Comment by gwern | Hacker News Reader

Comment by gwern | Hacker News Reader

The CIA and the USA in general was involved in a lot of cultural material theorized to help undermine the USSR during the Cold War, _Doctor Zhivago_ is just the latest known example. See _The Cultural Cold War: The CIA and the World of Arts and Letters_ & _ Good and Plenty: the creative successes of American arts funding_ (excerpts from the latter: http://www.gwern.net/Culture%20is%20not%20about%20Esthetics#... ); other relevant links: http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg%20Subject%20Index%20... / http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/What-was-the-Congre... / http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/modern-art-was-cia-w... / http://www.salon.com/2012/05/27/exclusive_the_paris_review_t...

They bankrolled jazz, swing, orchestras, dozens of magazines (including some you may have heard of), translations such as of T.S. Eliot....

In a sort of self-referential loop, a large part of the propaganda value to many of these, certainly D.Z. in particular, is the fact that it was banned/censored in the USSR in the first place. Obviously that wasn't the only factor that gave it value. It had to have other elements to it (such as being written by one of the greatest Russian authors, provoking unconventional thought, etc. -- obviously banned garbage would have remained garbage). But a large part of its hit on the credibility of the leadership of the USSR, which is what gave it propaganda value, was essentially self-inflicted.

It's important to emphasize the CIA was funding publications targeting the American mind. National Review, Time, and US News and other publications were taking in tax payer dollars (through shell companies) with orders to promote a certain world view. The CIA was also funding art movements. Look into Jackson Pollock and the Congress for Cultural Freedom.

>National Review, Time, and US News and other publications were taking in tax payer dollars (through shell companies) with orders to promote a certain world view.

Do you have a citation?

Given that National Review was founded and run by William F. Buckley, Jr., I don't think that it took a lot of persuasion to get it to promote a certain world view. And Henry Luce had his world view pretty well set before Allen Dulles ever even dreamed of the CIA.

It took money to keep National Review from bleeding red ink.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com