Unveiling the “Sick Elephant”: CIA Public Relations and the Soviet Economic Forecast Controversy of 1964

Abstract

In 1964, when CIA officials held the agency’s first news conference since its founding, Director John McCone hoped for a public relations triumph. Instead, the event backfired as the news media and others roundly rejected a public role for the secretive agency. While the CIA boasted a public affairs office soon after its founding in 1947, that office was charged with providing friendly reporters with unattributed background information. The goal of McCone’s decision to hold a news conference was to feature the agency’s “analytical brains” in part to distract the public from the CIA’s other, more problematic mission, covert operations. Unlike the FBI, which thrived in the realm of public relations around its domestic criminal justice activities, the CIA had no non-secret mission to promote.

Notes

1 [Redacted], Assistant Legislative Counsel, “Memorandum for the Record, Subject: Agency Press Briefing,” January 15, 1964, CIA RDP-66B00403R000100360044-2. Copies of documents cited available via searches on the CIA website, https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/.

2 Max Frankel, “C.I.A. Drops Cloak and Meets Press: Experts Brief 20 Reporters on Lag in Soviet Growth and Decline in Gold,” New York Times, January 10, 1964, 1.

3 Edwin L. Dale Jr., “Economic Growth in Soviet Lagging, C.I.A. Study Finds,” New York Times, January 8, 1964, 1.

4 Frankel, 1.

5 Ibid., 1, 86.

6 Henry J. Taylor, “Economy Not the CIA’s Business,” New York World-Telegram and Sun, January 15, 1964, clipped in CIA file CIA-RDP80M01009A000100050010-3.

7 In January 2017, the CIA posted more than 13 million pages of historical documents along with a sophisticated search tool on its FOIA website. Those documents were previously only accessible via an in-person visit to the National Archives in College Park, MD, or CIA Headquarters in Langley, VA.

8 For a review of FBI public relations and the development of the practice, see Matthew Cecil, Hoover’s FBI and the Fourth Estate: The Campaign to Control the Press and the Bureau’s Image (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2014); and Matthew Cecil, Branding Hoover’s FBI: How the Boss’s PR Men Sold the Bureau to America (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2016).

9 Most famously, former President Harry S. Truman suggested the CIA had become an “American Gestapo” in Harry S. Truman, “Limit CIA Role to Intelligence,” Washington Post, December 22, 1963, A11; There were multiple mentions of the FBI as a “Gestapo” but perhaps the most prominent was industrialist Cyrus Eaton, on national television, in 1958, mentioned in Fred J. Cook, “The F.B.I.,” Nation, 187 (October 18, 1958): 224.

10 Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones, The CIA and American Democracy, 3rd rev. (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2003), 117.

11 “That C.I.A. Press Conference,” [Editorial], New York Times, January 16, 1964, 24.

12 Tim Weiner, Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA (New York: Anchor Books, 2007), 3–8.

13 Simon Willmetts, “The CIA and the Invention of Tradition,” Journal of Intelligence History 14, no. 2 (2015): 116.

14 Ibid., 117.

15 Felix Belair Jr., “Truman Creates a New Authority to Handle Foreign Intelligence,” New York Times, January 23, 1946, 14.

16 Weiner, Legacy of Ashes, 15.

17 “Truman Elevates Gen. Vandenberg,” New York Times, June 8, 1946, 21.

18 Weiner, 18.

19 Ludwell L. Montague, General Walter Bedell Smith as Director of Central Intelligence, October 1950–February 1953 (State College, PA: Penn State University Press, 1991), 4. Montague was Smith’s executive assistant. His historical report on Smith’s tenure was declassified and released under the CIA’s Historical Review Program and then was published by Penn State University Press.

20 Weiner, 27.

21 Willmetts, 119.

22 “History of CIA Public Affairs,” ca. 1980, CIA RDP91G01170R003505680007-4, 1.

23 “Gen. Smith Thinks Reds Have Entered All Security Units,” New York Times, September 30, (1952): 1.

24 Deposition in Civil Action 1335–52, Senator Joseph R. McCarthy v. Senator William Benton, taken September 29, 1952, Washington, DC, cited in “Testimony of General Walter Bedell Smith,” Hearing before the Committee on Un-American Activities, House of Representatives, 82nd Congress, Second Session, October 13, 1952 (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1952), 4285.

25 Robert R. McCormick, “Gen. Smith Should Resign,” Washington Times Herald, October 15, 1952, 4.

26 “Public Affairs Chronology,” ca. 1980, CIA-RDP-86B00985R0001000300010-8, 1.

27 “Col. Stanley Grogan, Ex-C.I.A. Aide,” New York Times, April 18, 1978, 42.

28 For a comprehensive review of CIA covert actions, see Tim Weiner, Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA (New York: Anchor Books, 2007).

29 “History of CIA Public Affairs,” 1.

30 Harry S. Truman, “Limit CIA Role to Intelligence,” Washington Post, December 22, 1963, A11.

31 Fletcher Pratt, “The Real ‘Spy,’ the Researcher,” New York Times Magazine, August 15, 1948, 10.

32 Ibid., 52.

33 R. H. Hillenkoetter, letter to Fletcher Pratt, August 18, 1948, CIA-RDP80R01731R001300130053-0.

34 Frank Wisner, Memorandum to Allen Dulles, January 23, 1951, CIA-RDP5800597A000100070156-4, 2.

35 Steven Kinzer, The Brothers, John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles, and Their Secret World War (New York: Times Books, 2013), 43.

36 Gardner Cowles, letter to Walter Bedell Smith, May 1, 1952, CIA-RDP80R01731R000400230011-5.

37 Walter Bedell Smith, letter to Gardner Cowles, May 3, 1952, CIA-RDP80R1731R000400230011-5.

38 Walter Bedell Smith, letter to John Gunther, May 6, 1952, CIA-RDP80R01731R000500340009-5.

39 Allen W. Dulles, letter to John Gunther, May 8, 1952, CIA-RDP80R01731R000500340008-6.

40 Albin Krebs, “John Gunther Dead; Wrote ‘Inside’ Books,” New York Times, May 30, 1970, 23.

41 Minutes, Director’s Meeting, May 5, 1952, CIA-RDP80B0167R002300100081-9, 1.

42 Cecil, Branding Hoover’s FBI, 33.

43 Minutes, Director’s Meeting, June 5, 1952, CIA-RDP80B0167R002300100059-4, 1.

44 Chester B. Hansen, memorandum to Allen W. Dulles, June 26, 1952, CIA-RDP7804007A0005001100007-9.

45 [Redacted], memorandum to Sheffield Edwards, July 2, 1952, CIA-RDP7804007A000500100007-9, 1.

46 Sherman Kent, “The First Year of the Office of National Estimates,” ca. 1970, Center for the Study of Intelligence (CIA), https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/books-and-monographs/sherman-kent-and-the-board-of-national-estimates-collected-essays/7year.html

47 [Redacted] memorandum to Edwards, 1.

48 Hansen to Dulles, June 26, 1952.

49 “Organization and Functions – CIA,” January 1, 1949, CIA-RDP80R01731R001400110002-7, 10.

50 [Redacted], handwritten memorandum to the record, July 3, 1952, CIA-RDP7804007A000500100007-9.

51 Minutes, Deputies Meeting, July 2, 1952, CIA-RDP80B01676R002300100040-4, 1.

52 Minutes, Staff Conference, July 7, 1952, CIA-RDP7804718A000400240090-6, 2.

53 John Gunther, “Inside CIA: The Story of Our Spy Network,” Look, August 12, 1952, 25–29.

54 [Redacted] memorandum to Edwards, 1.

55 [Redacted], memorandum to Sheffield Edwards, August 15, 1952, CIA-RDP7804007A000500100007-9.

56 Christopher Moran, Company Confessions: Secrets, Memoirs, and the CIA (New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2016), 54.

57 Cecil, Branding Hoover’s FBI, includes a chapter on Nichols’ work, “The Networker,” 27–72.

58 Moran, 73.

59 For a thorough review of Dulles’s career and lasting impact, see David Talbot, The Devil’s Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America’s Secret Government (New York: Harper Perennial Reprint Edition, 2016).

60 On February 12, 1959, for example, Dulles hosted the entire CBS News overseas group at the Alibi Club. Stanley J. Grogan, Memorandum to [Redacted], February 12, 1959, CIA-RDP80B01676R004000140003-2. Similarly, on January 18, 1956, Dulles hosted a luncheon for editors Philip Graham of the Washington Post, Benjamin McKelway of the Washington Star, and John T. O’Rourke of the Washington Daily News at the Alibi Club. L. K. White, Memorandum for Allen W. Dulles, January 16, 1956, CIA-RDP7804718A002700050019-9, 1.

61 Talbot, 211.

62 Carl Bernstein, “The CIA and the Media: How America’s Most Powerful News Media Worked Hand in Glove with the Central Intelligence Agency and Why the Church Committee Covered It Up,” Rolling Stone, October 20, 1977, 65–77.

63 “Worldwide Propaganda Network Built by the C.I.A.,” New York Times, December 26, 1977, 1.

64 Blind memorandum attached to Allen Dulles, letter to J. Edgar Hoover, March 27, 1957, CIA-DOC_00000226440.

65 Allen Dulles, letter to J. Edgar Hoover, April 16, 1957, CIA-DOC_0000226443.

66 Charles Bartlett, “Economy Forces Reds to Seek West’s Credit,” Washington Star, December 29, 1963, 1.

67 John McCone, memorandum for Lyndon B. Johnson, January 17, 1964, CIA-RDP79R00904A001000050045-9, 1.

68 John A. McCone, Memorandum for the File, January 13, 1964, CIA-RDP80B01676R001500050003-0, 1.

69 Tom Lambert, “Red Squeeze in Economic Money Belt,” New York Herald Tribune, January 5, 1964, 1.

70 Philip Shabecoff, “Canada Seen Widening Trade with the Communist Countries,” New York Times, September 9, 1963, 51.

71 William M. Blair, “Kennedy Authorizes Wheat Sale to Russians Totaling $250,000,000,” New York Times, October 10, 1963, 1.

72 “Nixon Likens Wheat Sales to ‘Fouling Up” Bay of Pigs,” New York Times, October 11, 1963, 37.

73 “A New Phase of Soviet Policy,” CIA Memorandum, August 9, 1963, CIA-RDP79T00439A001300040015-6, 1.

74 Ibid., 2.

75 Stanley J. Grogan, Daily Diary, July 16, 1963. CIA-RDP70-00058R000200090028-0.

76 Moran, 100.

77 Talbot, 7.

78 Ibid., 5.

79 Edwin L. Dale Jr., “US Will Cite Lag in Soviet Growth to Deter Credits,” New York Times, January 9, 1964, 1.

80 Robert R. Brunn, “Secret Government?,” Christian Science Monitor, January 16, 1964, copy included in file as CIA-RDP7500149R000200340001-5.

81 “Effects on CIA Resulting from Publicity Caused by News Release on Soviet Union’s Economy,” ca. January 1964, CIA-RDP8400780R000600210004-1, 1.

82 [Redacted], Memorandum for the Record, Subject: Agency Press briefing, January 15, 1964, unserialized.

83 John Stennis, letter to John McCone, January 13, 1964, CIA-RDP80B01676R000300090035-4.

84 Most famously, CIA official (and later director) Richard Helms lied to the Warren Committee when he claimed the agency never interacted with Lee Harvey Oswald. See Talbot, The Devil’s Chessboard, for details about the CIA’s consequentialist culture.

85 John McCone, letter to John Stennis, January 17, 1964, CIA-RDP80B01676R0003000900035-4, 1.

86 Ibid.

87 Ibid., 2.

88 John McCone, Memorandum for the Record, January 8, 1964, CIA-unserialized.

89 Lyndon B. Johnson, telephone conversation with John McCone, January 16, 1964, recording available online at the Miller Center: http://web2.millercenter.org/lbj/audiovisual/whrecordings/telephone/conversations/1964/lbj_wh6401_15_1391.mp3.

90 FBIS Liaison staff, “Initial World Reaction to American Press Coverage of a CIA Analysis of the Soviet Economy and the USSR’s Denial,” January 13, 1964, CIA-RDP66B00403R000100270014-5, 3.

91 “Effects on CIA Resulting from Publicity…”, 1.

92 McCone, Memorandum for the File, January 13, 1964, 2.

93 Ibid.

94 “The Sick Elephant,” Nation, February 10, 1964, 130.

95 “Effects on CIA Resulting from Publicity…,” 2.

96 Rep. Clement J. Zablocki, speaking on HR 2, 88th Congress, Congressional Record, January 14, 1964, A136.

97 Ibid., 3.

98 Talbot, 210.

99 Bernard Gwertzman, “CIA Trespass Feared at State,” ca. January 1964, clipping included in CIA-RDP66B00403R000500080001-6.

100 “Effects on CIA Resulting from Publicity…”, 4.

101 Ibid.

102 Ibid., 5.

103 John McCone, handwritten edits on memorandum, “Handling of Publicity,” January 13, 1964, CIA-RDP80B01676R001400010012-5, 1.

104 Ibid., 2.

105 McCone, Memorandum for LBJ, January 17, 1964, 2.

106 Lyman Kirkpatrick, Memorandum to Marshall Carter, January 25, 1964, CIA-RDP80B01676R000200150033-0, 1.

107 John Earman, Memorandum to Marshall Carter, January 27, 1964, CIA-RDP80B0167R000200150033-0.

108 John Bross, Memorandum to Marshall Carter, January 24, 1964, CIA-RDP80B0167R000200150033-0.

109 R. Jack Smith, Memorandum to Marshall Carter, January 27, 1964, CIA-RDP80B0167R000200150033-0.

110 Lyndon B. Johnson’s Daily Diary, Wednesday, January 29, 1964, original in Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library, Daily Diary Collection, p. 2. http://www.lbjlibrary.net/collections/daily-diary.html.

111 Sherman Kent, memorandum to Marshall Carter, January 27, 1964, CIA-RDP79R00904A001000050044-0.