The Historical Roots of CIA‐Hollywood Propaganda

• Published date: 01 March 2017
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/ajes.12177
• Author: Pearse Redmond
• Date: 01 March 2017

The Historical Roots of CIA-Hollywood

Propaganda

By PEARSE REDMOND

ABSTRACT. The ability to use movies that tell persuasive stories is a

powerful tool, particularly if it is consciously used to legitimize war,

assassination, and illegal activities and to undermine the core principles

of democracy. The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the U.S.

military have made use of that tool for almost a century, starting with

the War Department’s quiet support for the movie Birth of a Nation in

1915 and continuing for a century, including such recent CIA-

supported products as Homeland, The Agency, The Recruit,andmany

less likely movies and television shows. During World War II, this sort

of propaganda was openly distributed, since there was a widespread

consensus in support of that war. However, state-sponsored

propaganda in the form of Hollywood movies continued throughout

the Cold War up to the present. The production of movies that

completely distorted the political meaning of George Orwell’s and

Graham Greene’s novels were important examples of this practice. CIA

involvement was covert, since the target audience was the American

public and the ideological perspective being propagated often ran

counter to democratic ideals. This article recounts the history of the

process by which Americans came to accept the ideas continuously

promoted by the government, often without knowing that their favorite

moviesandtelevisionshowshadbeenvettedorevenalteredbyagents

of the CIA or the Pentagon. Since these practices violate federal laws,

the public at least has a right to know that we are being subjected to

this sort of propaganda and how much tax money is spent to produce

entertaining formsof disinformation.

*Alternative researcher and radio host based in New York City. Weekly show, Por-

kins Policy Radio, covers geopolitics, terrorism, cults, true crime, and deep-state

events. Co-hosts The CIA and Hollywood with Tom Secker, and Porkins Great Game

with Christoph Germann. Web: PorkinsPolicyReview.com. Email: PorkinsPolicy@

gmail.com

American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Vol. 76, No. 2 (March, 2017).

DOI: 10.1111/ajes.12177

V

C2017 American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Inc.

Introduction

Propaganda is a practice that affects all our lives. From what products

we buy, to who we vote for, we are all subject to propaganda. The

manipulation of popular culture is a phenomenon that has existed

thousands of years. The ancient Greeks and Romans understood the

power that a theatrical event could have on a population. It could be

used to placate the masses and act as a distraction, or it could be used

to mold a particular political and cultural viewpoint.

In modern societies, the statehas sought to use images and entertain-

ment as a weapon of statecraft to gain foreign allies and to undermine

foreign criticism. In the 19

th

century, the publication of Uncle Tom’s

Cabin served as a powerful instrument in support of the Union cause

in the American Civil War, and may have helped to keep England from

making an alliance with the Confederacy (Campbell 2003: 55). Stalin’s

equivalent of “Potemkin Villages” in the 1930s were designed to hide a

famine behind a fac¸ade of prosperity and freedom, so that foreign pro-

Soviet visitors continued to report on the effectiveness of his regime.

The Germans built a model concentration camp at Theresienstadt that

was designed to convince foreign visitors of the benign intentions of

the Nazi government. The U.S. government used the Voice of America

to present a positive image of America to the world in the years after

WorldWar II.

Propaganda also uses popular media as a means of manipulating

and controlling domestic populations. Wartime newsreels served this

function in the United States and England during World War II. Fascist

and communist governments have produced movies that were

designed to gain popular support. In order to maintain popular support

and a patriotic spirit, government agencies in the United States have

also made use of popular media. In particular, they have used Holly-

wood as the premier vehicle with which to propagandize the populace.

This has taken the form of presenting a one-sided view of history, pro-

moting certain values, and engineering people to love and accept the

state, even when the state engages in activities that are contraryto basic

American principles such as the rule of law and democratic control.

The CIA and Pentagon are the two most powerful institutions

engaged in this form of propaganda in Hollywood. They have

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