On August 30, 1949, was not a great day for most of the people in the United States. That was the morning that they got up and while eating their breakfast and read their newspaper and found out that the Soviet Union had its own atomic bomb. Up until then, America was the only country that had this incredibly dangerous weapon and it was not one of our ideological enemies, but how they got it. Spies an international espionage ring that got their hands on the blueprints and now they have a weapon that could take out one of our cities. This kicked off the cold war and with it an obsession in national security circles with spies. The entire world basically became a spy versus spy comic.

This is a thing that happened. Georgi Markov was a Bulgarian dissident he had fled the country because he had spoken out against the communist government, so he sought refuge in London. One day he is in London, waiting on a bus and some stranger passes by and accidentally pokes his leg with his umbrella. Only it was not a stranger, but it was a Russian spy, the meeting was not an accident, and the umbrella was fitted with a pellet gun. This gun fired a tiny little, almost invisible pellet with ricin powder just enough to kill a man, four days later he was dead.

This idea of this feeling that anybody could be a spy, and nobody was safe was just pervasive in the post-war years. Even made its way into cartoons. It was in this environment of panic and secrets and one-up Manship that the CIA devised one of the craziest schemes they would ever come up with. The idea was what if you could control people’s minds. What if you could brainwash a rival spy to work for the CIA and not even know they are doing it so that they can give any secret. Maybe even carry out assassinations for the CIA.

The justification for all this was to fight against the spread of communism, but surely there were better ways to do this. The CIA would go on to hire many top journalists, working for big American publications to further their cause. But they did not stop there. They would also go on to bankroll students and foreign publications as well. Anything to stop the threat that is communism. The CIA would even go as far as funding a Hollywood film.

While a person can argue the ethics of Operation Mockingbird, a person cannot argue it’s effectiveness. Because Mockingbird was effective. The CIA was able to implement a mass media manipulation system, allowing them to control a good proportion of public perception. They had the ability to release media that fit their narrative while censoring those they did not like if it was under a company in their control. Companies such as CBS, Time Magazine, New York Times, New York Herald, Tribune, New York Post, the Washington Post, Louisville Courier-Journal, and Copley News services.

Another aspect of Mockingbird was the hunt for communism sympathizers, in the press and film industry. Investigations would be carried out, looking for just a sniff of leftist ideas. In one instance, an investigation was carried out into the Hollywood film industry. This resulted in 11 offenders, 10 of which immediately sent to jail for a short period of time and got blacklisted. This type of experience was not uncommon for those involved in the media or associated with the left. An American actor, Lee J. Cobb, described the experience, “The blacklist is just the opening gambit - being deprived of work. Your passport is confiscated. That’s minor. But being able to move without being tailed is something else…..I was pretty much worn down. I had no money. I couldn’t borrow it. I had the expense of taking care of the children. Why am I subjecting my loved ones to this?” He later succumbed to the pressure and began cooperating with the CIA.

As Operation Mockingbird was able to operate secretly for quite some time, they could not stay in the shadows forever. In 1964, David Wise and Thomas B.Ross would publish ‘The Invisible Government’. A novel that goes into detail about the CIA undercover activities and how the CIA operates. From there just two short years later, Ramparts would publish the first expose feature of the Mockingbird. Because of this book, the CIA was beginning to feel the heat.

The Watergate scandal drew the attention of the American public onto America’s many agencies. This led to various investigations the one relevant is the Church Hearing. In 1975, an American Senator by the name, Frank Church set up a church committee. This committee and the CIA director, William Colby would be called in for a hearing. The church committee would go on to release various reports exposing the CIA, leading to public outrage. The next year, George H.W. Bush publically ended the CIA’s relationship with the U.S. Media. He states that “The CIA will not enter into any paid or contractual relationships with any full-time or part-time news correspondent accredited by any United States news service, newspaper, periodical, radio or television network or station”. This statement by President Bush called all doors of CIA involvement in the media. The reason being the media was one of the places where freedom of the press was acquired. The CIA was basically controlling the media for a couple of years which angered most of the people.

Propaganda and fake news have been a hot topic for quite some time now. Especially since the 2016 U.S. presidential election. It is a real possibility that much different government and large corporations could be using the media for their own good. There would be no surprises if the operation is similar to Operation Mockingbird would be happening right now. It is sad that the media, partially, run a daily part of our lives could be used in this way. Many people are being manipulated unknowingly. That is the way the world is right now.