“It’s like CIA after they assassinated Kennedy in 63, they admitted in 67 they created the word ‘conspiracy theorist'”
Alex Jones on YOUR WELCOME with Michael Malice #237 (about Dec. 20, 2022)
Do you suspect conspiracies of powerful people are behind some important problems? Do you suspect President Kennedy was killed by a conspiracy? COVID-19 leaked from a gain of function lab?
Have you been dismissed, ridiculed, even angrily insulted by friends, family, or colleagues uncritically chanting the thought-stopping “conspiracy theory” label? How can you get friends, family, or colleagues to seriously consider the actual facts and logic?
A popular method is to claim that the CIA invented the pejorative label “conspiracy theorist” and/or “conspiracy theory” to counter critics of the Warren Commission Report on the assassination of President Kennedy. Several variations of this claim exist. They are derived from the book Conspiracy Theory in America (2013) by Lance deHaven-Smith which does claim this, citing a January 1967 CIA cable to overseas CIA stations declassified in the 1970s.
This claim is unproven despite the affirmative statements in the book. The evidence presented in Conspiracy Theory in America is weak at best, consisting primarily of the 1967 cable.
Contrary to claims, the phrase “conspiracy theory” was used in the modern pejorative sense occasionally in the 1940’s and 1950s, in philosopher Karl Popper’s The Open Society and its enemies (first published in 1943) and in Columbia University historian Richard Hofstadter’s Pulitzer Prize winning the Age of Reform in 1955. Popper used “conspiracy theory” as shorthand for “conspiracy theory of society,” which he ridiculed. Hofstadter used “conspiracy theory” as shorthand for his “conspiracy theory of history” which he ridiculed much the same as Popper. This language spread slowly among intellectuals and political junkies in the 40s and 50s, accelerating with the assassination of Kennedy in November 1963 for several years.
The CIA cable uses the phrases “conspiracy theories,” “conspiracy theorists,” and “conspiracy talk” each once in the cable which outlines factual and logical arguments to rebut critics of the Warren Commission.
The cable does not direct CIA stations to use the “conspiracy theory,” “conspiracy theorist”, or “conspiracy talk” phrases in rebuttals, nor outlines a campaign to use the phrases as marketing slogans similar to advertising/PR campaigns such as Wendy’s Restaurant’s highly successful “Where’s the Beef?” campaign in 1984/85.
There is no spike in use of “conspiracy theory” or “conspiracy theorist” in 1967, only a moderate increase in use that started in 1964 and leveled off in 1971. The “conspiracy theory” language was used to attack both critics of the Warren Commission, Senator Barry Goldwater, his followers, and the then highly publicized John Birch Society. The pejorative label “conspiracy theorist” did not start to be used until the late 1970s, even then rarely, and took off in the late 1980s as shown in the plot above.
Claiming the CIA invented “conspiracy theorist” or “conspiracy theory” and/or citing deHaven-Smith’s book is preaching to the converted. Dismissive or hostile family, friends, and colleagues will examine the book and correctly find its claims unproven and weak at best. This will almost certainly add to their skepticism and willingness to dismiss facts and logic labeled “conspiracy theory” by authority figures they trust.
Want to know more?
Our article “Did the CIA Create the ‘Conspiracy Theory’ Label?” is a detailed review of Conspiracy Theory in America with a detailed analysis of deHaven-Smith’s claims. Our video “Did the CIA Invent the ‘Conspiracy Theory’ Label?” reviews the same material in an audo/video format.
(C) 2022 by John F. McGowan, Ph.D.
About Me
John F. McGowan, Ph.D. solves problems using mathematics and mathematical software, including developing gesture recognition for touch devices, video compression and speech recognition technologies. He has extensive experience developing software in C, C++, MATLAB, Python, Visual Basic and many other programming languages. He has been a Visiting Scholar at HP Labs developing computer vision algorithms and software for mobile devices. He has worked as a contractor at NASA Ames Research Center involved in the research and development of image and video processing algorithms and technology. He has published articles on the origin and evolution of life, the exploration of Mars (anticipating the discovery of methane on Mars), and cheap access to space. He has a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a B.S. in physics from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).