in his career, he said, "I'd be washing cars if it weren't for Enrico."[4]: 62  Nightclub shows and national acclaim After a year at the hungry i, Sahl began appearing at clubs throughout the country, including the Black Orchid and Mister Kelly's in Chicago, the Crescendo in Los Angeles, and the Village Vanguard and The Blue Angel nightclub in New York City.[13] Many of the clubs had never before had a stand-up comedian perform, which required Sahl to break in as a new kind of act. "I had to build up my own network of places to play," he said.[4]: 68  He was the best thing I ever saw. There was a need for revolution, everybody was ready for revolution, but some guy had to come along who could perform the revolution and be great. Mort was the one. He was the tip of the iceberg. Underneath were all the other people who came along: Lenny Bruce, Nichols & May, all the Second City. Mort was the vanguard of the group. — Woody Allen[14]: 160  Numerous celebrities dropped by to see his shows after they heard about the "new phenomenon," referring to Sahl's unique style of comedy. Woody Allen, who saw his show at the Blue Angel in 1954, commented that "he was suddenly this great genius that appeared who revolutionized the medium."[4]: 68  British comedy actor John Cleese became immediately interested in Sahl's radical style of humor, and accorded to him the same level of respect that The Beatles once reserved for Elvis Presley.[5] On The Ed Sullivan Show in 1960 Television host Steve Allen, who originated the Tonight Show, said he was "struck by how amateur he seemed," but added that the observation was not meant as a criticism, but as a "compliment". He noted that all the previous successful comics dressed formally, were glib and well-rehearsed, and were always in control of their audiences.[4]: 63  Allen said that Sahl's "very un-show business manner was one of the things I liked when I first saw him work."[4]: 63  Sahl dressed casually, with no tie and usually wearing his trademark V-neck campus-style sweater. His stage presence was seen as being "candid and cool, the antithesis of the slick comic," stated theater critic Gerald Nachman.[4]: 50  And although Sahl acquired a reputation for being an intellectual comedian, it was an image he disliked and disagreed with: "It was absurd. I was barely a C student," he said.[4]: 67  His naturalness on stage was partly due to his preferring improvisation over carefully rehearsed monologues. Sahl explained: I never found you could write the act. You can't rehearse the audience's responses. You adjust to them every night. I come in with only an outline. You've got to have a spirit of adventure. I follow my instincts and the audience is my jury.[4]: 64  His casual style of stand-up, where he seemed to be one-on-one with his audience, influenced new comedians, including Lenny Bruce and Dick Gregory. Sahl was the least controversial, however, because he dressed and looked "collegiate" and focused on politics, while Bruce confronted sexual and language conventions and Gregory focused on the civil rights movement. After seeing Mort Sahl on stage, Woody Allen, whose writings were often about his personal life, decided to give it a try: "I'd never had the nerve to talk about it before. Then Mort Sahl came along with a whole new style of humor, opening up vistas for people like me."[4]: 545  Commenting on Sahl's monologues, Nachman described him as a "gifted narrator, so good at taking you along on his travels that you didn't quite realize until the show was over that you had been on a labyrinthine journey."[4]: 64  The speed with which Sahl gave his monologues was also notable. British film critic Penelope Gilliatt recalled how Sahl's improvisation "goes on a breakneck stammering loop and you think it will never make the circle. It always does." For her it was like watching a circus act: "He freewheels a bike on a high wire tightrope with his brain racing and his hands off the handlebars."[4]: 65  Sahl's popularity "mushroomed like an Atomic cloud during the 50s," says filmmaker Robert B. Weide, adding, "Simply put, Mort Sahl reinvented stand-up comedy."[1] Time magazine in 1960 published a cover story about him and his rise to fame, in which they described him as "the best of the New Comedians [and] the first notable American political satirist since Will Rogers."[2] Along with his nightclub performances, he appeared in some films and on television shows, including his network debut on The NBC Comedy Hour in May 1956.[15] He was one of the interim hosts on The Tonight Show following Jack Paar's departure as the network waited for Johnny Carson to become available. His audience had also widened to include not only students and a "hip" public, but now even noted politicians sought out his shows. Some became friends, such as presidential candidate John F. Kennedy, who asked him to prepare a bank of political jokes he could use at public functions.[2] Kennedy liked his style of political satire and what he described as Sahl's "relentless pursuit of everybody."[2] Adlai Stevenson and Hubert Humphrey were fans, Humphrey stating that "whenever there is a political bloat, Mort sticks a pin in it."[2] Sahl considered Ronald Reagan one of his closest friends.[16] They valued the fact that he stayed current and took material from major newspapers and magazines. He kept his material fresh, wrote few notes, and entertained his audiences by presenting otherwise serious news with his brand of humor.[2] He was not fond of television news, however, which he blamed in 1960 for "spoon-feeding" the public, and was therefore responsible for the "corruption and ignorance that may sink this country."[2] As a result of Sahl's popularity, besides getting on the cover of Time, he also became the first comedian to make a record album, the first to do college concerts, and was the first comedian to win a Grammy.[17] Declining career in 1960s Following Kennedy's assassination in 1963, Sahl's interest in who was responsible was so great that he became a deputized member of District Attorney of New Orleans Jim Garrison's team to investigate the assassination.[8] As a result, Sahl's comedy would often reflect his politics and included readings and commentary about the Warren Commission Report, of which he consistently disputed the accuracy.[18] He alienated much of his audience, was effectively blacklisted, and more of his planned shows were cancelled. His income dropped from $1 million to $13,000 by 1964.[19] [20] According to Nachman, the excessive focus on the Kennedy assassination details was Sahl's undoing and wrecked his career. Sahl later admitted that "there's never been anything that had a stronger impact on my life than this issue," but added that he nonetheless "thought it was a wonderful quest."[12] Mort Sahl in 1985 Partial comeback Mort Sahl has charted one of the most precipitous courses in American entertainment for last thirty years and has gone from celebrity to internal exile. There was no precedent for what he did. There were no prototypes. He's a genuinely self-created man and a true existential in that sense. Once he passes from the scene, people will begin to lionize him and call him the great American and take to heart all the things he said. — Los Angeles Times, 1983[4]: 54  Sahl in 2007 By the 1970s, the rising tide of counterculture eventually fueled Sahl's partial comeback as a veteran comedian, and he was included with the new comedians breaking into the field, such as George Carlin, Lily Tomlin, and Richard Pryor.[4]: 89  In the 1980s he headlined for Banducci's new clubs in San Francisco. In the late 1980s he was trying to write screenplays, besides doing sporadic shows around the country. In 1987 he had a successful multiweek run in Australia.[21] In 1988 Sahl was back in New York City and performed a one-man Off-Broadway show, Mort Sahl's America, which, despite getting good reviews from critics, was not a box office success. The New York Times stated, "History has returned Mort Sahl to the spotlight when he is most needed. His style has an intuitive spontaneity. His presence is tonic."[4]: 92  Robert Weide produced a biographical documentary, Mort Sahl: The Loyal Opposition, which ran on PBS in 1989.[1] Sahl found his previous level of success increasingly difficult to recapture.. One Los Angeles Times critic wrote, "Sahl is a man with a country but not a stage."[4]: 96  A number of television specials gave him a venue to perform in front of live audiences. Beginning in November 1991, the Monitor Channel broadcast a series of eight shows called Mort Sahl Live .[22][23] From the 1990s on he performed, but less often and mostly in theaters and college auditoriums.[24] When Woody Allen saw him perform in 2001 at one of his rare New York club appearances, Allen told him, "this is crazy – you should be working all the time." Allen then called his manager Jack Rollins: "Listen, this guy is hilarious. We gotta bring him to New York."[4]: 96  Sahl then did shows at Joe's Pub in Manhattan to standing-room only audiences.[4]: 97  In 2008, Sahl performed at B.B. King's Blues Club & Grill on 42nd Street with Woody Allen, Elaine May, and Dick Cavett in attendance.[25] Sahl was ranked #40 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 greatest stand-up comedians of all time, ranked between Billy Crystal and Jon Stewart.[26] In 2003 he received the Fifth Annual Alan King Award in American Jewish Humor from the National Foundation for Jewish Culture.[27] In 2011, the Library of Congress placed his 1955 recording, At Sunset, on the National Recording Registry.[28] Satire comedy style Sahl's humor was based on current events, especially politics, which led Milton Berle to describe him as "one of the greatest political satirists of all time."[5] His trademark persona was to enter the stage with a newspaper in hand, casually dressed in a V-neck sweater. He would often recite some news stories combined with satire.[8] He was dubbed "Will Rogers with fangs" by Time magazine in 1960.[29] Sahl would discuss people or events almost as if he were reporting them for the first time, and would digress into related stories or his own experiences. TV executive Roger Ailes said he saw him read the paper one day and after a few hours Sahl got up onstage with an entire evening's worth of new material. "With no writers, he just did what he had seen in the afternoon paper. He was a genius."[4]: 52  Sahl's presentation of news commentary as a form of social satire created a wide assortment of celebrity and political fans, including Adlai Stevenson, Marlene Dietrich, S.J. Perelman, Saul Bellow, and Leonard Bernstein. Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. said his popularity was due to the public's "yearning for youth, irreverence, trenchancy, satire, [and] a clean break with the past."[4]: 71  And Steve Allen introduced him on one of his shows as being "the only real political philosopher we have in modern comedy."[30] Sahl performing in 2016 Combined with his improvisational skill, Sahl's naturalness was also considered unique for a stage performer. Woody Allen notes that other comics were jealous of Sahl's stage persona and did not understand how he could perform by simply talking to the audience.[4]: 52  Nachman stated that the "mere idea of a stand-up comic talking about the real world was in itself revolutionary ... [and] the comedians who followed him – Lenny Bruce, Woody Allen, Dick Gregory, Phyllis Diller, Shelley Berman, Jonathan Winters – were cast in a familiar nightclub mold."[4]: 51  In popular culture In the September 28, 1960 Peanuts comic strip, Schroeder is reading aloud to Lucy from a biography on his all-time favorite composer, Ludwig van Beethoven where he describes his idol as someone who "would sometimes startle people in public places," then at times "flew out in anger against all that was petty, dull, or greedy in men., [and] Often, however, his scorn would turn to high hilarity and humorous jests." Lucy then asks, "Are you reading about Beethoven or Mort Sahl?"[31] Personal life Sahl was married three times. He wedded Sue Babior in 1955; the marriage ended in divorce less than three years later.[32] In the early 1960s his steady girlfriend was Tippi Hedren.[33] Sahl also dated Dyan Cannon[34] and Julie Newmar.[35] In 1967, he married actress and model China Lee and they divorced in 1991.[36] They had one son, Mort Sahl Jr., who died in 1996, aged 19, from an unknown drug-related reaction.[4]: 92 [37][38] In 1997, he married Kenslea Ann Motter; they divorced around 2009.[39] He regretted the end of their marriage and said "I'm sorry I divorced Kenslea; I'm still in love with my wife. If you love a woman it'll make her a better woman."[39] In 1976, Sahl wrote an autobiography called Heartland.[40] In June 2007, a number of star comedians, including George Carlin and Jonathan Winters, gave Sahl an 80th birthday tribute.[41] In 2008, Sahl moved from Los Angeles to Mill Valley, California, a suburb of San Francisco, where he became friends with comedian Robin Williams, who lived nearby.[42][43] Until the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Sahl worked every Thursday night at the Throckmorton Theater in Mill Valley, California taking questions from a live audience and from Periscope/Twitter.[44][45][7] Sahl died of natural causes at his home in Mill Valley on October 26, 2021, at age 94.[7] Discography This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) Performance albums At Sunset, Fantasy Records (recorded 1955, released 1958) The Future Lies Ahead, Verve Records (1958) Mort Sahl: 1960 or Look Forward in Anger, Verve Records MG V-15004 (1959) At the hungry i, Verve Records (1960) The Next President, Verve Records (1960) A Way of Life, Verve Records (1960) The New Frontier, Reprise Records (1961) On Relationships, Reprise Records (1961) Anyway... Onward, Mercury Records (1967) "Sing a Song of Watergate... Apocryphal of Lie!", GNP Crescendo Records (1973) Mort Sahl's America, Dove Audio (1996) Compilation album Great Moments of Comedy with Mort Sahl Verve Records (1965) Selected filmography This list has no precise inclusion criteria as described in the Manual of Style for standalone lists. Please improve this article by adding inclusion criteria, or discuss this issue on the talk page. (October 2021) In Love and War (1958) as Danny Krieger Richard Diamond, Private Detective (CBS-TV 1959) as Himself All the Young Men (1960) as Cpl. Crane Johnny Cool (1963) as Ben Morrow Doctor, You've Got to Be Kidding! (1967) as Dan Ruskin Don't Make Waves (1967) as Sam Lingonberry hungry i reunion (1981) as Himself, documentary Inside the Third Reich (1982) (TV) as Werner Finck Nothing Lasts Forever (1984) as Uncle Mort[46] Jonathan Winters: On the Ledge (1987) as Himself, TV special Mort Sahl: The Loyal Opposition (1989) as Himself, American Masters documentary The World of Jewish Humor (1990) as Himself, documentary Looking for Lenny (2011) as Himself, documentary When Comedy Went to School (2013) as Himself, documentary Max Rose (2016) as Jack Bibliography Curtis, James (May 2, 2017). Last Man Standing: Mort Sahl and the Birth of Modern Comedy. Univ. Press of Mississippi. ISBN 9781496811998.[6] Sahl, Mort (1976). Heartland. San Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. ISBN 978-0-1513-9820-1.[40] Notes "Mort Sahl: The Loyal Opposition". Whyaduck Productions. March 2, 2012. Archived from the original on January 20, 2018. "A Sahl's Eye View: The Unfabulous Fifties". Time. August 15, 1960. pp. 44–48. Hyman, Jackie (July 12, 1983). "Comedian still shooting political barbs". The Daily News. Bowling Green, Kentucky. Associated Press. Archived from the original on October 27, 2021. Retrieved October 20, 2023. Nachman, Gerald (2003). Seriously Funny: The Rebel Comedians of the 1950s and 1960s. New York: Pantheon Books. p. 659. ISBN 978-0-3754-1030-7. Archived from the original on September 19, 2018. Retrieved October 30, 2015. Hopper, Tristan (May 25, 2015). "Mort Sahl invented stand-up comedy – so what's he doing at a community theatre in Northern California?". National Post. Toronto. Archived from the original on October 27, 2021. Retrieved October 20, 2023. Larsen, Peter (June 2, 2017). "Comedian Mort Sahl and biographer James Curtis talk about 'Last Man Standing,' the story of Sahl's fearless, funny life". Orange County Register. Irvine. Archived from the original on October 28, 2020. Retrieved October 20, 2023. Weber, Bruce (October 26, 2021). "Mort Sahl, Whose Biting Commentary Redefined Stand-Up, Dies at 94". The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 26, 2021. Retrieved October 26, 2021. "About Mort Sahl". PBS. American Masters. March 19, 2006. Archived from the original on September 11, 2015. Retrieved September 5, 2017. "In his trademark V-neck sweater, with the day's newspaper tucked under his arm, Mort Sahl has satirized – and entertained – presidents from Eisenhower to Clinton." Hubbard, Linda S.; Steen, Sara J. (September 1989). Contemporary Theatre, Film and Television. Cengage Gale. ISBN 978-0-8103-2070-3. Archived from the original on October 27, 2021. Retrieved November 14, 2020. Curtis (2017). p. 32. Wantuck, Andrew. "Mort Sahl". Comedy and Magic Club. Archived from the original on January 21, 2021. Retrieved October 20, 2023. "Playboy Interview: Mort Sahl". Playboy. February 1969. Hashagen, Paul (2002). Fire Department, City of New York. Turner. p. 148. ISBN 978-1-5631-1832-6. Nesteroff, Kliph (November 3, 2015). The Comedians: Drunks, Thieves, Scoundrels, and the History of American Comedy. Grove Press. ISBN 978-0-8021-2398-5. Retrieved October 20, 2023. "The Big Party". (1959, NBC) Archived June 23, 2015, at the Wayback Machine (on YouTube.com); accessed February 14, 2015. "Mort Sahl, comedian who satirized politics, dies at 94". AP News. October 26, 2021. Archived from the original on October 27, 2021. Retrieved October 27, 2021. "Legendary Comedians Mort Sahl and Dick Gregory at the Rrazz Room". Archived March 6, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. Goldstar. "Mors Sahl Live in New York City". Archived March 25, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. January 17, 1992. "Mort Sahl, revolutionary comic who influenced comedians from Lenny Bruce to Dave Chappelle, dies". Los Angeles Times. October 26, 2021. Archived from the original on October 27, 2021. Retrieved October 27, 2021. "JFK: 'When You Ask Who Killed Him You're Silenced'". YouTube. November 1, 2022. Retrieved December 31, 2022. Champlin, Charles (March 21, 1987). "L.A. To Get Another Taste Of The Biting Wit Of Mort Sahl". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on February 22, 2016. "Mort Sahl Live #1 Atlantic City 11/16/91" Archived March 14, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, The Monitor Channel, November 16, 1991 "Mort Sahl Live #2 Anaheim 2/21/91". Archived March 10, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. The Monitor Channel. December 12, 1991. McLellan, Dennis (October 22, 1992). "Bark and Bite: For Nearly Four Decades, Mort Sahl Has Been the Voice of Social Satire; Don't Expect Him to Back Off Now". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on October 9, 2015. Kilgannon, Corey (May 14, 2008). "Mort Sahl Still Has a Bone to Pick, a Funny One". The New York Times. Retrieved October 20, 2023. "Comedy Central's 100 Greatest Stand-Ups of All Time". Comedy Central Presents. April 17, 2004. Comedy Central. Archived from the original on June 5, 2004. Retrieved September 21, 2016. "Mort Sahl". Archived September 16, 2015, at the Wayback Machine. A.V. Club. January 7, 2004. Blazek, Daniel (2011). "Mort Sahl at Sunset (1955)" (PDF). National Recording Registry. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 3, 2014. Retrieved December 29, 2017. "Comedians: Will Rogers with Fangs". Time. July 25, 1960. ISSN 0040-781X. Archived from the original on February 6, 2015. Retrieved March 12, 2015. Mort Sahl Discusses Lenny Bruce. October 23, 2010. Retrieved February 6, 2016 – via YouTube. "September 28, 1960 -Peanuts". GoComics. Archived from the original on September 11, 2021. Retrieved September 11, 2021. McLellan, Dennis (October 26, 2021). "Revolutionary comic Mort Sahl has died". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on October 27, 2021. Retrieved October 27, 2021. "After his girlfriend, Sue Babior, left to attend UC Berkeley, Sahl headed north. He and Babior married in 1955 and divorced two and a half years later" Curtis (2017). p. 161. Sherrill, Martha (February 8, 1991). "Lunch With a Loose Cannon". The Washington Post. Curtis, James (2017). Last Man Standing. University Press of Mississippi. p. 161. ISBN 978-1-4968-1199-8. Liberatore, Paul (August 9, 2010). "Mort Sahl: Improvising a new life". Marin Independent Journal. Archived from the original on March 3, 2015. Retrieved March 12, 2015. Galella, Ron. "Comedian Mort Sahl, wife China Lee and son Mort Sahl Jr. at Le Palmier Restaurant in New York City". Getty Images. Retrieved October 20, 2023. Archerd, Army (June 21, 1996). "Copperfield Act Could Blow Away Auds". Variety. ISSN 0042-2738. Archived from the original on July 5, 2017. Retrieved December 11, 2017. "Mort Sahl, "picking up the pieces" since the March 27 death of his son, Mort Jr., returns to the stage, with a four-week stand at the Tiffany, starting July 17." Nachman, Gerald (April 2011). "Comedy's Lion in Winter". Archived April 2, 2015, at the Wayback Machine. The American Spectator. Sahl, Mort (1976). Heartland. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. ISBN 978-0-15-139820-1. "Mort Sahl Acclaim". Archived March 22, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. Mortsahlofficial.com; accessed February 14, 2016. Pedersen, Erik; Tapp, Tom (October 26, 2021). "Mort Sahl Dies: Groundbreaking Contrarian Comedian Was 94". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on October 27, 2021. Retrieved October 27, 2021. "In the late 2000s, Sahl relocated to the Bay Area town of Mill Valley, where he would befriend neighbor Robin Williams." Cohen, Ronnie (August 15, 2014). "Mort Sahl tells of time Robin Williams was his one fan". Reuters. Archived from the original on November 26, 2018. Retrieved October 27, 2021. "Robin Williams was the only person who came backstage to see him when satirist Mort Sahl gave a show 17 years ago, and the 87-year-old comic said it marked the start of a close friendship that ended with the comedian's apparent suicide this week." "Mort Sahl Tells Of Time Robin Williams Was His One Fan" Archived March 10, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. August 15, 2014. Tauber, Michelle (August 14, 2014). "Inside Robin Williams's Last Days". People. Archived from the original on September 10, 2015. "Mort Sahl". TV Guide. Archived from the original on October 27, 2021. Retrieved October 27, 2021. References Epstein, Lawrence J. (2001). The Haunted Smile:The Story of Jewish Comedians in America. New York: Public Affairs. ISBN 978-1-8916-2071-3. Nachman, Gerald (2003). Seriously Funny: The Rebel Comedians of the 1950s and 1960s. New York: Pantheon Books. p. 659. ISBN 978-0-3754-1030-7. Archived from the original on September 19, 2018. Smith, Ronald L. (1992). Who's Who in Comedy: Comedians, Comics, and Clowns From Vaudeville to Today's Stand-ups. New York: Facts on File. ISBN 978-0-8160-2338-7.

More CIA stories from John Stockwell: https://thememoryhole.substack.com/ The video series delves into the secretive world of covert action, featuring insights from former CIA official John Stockwell and Louis Wolf, co-editor of the Covert Action Information Bulletin. In the initial segment, the focus lies on an overview of the CIA's operations, shedding light on its activities and nature. As the discussion progresses, attention turns to the ramifications of the "Intelligence Identities Protection Act" and the Reagan executive order on intelligence agencies. These legislative actions, as outlined by Stockwell and Wolf, seem to create an environment fostering media self-censorship. This, in turn, suppresses public scrutiny and criticism of intelligence operations, which encompass controversial actions like assassination plots, government destabilization, and other clandestine tactics. Stockwell articulates how these legal measures effectively impact the First Amendment, curbing freedoms of speech and press without undergoing the constitutional amendment process. Recorded in May 1982, during a pivotal period of political discourse, this hour-long installment prompts viewers to reconsider the balance between national security interests and the fundamental principles of transparency and free expression. The video captures a crucial juncture in history where the boundaries of government secrecy and public awareness were fiercely debated. CovertAction Quarterly (formerly CovertAction Information Bulletin) was an American journal in publication from 1978 to 2005, focused primarily on watching and reporting global covert operations. It is generally critical of US Foreign Policy, the Central Intelligence Agency, and capitalism. CovertAction relaunched in May 2018 as CovertAction Magazine. The first issue of the Covert Action Information Bulletin was launched at a press conference in Havana, Cuba, coinciding with the 11th World Festival of Youth and Students.[2][3] The magazine was founded by former CIA officer turned agency critic Philip Agee, William Schaap, James and Elsie Wilcott, Ellen Ray, William Kunstler, Michael Ratner, and Lou Wolf in 1978.[4][5][a][8] It was created in order to carry on the work of the preceding publication CounterSpy magazine, which the editors claimed had been shut down as a result of CIA harassment.[9] Contributors included critics of US foreign policy such as Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Michael Parenti[5] and Christopher Hitchens.[10] Agee said the Bulletin's goal was "a worldwide campaign to destabilize the CIA through exposure of its operations and personnel."[3][11] The Mitrokhin Archive, by ex-KGB archivist Vasili Mitrokhin and British intelligence historian Christopher Andrew, alleged that Covert Action Information Bulletin received assistance from the Soviet KGB and Cuban DGI. Mitrokhin claimed that the Soviet group RUPOR was responsible for the Bulletin, although cautioned that of the publication's members, only Agee would have been aware of the foreign government connection. KGB files recovered by Mitrokhin boasted of their ability to pass information and disinformation to Agee.[2][12][13] The magazine was based in Washington, D.C.[5][14] CovertAction Quarterly In 1992, with the issue #43, the magazine was renamed as CovertAction Quarterly.[5][3] In 1998, the magazine won an award from Project Censored for a story by Lawrence Soley in the Spring 1997 issue titled "Phi Beta Capitalism", about corporate influence on universities.[15][16] Publication of CovertAction Quarterly ceased in 2005 with issue #78, only to be resurrected as CovertAction Magazine in 2018.[17] Several articles from CovertAction Quarterly were collected in two anthologies, CovertAction: The Roots of Terrorism and Bioterror: Manufacturing Wars The American Way, both published by Ocean Press in 2003. Selected personnel Jim Wilcott, member of the Board of Advisors. He spent nine years with the CIA as a finance officer, and his wife Elsie also worked for the Agency during the same period.[18][5] Publications Anthologies CovertAction: The Roots of Terrorism, edited by Ellen Ray & William H. Schaap. Ocean Press (2003). ISBN 978-1876175849. 310 pages. Excerpts. Bioterror: Manufacturing Wars the American Way, edited by Ellen Ray & William H. Schaap. Ocean Press (2003). ISBN 978-1876175641. 80 pages. Magazines CovertAction Information Bulletin (1978-1992). Issues no. 1–42. CovertAction Quarterly (1992-2005). Issues no. 43–78. CovertAction Magazine (2018–present). Issues no. 79–present. See also CounterSpy Lobster References Notes According to Christopher Andrew (who joined the British intelligence service MI5 in order to create its official history),[6] documents in the Mitrokhin Archive indicate that the magazine was established "on the initiative of the KGB" and that the group responsible for producing it was "put together" by Soviet counterintelligence. Andrew writes that there is "no evidence" that anybody associated with the magazine, apart from Agee, was aware of the KGB's role.[7] Footnotes “History”. CovertActionMagazine.com Andrew, Christopher & Mitrokhin, Vasili (1999). The Sword and The Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB. New York: Basic Books. pp. 230–234. ISBN 0-465-00310-9. OCLC 42368608. Hastedt, Glenn P. (2011). Spies, Wiretaps, and Secret Operations: An Encyclopedia of American Espionage. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-85109-807-1. "About Us". Peter Knight (2003). Conspiracy Theories in American History: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. pp. 212–213. ISBN 978-1576078129. Retrieved February 3, 2016. David Walker (February 18, 2003). "Just How Intelligent?". The Guardian. Retrieved May 13, 2018. Andrew, Christopher; Mitrokhin, Vasili (2001) [1999]. The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB. New York: Basic Books. pp. 232–233. ISBN 978-0-465-00312-9. "Lou Wolf of CovertActionMagazine.com & Covert Action Information Bulletin". Internet Archive (Interview). Our Hidden History. May 31, 2018. "Covert Action Information Bulletin Premier Issue". archive.org. 1978. Christopher Hitchens on Noam Chomsky (1995), archived from the original on 2021-12-21, retrieved 2021-09-12 Baer, Robert (2010-11-10). "Foreign Policy: Spy Versus Rogue Spy". NPR. Retrieved 2022-08-29. Weiss, Michael (2016-07-26). "Russia's Long History of Messing With Americans Minds Before the DNC Hack". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 2022-08-29. Selvage, Douglas (2019). "Operation "Denver": The East German Ministry of State Security and the KGB's AIDS Disinformation Campaign, 1985–1986 (Part 1)". Journal of Cold War Studies. 21 (4): 92. doi:10.1162/jcws_a_00907. ISSN 1520-3972. Allen, Terry, and Barbara Neuwirth, Sanho Tree. "CAQ Purges Workers" (letter). (May 14, 1998). Addressed to "Everyone who has supported CAQ." "Big Business Seeks to Control and Influence U.S. Universities". Project Censored. 1998. Archived from the original on March 23, 2010. Retrieved August 10, 2010. Yee, Angie; Sims, Katie (April 30, 2010). Hurtado, Sally (ed.). "Big Business Seeks to Control and Influence U.S. Universities". Project Censored. "CovertAction Quarterly: Back Issues". Redacted News. Archived from the original on September 7, 2013. Retrieved August 8, 2015. Wilcott, Jim. "The CIA and the Media: Some Personal Experiences." CovertAction Information Bureau, no. 7 (Dec. 1979-Jan. 1980), pp. 23-24

The dark side of history: https://thememoryhole.substack.com/ Robert C. Odle, Jr. (February 15, 1944 – October 2, 2019) was a public official in the Nixon Administration and Reagan Administration and an American lawyer, based in Washington, D.C. Early life Odle was born in Port Huron, Michigan (February 15, 1944) and earned a bachelor's degree from Wayne State University in 1966. He then enrolled at the Detroit College of Law (now Michigan State University College of Law), earning his J.D. in 1969.[1] Politics and government service Odle worked on the Nixon campaign in 1968, while still in law school, and after graduation in 1969 he joined the staff of White House communications director Herb Klein. He left the White House for the 1972 presidential campaign, serving as Director of Administration of the Committee to Re-Elect the President. In President Nixon's second term, Odle was appointed deputy assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.[2] Because of his role in the 1972 re-election campaign, Odle became a witness before the Watergate Committee, testifying as the first witness on the first day of televised hearings on May 17, 1973. In his testimony, he praised President Nixon and the "million volunteers across the country” and most of the 400 in the re-election committee headquarters who had nothing to do with Watergate, including himself. He also testified about contact he had with James McCord, Jeb Stuart Magruder, and G. Gordon Liddy, and particularly H. R. Haldeman and Attorney General John N. Mitchell.[3][4] In 1981, Odle was nominated by Ronald Reagan to be the Assistant Secretary for Congressional, Intergovernmental and Public Affairs at the U.S. Department of Energy. He was confirmed by the Senate and served in this role until 1985.[1][2][5] Private practice Between 1976 and 1981, Odle worked for the International Paper Company as Washington corporate affairs representative.[1][5] In 1985, Odle joined the Washington, D.C. office of the law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges, LLP, where he became a partner and represented clients before Congress and federal agencies. He retired in 2015, after 30 years with the firm.[1][3] Odle served as pro-bono general counsel for the Richard Nixon Foundation. He was also active in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Arlington, The Heritage Foundation, and the Federalist Society.[1][2] Family Odle married his wife, Lydia Ann (Karpinol) Odle, in 1969. They moved to Alexandria, Virginia in 1972 and adopted their son, John Paul, from Russia in 1994.[1] Odle died from cancer on October 2, 2019, at his home in Alexandria.[1][3] References Schrott, Missy (October 10, 2019). "Robert C. Odle Jr., prominent lawyer and public official, dies at 75". Alexandria Times. "Remembering Robert C. Odle, Jr". Richard Nixon Foundation. October 2019. "Community Deaths". Washington Post. October 27, 2019. Witcover, Jules (May 18, 1973). "The First Day of Watergate: Not Exactly High Drama". Washington Post. "Few Reagan Nominees Meet Serious Trouble". CQ Almanac. 1981. Categories: 1944 births2019 deathsAmerican lawyersDetroit College of Law alumniNixon administration personnelReagan administration personnelWayne State University alumni Bruce A. Kehrli (July 11, 1944 – May 12, 1996) was an American political aide who served as the White House Staff Secretary to President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974.[1] He died of multiple myeloma after a seven-year battle on May 12, 1996, in Newport Beach, California at age 51.[2] References "White House Secretary Submits His Resignation". The New York Times. 1974-04-14. Retrieved 2018-05-11. "Bruce A. Kehrli, 51, Former Assistant to Nixon". Articles.latimes.com. 1996-05-15. Retrieved 2018-05-11. vte White House Staff Secretaries Carroll Goodpaster Hartigan Cole J. Brown Huntsman Kehrli Jones Connor Hutcheson Gergen Darman Chew Cicconi Brady Podesta Stern Caplan Maloney Loy Miers Kavanaugh Yanes L. Brown De Kramer Walsh Porter Lyons Hertz Tanden Feldman Authority control databases Edit this at Wikidata International VIAF National United States Other NARA Categories: 1944 births1996 deathsDeaths from multiple myelomaWhite House Staff SecretariesCalifornia Republicans Richard Nixon 37th President of the United States (1969–1974) 36th Vice President of the United States (1953–1961) U.S. Senator from California (1950–1953) U.S. Representative for CA–12 (1947–1950) Pre-presidency Checkers speech Vice presidency Presidential transition of Dwight D. Eisenhower 1958 motorcade attack Kitchen Debate Operation 40 Presidential transition of John F. Kennedy Presidency (timeline) Transition First inauguration Second inauguration "Bring Us Together" Silent majority 1970 Lincoln Memorial visit State of the Union Address (1970 1973 1974) Wilson desk Judicial appointments Supreme Court controversies Executive Orders Presidential Proclamations Foreign policy Nixon Doctrine Vietnam War Cambodian bombing Paris Peace Accords "Peace with Honor" Vietnamization Cold War period Linkage policy Tar Baby Option 1972 visit to China Shanghai Communiqué 1973 Chilean coup d'état Détente 1972 Moscow Summit Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty SALT I Treaty Prevention of Nuclear War Agreement Threshold Test Ban Treaty Operation CHAOS Space exploration Economic policy Bank Secrecy Act Fair Credit Reporting Act National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Urban Mass Transportation Act of 1970 Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1973 Nixon shock Economic Stabilization Act of 1970 Smithsonian Agreement Occupational Safety and Health Act National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Occupational Safety and Health Administration Permissible exposure limit U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission Consumer Product Safety Act Lead-Based Paint Poisoning Prevention Act Poison Prevention Packaging Act of 1970 Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act Securities Investor Protection Act Securities Investor Protection Corporation Tax Reform Act of 1969 Alternative minimum tax Revenue Act of 1971 Agricultural Act of 1970 Farm Credit Act of 1971 Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act of 1972 Agriculture and Consumer Protection Act of 1973 Emergency Petroleum Allocation Act Emergency Daylight Saving Time Energy Conservation Act Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act Environmental policy Council on Environmental Quality Environmental Quality Improvement Act National Environmental Policy Act Environmental Protection Agency Clean Air Amendments of 1970 Clean Water Act Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act National Ambient Air Quality Standards National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants New Source Performance Standards Noise Control Act Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1970 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Coastal Zone Management Act Coastal Zone Management Program Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act of 1972 Endangered Species Act of 1969 Endangered Species Act of 1973 Oil Pollution Act of 1973 Water Resources Development Act of 1974 Social policy Family Assistance Plan Revised Philadelphia Plan Minority Business Development Agency Native American policy Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act Education Amendments of 1972 Title IX National Cancer Act of 1971 End Stage Renal Disease Program Health Maintenance Organization Act of 1973 Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act Shafer Commission War on Drugs Drug Enforcement Administration Cannabis policy Federal Contested Elections Act Federal Election Campaign Act Voting Rights Act Amendments of 1970 District of Columbia Home Rule Act Watergate Timeline Operation Sandwedge Operation Gemstone Saturday Night Massacre CRP White House Plumbers Watergate Seven Enemies List list of opponents White House tapes United States v. Nixon (1974) Senate Watergate Committee impeachment process "I am not a crook" Resignation speech Pardon Life and politics Richard Nixon Foundation Presidential Library and Museum Birthplace and boyhood home "Last press conference" Florida White House "La Casa Pacifica" Nixon Center Nixon v. General Services Administration (1977) Nixon v. Fitzgerald (1982) Death and state funeral Books Six Crises (1962) Bibliography Elections U.S. House of Representatives: 1946 1948 U.S. Senate: 1950 California gubernatorial election: 1962 GOP presidential primaries: 1960 1964 1968 1972 GOP national conventions: 1952 1956 1960 1968 campaign 1972 Presidential elections: 1952 1956 1960 debates 1968 1972 Popular culture "Nixon goes to China" Millhouse (1971 film) An Evening with Richard Nixon (1972 play) Richard (1972 film) Another Nice Mess (1972 film) Four More Years (1972 film) Impeach the President (1973 song) The Werewolf of Washington (1973 film) White House Madness (1975 film) All the President's Men (1976 film) The Public Burning (1977 novel) Washington: Behind Closed Doors (1977 miniseries) Secret Honor (1984 film) Nixon in China (1987 opera) The Final Days (1989 film) Nixon (1995 film) Elvis Meets Nixon (1997 film) Futurama (1999 TV series) Dick (1999 film) Nixon's China Game (2000 film) Dark Side of the Moon (2002 film) The Assassination of Richard Nixon (2004 film) Frost–Nixon interviews (2006 play, 2008 film) Black Dynamite (2009 film) "The Impossible Astronaut" (2011 TV episode) Our Nixon (2013 film) X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014 film) Crooked (2015 novel) Elvis & Nixon (2016 film) The Post (2017 film) Watergate (2019 board game) U.S. postage stamp Related Presidential Recordings and Materials Preservation Act Presidential Townhouse Richard Nixon mask Staff Jack Brennan (aide de camp) Murray Chotiner (early campaign manager) Manolo Sanchez (valet) Rose Mary Woods (secretary) Family Thelma "Pat" Ryan Nixon (wife) Tricia Nixon Cox (daughter) Julie Nixon Eisenhower (daughter) Christopher Nixon Cox (grandson) Jennie Eisenhower (granddaughter) Francis A. Nixon (father) Hannah Milhous Nixon (mother) Donald Nixon (brother) Edward Nixon (brother) ← Lyndon B. Johnson Gerald Ford → ← Alben W. Barkley Lyndon B. Johnson → Category vte History of the United States Timeline Outline Events Topics Groups Places List of years Historiography Category Portal vte Special prosecutors and independent counsels of the U.S. John B. Henderson and James Broadhead Whiskey Ring William Cook Star Route scandal Holmes Conrad and Charles Bonaparte Post Office bribery Francis J. Heney Oregon land fraud scandal Atlee Pomerene and Owen Roberts Teapot Dome scandal Newbold Morris DOJ corruption allegations Archibald Cox, Leon Jaworski, Henry S. Ruth Jr., and Charles Ruff Watergate scandal Arthur Christy Jordan drug allegations Paul J. Curran Carter business loans Gerald Gallinghouse Kraft drug allegations Leon Silverman Donovan organized crime allegations Jacob Stein Bechtel scandal James C. 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The dark side of history: https://thememoryhole.substack.com/ The Corona program was a series of American strategic reconnaissance satellites produced and operated by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Directorate of Science & Technology with substantial assistance from the U.S. Air Force. The CORONA satellites were used for photographic surveillance of the Soviet Union (USSR), China, and other areas beginning in June 1959 and ending in May 1972. History In 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial Earth satellite. Officially, Sputnik was launched to correspond with the International Geophysical Year, a solar period that the International Council of Scientific Unions declared would be ideal for the launching of artificial satellites to study Earth and the solar system. However, the launch led to public concern about the perceived technological gap between the West and the Soviet Union.[2] The unanticipated success of the mission precipitated the Sputnik Crisis, and prompted President Dwight D. Eisenhower to authorize the Corona program, a top priority reconnaissance program managed jointly by the Air Force and the CIA. Satellites were developed to photograph denied areas from space, provide information about Soviet missile capability and replace risky U-2 reconnaissance flights over Soviet territory.[3] Overview Lockheed's covert "advanced projects" facility at Hiller Aircraft in Menlo Park, California CORONA image of The Pentagon, 25 September 1967 CORONA started under the name "Discoverer" as part of the WS-117L satellite reconnaissance and protection program of the U.S. Air Force in 1956. The WS-117L was based on recommendations and designs from the RAND Corporation.[4] The primary goal of the program was to develop a film-return photographic satellite to replace the U-2 spyplane in surveilling the Sino-Soviet Bloc, determining the disposition and speed of production of Soviet missiles and long-range bombers assets. The CORONA program was also used to produce maps and charts for the Department of Defense and other U.S. government mapping programs.[5] The CORONA project was pushed forward rapidly following the shooting down of a U-2 spy plane over the Soviet Union on 1 May 1960.[6] CORONA ultimately encompassed eight separate but overlapping series of satellites (dubbed "Keyhole" or KH[7]), launched from 1959 to 1972.[8]: 231  CORONA was complemented and ultimately succeeded by the higher resolution KH-7 Gambit and KH-8 Gambit 3 series of satellites.[9] An alternative concurrent program to the CORONA program was SAMOS. That program included several types of satellite which used a different photographic method. This involved capturing an image on photographic film, developing the film aboard the satellite and then scanning the image electronically. The image was then transmitted via telemetry to ground stations. The Samos E-1 and Samos E-2 satellite programs used this system, but they were not able to take very many pictures and then relay them to the ground stations each day. Two later versions of the Samos program, such as the E-5 and the E-6, used the bucket-return approach pioneered with CORONA, but neither of the latter Samos series were successful.[10] Spacecraft The CORONA satellites were designated KH-1, KH-2, KH-3, KH-4, KH-4A and KH-4B. KH stood for "Key Hole" or "Keyhole" (Code number 1010),[7] with the name being an analogy to the act of spying into a person's room by peering through their door's keyhole. The incrementing number indicated changes in the surveillance instrumentation, such as the change from single-panoramic to double-panoramic cameras. The "KH" naming system was first used in 1962 with KH-4, the earlier numbers being applied retroactively.[citation needed] KH-1 CORONA main features KH-1 CORONA main features KH-2 CORONA main features KH-2 CORONA main features KH-3 CORONA main features KH-3 CORONA main features KH-4 CORONA-M (Agena-B service module) main features KH-4 CORONA-M (Agena-B service module) main features KH-4 CORONA-M (Agena-D service module) main features KH-4 CORONA-M (Agena-D service module) main features KH-4A CORONA-J1 main features KH-4A CORONA-J1 main features KH-4B CORONA-J3 main features KH-4B CORONA-J3 main features Below is a list of CORONA launches, as compiled by the United States Geological Survey.[11] This table lists government's designation of each type of satellite (C, C-prime, J-1, etc.), the resolution of the camera, and a description of the camera system. Time period No. Nickname Resolution Notes Number January 1959 – August 1960 Test Engineering test flights 5 systems; 1 recovery [12][13] June 1959 – September 1960 KH-1 "CORONA", C 7.5 m First series of American imaging spy satellites. Each satellite carried a single panoramic camera and a single return vehicle. 10 systems; 1 recovery October 1960 – October 1961 KH-2 CORONA′, C′ (or "C-prime")* 7.5 m Improved single panoramic camera (affording differing orbits) [8]: 63–64  and a single return vehicle. 10 systems; 6 recoveries August 1961 – January 1962 KH-3 CORONA‴, C‴ (or "C-triple-prime")* 7.5 m Single panoramic camera and a single return vehicle. 6 systems; 5 recoveries February 1962 – December 1963 KH-4 CORONA-M, Mural 7.5 m Film return. Two panoramic cameras. 26 systems; 20 recoveries August 1963 – October 1969 KH-4A CORONA J-1 2.75 m Film return with two reentry vehicles and two panoramic cameras. Large volume of imagery. 52 systems; 94 recoveries September 1967 – May 1972 KH-4B CORONA J-3 1.8 m Film return with two reentry vehicles and two panoramic rotator cameras 17 systems; 32 recoveries February 1961 – August 1964 KH-5 ARGON 140 m Low-resolution mapping missions;single frame camera 12 systems; 5 recoveries March 1963 – July 1963 KH-6 LANYARD 1.8 m Experimental camera in a short-lived program 3 systems; 1 recovery [8]: 231  *(The stray "quote marks" are part of the original designations of the first three generations of cameras.) Program history Discoverer Not to be confused with Space Shuttle Discovery or Discovery Program. As American space launches were not classified until late 1961,[8]: 176 [14] the first CORONA satellites were cloaked with disinformation as being part of a space technology development program called Discoverer. To the public, Discoverer missions were scientific and engineering missions, the film-return capsules being used to return biological specimens. To facilitate this deception, several CORONA capsules were built to house a monkey passenger. Many test monkeys were lost during ground tests of the capsule's life support system.[8]: 50  The Discoverer cover proved to be cumbersome, inviting scrutiny from the scientific community. Discoverer 37, launched 13 January 1962, was the last CORONA mission to bear the Discoverer name. Subsequent CORONA missions were simply classified as "Department of Defense satellite launches".[15]: xiii–xiv  A CORONA Target (Y4-7) is located on the southeast corner of South Montgomery Road and West Corman Road in the City of Casa Grande, Arizona. KH-1 The first series of CORONA satellites were the Keyhole 1 (KH-1) satellites based on the Agena-A upper stage, which offered housing and an engine that provided attitude control in orbit. The KH-1 payload included the C (for CORONA) single panoramic camera built by Fairchild Camera and Instrument with a f/5.0 aperture and 61 cm (24 in) focal length. It had a ground resolution of 12.9 m (42 ft). Film was returned from orbit by a single General Electric Satellite Return Vehicle (SRV). The SRV was equipped with a small onboard solid-fuel retro motor to deorbit the payload at the end of the mission. Recovery of the capsule was done in mid-air by a specially equipped aircraft.[16] There were three camera-less test launches in the first half of 1959, none of them entirely successful. Discoverer 1 was a test vehicle carrying no SRV nor camera. Launched on 28 February 1959, it was the first man-made object put into a polar orbit, but only sporadically returned telemetry. Discoverer 2 (14 April 1959) carried a recovery capsule for the first time but no camera. The main bus performed well, but the capsule recovery failed, the SRV coming down over Spitzbergen rather than Hawaii. The capsule was never found. Discoverer 3 (3 June 1959), the first Discoverer to carry a biological package (four black mice in this case) failed to achieve orbit when its Agena crashed into the Pacific Ocean. The pressure to orbit a photographic surveillance satellite to succeed the Lockheed U-2 was so great that operational, camera-equipped KH-1 launches began 25 June 1959 with the (unsuccessful) launching of Discoverer 4, despite there not having been a successful test of the life-support unit for biological passengers. This proved to be a moot point by this time as the link between the Discoverer series and living payloads had been established by the attempted flight of Discoverer 3.[8]: 51–54  The three subsequent Discoverers were successfully orbited, but all of their cameras failed when the film snapped during loading. Ground tests determined that the acetate-based film became brittle in the vacuum of space, something that had not been discovered even in high altitude, low pressure testing. The Eastman Kodak Company was tasked with creating a more resilient replacement. Kodak developed a technique of coating a high-resolution emulsion on a type of polyester from DuPont. Not only was the resulting polyester-based film resistant to vacuum brittling, it weighed half as much as the prior acetate-based film.[8]: 56  There were four more partially successful and unsuccessful missions in the KH-1 series before Discoverer 13 (10 August 1960), which managed a fully successful capsule recovery for the first time.[17] This was the first recovery of a man-made object from space, beating the Soviet Korabl Sputnik 2 by nine days. Discoverer 13 is now on display in the "Milestones of Flight" hall in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. Two days after the 18 August 1960 launch of Discoverer 14, its film bucket was successfully retrieved in the Pacific Ocean by a Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar transport plane. This was the first successful return of a payload from orbit, occurring just one day before the launch of Korabl-Sputnik 2, a biosatellite that took into orbit the two Soviet space dogs, Belka and Strelka, and safely returned them to Earth.[18] The impact of CORONA on American intelligence gathering was tremendous. With the success of Discoverer 14, which returned 16 lb (7.3 kg) of film and provided more coverage of the Soviet Union than all preceding U2 flights, for the first time the United States had a clear picture of the USSR's strategic nuclear capabilities. Before CORONA, the National Intelligence Estimates (NIE) of CIA were highly uncertain and strongly debated. Six months before Discoverer 14, an NIE predicted that the Soviets would have 140–200 ICBMs deployed by 1961. A month after the flight of Discoverer 14, that estimate was refined to just 10–25.[8]: 38–39  Additionally, CORONA increased the pace at which intelligence could be received, with satellites providing monthly coverage from the start. Photographs were more easily assessed by analysts and political leaders than covert agent reports, improving not just the amount of intelligence but its accessibility.[8]: 38–39  The KH-1 series ended with Discoverer 15 (13 September 1960), whose capsule successfully deorbited but sank into the Pacific Ocean and was not recovered.[19] Later KH Series In 1963, the KH-4 system was introduced with dual cameras and the program made completely secret by then president, John Kennedy. The Discoverer label was dropped and all launches became classified. Because of the increased satellite mass, the basic Thor-Agena vehicle’s capabilities were augmented by the addition of three Castor solid-fueled strap-on motors. On 28 February 1963, the first Thrust Augmented Thor lifted from Vandenberg Air Force Base at Launch Complex 75 carrying the first KH-4 satellite. The launch of the new and unproven booster went awry as one SRB failed to ignite. Eventually the dead weight of the strap-on motor dragged the Thor off its flight path, leading to a Range Safety destruct. It was suspected that a technician had not attached an umbilical on the SRB properly. Although some failures continued to occur during the next few years, the reliability rate of the program significantly improved with KH-4.[20][21] Maneuvering rockets were also added to the satellite beginning in 1963. These were different from the attitude stabilizing thrusters which had been incorporated from the beginning of the program. CORONA orbited in very low orbits to enhance resolution of its camera system. But at perigee (the lowest point in the orbit), CORONA endured drag from the atmosphere of Earth. In time, this could cause its orbit to decay and force the satellite to re-enter the atmosphere prematurely. The new maneuvering rockets were designed to boost CORONA into a higher orbit, and lengthen the mission time even if low perigees were used.[22] For use during unexpected crises, the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) kept a CORONA in "R-7" status, meaning ready for launch in seven days. By the summer of 1965, NRO was able to maintain CORONA for launch within one day.[23] Nine of the KH-4A and KH-4B missions included ELINT subsatellites, which were launched into a higher orbit.[24][25] Some P-11 reconnaissance satellites were launched from KH-4A.[26] At least two launches of Discoverer were used to test satellites for the Missile Defense Alarm System (MIDAS), an early missile-launch-detection program that used infrared cameras to detect the heat signature of launch vehicles launching to orbit.[27] The last launch under the Discoverer cover name was Discoverer 38 on 26 February 1962. Its bucket was successfully recovered in midair during the 65th orbit (the 13th recovery of a bucket; the ninth one in midair).[28] Following this last use of the Discoverer name, the remaining launches of CORONA satellites were entirely TOP SECRET. The last CORONA launch was on 25 May 1972. The project ended when CORONA was replaced by the KH-9 Hexagon program.[citation needed] Technology The CORONA Satellite Index Camera Lens Cameras The CORONA satellites used special 70 mm film with a 24 in (610 mm) focal length camera.[29] Manufactured by Eastman Kodak, the film was initially 0.0003 in (7.6 μm) thick, with a resolution of 170 lines per mm (0.04 inch) of film.[30][31] The contrast was 2-to-1.[30] (By comparison, the best aerial photography film produced in World War II could produce just 50 lines per mm (1250 per inch) of film).[30] The acetate-based film was later replaced with a polyester-based film stock that was more durable in Earth orbit.[32] The amount of film carried by the satellites varied over time. Initially, each satellite carried 8,000 ft (2,400 m) of film for each camera, for a total of 16,000 ft (4,900 m) of film.[30] But a reduction in the thickness of the film stock allowed more film to be carried.[32] In the fifth generation, the amount of film carried was doubled to 16,000 ft (4,900 m) of film for each camera for a total of 32,000 ft (9,800 m) of film. This was accomplished by a reduction in film thickness and with additional film capsules.[33] Most of the film shot was black and white. Infrared film was used on mission 1104, and color film on missions 1105 and 1008. Color film proved to have lower resolution, and so was never used again.[34] The cameras were manufactured by the Itek Corporation.[35] A 12 in (30 cm), f/5 triplet lens was designed for the cameras.[36] Each lens was 7 in (18 cm) in diameter.[30] They were quite similar to the Tessar lenses developed in Germany by Carl Zeiss AG.[37] The cameras themselves were initially 5 ft (1.5 m) long, but later extended to 9 ft (2.7 m) in length.[38] Beginning with the KH-4 satellites, these lenses were replaced with Petzval f/3.5 lens.[34] The lenses were panoramic, and moved through a 70° arc perpendicular to the direction of the orbit.[30] A panoramic lens was chosen because it could obtain a wider image. Although the best resolution was only obtained in the center of the image, this could be overcome by having the camera sweep automatically ("reciprocate") back and forth across 70° of arc.[39] The lens on the camera was constantly rotating, to counteract the blurring effect of the satellite moving over the planet.[34] A diagram of "J-1" type stereo/panoramic constantly rotating CORONA reconnaissance satellite camera system used on KH-4A missions from 1963 to 1969 The first CORONA satellites had a single camera, but a two-camera system was quickly implemented.[40] The front camera was tilted 15° aft, and the rear camera tilted 15° forward, so that a stereoscopic image could be obtained.[30] Later in the program, the satellite employed three cameras.[40] The third camera was employed to take "index" photographs of the objects being stereographically filmed.[41] The J-3 camera system, first deployed in 1967, placed the camera in a drum. This "rotator camera" (or drum) moved back and forth, eliminating the need to move the camera itself on a reciprocating mechanism.[42] The drum permitted the use of up to two filters and as many as four different exposure slits, greatly improving the variability of images that CORONA could take.[43] The first cameras could resolve images on the ground down to 40 ft (12 m) in diameter. Improvements in the imaging system were rapid, and the KH-3 missions could see objects 10 ft (3.0 m) in diameter. Later missions would be able to resolve objects just 5 ft (1.5 m) in diameter.[44] 3 ft (0.91 m) resolution was found to be the optimum resolution for quality of image and field of view.[citation needed] The initial CORONA missions suffered from mysterious border fogging and bright streaks which appeared irregularly on the returned film. Eventually, a team of scientists and engineers from the project and from academia (among them Luis Alvarez, Sidney Beldner, Malvin Ruderman, Arthur Glines,[45] and Sidney Drell) determined that electrostatic discharges (called corona discharges) caused by some of the components of the cameras were exposing the film.[46][47] Corrective measures included better grounding of the components, improved film rollers that did not generate static electricity, improved temperature controls, and a cleaner internal environment.[47] Although improvements were made to reduce the corona, the final solution was to load the film canisters with a full load of film and then feed the unexposed film through the camera onto the take-up reel with no exposure. This unexposed film was then processed and inspected for corona. If none was found or the corona observed was within acceptable levels, the canisters were certified for use and loaded with fresh film for a launch mission. Calibration CORONA satellites were allegedly calibrated using the calibration targets located outside of Casa Grande, Arizona. The targets consisted of concrete arrows located in and to the south of the city, and may have helped to calibrate the cameras of the satellites.[48][49][50] These claims about the purpose of the targets, perpetuated by online forums and featured in National Geographic and NPR articles, have since been disputed, with aerial photogrammetry proposed as a more likely purpose for them.[51] Recovery A CORONA film recovery maneuver A CORONA film bucket payload Film was retrieved from orbit via a reentry capsule (nicknamed "film bucket"), designed by General Electric, which separated from the satellite and fell to Earth.[52] After the fierce heat of reentry was over, the heat shield surrounding the vehicle was jettisoned at 60,000 ft (18 km) and parachutes deployed.[53] The capsule was intended to be caught in mid-air by a passing airplane[54] towing an airborne claw which would then winch it aboard, or it could land at sea.[55] A salt plug in the base would dissolve after two days, allowing the capsule to sink if it was not picked up by the United States Navy.[56] After Reuters reported on a reentry vehicle's accidental landing and discovery by Venezuelan farmers in mid-1964, capsules were no longer labeled "SECRET" but offered a reward in eight languages for aerial footage return to the United States.[57] Beginning with flight number 69, a two-capsule system was employed.[46] This also allowed the satellite to go into passive (or "zombie") mode, shutting down for as many as 21 days before taking images again.[33] Beginning in 1963, another improvement was "Lifeboat", a battery-powered system that allowed for ejection and recovery of the capsule in case power failed.[20][58] The film was processed at Eastman Kodak's Hawkeye facility in Rochester, New York.[59] The CORONA film bucket was later adapted for the KH-7 GAMBIT satellites, which took higher resolution photos. Launch CORONA were launched by a Thor-Agena rocket, which used a Thor first stage and an Agena as the second stage of the rocket lifting the CORONA into orbit. The first satellites in the program orbited at altitudes 100 mi (160 km) above the surface of the Earth, although later missions orbited even lower at 75 mi (121 km).[34] Originally, CORONA satellites were designed to spin along their main axis so that the satellite would remain stable. Cameras would take photographs only when pointed at the Earth. The Itek camera company, however, proposed to stabilize the satellite along all three axes—keeping the cameras permanently pointed at the earth.[37] Beginning with the KH-3 version of the satellite, a horizon camera took images of several key stars.[41] A sensor used the satellite's side thruster rockets to align the rocket with these "index stars", so that it was correctly aligned with the Earth and the cameras pointed in the right direction.[60] Beginning in 1967, two horizon cameras were used. This system was known as the Dual Improved Stellar Index Camera (DISIC).[43] Operations The United States Air Force credits the Sunnyvale Air Force Station (now Onizuka Air Force Station) as being the "birthplace of the CORONA program".[61] In May 1958, the Department of Defense directed the transfer of the WS-117L program to Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA). In FY1958, WS-117L was funded by the USAF at a level of US$108.2 million (inflation adjusted US$1.1 billion in 2023). For DISCOVERER, the Air Force and ARPA spent a combined sum of US$132.3 million in FY1959 (inflation adjusted US$1.33 billion in 2023) and US$101.2 million in FY1960 (inflation adjusted US$1 billion in 2023).[62] According to John N. McMahon, the total cost of the CORONA program amounted to $US850 million.[63] The procurement and maintenance of the CORONA satellites were managed by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which used cover arrangements lasting from April 1958 to 1969 to get access to the Palo Alto plant of the Hiller Helicopter Corporation for the production.[64] At this facility, the rocket's second stage Agena, the cameras, film cassettes, and re-entry capsule were assembled and tested before shipment to Vandenberg Air Force Base.[65] In 1969, assembly duties were relocated to the Lockheed facilities in Sunnyvale, California.[66] (The NRO was worried that, as CORONA was phased out, skilled technicians worried about their jobs would quit the program—leaving CORONA without staff. The move to Sunnyvale ensured that enough skilled staff would be available.) The decisions regarding what to photograph were made by the CORONA Target Program. CORONA satellites were placed into near-polar orbits.[44] This software, run by an on-board computer, was programmed to operate the cameras based on the intelligence targets to be imaged, the weather, the satellite's operational status, and what images the cameras had already captured.[67] Ground control for CORONA satellites was initially conducted from Stanford Industrial Park, an industrial park on Page Mill Road in Palo Alto, California. It was later moved to Sunnyvale Air Force Base near Sunnyvale, California.[68] Design staff Minoru S. "Sam" Araki [de], Francis J. Madden [de], Edward A. Miller [de], James W. Plummer, and Don H. Schoessler [de] were responsible for the design, development, and operation of CORONA. For their role in creating the first space-based Earth photographic observation systems, they were awarded the Charles Stark Draper Prize in 2005.[69] Declassification The CORONA program was officially classified top secret until 1992. On 22 February 1995, the photos taken by the CORONA satellites, and also by two contemporary programs (ARGON and KH-6 LANYARD) were declassified under an Executive Order signed by President Bill Clinton.[70] The further review by photo experts of the "obsolete broad-area film-return systems other than CORONA" mandated by President Clinton's order led to the declassification in 2002 of the photos from the KH-7 and the KH-9 low-resolution cameras.[71] The declassified imagery has since been used by a team of scientists from the Australian National University to locate and explore ancient habitation sites, pottery factories, megalithic tombs, and Palaeolithic archaeological remains in northern Syria.[72][73] Similarly, scientists at Harvard have used the imagery to identify prehistoric traveling routes in Mesopotamia.[74][75] The U.S. Geological Survey hosts more than 860,000 images of the Earth’s surface from between 1960 and 1972 from CORONA, ARGON, and LANYARD programs. Launches Mission No. Cover Name Launch Date NSSDC ID No. Alt. Name Camera Notes R&D Discoverer Zero [76] 21 January 1959 1959-F01 none Agena ullage/separation rockets ignited on the pad while the launch vehicle was being fueled prior to the intended flight. R&D Discoverer 1 28 February 1959 1959-002A 1959 Beta 1 none Decay: 17 March 1959.[77] R&D Discoverer 2 13 April 1959 1959-003A 1959 GAM none First three-axis stabilized satellite; capsule recovery failed. R&D Discoverer 3 3 June 1959 DISCOV3 1959-F02 none Agena guidance failure. Vehicle fell into the Pacific Ocean 9001 Discoverer 4 25 June 1959 DISC4 1959-U01 KH-1 Insufficient Agena engine thrust. Vehicle fell into the Pacific Ocean 9002 Discoverer 5 13 August 1959 1959-005A 1959 EPS 1 KH-1 Mission failed. Power supply failure. No recovery. 9003 Discoverer 6 19 August 1959 1959-006A 1959 ZET KH-1 Mission failed. Retro rockets malfunctioned negating recovery. 9004 Discoverer 7 7 November 1959 1959-010A 1959 KAP KH-1 Mission failed. Satellite tumbled in orbit. 9005 Discoverer 8 20 November 1959 1959-011A 1959 LAM KH-1 Mission failed. Eccentric orbit negating recovery. 9006 Discoverer 9 4 February 1960 DiSC9 1960-F01 KH-1 Agena accidentally damaged during on-pad servicing. Premature cutoff and staging signal sent to Thor. 9007 Discoverer 10 19 February 1960 DISC10 1960-F02 KH-1 Control failure followed by RSO destruct T+52 seconds after launch 9008 Discoverer 11 15 April 1960 1960-004A 1960 DEL KH-1 Attitude control system malfunctioned. No film capsule recovery. R&D Discoverer 12 29 June 1960 DISC12 1960-F08 none Agena attitude control malfunction. No orbit. R&D Discoverer 13 10 August 1960 1960-008A 1960 THE none Tested capsule recovery system; first successful capture. 9009 Discoverer 14 18 August 1960 1960-010A 1960 KAP KH-1 First successful recovery of IMINT from space. Cameras operated satisfactorily. 9010 Discoverer 15 13 September 1960 1960-012A 1960 MU KH-1 Mission failed. Attained orbit successfully. Capsule sank prior to retrieval. 9011 Discoverer 16 26 October 1960 1960-F15 1960-F15 KH-2 Agena failed to separate from Thor. 9012 Discoverer 17 12 November 1960 1960-015A 1960 OMI KH-2 Mission failed. Obtained orbit successfully. Film separated before any camera operation leaving only 1.7 ft (0.52 m) of film in capsule. 9013 Discoverer 18 7 December 1960 1960-018A 1960 SIG KH-2 First successful mission employing KH-2 camera system. RM-1 Discoverer 19 20 December 1960 1960-019A 1960 TAU none Test of Missile Defense Alarm System 9014A Discoverer 20 17 February 1961 1961-005A 1961 EPS 1 KH-5 See KH-5 RM-2 Discoverer 21 18 February 1961 1961-006A 1961 ZET none Test of restartable rocket engine 9015 Discoverer 22 30 March 1961 DISC22 1961-F02 KH-2 Agena control malfunction. No orbit. 9016A Discoverer 23 8 April 1961 1961-011A 1961 LAM 1 KH-5 See KH-5 9018A Discoverer 24 8 June 1961 DISC24 1961-F05 KH-5 See KH-5 9017 Discoverer 25 16 June 1961 1961-014A 1961 XI 1 KH-2 Capsule recovered from water on orbit 32. Streaks throughout film. 9019 Discoverer 26 7 July 1961 1961-016A 1961 PI KH-2 Main camera malfunctioned on pass 22. 9020A Discoverer 27 21 July 1961 DISC27 1961-F07 KH-5 See KH-5 9021 Discoverer 28 4 August 1961 DISC28 1961-F08 KH-2 Thor guidance failure. RSO destruct at T+60 seconds. 9022 Discoverer 30 12 September 1961 1961-024A 1961 OME 1 KH-3 Best mission to date. Same out-of-focus condition as in 9023. 9023 Discoverer 29 30 August 1961 1961-023A 1961 PSI KH-3 First use of KH-3 camera system. All frames out of focus. 9024 Discoverer 31 17 September 1961 1961-026A 1961 A BET KH-3 Mission failed. Power failure and loss of control gas on orbit 33. Capsule was not recovered. 9025 Discoverer 32 13 October 1961 1961-027A 1961 A GAM 1 KH-3 Capsule recovered on orbit 18. 96% of film out of focus. 9026 Discoverer 33 23 October 1961 DISC33 1961-F10 KH-3 Mission failed. Satellite failed to separate from Thor booster. No orbit. 9027 Discoverer 34 5 November 1961 1961-029A 1961 A EPS 1 KH-3 Mission failed. Improper launch angle resulted in extreme orbit. Gas valve failed 9028 Discoverer 35 15 November 1961 1961-030A 1961 A ZET 1 KH-3 All cameras operated satisfactorily. Grainy emulsion noted. 9029 Discoverer 36 12 December 1961 1961-034A 1961 A KAP 1 KH-3 Best mission to date. Launch carried OSCAR 1 to orbit. 9030 Discoverer 37 13 January 1962 DISC37 1962-F01 KH-3 Mission failed. No orbit. 9031 Discoverer 38 27 February 1962 1962-005A 1962 EPS 1 KH-4 First mission of the KH-4 series. Much of film slightly out of focus. 9032 1962 Lambda 1 18 April 1962 1962-011A 1962 LAM 1 KH-4 Best mission to date. 9033 FTV 1125 28 April 1962 1962-017A 1962 RHO 1 KH-4 Mission failed. Parachute ejector squibs holding parachute container cover failed to fire. No recovery. 9034A FTV 1126 15 May 1962 1962-018A 1962 SIG 1 KH-5 See KH-5 9035 FTV 1128 30 May 1962 1962-021A 1962 PHI 1 KH-4 Slight corona static on film. 9036 FTV 1127 2 June 1962 1962-022A 1962 CHI 1 KH-4 Mission failed. During air catch. Launch carried OSCAR 2 to orbit. 9037 FTV 1129 23 June 1962 1962-026A 1962 A BET KH-4 Corona static occurs on some film. 9038 FTV 1151 28 June 1962 1962-027A 1962 A GAM KH-4 Severe corona static. 9039 FTV 1130 21 July 1962 1962-031A 1962 A ETA KH-4 Aborted after 6 photo passes. Heavy corona and radiation fog. 9040 FTV 1131 28 July 1962 1962-032A 1962 A THE KH-4 No filters on slave horizon cameras. Heavy corona and radiation fog. 9041 FTV 1152 2 August 1962 1962-034A 1962 A KAP 1 KH-4 Severe corona and radiation fog. 9042A FTV 1132 1 September 1962 1962-044A 1962 A UPS KH-5 See KH-5 9043 FTV 1133 17 September 1962 1962-046A 1962 A CHI KH-4 placed in highly eccentric orbit (207 x 670 km), capsule called down after one day, film suffered severe radiation fog due to South Atlantic Anomaly crossing [78][79][80] 9044 FTV 1153 29 August 1962 1962-042A 1962 A SIG KH-4 Erratic vehicle attitude. Radiation fog minimal. 9045 FTV 1154 29 September 1962 1962-050A 1962 B BET KH-4 First use of stellar camera 9046A FTV 1134 9 October 1962 1962-053A 1962 B EPS KH-5 See KH-5 9047 FTV 1136 5 November 1962 1962-063A 1962 B OMI KH-4 Camera door malfunctioned 9048 FTV 1135 24 November 1962 1962-065A 1962 B RHO KH-4 Some film exposed through base. 9049 FTV 1155 4 December 1962 1962-066A 1962 B SIG KH-4 Mission failed. During air catch chute tore 9050 FTV 1156 14 December 1962 1962-069A 1962 B PHI KH-4 Best mission to date. 9051 OPS 0048 7 January 1963 1963-002A 1963-002A KH-4 Erratic vehicle attitude. Frame ephemeris not created. 9052 OPS 0583 28 Feb 1963 1963-F02 1963-F02 KH-4 Mission failed. Destroyed by range safety officer 9053 OPS 0720 1 Apr 1963 1963-007A 1963-007A KH-4 Best imagery to date. 9054 OPS 0954 12 Jun 1963 1963-019A 1963-019A KH-4 Some imagery seriously affected by corona. 9055A OPS 1008 26 Apr 1963 1963-F07 1963-F07 KH-5 See KH-5 9056 OPS 0999 26 Jun 1963 1963-025A 1963-025A KH-4 Experimental camera carried. Film affected by light leaks. 9057 OPS 1266 19 Jul 1963 1963-029A 1963-029A KH-4 Best mission to date. 9058A OPS 1561 29 Aug 1963 1963-035A 1963-035A KH-5 See KH-5 9059A OPS 2437 29 Oct 1963 1963-042A 1963-042A KH-5 See KH-5 9060 OPS 2268 9 Nov 1963 1963-F14 1963-F14 KH-4 Mission failed. No orbit. 9061 OPS 2260 27 Nov 1963 1963-048A 1963-048A KH-4 Mission failed. Return capsule separated from satellite but remained in orbit. 9062 OPS 1388 21 Dec 1963 1963-055A 1963-055A KH-4 Corona static fogged much of film. 9065A OPS 2739 21 Aug 1964 1964-048A 1964-048A KH-5 See KH-5 9066A OPS 3236 13 Jun 1964 1964-030A 1964-030A KH-5 See KH-5 1001 OPS 1419 24 Aug 1963 1963-034A 1963-034A KH-4A First mission of KH-4A. Some film was fogged. Two buckets but 1001-2 was never recovered. 1002 OPS 1353 23 Sep 1963 1963-037A 1963-037A KH-4A Severe light leaks 1003 OPS 3467 24 Mar 1964 1964-F04 1964-F04 KH-4A Mission failed. Guidance system failed. No orbit. 1004 OPS 3444 15 Feb 1964 1964-008A 1964-008A KH-4A Main cameras operated satisfactorily. Minor degradations due to static and light leaks. 1005 OPS 2921 27 Apr 1964 1964-022A 1964-022A KH-4A Mission failed. Recovery vehicle impacted in Venezuela. 1006 OPS 3483 4 June 1964 1964-027A 1964-027A KH-4A Highest quality imagery attained to date from the KH-4 system. 1007 OPS 3754 19 Jun 1964 1964-032A 1964-032A KH-4A Out-of-focus area on some film. 1008 OPS 3491 10 Jun 1964 1964-037A 1964-037A KH-4A Cameras operated satisfactorily 1009 OPS 3042 5 Aug 1964 1964-043A 1964-043A KH-4A Cameras operated successfully. 1010 OPS 3497 14 Sep 1964 1964-056A 1964-056A KH-4A Small out of focus areas on both cameras at random times throughout the mission. 1011 OPS 3333 5 Oct 1964 1964-061A 1964-061A KH-4A Primary mode of recovery failed on second portion of the mission (1011-2). Small out of focus areas present at random on both cameras. 1012 OPS 3559 17 Oct 1964 1964-067A 1964-067A KH-4A Vehicle attitude became erratic on the second portion of the mission necessitating an early recovery. 1013 OPS 5434 2 Nov 1964 1964-071A 1964-071A KH-4A Program anomaly occurred immediately after launch when both cameras operated for 417 frames. Main cameras ceased operation on rev 52D of first portion of mission negating second portion. About 65% of aft camera film is out of focus. 1014 OPS 3360 18 Nov 1964 1964-075A 1964-075A KH-4A Cameras operated successfully. 1015 OPS 3358 19 Dec 1964 1964-085A 1964-085A KH-4A Discrepancies in planned and actual coverage due to telemetry problems during the first 6 revolutions. Small out-of-focus areas on film from aft camera. 1016 OPS 3928 15 Jan 1965 1965-002A 1965-002A KH-4A Smearing of highly reflective images due to reflections within camera. 1017 OPS 4782 25 Feb 1965 1965-013A 1965-013A KH-4A Capping shutter malfunction occurred during last 5 passes of mission. 1018 OPS 4803 25 Mar 1965 1965-026A 1965-026A KH-4A Cameras operated successfully. First KH-4A reconnaissance system to be launched into a retrograde orbit. 1019 OPS 5023 29 Apr 1965 1965-033A 1965-033A KH-4A Cameras operated successfully. Malfunction in recovery mode on 1019-2 negated recovery. 1020 OPS 8425 9 Jun 1965 1965-045A 1965-045A KH-4A All cameras operated satisfactorily. Erratic attitude caused an early recovery after the second day of 1020–2. 1021 OPS 8431 18 May 1965 1965-037A 1965-037A KH-4A Aft camera ceased operation on pass 102. 1022 OPS 5543 19 Jun 1965 1965-057A 1965-057A KH-4A All cameras operated satisfactorily. 1023 OPS 7208 17 Aug 1965 1965-067A 1965-067A KH-4A Program anomaly caused the fore camera to cease operation during revolutions 103–132. 1024 OPS 7221 22 Sep 1965 1965-074A 1965-074A KH-4A All cameras operated satisfactorily. Cameras not operated on passes 88D-93D. 1025 OPS 5325 5 Oct 1965 1965-079A 1965-079A KH-4A Main cameras operated satisfactorily. 1026 OPS 2155 28 Oct 1965 1965-086A 1965-086A KH-4A All cameras operated satisfactorily. 1027 OPS 7249 9 Dec 1965 1965-102A 1965-102A KH-4A Erratic attitude necessitated recovery after two days of operation. All cameras operated satisfactorily. 1028 OPS 4639 24 Dec 1965 1965-110A 1965-110A KH-4A Cameras operated satisfactorily. 1029 OPS 7291 2 Feb 1966 1966-007A 1966-007A KH-4A Both panoramic cameras were operational throughout. 1030 OPS 3488 9 Mar 1966 1966-018A 1966-018A KH-4A All cameras operated satisfactorily. 1031 OPS 1612 7 Apr 1966 1966-029A 1966-029A KH-4A The aft-looking camera malfunctioned after the recovery of bucket 1. No material was received in bucket 2 (1031-2). 1032 OPS 1508 3 May 1966 1966-F05A 1966-F05 KH-4A Mission failed. Vehicle failed to achieve orbit. 1033 OPS 1778 24 May 1966 1966-042A 1966-042A KH-4A The stellar camera shutter of bucket 2 remained open for approximately 200 frames. 1034 OPS 1599 21 Jun 1966 1966-055A 1966-055A KH-4A Failure of velocity altitude programmer produced poor imagery after revolution 5. 1035 OPS 1703 20 Sep 1966 1966-085A 1966-085A KH-4A All cameras operated satisfactorily. First mission flown with pan geometry modification. 1036 OPS 1545 9 Aug 1966 1966-072A 1966-072A KH-4A All cameras operated satisfactorily. 1037 OPS 1866 8 Nov 1966 1966-102A 1966-102A KH-4A Second pan geometry mission. Higher than normal base plus fog encountered on both main camera records. 1038 OPS 1664 14 Jan 1967 1967-002A 1967-002A KH-4A Fair image quality. 1039 OPS 4750 22 Feb 1967 1967-015A 1967-015A KH-4A Normal KH-4 mission. Light from horizon camera on both main camera records during 1039–1. 1040 OPS 4779 30 Mar 1967 1967-029A 1967-029A KH-4A Satellite flown nose first. 1041 OPS 4696 9 May 1967 1967-043A 1967-043A KH-4A Due to the failure of the booster cut-off switch, the satellite went into a highly eccentric orbit. There was significant image degradation. 1042 OPS 3559 16 June 1967 1967-062A 1967-062A KH-4A Small out-of-focus area in forward camera of 1042–1. 1043 OPS 4827 7 Aug 1967 1967-076A 1967-076A KH-4A Forward camera film came out of the rails on pass 230D. Film degraded past this point. 1044 OPS 0562 2 Nov 1967 1967-109A 1967-109A KH-4A All cameras operated fine. 1045 OPS 2243 24 Jan 1968 1968-008A 1968-008A KH-4A All cameras operated satisfactorily. 1046 OPS 4849 14 Mar 1968 1968-020A 1968-020A KH-4A Image quality good for 1046-1 and fair for 1046–2. 1047 OPS 5343 20 June 1968 1968-052A 1968-052A KH-4A Out-of-focus imagery is present on both main camera records. 1048 OPS 0165 18 Sep 1968 1968-078A 1968-078A KH-4A Film in the forward camera separated and camera failed on mission 1048-2 1049 OPS 4740 12 Dec 1968 1968-112A 1968-112A KH-4A Degraded film 1050 OPS 3722 19 Mar 1969 1969-026A 1969-026A KH-4A Due to abnormal rotational rates after revolution 22 1051 OPS 1101 2 May 1969 1969-041A 1969-041A KH-4A Imagery of both pan camera records is soft and lacks crispness and edge sharpness. 1052 OPS 3531 22 Sep 1969 1969-079A 1969-079A KH-4A Last of the KH-4A missions 1101 OPS 5089 15 Sep 1967 1967-087A 1967-087A KH-4B First mission of the KH-4B series. Best film to date. 1102 OPS 1001 09 Dec 1967 1967-122A 1967-122A KH-4B Noticeable image smear for forward camera 1103 OPS 1419 1 May 1968 1968-039A 1968-039B KH-4B Out-of-focus imagery is present on both main camera records. 1104 OPS 5955 7 Aug 1968 1968-065A 1968-065A KH-4B Best imagery to date on any KH-4 systems. Bicolor and color infrared experiments were conducted on this mission, including SO-180 IR camouflage detection film.[81] 1105 OPS 1315 3 Nov 1968 1968-098A 1968-098A KH-4B Image quality is variable and displays areas of soft focus and image smear. 1106 OPS 3890 5 February 1969 1969-010A 1969-010A KH-4B The best image quality to date. 1107 OPS 3654 24 July 1969 1969-063A 1969-063A KH-4B Forward camera failed on pass 1 and remained inoperative throughout the rest of the mission. 1108 OPS 6617 4 December 1969 1969-105A 1969-105A KH-4B Cameras operated satisfactorily and the mission carried 811 ft (247 m) of aerial color film added to the end of the film supply. 1109 OPS 0440 4 March 1970 1970-016A 1970-016A KH-4B Cameras operated satisfactorily but the overall image quality of both the forward and aft records is variable. 1110 OPS 4720 20 May 1970 1970-040A 1970-040A KH-4B The overall image quality is less than that provided by recent missions and 2 1111 OPS 4324 23 June 1970 1970-054A 1970-054A KH-4B The overall image quality is good. 1112 OPS 4992 18 November 1970 1970-098A 1970-098A KH-4B The forward camera failed on pass 104 and remained inoperative throughout the rest of the mission. 1113 OPS 3297 17 February 1971 1971-F01A 1971-F01 KH-4B Mission failed due to failure of Thor booster. Destroyed shortly after launch. 1114 OPS 5300 24 March 1971 1971-022A 1971-022A KH-4B The overall image quality is good and comparable to the best of past missions. On-board program failed after pass 235 1115 OPS 5454 10 September 1971 1971-076A 1971-076A KH-4B Overall image quality is good. 1116 OPS 5640 19 April 1972 1972-032A 1972-032A KH-4B Very successful mission and image quality was good. 1117 OPS 6371 25 May 1972 1972-039A 1972-039A KH-4B Last KH-4B mission. Very successful mission, failure to deploy one solar panel and leak in Agena gas system shortened mission from 19 to 6 days[80] Image gallery Air Force Satellite Control Facility during recovery operations Air Force Satellite Control Facility during recovery operations CORONA re-entry parameters CORONA re-entry parameters Duration: 56 minutes and 5 seconds.56:05 "A Point in Time: The CORONA Story" – a documentary movie about the first in history project of spy satellites, created by the CIA and NRO in 1995 to commemorate declassification of CORONA project Corona full-frame stereo pair image of Salton lake California. CORONA full-frame stereo pair image of the Salton Sea California A low-contrast black-and-white satellite image of a small city and surrounding farm land Stereo medium CORONA image of Dinuba, California 1970 In popular culture The 1963 thriller novel Ice Station Zebra and its 1968 film adaptation were inspired, in part, by news accounts from 17 April 1959, about a missing experimental CORONA satellite capsule (Discoverer 2) that inadvertently landed near Spitzbergen on 13 April 1959. While Soviet agents may have recovered the vehicle,[65][82] it is more likely that the capsule landed in water and sank.[57] See also Spaceflight portal Cold War Deep Black (1986 book) KH-5 ARGON, KH-6 LANYARD, KH-7 GAMBIT, KH-8 GAMBIT 3 KH-9 Hexagon "Big Bird" KH-10 DORIAN or Manned Orbital Laboratory (MOL program) KH-11, KH-12, KH-13. Richard M. Bissell Jr. SAMOS Satellite imagery Zenit References CIA History Staff (1995). CORONA America's First Satellite Program (PDF). CIA Codl War Records. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 January 2019. Retrieved 23 January 2020. "Sputnik Launched". Archived from the original on 7 March 2010. Angelo, Joseph A. (14 May 2014). Encyclopedia of Space and Astronomy. Infobase. p. 489. ISBN 9781438110189. Rich, Michael D. (1998). "RAND's Role in the CORONA Program". RAND Corporation. Retrieved 9 March 2014. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: "Discoverer 1". NASA. 14 May 2020. Retrieved 5 January 2021. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: United States; Central Intelligence Agency; Ruffner, Kevin Conley (1995). CORONA America's first satellite program. Center for the Study of Intelligence, Central Intelligence Agency. p. xiii. OCLC 42006243. Yenne, Bill (1985). The Encyclopedia of US Spacecraft. Exeter Books (A Bison Book), New York. ISBN 978-0-671-07580-4. p. 82 Key Hole Day, Dwayne A.; Logsdon, John M.; Latell, Brian (1998). Eye in the Sky: The Story of the Corona Spy Satellites. Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press. ISBN 1-56098-830-4. OCLC 36783934. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: "HEXAGON America's eyes in space" (PDF). Center for the Study of National Reconnaissance. September 2011. Retrieved 24 October 2020. McDowell, Jonathan (26 August 2000). "9.3.1: SAMOS". Jonathon's Space Report. Retrieved 24 October 2020. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: "Declassified Intelligence Satellite Photographs Fact Sheet 090-96". United States Geological Survey. February 1998. Archived from the original on 5 July 2007. "Discoverer 2, 3, 12, 13". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 24 October 2020. "Discoverer 1". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 24 October 2020. "Space Science and Exploration". Collier's Encyclopedia. Crowell-Collier Publishing Company. 1964. OCLC 1032873498. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Robert Perry (October 1973). A History of Satellite Reconnaissance, Volume 1 (PDF). National Reconnaissance Office. OCLC 794229594. Krebs, Gunter. "KH-1 Corona". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 24 October 2020. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: "Discoverer 13 – 1960-008A". NASA. 14 May 2020. Retrieved 5 January 2021. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: "Sputnik 5 – 1960-011A". NASA. 14 May 2020. Retrieved 5 January 2021. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: "Discoverer 15 – 1960-012A". NASA. 14 May 2020. Retrieved 5 January 2021. Ruffner, p. 32. National Reconnaissance Office, "National Reconnaissance Office Review and Redaction Guide for Automatic Declassification of 25-Year-Old Information, Version 1.0, 2006 edition, p. 52 Accessed 2012-06-06 Ruffner, pp. 32–33. Day, Dwayne Allen (12 January 2009). "Ike's gambit: The KH-8 reconnaissance satellite". The Space Review. Retrieved 11 June 2012. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: "1967-043B". NASA. 14 May 2020. Retrieved 5 January 2021. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: "1970-098B". NASA. 14 May 2020. Retrieved 5 January 2021. Day, Dwayne A. "The wizard war in orbit (part 4)". The Space Review. Retrieved 29 August 2022. Sturdevant, Rick. "From the Pied Piper Infrared Reconnaissance Subsystem to the Missile Defense Alarm System: Space-Based Early Warning Research and Development, 1955–1970". AIAA SPACE 2010 Conference & Exposition. Yenne, Bill (1985). The Encyclopedia of US Spacecraft. Exeter Books (A Bison Book), New York. ISBN 978-0-671-07580-4. p. 37 Discoverer Yenne, p. 63; Jensen, p. 81. Drell, "Physics and U.S. National Security", p. S462 Brown, Stewart F. "America's First Eyes in Space", Popular Science February 1996, p. 46 Brown, Stewart F., "America's First Eyes in Space", Popular Science February 1996, pp. 46–47 Peebles, p. 157 Olsen, p. 57 Yenne, p. 64 Smith, pp. 111–114 Lewis, p. 93 Monmonier, p. 24 Day, Logsdon, and Latell, pp. 192–196. Ruffner, p. 37 Kramer, p. 354 Ruffner, pp. 34, 36 Ruffner, p. 36 Chun, p. 75 personal memoirs of Arthur R. Glines, CORONA program engineer, 1/1962 to 6/1967 Ruffner, p. 31 Drell, "Reminiscences of Work on National Reconnaissance", p. 42 Manaugh, Geoff (8 April 2014). "Zooming-In on Satellite Calibration Targets in the Arizona Desert". Atlas Obscura. Archived from the original on 26 March 2016. Retrieved 14 April 2016. Hider, Anna (3 October 2014). "What the heck are these abandoned cement targets in the Arizona desert?". Roadtrippers. Retrieved 14 April 2016. "CORONA Test Targets". borntourist.com. Archived from the original on 24 April 2016. Retrieved 14 April 2016. Page II, Joseph T. (21 December 2020). "Candy CORN: analyzing the corona concrete crosses myth". The Space Review. Retrieved 30 December 2020. Peebles, p. 48. Collins, p. 108 Hickam Kukini, p. A-4, Vol 15, No 48, Friday, 5 December 2008, Base newspaper from Hickam AFB Monmonier, pp. 22–23 Monmonier, p. 23 Day, Dwayne Allen (18 February 2008). "Spysat down!". The Space Review. Retrieved 11 June 2012. Peebles, p. 159 Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: National Reconnaissance Office, "National Reconnaissance Office Review and Redaction Guide for Automatic Declassification of 25-Year-Old Information, Version 1.0, 2006 edition, p. 58 Accessed 2012-06-06 Brown, p. 44; Burrows, p. 231 Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: "'Mission accomplished' for NRO at Onizuka AFS". USAF. 23 April 2007. Archived from the original on 20 July 2011. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: "Chronology of Air Force space activities" (PDF). National Reconnaissance Office. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 October 2011. Retrieved 13 July 2011. "CIA Holds Landmark Symposium on CORONA". Federation of American Scientists. June 1995. Peebles, p. 51 National Reconnaissance Office, "National Reconnaissance Office Review and Redaction Guide for Automatic Declassification of 25-Year-Old Information, Version 1.0, 2006 edition, p. 154 Accessed 2012-06-06 Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: National Reconnaissance Office, The Corona Story, BYE 140001-98, December 1988, p. 32 Archived 2016-01-22 at the Wayback Machine Accessed 2012-06-06 Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: National Reconnaissance Office, "National Reconnaissance Office Review and Redaction Guide for Automatic Declassification of 25-Year-Old Information, Version 1.0, 2006 edition, p. 118 Accessed 2012-06-06 Chien, Phillip, "High Spies", Popular Mechanics, February 1996, p. 49 "2005 Draper Prize – Corona Historic Images". NAE Website. Executive Order 12951 Broad, William J. (12 September 1995). "Spy Satellites' Early Role As 'Floodlight' Coming Clear". The New York Times. "Satellite images spy ancient history in Syria". PhysOrg. 3 August 2006. Britt, Robert Roy (7 August 2006). "Ancient Syrian Settlements Seen in Spy Satellite Images". LiveScience. Ur, Jason. "Ancient Communication Networks in Northern Mesopotamia". Harvard University. Archived from the original on 5 February 2013. Retrieved 20 March 2013. Ur, Jason. "Archaeological Applications of Declassified Satellite Photographs". Harvard University. Archived from the original on 8 April 2011. Retrieved 20 March 2013. "The Space Review: Battle's Laws". www.thespacereview.com. "NASA – NSSDCA – Spacecraft – Details". nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: "MISSION 9043 SUCCESSFUL AIR RECOVERY" (PDF). National Reconnaissance Office. 21 September 1962. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 March 2012. Retrieved 23 December 2010. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: "Photographic Evaluation Report: Mission 9043" (PDF). National Reconnaissance Office. 31 October 1962. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 March 2012. Retrieved 23 December 2010. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Robery Perry (October 1973). "A History of Satellite Reconnaissance: Volume I – Corona (page 215)" (PDF). Central Intelligence Agency. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 November 2010. "MEMO: PHOTOGRAPHIC RECONNAISSANCE SYSTEMS, PROGRESS TOWARDS OBJECTIVES" (PDF). NRO. 5 September 1972. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 May 2016. Retrieved 15 July 2011. Taubman, Secret Empire p. 287 Sources Burrows, William E., This New Ocean: The Story of the First Space Age, New York, Random House, 1998[ISBN missing] Chun, Clayton K.S., Thunder Over the Horizon: From V-2 rockets to Ballistic Missiles, Westport, Praeger Security International, 2006[ISBN missing] Collins, Martin, After Sputnik: 50 Years of the Space Age, New York, Smithsonian Books/HarperCollins, 2007[ISBN missing] "Corona", Mission and Spacecraft Library, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, No date Accessed 2012-60-06 Day, Dwayen A.; Logsdon, John M.; and Latell, Brian, eds. Eye in the Sky: The Story of the Corona Spy Satellites, Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Institution Press, 1998 ISBN 978-1560988304 "Discoverer/Corona: First U.S. Reconnaissance Satellite". National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution. 2002. Archived from the original on 17 January 2012. Retrieved 6 June 2012. Drell, Sidney D., "Physics and U.S. National Security", Reviews of Modern Physics, 71:2 (1999), pp. S460–S470 Drell, Sidney D., "Reminiscences of Work on National Reconnaissance", in Nuclear Weapons, Scientists, and the Post-Cold War Challenge: Selected Papers on Arms Control, Sidney D. Drell, ed. Hackensack, New Jersey, World Scientific, 2007 Jensen, John R., Remote Sensing of the Environment: An Earth Resource Perspective, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, Pearson Prentice Hall, 2007[ISBN missing] Kramer, Herbert J., Observation of the Earth and Its Environment: Survey of Missions and Sensors, Berlin, Springer, 2002[ISBN missing] Lewis, Jonathan E., Spy Capitalism: Itek and the CIA, New Haven, Connecticut, Yale University Press, 2002, ISBN 0-300-09192-3 Monmonier, Mark S., Spying With Maps: Surveillance Technologies and the Future of Privacy, Chicago, Illinois, University of Chicago Press, 2004[ISBN missing] National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Societal Impact of Spaceflight, Washington, D.C., NASA, 2009 Olsen, Richard C., Remote Sensing From Air and Space. Bellingham, Washington, SPIE Press, 2007 Peebles, Curtis, The Corona Project: America's First Spy Satellites, Annapolis, Maryland, Naval Institute Press, 1997[ISBN missing] Ruffner, Kevin C., ed. Corona: America's First Satellite Program, New York, Morgan James, 1995[ISBN missing] Smith, F. Dow, "The Design and Engineering of Corona's Optics", in CORONA: Between the Sun and the Earth: The First NRO Reconnaissance Eye in Space, Robert McDonald, ed. Bethesda, Maryland: ASPRS, 1997 Taubman, Phil, Secret Empire: Eisenhower, the CIA, and the Hidden Story of America's Space Espionage, New York, Simon & Schuster, 2003. ISBN 0-684-85699-9 Yenne, Bill, Secret Gadgets and Strange Gizmos: High-Tech (and Low-Tech) Innovations of the U.S. Military, Grand Rapids, Michigan, Publishers Group Worldwide, 2006[ISBN missing] External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to CORONA and Discoverer. US Geological Survey Satellite Images: Photographic imagery from the CORONA, ARGON and LANYARD satellites (1959 to 1972). GlobalSecurity.org: Imagery Intelligence A Point in Time: The Corona Story is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive Swords into Ploughshares: Archaeological Applications of CORONA Satellite Imagery in the Near East vte Satellites of the National Reconnaissance Office Imaging Optical Keyhole Corona Argon Lanyard Gambit 1 Gambit 3 Hexagon Kennen/Crystal Misty Misty EIS Other Samos Radar Quill Lacrosse/Onyx FIA-R SIGINT Radar location Canyon Chalet/Vortex Mercury Ship location Poppy NOSS ELINT GEO Rhyolite/Aquacade Magnum/Orion Mentor HEO Jumpseat Trumpet LEO Samos-F Poppy Communication SDS SLDCOM Technology STEX GeoLITE USA-193 Colony RPP vte United States United States reconnaissance satellites IMINT Photographic KH-1 Corona KH-2 Corona KH-3 Corona KH-4A Corona KH-4B Corona KH-5 Argon KH-6 Lanyard KH-7 Gambit KH-8 Gambit 3 KH-9 Hexagon KH-10 Dorian Electro-optical Samos KH-11 Kennen Misty Enhanced Imaging System Synthetic-aperture radar Quill Lacrosse FIA Infrared SIGINT Low Earth orbit GRAB Poppy White Cloud Samos-F Highly elliptical orbit Jumpseat Trumpet Geosynchronous Earth orbit Canyon Magnum Mentor (Orion) Mercury Rhyolite/Aquacade Vortex MASINT Primary mission FORTE GPS DMSP Vela Secondary mission MIDAS DSP SBIRS STSS Research and development Primary mission MiTEx Secondary mission Unknown USA number USA-193 vte United States Air Force system numbers 100–199 100 101 P 102 103 104 105 1061 107 A-1 A-2 1081 1091 110 1111 112 1131 1141 1151 1161 117 L M 118 A L P 119 C/F E L T Y 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 1271 128 129 130 131 132 A B 133 1341 135 1361 1371 138 139 140 1411 142 143–1971 198 199 B C D Y 200–299 200 201 A/L B/W E 202 2031 204 205 206 2071 208 2091 210 2111 212 213 214 2151 216 217 218 2191 220 221 222 A G 2231 224 2251 226 227–2381 239 240–2781 279 280–2981 299 300–399 300 3011 302 303 3041 3051 306 A/L B 307 308 309 3101 3111 3121 3131 314 315 A-1 A-2 316 317 3181 319 3201 321 3221 323 324 L M/N 325 326 327 E 328 E 329 F 3301 3311 3321 3331 3341 335 336 337 338–3791 380 A/B/E/F/N P 381–3971 398 399 A B 400–499 400 B/C/N E G/H M 401 402 4031 404 405 B C D 4061 407 4081 4091 410 E L 411 E L 412 413 414 L M 415 416 L M (I) M (II) P Q 417 418 L M 4191 420 L/W 4211 422 423 424 425 426 L M 427 L M 428 A L 429 430 431 G (I) G (II) 432 433 434 435 A L 436 437 438 439 440 441 A D L 442 443 4441 445 L M 446 447 4481 4491 450 451 D L 452 453 4541 455 456 4571 458 459 460 L 461 462 463 464 465 466 467 468 469 470 471 L (I) L (II) 472 473 474 L N 4751 476 E 477 478 A T 4791 480 481 L 482 E L M/Z 483 484 L M N 485 L Z 486 487 488 489 490 L M 4911 492 493 494 495 L (I) L (II) 496 497 A L (I) L 498 A C D E L 499 A C D 500–599 500 501–5191 520 521–5291 530 531–5411 542 543–5491 550 A E 551–5591 560 A F 561–5691 570 571–5791 580 A E 581–5891 590 591 592 593–5991 600–699 600 601 A L 602 A L 603 A L 604 605 606 607 6081 609 6101 6111 6121 6131 614 6151 616 6171 618 6191 620 621 A/B (I) B (II) 622 623 624 625 6261 627 6281 6291 6301 6311 632 633 634 A B 635 6361 6371 638 639 640 641 642 643 6441 6451 6461 6471 648 A D P 649 A B C D E F L P 650 651 652 6531 6541 655 A (I) A (II) P 656 6571 6581 6591 660 661 6621 6631 664 665 A (I) A (II) 666 A C/P 667 668 6691 670 6711 672 A M/P 6731 674 675 6761 6771 6781 679 680 681 D E 6821 683 A J V 6841 685 686 687 J P 6881 6891 690 691 C X Z 6921 693 6941 695 A B C L N P Q R S (I) S (II) 6961 6971 6981 6991 700–799 700–7351 736 7371 7381 7391 7401 741 742 743 7441 745 746–7531 754 755–7991 800–899 8001 8011 802 L (I) L (II) 8031 8041 8051 806 807 808–8161 817 8181 8191 8201 8211 8221 823 824–8311 832 8331 834 835–8451 846 847–8991 900–999 900–9511 952 8531 8541 8551 956 957–9671 968 1 Unknown or not assigned

The dark side of history: https://thememoryhole.substack.com/ Richard McGarrah Helms (March 30, 1913 – October 23, 2002) was an American government official and diplomat who served as Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) from 1966 to 1973. Helms began intelligence work with the Office of Strategic Services during World War II. Following the 1947 creation of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), he rose in its ranks during the presidencies of Truman, Eisenhower and Kennedy. Helms then was DCI under Presidents Johnson and Nixon,[1] yielding to James R. Schlesinger in early 1973. As a spy, Helms highly valued information gathering (favoring the interpersonal, but including the technical, obtained by espionage or from published media) and its analysis while prizing counterintelligence. Although a participant in planning such activities, Helms remained a skeptic about covert and paramilitary operations. While working as the DCI, Helms managed the agency following the lead of his predecessor John McCone. In 1977, as a result of earlier covert operations in Chile, Helms became the only DCI convicted of misleading Congress. Helms's last post in government service was Ambassador to Iran from April 1973 to December 1976. Besides this Helms was a key witness before the Senate during its investigation of the CIA by the Church Committee in the mid-1970s, 1975 being called the "Year of Intelligence".[2][full citation needed] This investigation was hampered severely by Helms having ordered the destruction of all files related to the CIA's mind control program in 1973.[3] Early career Helms was born and raised in Pennsylvania. He attended Institut Le Rosey in Switzerland. At this high school in Europe, Helms learned French and German. He returned and graduated from Williams College in Massachusetts. He then worked as a journalist in Europe, and for the Indianapolis Times. Married when America entered World War II, he joined the Navy. Then Helms was recruited by the OSS, for whom he later served in Europe. Helms began his spy career by serving in the war-time Office of Strategic Services (OSS). Following the Allied victory, Helms was stationed in Germany[1] serving under Allen Dulles and Frank Wisner.[citation needed] In late 1945, President Truman terminated the OSS. Back in Washington, Helms continued similar intelligence work as part of the Strategic Services Unit (SSU), later called the Office of Special Operations (OSO). During this period, Helms focused on espionage in central Europe at the start of the Cold War and took part in the vetting of the German Gehlen spy organization. The OSO was incorporated into the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) when it was founded in 1947. In 1950 Truman appointed General Walter Bedell Smith as the fourth director of Central Intelligence (DCI). The CIA became established institutionally within the United States Intelligence Community. DCI Smith merged the OSO (being mainly espionage, and newly led by Helms) and the rapidly expanding Office of Policy Coordination under Wisner (covert operations) to form a new unit to be managed by the deputy director for plans (DDP). Wisner led the Directorate for Plans from 1952 to 1958, with Helms as his Chief of Operations. In 1953 Dulles became the fifth DCI under President Eisenhower. John Foster Dulles, Dulles' brother, was Eisenhower's Secretary of State. Under the DDP Helms was specifically tasked in the defense of the agency against the threatened attack by Senator Joseph McCarthy, and also in the development of "truth serum" and other "mind control" drugs per the CIA's controversial Project MKUltra. From Washington, Helms oversaw the Berlin Tunnel, the 1953–1954 espionage operation which later made newspaper headlines. Regarding CIA activity, Helms considered information obtained by espionage to be more beneficial in the long run than the more strategically risky work involved in covert operations, which could backfire politically. Under his superior and mentor, the DDP Wisner, the CIA marshaled such covert operations, which resulted in regime change in Iran in 1953 and Guatemala in 1954 and interference in the Congo in 1960. During the crises in Suez and Hungary in 1956 the DDP Wisner became distraught by the disloyalty of allies and the loss of a precious cold-war opportunity. Wisner left in 1958. Passing over Helms, DCI Dulles appointed Richard Bissell as the new DDP, who had managed the U-2 spy plane. During the Kennedy presidency, Dulles selected Helms to testify before Congress on Soviet-made forgeries. Following the 1961 Bay of Pigs fiasco, President Kennedy appointed John McCone as the new DCI, and Helms then became the DDP. Helms was assigned to manage the CIA's role in Kennedy's multi-agency effort to dislodge Castro. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, while McCone sat with the president and his cabinet at the White House, Helms in the background supported McCone's significant contributions to the strategic discussions. After the 1963 coup in South Vietnam, Helms was privy to Kennedy's anguish over the killing of President Diem. Three weeks later Kennedy was assassinated. Helms eventually worked to manage the CIA's complicated response during its subsequent investigation by the Warren Commission.[4] Johnson presidency White House portrait of Lyndon B. Johnson In June 1966, Helms was appointed director of Central Intelligence. At the White House later that month, Helm was sworn in during a ceremony arranged by President Lyndon Baines Johnson.[5] In April of the prior year, John McCone resigned as DCI. Johnson then had appointed Admiral William Raborn, well regarded for his work on the submarine-launched Polaris missile, as the new DCI (1965–1966). Johnson chose Helms to serve as Deputy Director of Central Intelligence (DDCI). Raborn and Helms soon journeyed to the LBJ Ranch in Texas. Raborn did not fit well into the institutional complexities at the CIA, with its specialized intellectual culture. He resigned in 1966.[6][7] As DCI, Helms served under President Johnson during the second half of his administration, then continued in this post until 1973, through President Nixon's first term.[8] At CIA Helms was its first Director to 'rise through the ranks'.[9] The Vietnam War became the key issue during the Johnson years.[10] The CIA was fully engaged in political-military affairs in Southeast Asia, both getting intelligence information and for overt and covert field operations. The CIA, for example, organized an armed force of minority Hmong in Laos, and in Vietnam of rural counterinsurgency forces, and of minority Montagnards in the highlands. Further, the CIA became actively involved in South Vietnamese politics, especially after Diem. "One of the CIA's jobs was to coax a genuine South Vietnamese government into being."[11][12] Helms traveled to Vietnam twice,[13] and with President Johnson to Guam.[14] Vietnam: Estimates In 1966, Helms as the new DCI inherited a CIA "fully engaged in the policy debates surrounding Vietnam." The CIA had formed "a view on policy but [was] expected to contribute impartially to the debate all the same."[15] American intelligence agents had a relatively long history in Vietnam, dating back to OSS contacts with the communist-led resistance to Japanese occupation forces during World War II.[16] In 1953 the CIA's first annual National Intelligence Estimate on Vietnam reported that French prospects may "deteriorate very rapidly".[17] After French withdrawal in 1954, CIA officers including Lt. Col. Edward Lansdale assisted the new President Ngo Dinh Diem in his efforts to reconstitute an independent government in the south: the Republic of Viet Nam.[18][19] Nonetheless, CIA reports did not present an optimistic appraisal of Diem's future. Many of its analysts reluctantly understood that, in the anti-colonialist and nationalist context then prevailing, a favorable outcome was more likely for the new communist regime in the north under its long-term party leader Ho Chi Minh, who was widely admired as a Vietnamese patriot. A 1954 report by the CIA qualifiedly stated that if nationwide elections scheduled for 1956 by the recent Geneva Accords were held, Ho's party "the Viet Minh will almost certainly win."[20][21][22] The nationwide elections were avoided. According to 1959 reports, the CIA saw Diem as "the best anticommunist bet" if he undertook reforms, but also stated that Diem consistently avoided reform.[23][24] Coat of arms of South Vietnam As the political situation progressed during the 1960s and American involvement grew, subsequent CIA reports crafted by its analysts continued to trend pessimistic regarding the prospects for South Vietnam.[25] "Vietnam may have been a policy failure. It was not an intelligence failure."[26] The CIA eventually became sharply divided over the issue. Those active in CIA operations in Vietnam, e.g., Lucien Conein, and William Colby, adopted a robust optimism regarding the outcome of their contentious projects. Teamwork in dangerous circumstances, and social cohesion among such operatives in the field, worked to reinforce and intensify their positive views.[27][28] "At no time was the institutional dichotomy between the operational and analytic components more stark."[29][30] Helms later described the predicament at CIA as follows. From the outset, the intelligence directorate and the Office of National Estimates held a pessimistic view of the military developments. The operations personnel—going full blast ... in South Vietnam—remained convinced the war could be won. Without this conviction, the operators could not have continued their difficult face-to-face work with the South Vietnamese, whose lives were often at risk. In Washington, I felt like a circus rider standing astride two horses, each for the best of reasons going its own way.[31][32] Negative news would prove to be highly unwelcome at the Johnson White House. "After each setback the CIA would gain little by saying 'I told you so' or by continuing to emphasize the futility of the war," author Ranelagh writes about the CIA predicament.[33] In part it was DCI McCone's worrisome reports and unwelcome views about Vietnam that led to his exclusion from President Johnson's inner circle; consequently, McCone resigned in 1965. Helms remembered that McCone left the CIA because "he was dissatisfied with his relation with President Johnson. He didn't get to see him enough, and he didn't feel that he had any impact."[34][35] Helms' institutional memory probably contested for influence over his own decisions as DCI when he later served under Johnson. According to CIA intelligence officer Ray Cline, "Up to about 1965/66, estimates were not seriously biased in any direction." As American political commitment to Vietnam surged under Johnson, however, "the pressure to give the right answer came along," stated Cline. "I felt increasing pressure to say the war was winnable."[36] Laos: "secret war" RLAF T-28D, at Long Tieng, Laos, 1972[37] The "second Geneva Convention" of 1962 settled de jure the neutrality of the Kingdom of Laos, obtaining commitments from both the Soviets and the Americans. Nonetheless, such a neutral status quo in Laos soon became threatened de facto, e.g., by North Vietnamese (NVN) armed support for the communist Pathet Lao. The CIA in 1963 was tasked to mount an armed defense of the "neutrality" of the Kingdom. Helms then served as DDP and thus directed the overall effort. It was a secret war because both NVN and CIA were in violation of Geneva's 1962 terms.[38][39] Thereafter during the 1960s the CIA accomplished this mission largely by training and arming native tribal forces, primarily those called the Hmong.[40] Helms called it "the war we won". At most several hundred CIA personnel were involved, at a small fraction of the cost of the Vietnam War. Despite prior criticism of the CIA's abilities due to the 1961 Bay of Pigs disaster in Cuba, here the CIA for years successfully managed a large-scale paramilitary operation. At the height of the Vietnam War, much of royal Laos remained functionally neutral, although over its southeast borderlands ran the contested Ho Chi Minh trail. The CIA operation fielded as many as 30,000 Hmong soldiers under their leader Vang Pao, while also supporting 250,000 mostly Hmong people in the hills. Consequently, more than 80,000 NVN troops were "tied down" in Laos.[41][42][43][44] At the time of Nixon's Vietnamization policy, CIA concern arose over sustaining the covert nature of the secret war. In 1970 Helms decided "to transfer the budgetary allocations for operations in Laos from the CIA to the Defense Department."[45][46] William Colby, then a key American figure in Southeast Asia and later DCI, comments that "a large-scale paramilitary operation does not fit the secret budget and policy procedures of CIA."[47] About Laos, however, Helms wrote that "I will always call it the war we won."[48] In 1966, the CIA had termed it "an exemplary success story".[49] Colby concurred.[50] Senator Stuart Symington, after a 1967 visit to the CIA chief of station in Vientiane, the Laotian capital, reportedly called it "a sensible way to fight a war."[51] Yet others disagreed, and the 'secret war' would later draw frequent political attacks.[52][53] Author Weiner criticizes the imperious insertion of American power, and the ultimate abandonment of America's Hmong allies in 1975.[54][55] Other problems arose because of the Hmong's practice of harvesting poppies.[56][57][58] Hmong memorial at Fresno County Court House, in California Due to political developments, the war ultimately ended badly. Helms acknowledges that after President Nixon, through his agent Kissinger, negotiated in Paris to end the Vietnam war in 1973, America failed to continue supporting its allies and "abdicated its role in Southeast Asia." Laos was given up and the Hmong were left in a desperate situation. Helms references that eventually 450,000 Laotians including 200,000 Hmong emigrated to the United States.[59][60][61] While this Laotian struggle continued on the borderlands of the Vietnam War, DCI Helms was blindsided when several senators began to complain that they had been kept in the dark about the "CIA's secret war" in Laos. Helms recalls that three presidents, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon, had each approved the covert operation, the "secret war", and that 50 senators had been briefed on its progress, e.g., Senator Symington had twice visited Laos.[62][63] Helms elaborates on the turnabout: In 1970, it came as a jolt when, with a group of senators, Senator Stuart Symington publicly expressed his "surprise, shock and anger" at what he and the others claimed was their "recent discovery" of "CIA's secret war" in Laos. At the time I could not understand the reason for this about-face. Nor have I since been able to fathom it.[64][65] Israel: Six Day War Liaison with Israeli intelligence was managed by James Jesus Angleton of CIA counterintelligence from 1953 to 1974.[66][67] For example, the Israelis quickly provided the CIA with the Russian text of Khrushchev's Secret Speech of 1956 which severely criticized the deceased Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.[68] In August 1966 Mossad had arranged for Israeli acquisition of a Soviet MiG-21 fighter from a disaffected Iraqi pilot. Mossad's Meir Amit later came to Washington to tell DCI Helms that Israel would loan America the plane, with its up-until-now secret technology, to find out how it flew.[69] At a May 1967 NSC meeting Helms voiced praise for Israel's military preparedness, and argued that from the captured MiG-21 the Israelis "had learned their lessons well".[70][71] French Dassault Mirage: key warplane of Israeli Air Force during the 1967 war In 1967, CIA analysis addressed the possibility of an armed conflict between Israel and neighboring Arab states, predicting that "the Israelis would win a war within a week to ten days."[72][73][74] Israel "could defeat any combination of Arab forces in relatively short order" with the time required depending on "who struck first" and circumstances.[75] Yet CIA's pro-Israel prediction was challenged by Arthur Goldberg, the American ambassador to the United Nations and Johnson loyalist.[76] Although Israel then had requested "additional military aid" Helms opines that here Israel wanted to control international expectations prior to the outbreak of war.[77] As Arab war threats mounted, President Johnson asked Helms about Israel's chances and Helms stuck with his agency's predictions. At a meeting of his top advisors Johnson then asked who agreed with the CIA estimate and all assented.[78] "The temptation for Helms to hedge his bet must have been enormous".[79] After all, opinions were divided, e.g., Soviet intelligence thought the Arabs would win and were "stunned" at the Israeli victory.[80] Admiral Stansfield Turner (DCI 1977–1981) wrote that "Helms claimed that the high point of his career was the Agency's accurate prediction in 1967." Helms believed it had kept America out of the conflict. Also, it led to his entry within the inner circle of the Johnson administration, the regular 'Tuesday lunch' with the President.[81] In the event, Israel decisively defeated its neighborhood enemies and prevailed in the determinative Six Day war of June 1967. Four days before the sudden launch of that war, "a senior Israeli official" had privately visited Helms in his office and hinted that such a preemptive decision was imminent. Helms then had passed the information to President Johnson.[82][83][84] The conflict reified America's "emotional sympathy" for Israel. Following the war, America dropped its careful balancing act between the belligerents and moved to a position in support of Israel, eventually supplanting France as Israel's chief military supplier.[85][86] In the afternoon of the third day of the war, the American SIGINT spy ship USS Liberty, outfitted by the NSA, was attacked by Israeli warplanes and torpedo boats in international waters north of Sinai. This U.S. Navy ship was severely damaged with loss of life.[87][88] The Israelis quickly notified the Americans and later explained that they "had mistaken the Liberty (455 feet long) for the Egyptian coastal steamer El Quseir (275 feet long). The US government formally accepted the apology and the explanation."[89] Some continue to accept this position.[90][91] Yet "scholars and military experts," according to author Thomas Powers, state that "the hard question is not whether the attack was deliberate but why the Israelis thought it necessary."[92][93][94] In his memoirs A Look Over My Shoulder, Helms expressed his bewilderment as to how and why the USS Liberty was attacked: "One of the most disturbing incidents in the six days came in the morning of June 8 when the Pentagon flashed a message that the U.S.S. Liberty, an unarmed U.S. Navy communications ship, was under attack in the Mediterranean, and that American fighters had been scrambled to defend the ship. The following urgent reports showed that Israeli jet fighters and torpedo reports had launched the attack. The seriously damaged Liberty remained afloat, with thirty-four dead and more than a hundred wounded members of the crew. Israeli authorities subsequently apologized for the accident, but few in Washington could believe that the ship had not been identified as an American naval vessel. Later, an interim intelligence memorandum concluded the attack was a mistake and "not made in malice against the U.S." When additional evidence was available, more doubt was raised. This prompted my deputy, Admiral Rufus Taylor, to write me his view of the incident. "To me, this picture thus far presents the distinct possibility that the Israelis knew that Liberty might be their target and attacked anyway, either through confusion in Command and Control or through deliberate disregard of instructions on the part of subordinates."...I had no role in the board of inquiry that followed, or the board's finding that there could be no doubt that the Israelis knew exactly what they were doing in attacking the Liberty. I have yet to understand why it was felt necessary to attack this ship or who ordered the attack."[95] In his CIA special collection interview, Helms said, "...I don't think there can be any doubt that the Israelis knew exactly what they were doing. Why they wanted to attack the 'Liberty,' whose bright idea this was, I can't possibly know. But any statement to the effect that they didn't know that it was an American ship and so forth is nonsense."[96][97] On the morning of the sixth day of the war, President Johnson summoned Helms to the White House Situation Room. Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin had called to threaten military intervention if the war continued. Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara suggested that the Sixth Fleet be sent east, from the mid Mediterranean to the Levant. Johnson agreed. Helms remembered the "visceral physical reaction" to the strategic tension, similar to the emotions of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. "It was the world's good fortune that hostilities on the Golan Heights ended before the day was out," wrote Helms later.[98][99] LBJ: Tuesday lunch As a result of the CIA's accurate prognosis concerning the duration, logistics, and outcome of the Six-Day War of June 1967, Helms' practical value to the President, Lyndon Baines Johnson, became evident.[100] Recognition of his new status was not long in coming. Helms soon took a place at the table where the president's top advisors discussed foreign policy issues: the regular Tuesday luncheons with LBJ. Helms unabashedly called it "the hottest ticket in town".[101][102][103] Richard Helms in the White House Cabinet Room, March 27, 1968. Four days later Johnson announced his decision not to run for reelection.[104] In a 1984 interview with a CIA historian, Helms recalled that following the Six-Day War, he and Johnson had engaged in intense private conversations which addressed foreign policy, including the Soviet Union. Helms went on: And I think at that time he'd made up his mind that it would be a good idea to tie intelligence into the inner circle of his policy-making and decision-making process. So starting from that time he began to invite me to the Tuesday lunches, and I remained a member of that group until the end of his administration.[105] Helms' invitation to lunch occurred about three-and-a-half years into Johnson's five-year presidency and a year into Helms' nearly seven-year tenure as DCI. Thereafter in the Johnson administration, Helms functioned in proximity to high-level policymaking, with continual access to America's top political leadership. It constituted the pinnacle of Helms' influence and standing in Washington. Helms describes the "usual Tuesday lunch" in his memoirs. [W]e gathered for a sherry in the family living room on the second floor of the White House. If the President, who normally kept to a tight schedule, was a few minutes late, he would literally bound into the room, pause long enough to acknowledge our presence, and herd us into the family dining room, overlooking Pennsylvania Avenue. Seating followed protocol, with the secretary of state (Dean Rusk) at the President's right, and the secretary of defense (Robert McNamara, later Clark Clifford) at his left. General Bus Wheeler (the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) sat beside the secretary of defense. I sat beside Dean Rusk. Walt Rostow (the Special Assistant for National Security Affairs), George Christian (the White House Press Secretary), and Tom Johnson (the deputy press secretary) made up the rest of the table.[106] In CIA interviews long after the war ended, Helms recalled the role played in policy discussions. As the neutral party, Helms could come up with facts applicable to the issue at hand. The benefit of such a role was the decisiveness in "keeping the game honest". Helms comments that many advocates of particular policy positions will almost invariably 'cherry pick' facts supporting their positions, whether consciously or not. Then the voice of a neutral could perform a useful function in helping to steer the conversation on routes within realistic parameters.[107] The out-sized political personality of Johnson, of course, was the dominating presence at lunch. From his perch Helms marveled at the learned way President Johnson employed the primary contradictions in his personality to direct those around him, and forcefully manage the atmosphere of discourse.[108][109] Regarding the perennial issues of Vietnam, a country in civil war, Helms led as an important institutional player in the political mix of Washington. Staff within the CIA were divided on the conflict. As the DCI, Helms' daily duties involved the difficult task of updating CIA intelligence and reporting on CIA operations to the American executive leadership. Vietnam then dominated the news. Notoriously, the American political consensus eventually broke. The public became sharply divided, with the issues being vociferously contested. About the so-called Vietnamese 'quagmire' it seemed confusion reigned within and without. Helms saw himself as struggling to best serve his view of America and his forceful superior, the President.[110][111][112] Viet Cong numbers Differences and divisions might emerge within the ranks of analysts, across the spectrum of the USG Intelligence Community. Helms had a statutory mandate with the responsibility for reconciling the discrepancies in information, or the conflicting views, promoted by the various American intelligence services, e.g., by the large Defense Intelligence Agency or by the Bureau of Intelligence and Research at the United States State Department. While the CIA might agree on its own Estimates, other department reports might disagree, causing difficulties, and making inter-agency concord problematic. The process of reaching the final consensus could become a contentious negotiation.[113][114][115] President Johnson in Vietnam 1966, awarding a medal to a U.S. soldier In 1965, Johnson substantially escalated the war by sending large numbers of American combat troops to fight in South Vietnam, and ordered warplanes to bomb the North. Nonetheless, the military put stiff pressure on him to escalate further. In the "paper wars" that followed, Helms at the CIA was regularly asked for intelligence reports on military action, e.g., the political effectiveness of bombing Hanoi. The military resented such a review of its conduct in the war.[116] The American strategy had become the pursuit of a war of attrition. The objective was to make the Viet Cong enemy suffer more losses than it could timely replace. Accordingly, the number of combatants fielded by the communist insurgency at any one time was a key factor in determining whether the course of the war was favorable or not. The political pressure on the CIA to conform to the military's figures of enemy casualties became intense. Under Helms, CIA reports on the Viet Cong order of battle numbers were usually moderate; the CIA also questioned whether the strategy employed by the U.S. Army would ever compel Hanoi to negotiate. Helms himself was evidently sceptical, yet Johnson never asked for his personal opinion.[117] This dispute between the Army and the CIA over the number of Viet Cong combatants became bitter, and eventually common knowledge in the administration.[118][119] According to one source, CIA Director Richard Helms "used his influence with Lyndon Johnson to warn about the growing dangers of U.S. involvement in Vietnam."[120] On the other hand, Stansfield Turner (DCI 1977–1981) describes Helms' advisory relationship to Lyndon Johnson as being overly loyal to the office of president. Hence, the CIA staff's frank opinions on Vietnam were sometimes modified before reaching President Johnson.[121] At one point the CIA analysts estimated enemy strength at 500,000, while the military insisted it was only 270,000. No amount of discussion could resolve the difference. Eventually, in September 1967, the CIA under Helms went along with the military's lower number for the combat strength of the Vietnamese Communist forces.[122][123] This led a CIA analyst directly involved in this work to file a formal complaint against DCI Helms, which was accorded due process within the Agency.[124][125] Vietnam: Phoenix Vietnamese peasants held, suspected of Viet Cong affiliation. As a major element in his counterinsurgency policy, Ngo Dinh Diem (President 1954–1963) had earlier introduced the establishment of strategic hamlets in order to contest Viet Cong operations in the countryside.[126][127] From several antecedents the controversial Phoenix program was launched during 1967–1968.[128] Various Vietnamese forces (intelligence, military, police, and civilian) were deployed in the field against Viet Cong support networks. The CIA played a key role in its design and leadership,[129][130] and built on practices developed by Vietnamese, i.e., the provincial chief, Colonel Tran Ngoc Chau.[131][132] CIA was not officially in control of Phoenix, CORDS was. In early 1968, DCI Helms had agreed to allow William Colby to take a temporary leave of absence from the CIA in order to go to Vietnam and lead CORDS, a position with ambassadorial rank. In doing so, Helms personally felt "thoroughly disgusted"... thinking Robert Komer had "put a fast one over on him". Komer was then in charge of the CORDS pacification program in South Vietnam. Recently Helms had promoted Colby to a top CIA post: head of the Soviet Division (before Colby had been running the CIA's Far East Division, which included Vietnam). Now Colby transferred out of CIA, to CORDS to run Phoenix.[133][134] Many other Americans worked to monitor and manage the Phoenix program including, according to Helms, "a seemingly ever-increasing number of CIA personnel".[135][136][137] William Colby, a key U.S. officer in Vietnam, later DCI After receiving special Phoenix training, Vietnamese forces in rural areas went head to head against the Viet Cong Infrastructure, e.g., they sought to penetrate communist organizations, to arrest and interrogate or slay their cadres.[138][139] The Vietnam War resembled a ferocious civil war; the Viet Cong had already assassinated thousands of Vietnamese village leaders.[140][141] Unfortunately, in its strategy of fighting fire with fire, forces in the Phoenix program used torture, and became entangled in actions involving local and official corruption, resulting in many questionable killings, perhaps thousands.[142][143][144] Despite its grave faults, Colby opined that the program did work well enough to stop Viet Cong gains. Colby favorably compared Operation Phoenix with the CIA's relative success in its "secret war" in Laos.[145][146] Helms notes that the early efforts of Phoenix "were successful, and of serious concern to the NVN [North Vietnamese] leadership". Helms then goes on to recount the Phoenix program's progressive slide into corruption and counterproductive violence, which came to nullify its early success. Accordingly, by the time it was discontinued Phoenix had become useless in the field and a controversial if not a notorious political liability.[147][148][149] Helms in his memoirs presents this situation: PHOENIX was directed and staffed by Vietnamese over whom the American advisors and liaison officers did not have command or direct supervision. The American staff did its best to eliminate the abuse of authority—the settling of personal scores, rewarding of friends, summary executions, prisoner mistreatment, false denunciation, illegal property seizure—that became the by-products of the PHOENIX counterinsurgency effort. In the blood-soaked atmosphere created by Viet Cong terrorism, the notion that regulations and directives imposed by foreign liaison officers could be expected to curb revenge and profit-making was unrealistic.[150] After the war, interviews were conducted with Vietnamese communist leaders and military commanders familiar with the Viet Cong organization, its war-making capacity, and support infrastructure. They said the Phoenix operations were very effective against them, reports Stanley Karnow.[151] Thomas Ricks, in evaluating the effectiveness of the counterinsurgency tactics of the Marine Corps and of the Phoenix program, confirmed their value by reference to "Hanoi's official history of the war".[152][153] If one discounts the corrupt criminality and its political fallout, the Phoenix partisans were perhaps better able tactically to confront the elusive Viet Cong support networks, i.e., the sea in which the fish swam, than the regular units of the ARVN and the U. S. Army.[154][155] Yet the military lessons of the war in full complexity were being understood by the Army, later insisted Colonel Summers.[156] Regarding the Phoenix legacy, a sinister controversy haunts it.[157][158] Distancing himself, Helms summarized: "As successful a program as PHOENIX was when guided by energetic local leaders," as a national program it succumbed to political corruption and "failed".[159] Colby admitted serious faults, yet in conclusion found a positive preponderance.[160] "It was not the CIA," writes John Ranelagh, "that was responsible for the excesses of Phoenix (although the agency clearly condoned what was happening)."[161] Author Tim Weiner compares the violent excesses of Phoenix to such associated with the early years of the Second Iraq War.[162][163][164] Johnson withdraws President Johnson during the Vietnam War, February 1968 In America, what became the Vietnam War lost domestic political support, and seriously injured the popularity of the Johnson administration. In the spring of election year 1968, following the unexpected January Tet offensive in Vietnam, the war issue reached a crisis.[165][166] In March, Helms prepared yet another special CIA report for the President and arranged for CIA officer George Carver to present it in person to Johnson. Carver was then the CIA's Special Assistant for Vietnam Affairs (SAVA).[167] Helms writes, "In his typically unvarnished manner, George had presented a bleak but accurate view of the situation and again demonstrated that the NVN strength in South Vietnam was far stronger than had been previously reported by MACV." Carver "closed by saying in effect that not even the President could not tell the American voters on one day that the United States planned to get out of Vietnam, and on the next day tell Ho Chi Minh that we will stick it out for twenty years. With this LBJ rose like a roasted pheasant and bolted from the room." But Johnson soon returned.[168][169][170] Helms described what happened next. The President, who was a foot and a half taller and a hundred pounds heavier than George, struck him a resounding clap on the back and caught his hand in an immense fist. Wrenching George's arm up and down with a pumping motion that might have drawn oil from a dry Texas well, Johnson congratulated him on the briefing, and on his services to the country and its voters. As he released George, he said, 'Anytime you want to talk to me, just pick up the phone and come over.' It was a vintage LBJ performance.[171] Earlier, a group of foreign policy elders, known as The Wise Men, having first heard from the CIA, then confronted Johnson about the difficulty of winning in Vietnam. The president was unprepared to accept their negative findings. "Lyndon Johnson must have considered March 1968 the most difficult month of his political career," wrote Helms later. Eventually, this frank advice contributed to Johnson's decision in March to withdraw from the 1968 presidential election.[172][173][174] Nixon presidency Richard Nixon, White House photo In the 1968 presidential election, the Republican nominee Richard M. Nixon triumphed over the Democrat, Vice President Hubert Humphrey. Shortly after the election, President Johnson invited President-Elect Nixon to his LBJ Ranch in Texas for a discussion of current events. There Johnson introduced Nixon to a few members of his inner circle: Dean Rusk at State, Clark Clifford at Defense, Gen. Earle Wheeler, and DCI Richard Helms. Later Johnson in private told Helms that he had represented him to Nixon as a political neutral, "a merit appointment", a career federal official who was good at his job.[175][176] Nixon then invited Helms to his pre-inauguration headquarters in New York City, where Nixon told Helms that he and J. Edgar Hoover at FBI would be retained as "appointments out of the political arena". Helms expressed his assent that the DCI was a non-partisan position. Evidently, already Nixon had made his plans when chief executive to sharply downgrade the importance of the CIA in his administration, in which case Nixon himself would interact very little with his DCI, e.g., at security meetings.[177][178] Role of agency The ease of access to the president that Helms enjoyed in the Johnson Administration changed dramatically with the arrival of President Richard Nixon and Nixon's national security advisor Henry Kissinger. In order to dominate policy, "Nixon insisted on isolating himself" from the Washington bureaucracy he did not trust. His primary gatekeepers were H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman; they screened Nixon from "the face-to-face confrontations he so disliked and dreaded." While thus pushing away even top officials, Nixon started to build policy-making functions inside the White House. From a secure distance he would direct the government and deal with "the outside world, including cabinet members".[179][180] Regarding intelligence matters, Nixon appointed Kissinger and his team to convey his instructions to the CIA and sister services. Accordingly, Nixon and Kissinger understood that "they alone would conceive, command, and control clandestine operations. Covert action and espionage could be tools fitted for their personal use. Nixon used them to build a political fortress at the White House."[181] In his memoirs, Helms writes of his early meeting with Kissinger. "Henry spoke first, advising me of Nixon's edict that effective immediately all intelligence briefings, oral or otherwise, were to come through Kissinger. All intelligence reports? I asked. Yes."[182] A Senate historian of the CIA observes that "it was Kissinger rather than the DCIs who served as Nixon's senior intelligence advisor. Under Kissinger's direction the NSC became an intelligence and policy staff."[183][184] Under Nixon's initial plan, Helms was to be excluded even from the policy discussions at the National Security Council (NSC) meetings.[185][186][187] Henry Kissinger, Nixon advisor Very early in the Nixon administration it became clear that the President wanted Henry Kissinger to run intelligence for him and that the National Security Council staff in the White House, under Kissinger, would control the intelligence community. This was the beginning of a shift of power away from the CIA to a new center: the National Security Council staff.[188] Stansfield Turner (DCI 1977–1981) describes Nixon as basically being hostile to the CIA, questioning its utility and practical value, based on his low evaluation of the quality of its information. Turner, who served under President Carter, opines that Nixon considered the CIA to be full of elite "liberals" and hence contrary to his policy direction.[189][190] Helms agreed regarding Nixon's hostility toward the CIA, also saying in a 1988 interview that "Nixon never trusted anybody."[191][192] Yet Helms later wrote: Whatever Nixon's views of the Agency, it was my opinion that he was the best prepared to be President of any of those under whom I served—Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson. ... Nixon had the best grasp of foreign affairs and domestic politics. His years as Vice President had served him well.[193] When Nixon attended NSC meetings, he would often direct his personal animosity and ire directly at Helms, who led an agency Nixon considered overrated, whose proffered intelligence Nixon thought of little use or value, and which had a history of aiding his political enemies, according to Nixon. Helms found it difficult to establish a cordial working relationship with the new president.[194][195][196][197] Ray Cline, former Deputy Director of Intelligence at CIA, wrote how he saw the agency under Helms during the Nixon years: Nixon and his principal assistant, Dr. Kissinger, disregarded analytical intelligence except for what was convenient for use by Kissinger's own small personal staff in support of Nixon-Kissinger policies. Incoming intelligence was closely monitored and its distribution controlled by Kissinger's staff to keep it from embarrassing the White House... . " They employed "Helms and the CIA primarily as an instrument for the execution of White House wishes" and did not seem "to understand or care about the carefully structured functions of central intelligence as a whole. ... I doubt that anyone could have done better than Helms in these circumstances.[198] Under the changed policies of the Nixon administration, Henry Kissinger in effect displaced the DCI and became "the President's chief intelligence officer".[199] Kissinger writes that, in addition, Nixon "felt ill at ease with Helms personally."[200] Domestic Chaos Operation CHAOS was begun largely due to mistaken suspicions of Soviet funding of the U.S. peace movement. Under both the Johnson and Nixon administrations, the CIA was tasked with domestic surveillance of protest movements, particularly anti-war activities, which efforts later became called Operation CHAOS.[201] Investigations were opened on various Americans and their organizations based on the theory that they were funded and/or influenced by foreign actors, especially the Soviet Union and other communist states. The CIA clandestinely gathered information on Ramparts magazine, many anti-war groups, and others, eventually building thousands of clandestine files on American citizens.[202][203] These CIA activities, if not outright illegal (the declared opinion of critics),[204][205] were at the margin of legality as the CIA was ostensibly forbidden from domestic spying.[206] Later in 1974, the Chaos operation became national news, which created a storm of media attention.[207] With the sudden rise in the United States during the mid-1960s of the opposition to the Vietnam War, President Johnson had become suspicious, surmising that foreign communists must be supplying various protest groups with both money and organization skills. Johnson figured an investigation would bring this to light, a project in which the CIA would partner with the FBI. When in 1967 he instructed Helms to investigate, Helms remarked that such activity would involve some risk, as his agency generally was not permitted to conduct such surveillance activity within the national borders.[208] In reply to Helms Johnson said, "I'm quite aware of that." The President then explained that the main focus was to remain foreign. Helms understood the reasons for the president's orders, and the assumed foreign connection.[209][210] Later apparently, both the Rockefeller Commission and the Church Committee found the initial investigation to be within the CIA's legislative charter, although at the margin.[211][212] As a prerequisite to conducting foreign espionage, the CIA was first to secretly develop leads and contacts within the domestic anti-war movement. In the process its infiltrating agents would acquire anti-war bona fides that would provide them with some amount of cover when overseas. On that rationale, the CIA commenced activity, which continued for almost seven years. Helms kept the operation hidden, from nearly all agency personnel, in Angleton's counterintelligence office.[213][214][215] Civil protest against Vietnam war, Washington, DC, April 24, 1971 Eleven CIA officers grew long hair, learned the jargon of the New Left, and went off to infiltrate peace groups in the United States and Europe. The agency compiled a computer index of 300,000 names of American people and organizations, and extensive files on 7,200 citizens. It began working secretly with police departments all over America. Unable to draw a clear distinction between the far left and the mainstream opposition to the war, it spied on every major organization in the peace movement. At the president's command, transmitted through Helms and the secretary of defense, the National Security Agency turned its immense eavesdropping powers on American citizens.[202][216] The CIA found no substantial foreign sources of money or influence. When Helms reported these findings to the President, the reaction was hostile. "LBJ simply could not believe that American youth would on their own be moved to riot in protest against U. S. foreign policy," Helms later wrote.[217] Accordingly, Johnson instructed Helms to continue the search with increased diligence. The Nixon presidency later would act to extend the reach and scope of Chaos and like domestic surveillance activity.[218] In 1969 intra-agency opposition to Chaos arose. Helms worked to finesse his critics. Lawrence Houston, the CIA general counsel, became involved, and Helms wrote an office memorandum to justify the Chaos operation to CIA officers and agents.[219][218] Meanwhile, the FBI was reporting a steady stream of data on domestic anti-war and other 'subversive' activity, but the FBI obstinately refused to provide any context or analysis. For the CIA to do such FBI work was considered a clear violation of its charter.[220] Nixon, however, "remained convinced that the domestic dissidence was initiated and nurtured from abroad."[217] A young lawyer, Tom Charles Huston, was then selected by Nixon in 1970 to manage a marked increase in the surveillance of domestic dissenters and protesters: a multi-agency investigative effort, more thorough and wider in scope. Called the Interagency Committee on Intelligence (ICI), included were the FBI, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, and the CIA. It would be "a wholesale assault on the peace and radical movements," according to intelligence writer Thomas Powers.[221] The new scheme was delayed, and then the Watergate scandal 'intervened'. In late 1974, the news media discovered a terminated Operation Chaos.[222][223] Soviet missiles The Soviet Union developed a new series of long-range missiles, called the SS-9 (NATO codename Scarp). A question developed concerning the extent of their capability to carry nuclear weapons; at issue was whether the missile was a Multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV) or not. The CIA information was that these missiles were not 'MIRVed' but Defense intelligence considered that they were of the more potent kind. If so, the Soviet Union was possibly aiming at a first strike nuclear capacity. The Nixon administration, desiring to employ the existence of such a Soviet threat to justify a new American antiballistic missile system, publicly endorsed the Defense point of view. Henry Kissinger, Nixon's national security advisor, asked Helms to review the CIA's finding, yet Helms initially stood by his analysts at the CIA. Eventually, however, Helms compromised.[224][225] American MIRV: sequence of Minuteman III: 1 missile, 3 targets Melvin Laird, Nixon's Secretary of Defense, had told Helms that the CIA was intruding outside its area, with the result that it 'subverted administration policy'. Helms, in part, saw this MIRV conflict as part of bureaucratic maneuvering over extremely difficult-to-determine issues, in which the CIA had to find its strategic location within the new Nixon administration. Helms later remembered: I realized that there was no convincing evidence in the Agency or at the Pentagon which would prove either position. Both positions were estimates—speculation—based on identical fragments of data. My decision to remove the contested paragraph was based on the fact that the Agency's estimate—that the USSR was not attempting to create a first-strike capability – as originally stated in the earlier detailed National Estimate would remain the Agency position.[226] One CIA analyst, Abbott Smith, viewed this flip-flop not only as "a cave-in on a matter of high principle", according to author John Ranelagh, "but also as a public slap in the face from his director, a vote of no confidence in his work." Another analyst at the United States Department of State, however, had reinserted the "contested paragraph" into the intelligence report. When a few years later the nature of the Soviet SS-9 missiles became better understood, the analysts at the CIA and at State were vindicated. "The consensus among agency analysts was that Dick Helms had not covered himself with glory this time."[227] Vietnamization Nixon pursued what he called "peace with honor", yet critics called its aim a "decent interval".[228] The policy was called Vietnamization.[229][230] To end the war favorably he focused on the peace negotiations in Paris. There Henry Kissinger played the major role in bargaining with the North Vietnamese. Achieving peace proved difficult; in the meantime, casualties mounted. Although withdrawing great numbers of American troops, Nixon simultaneously escalated the air war. He increased the heavy bombing of Vietnam, also of Laos and Cambodia, and widened the scope of the conflict by invading Cambodia. While these actions sought to gain bargaining power at the Paris conference table, they also drew a "firestorm" of college protests in America.[231][232] Kissinger describes a debate over the mining of Haiphong harbor, in which he criticizes Helms at CIA for his disapproval of the plan. In Kissinger's telling, here Helms' opposition reflected the bias of CIA analysts, "the most liberal school of thought in the government."[233] When contemplating his administration's inheritance of the Vietnam War, Nixon understood the struggle in the context of the cold war. He viewed Vietnam as critically important. Helms recalled him as saying, "There's only one number one problem hereabouts and that's Vietnam—get on with it."[234] Nixon saw that the ongoing Sino-Soviet split presented America with an opportunity to triangulate Soviet Russia by opening relations with the People's Republic of China. It might also drive a wedge between the two major supporters of North Vietnam.[235] While here appreciating the CIA reports Helms supplied him on China, Nixon nonetheless kept his diplomatic travel preparations within the White House and under wraps.[236] To prepare for Nixon's 1972 trip to China, Kissinger ordered that CIA covert operations there, including Tibet,[237] come to a halt.[238] In the meantime, Vietnamization signified the withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam, while the brunt of the fighting was shifted to South Vietnamese armed forces. This affected all CIA operations across the political-military landscape. Accordingly, DCI Helms wound down many CIA activities, e.g., civic projects and paramilitary operations in Vietnam, and the "secret war" in Laos. The Phoenix program once under Colby (1967–1971) was also turned over to Vietnamese direction and control.[239][240] The 1973 Paris Peace Accords, however, came after Helms had left the CIA. To sustain the existence of the South Vietnam regime, Nixon massively increased American military aid. In 1975, the regime's army quickly collapsed when regular army units of the Communist forces attacked.[241] "Moral disintegration alone can explain why an army three times the size and possessing more than five times the equipment of the enemy could be as rapidly defeated as the ARVN was between March 10 and April 30, 1975," commented Joseph Buttinger.[242] American military deaths from the war were over 47,000, with 153,000 wounded. South Vietnamese military losses (using low figures) were about 110,000 killed and 500,000 wounded. Communist Vietnamese military losses were later announced: 1,100,000 killed and 600,000 wounded. Hanoi also estimated that total civilian deaths from the war, 1954 to 1975, were 2,000,000. According to Spencer C. Tucker, "The number of civilians killed in the war will never be known with any accuracy; estimates vary widely, but the lowest figure given is 415,000."[243] Chile: Allende Commander-in-Chief of the Chilean Army, the constitutionalist René Schneider (1913–1970), was killed by rogue fellow officers, who were met by CIA, but cut adrift before the shooting.[244][245] Helms engaged in efforts to block the socialist programs of Salvador Allende of Chile, actions done at President Nixon's behest. The operation was code-named Project Fubelt. After Allende's victory in the 1970 election, CIA jumped into action with a series of sharp and divisive maneuvers. Nonetheless, Allende was inaugurated as president of Chile. Thereafter, the CIA's efforts declined in intensity, though softer tactics continued. Three years later (11 Sept. 1973) the military coup led by Augusto Pinochet violently ended the democratically elected regime of President Allende.[246][247][248] During the 1970 Chilean presidential election, the USG had sent financial and other assistance to the two candidates opposing Allende, who won anyway.[249][250][251] Helms states that then, on Sept. 15, 1970, he met with President Nixon who ordered the CIA to support an army coup to prevent an already elected Allende from being confirmed as president; it was to be kept secret. "He wanted something done and he didn't care how," Helms later characterized the order.[252][253] The secret, illegal (in Chile) activity ordered by Nixon was termed "track II" to distinguish it from the CIA's covert funding of Chilean "democrats" here called "track I".[254][255][256] Accordingly, the CIA took assorted covert steps, including actions to badger a law-abiding Chilean army to seize power. CIA agents were once in communication, but soon broke off such contact, with rogue elements of the country's military who later assassinated the "constitutionally minded" General René Schneider, the Army Commander-in-Chief. Following this criminal violence, the Chilean army's support swung firmly behind Allende, whom the Congress confirmed as president of Chile on November 3, 1970.[257][258] CIA did not intend the killing. "At all times, however, Helms made it plain that assassination was not an option."[259][260] Nixon and Kissinger blamed Helms for Allende's presidency.[257][261] Thereafter, the CIA funneled millions of dollars to opposition groups, e.g., political parties, the media, and striking truck drivers, in a continuing, long-term effort to destabilize Chile's economy and so subvert the Allende administration. Nixon's initial, memorable phrase for such actions had been "to make the Chilean economy scream".[262] Even so, according to DCI Helms, "In my remaining months in office, Allende continued his determined march to the left, but there was no further effort to instigate a coup in Chile." Helms here appears to parse between providing funds for Allende's political opposition ("track I") versus actually supporting a military overthrow ("track II").[263] Although in policy disagreement with Nixon, Helms assumed the role of the "good soldier" in following his presidential instructions.[264] Helms left office at the CIA on February 2, 1973, seven months before the coup d'etat in Chile.[265] Another account of CIA activity in Chile, however, states that during this period 1970–1973 the CIA worked diligently to propagandize the military into countenancing a coup, e.g., the CIA supported and cultivated rightists in the formerly "constitutionally minded" army to start thinking 'outside the box', i.e., to consider a coup d'etat. Thus, writes author Tim Weiner, while not per se orchestrating the 1973 coup, the CIA worked for years, employing economic and other means, to seduce the army into doing so.[266] Allende's own actions may have caused relations with his army to become uneasy.[267] The CIA sowed "political and economic chaos in Chile" which set the stage for a successful coup, Weiner concludes.[268][269][270] Hence, Helms's careful parsing appears off the mark. Views and opinions differ, e.g., Kissinger contests,[271] what William Colby in part acknowledges.[272] After Helms' departure from the CIA in early 1973, Nixon continued to work directly against the Allende regime.[273] Although elected with 36.3% of the vote (to 34.9% for runner-up in a three-way contest), Allende as President reportedly ignored the Constitución de 1925 in pursuit of his socialist policies, namely, ineffective projects which proved very unpopular and polarizing.[274] The military junta's successful September 1973 coup d'etat was unconstitutional. Thousands of citizens were eventually killed and tens of thousands were held as political prisoners, many being tortured.[275][276][277][278][279] The civil violence of the military coup provoked widespread international censure.[280][281] Watergate Watergate scandal The Watergate complex in 2006 Events List People Watergate burglars Groups CRP White House Judiciary Journalists Intelligence community Mark Felt ("Deep Throat") L. Patrick Gray Richard Helms James R. Schlesinger Congress Related vte Gen. Walters, Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency[282] After first learning of the Watergate scandal on June 17, 1972, Helms developed a general strategy to distance the CIA from it altogether, including any third-party investigations of Nixon's role in the precipitating break-in.[283][284] The scandal created a flurry of media interest during the 1972 presidential election, but only reached its full intensity in the following years. Among those initially arrested (the "plumbers") were former CIA employees; there were loose ends with the agency.[285] Helms and DDCI Vernon Walters became convinced that CIA top officials had no culpable role in the break-in. It soon became apparent, however, that it was "impossible to prove anything to an inflamed national press corps already in full cry" while "daily leaks to the press kept pointing at CIA". Only later did Helms conclude that "the leaks were coming directly from the White House" and that "President Nixon was personally manipulating the administration's efforts to contain the scandal".[286][287][288] On June 23, 1972, Nixon and Haldeman discussed the progress the FBI was making in their investigation and an inability to control it.[289] In discussing how to ask Helms for his assistance to seek a "hold" on the FBI investigation, Nixon said "well, we protected Helms from one hell of a lot of things".[289] Nixon's team (chiefly Haldeman, Ehrlichman, and Dean) then asked Helms in effect to assert a phony national security reason for the break-in and, under that rationale, to interfere with the ongoing FBI investigation of the Watergate burglaries. Such a course would also involve the CIA in posting bail for the arrested suspects. Initially Helms made some superficial accommodation that stalled for several weeks the FBI's progress. At several meetings attended by Helms and Walters, Nixon's team referred to the Cuban Bay of Pigs fiasco, using it as if a talisman of dark secrets, as an implied threat against the integrity of CIA. Immediately, sharply, Helms turned aside this gambit.[290][291][292][293] By claiming then a secrecy privilege for national security, Helms could have stopped the FBI investigation, but he decisively refused the President's repeated request for cover. Stansfield Turner (DCI under Carter) called this "perhaps the best and most courageous decision of his career". Nixon's fundamental displeasure with Helms and the CIA increased. Yet "CIA professionals remember" that Helms "stood up to the president when asked to employ the CIA in a cover-up."[294][295][296][297][298] John Dean, Nixon's White House Counsel, reportedly asked for $1 million to buy the silence of the jailed Watergate burglars. Helms in a 1988 interview stated: "We could get the money. ... We didn't need to launder money—ever." But "the end result would have been the end of the agency. Not only would I have gone to jail if I had gone along with what the White House wanted us to do, but the agency's credibility would have been ruined forever."[299] For the time being, however, Helms had succeeded in distancing the CIA as far as possible from the scandal.[300] Yet the Watergate scandal became a major factor (among others: the Vietnam war) in the great shift of American public opinion about the federal government: their suspicions aroused, many voters turned critical. Hence, the political role of the Central Intelligence Agency also became a subject of controversy.[301][302][303] Helms dismissed Haldeman Immediately after Nixon's re-election in 1972, he called for all appointed officials in his administration to resign; Nixon here sought to gain more personal control over the federal government. Helms did not consider his position at CIA to be a political job, which was the traditional view within the Agency, and so did not resign as DCI. Previously, on election day Helms had lunch with General Alexander Haig, a top Nixon security advisor; Haig didn't know Nixon's mind on the future at CIA. Evidently neither did Henry Kissinger, Helms discovered later. On November 20, Helms came to Camp David to an interview with Nixon about what he thought was a "budgetary matter". Nixon's chief of staff H.R. Haldeman also attended. Helms was informed by Nixon that his services in the new administration would not be required.[304] On Helms' dismissal William Colby (DCI Sept. 1973 to Jan. 1976) later commented that "Dick Helms paid the price for that 'No' [to the White House over Watergate]."[305][306] In the course of this discussion, Nixon learned or was reminded that Helms was a career civil servant, not a political appointee. Apparently spontaneously, Nixon then offered him the ambassadorship to the Soviet Union. After shortly considering it, Helms declined, wary of the potential consequences of the offer, considering his career in intelligence. "I'm not sure how the Russians might interpret my being sent across the lines as an ambassador," Helms remembers telling Nixon. Instead Helms proposed being sent to Iran.[307][308] Nixon assented. Among other things Nixon perhaps figured Helms, after managing CIA's long involvement in Iranian affairs, would be capable in addressing issues arising out of Nixon's recent policy decision conferring on the shah his new role as "policeman of the Gulf".[309][310] Helms also suggested that since he could retire when he turned 60, he might voluntarily do so at the end of March. So it was agreed, apparently. But instead the event came without warning as Helms was abruptly dismissed when James R. Schlesinger was named the new DCI on February 2, 1973.[311] The timing caught me by surprise. I had barely enough time to get my things out of the office and to assemble as many colleagues of all ranks as possible for a farewell. ... A few days later, I encountered Haldeman. &qu