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20 - ORGANIZATIONS/GOVERNMENT/USA/CIAA.md
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@ -9,10 +9,10 @@ tags:
- Intelligence
- Rockefeller
- PsychologicalWarfare
summary: "Roosevelt's wartime Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, headed by Nelson Rockefeller, which served as the first official US government propaganda operation and built the economic, media, and political infrastructure for postwar American hegemony in Latin America."
summary: "Roosevelt's wartime Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, headed by Nelson Rockefeller, the first official US government propaganda operation, which built economic, media and political infrastructure in Latin America."
location: Washington, DC
created: 2026-06-05
updated: 2026-06-05
updated: 2026-10-09
---
The Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs (CIAA) was a wartime US government agency created on August 16, 1940, by order of the [[Council of National Defense]] and placed under the direction of [[Nelson Rockefeller]]. Its official mandate was to promote hemispheric solidarity and counter Axis influence in [[Latin America]]; in practice it functioned as the first official US propaganda operation, a vehicle for expanding American corporate dominance in the hemisphere, and a testing ground for the psychological warfare and covert operations techniques that would be institutionalized in the postwar [[CIA]].[^1]
@ -53,35 +53,37 @@ Hollywood studios were pressured to deny films to theaters showing German or Ita
The CIAA's Publications and Information Division, run by [[Francis Jamieson]] (a [[Pulitzer Prize]]-winning reporter and future Rockefeller campaign manager), produced the magazine *En Guardia* (registered with the US Postal Office on April 8, 1941, with the first issue in summer 1941 and the third issue circulating in October). Circulation reached 750,000 copies per issue by peak production, distributed free to politicians, journalists, and business executives. Propaganda posters and editorial cartoons were produced through contractors coordinated by Jamieson's New York office; these materials are documented in NARA Record Group 229, series "Propaganda Materials, 1941-1945" (NAID 540082) and "Status of Projects Reports, 1942-1945" (NAID 2067594).[^15]
The CIAA was one of the heaviest users of the [[Foreign Broadcast Intelligence Service]]. On March 5, 1942 Nelson Rockefeller wrote to FCC chairman [[James L. Fly]] to thank the commission for the "invaluable aid" the service supplied to his organization. On July 29, 1942 he reported that the CIAA daily news roundup on Latin American affairs included 400 to 500 words a day drawn from the Kingsville transcripts.[^16] On July 7, 1942 [[Goodwin Watson]] wrote to Rockefeller about an offer the CIAA had made to the service's analyst John W. Gardner, and proposed that officials of the two offices settle the matter together.[^17] On January 2, 1943 [[Robert D. Leigh]] wrote to Rockefeller suggesting that the CIAA set up a system like the service's for releasing information about Latin America.[^17]
### Aviation and Infrastructure
The CIAA funded and coordinated displacement of Axis-affiliated airlines from South American routes and integrated Latin American air forces into a US-led hemispheric defense system. The Panair do Brazil operations in northeastern Brazil (a Pan American subsidiary) received War Department financing to build airfields beginning in June 1941; the Natal airbase was built in 1942. CIAA-funded airfields and trans-Andean highways served the immediate war effort while creating the infrastructure for postwar corporate penetration of the interior.[^16]
The CIAA funded and coordinated displacement of Axis-affiliated airlines from South American routes and integrated Latin American air forces into a US-led hemispheric defense system. The Panair do Brazil operations in northeastern Brazil (a Pan American subsidiary) received War Department financing to build airfields beginning in June 1941; the Natal airbase was built in 1942. CIAA-funded airfields and trans-Andean highways served the immediate war effort while creating the infrastructure for postwar corporate penetration of the interior.[^18]
The trans-Andean highway to [[Pucallpa]], Peru, funded by the CIAA, passed within fifteen miles of the [[Ganso Azul]] oil field, the Amazon basin's only proven petroleum source at the time. This highway also enabled the [[Summer Institute of Linguistics]] to establish its Amazonian base at [[Yarinacocha]] adjacent to the road.[^17]
The trans-Andean highway to [[Pucallpa]], Peru, funded by the CIAA, passed within fifteen miles of the [[Ganso Azul]] oil field, the Amazon basin's only proven petroleum source at the time. This highway also enabled the [[Summer Institute of Linguistics]] to establish its Amazonian base at [[Yarinacocha]] adjacent to the road.[^19]
Record Group 229 at NARA includes a [[Department of Transportation]] series totaling 129 linear feet, documenting CIAA aviation, ocean shipping, railway, and highway programs across the hemisphere.[^18]
Record Group 229 at NARA includes a [[Department of Transportation]] series totaling 129 linear feet, documenting CIAA aviation, ocean shipping, railway, and highway programs across the hemisphere.[^20]
### Rubber Program and the Amazon
The CIAA was assigned the task of reviving Amazon rubber production after Japanese forces overran British Far East plantations in 1942, eliminating 92 percent of the US rubber supply. The US and Brazil entered a formal rubber agreement in March 1942 under which the US committed a $5 million fund to improve raw rubber production in the Amazon and guaranteed purchase of all Brazilian exportable rubber through 1946 at fixed prices. The US paid the Brazilian government $100 for each worker delivered to the Amazon as a "rubber soldier."[^19]
The CIAA was assigned the task of reviving Amazon rubber production after Japanese forces overran British Far East plantations in 1942, eliminating 92 percent of the US rubber supply. The US and Brazil entered a formal rubber agreement in March 1942 under which the US committed a $5 million fund to improve raw rubber production in the Amazon and guaranteed purchase of all Brazilian exportable rubber through 1946 at fixed prices. The US paid the Brazilian government $100 for each worker delivered to the Amazon as a "rubber soldier."[^21]
The rubber program was administered through a network of agencies: the [[Rubber Reserve Company]] (incorporated June 28, 1940, as an RFC subsidiary), which controlled stockpiling and disposal; the [[Rubber Development Corporation]], which managed Amazon operations and was financed through special funds established under the Washington Accords governing Brazil's wartime cooperation; the Brazilian [[SEMTA]] (Serviço Especial de Mobilização de Trabalhadores para a Amazônia), which recruited labor; [[SAVA]] for labor placement; the [[Banco de Credito da Borracha]] for production financing; and the [[SESP]] health and sanitation service.[^20]
The rubber program was administered through a network of agencies: the [[Rubber Reserve Company]] (incorporated June 28, 1940, as an RFC subsidiary), which controlled stockpiling and disposal; the [[Rubber Development Corporation]], which managed Amazon operations and was financed through special funds established under the Washington Accords governing Brazil's wartime cooperation; the Brazilian [[SEMTA]] (Serviço Especial de Mobilização de Trabalhadores para a Amazônia), which recruited labor; [[SAVA]] for labor placement; the [[Banco de Credito da Borracha]] for production financing; and the [[SESP]] health and sanitation service.[^22]
Between 1943 and 1945 approximately 60,000 people were recruited to work as rubber tappers in the Amazon interior. The results were catastrophic for the workers: roughly one-third died within the first year of the program, a ratio that climbed toward one-half before the war ended. Survivors were indentured to seringal operators through permanent debts inherited across generations. CIAA-administered health and sanitation programs for rubber workers, documented in NARA Record Group 229, included the Servicio Especial de Saude Publica, with quarterly reports from 1944 and 1946-1950, and architectural and engineering plans for water supply, drainage, and sewer systems from 1937-1951.[^21]
Between 1943 and 1945 approximately 60,000 people were recruited to work as rubber tappers in the Amazon interior. The results were catastrophic for the workers: roughly one-third died within the first year of the program, a ratio that climbed toward one-half before the war ended. Survivors were indentured to seringal operators through permanent debts inherited across generations. CIAA-administered health and sanitation programs for rubber workers, documented in NARA Record Group 229, included the Servicio Especial de Saude Publica, with quarterly reports from 1944 and 1946-1950, and architectural and engineering plans for water supply, drainage, and sewer systems from 1937-1951.[^23]
The CIAA also oversaw the [[Metals Reserve Company]] (incorporated June 28, 1940, as an RFC subsidiary), which procured approximately 50 kinds of strategic metals and minerals from 51 countries; Bolivia's tin and tungsten, Chile's copper and nitrates, Colombia's platinum and mercury, and Venezuela's oil were among the primary Latin American targets of preclusive buying. By January 1941 the CIAA had been assigned the specific task of assembling data on Axis purchases of strategic materials in Latin America to support preclusive buying recommendations.[^22]
The CIAA also oversaw the [[Metals Reserve Company]] (incorporated June 28, 1940, as an RFC subsidiary), which procured approximately 50 kinds of strategic metals and minerals from 51 countries; Bolivia's tin and tungsten, Chile's copper and nitrates, Colombia's platinum and mercury, and Venezuela's oil were among the primary Latin American targets of preclusive buying. By January 1941 the CIAA had been assigned the specific task of assembling data on Axis purchases of strategic materials in Latin America to support preclusive buying recommendations.[^24]
### Health and Sanitation Programs
Beginning in spring 1942 the CIAA developed a major health and sanitation program for Latin America, operating through the [[Institute of Inter-American Affairs]] (IIAA), incorporated as a US government corporation in 1942. The IIAA established joint US-Latin American "Servicios" organizations across the hemisphere, each representing cooperative programs in public health, sanitation, agriculture, and education. Coordinating committee records for Brazil and Peru, covering 1941-1946, are held in Record Group 229; they include architectural and engineering plans for 660 health and sanitation infrastructure projects across the hemisphere.[^23]
Beginning in spring 1942 the CIAA developed a major health and sanitation program for Latin America, operating through the [[Institute of Inter-American Affairs]] (IIAA), incorporated as a US government corporation in 1942. The IIAA established joint US-Latin American "Servicios" organizations across the hemisphere, each representing cooperative programs in public health, sanitation, agriculture, and education. Coordinating committee records for Brazil and Peru, covering 1941-1946, are held in Record Group 229; they include architectural and engineering plans for 660 health and sanitation infrastructure projects across the hemisphere.[^25]
### Dissolution and Succession
Rockefeller was appointed Assistant Secretary of State for American Republic Affairs at the State Department's general reorganization on December 20, 1944, when the position was formally created. He served under both Roosevelt and Truman through 1945.[^24]
Rockefeller was appointed Assistant Secretary of State for American Republic Affairs at the State Department's general reorganization on December 20, 1944, when the position was formally created. He served under both Roosevelt and Truman through 1945.[^26]
After Rockefeller's departure, Wallace Harrison became director of the renamed Office of Inter-American Affairs under Executive Order 9532 (March 23, 1945). Executive Order 9608 (August 31, 1945) transferred OIAA informational activities to the State Department after the end of the war. Executive Order 9710 (April 10, 1946, effective May 20, 1946), signed by President [[Harry S. Truman]], abolished the office entirely; the Secretary of State received control over five subsidiary corporations: the Institute of Inter-American Affairs, the [[Inter-American Educational Foundation]], the [[Institute of Inter-American Transportation]], the [[Inter-American Navigation Corporation]], and [[Prencin-radio]], along with all records, property, funds, and remaining personnel.[^25]
After Rockefeller's departure, Wallace Harrison became director of the renamed Office of Inter-American Affairs under Executive Order 9532 (March 23, 1945). Executive Order 9608 (August 31, 1945) transferred OIAA informational activities to the State Department after the end of the war. Executive Order 9710 (April 10, 1946, effective May 20, 1946), signed by President [[Harry S. Truman]], abolished the office entirely; the Secretary of State received control over five subsidiary corporations: the Institute of Inter-American Affairs, the [[Inter-American Educational Foundation]], the [[Institute of Inter-American Transportation]], the [[Inter-American Navigation Corporation]], and [[Prencin-radio]], along with all records, property, funds, and remaining personnel.[^27]
The CIAA's personnel, techniques, and institutional relationships migrated into the State Department, the new CIA, and Rockefeller's private instruments, the [[IBEC]] and [[AIA]]. The FBI's Special Intelligence Service transferred its Latin American networks, communications systems, and personnel to the CIA during the same period. The CIAA's methods, particularly press control, radio operations, controlled newsprint, and the use of private business executives for public policy, became templates for CIA covert operations in the subsequent decade.[^26]
The CIAA's personnel, techniques, and institutional relationships migrated into the State Department, the new CIA, and Rockefeller's private instruments, the [[IBEC]] and [[AIA]]. The FBI's Special Intelligence Service transferred its Latin American networks, communications systems, and personnel to the CIA during the same period. The CIAA's methods, particularly press control, radio operations, controlled newsprint, and the use of private business executives for public policy, became templates for CIA covert operations in the subsequent decade.[^28]
### Archival Holdings
@ -96,7 +98,7 @@ Records of the Office of Inter-American Affairs are held at NARA as Record Group
- Division of Agriculture (1 linear foot)
- Department of Special Services (1 linear foot)
Audiovisual materials include 45 reels of motion picture film documenting Latin American activities and dignitaries' visits (1940-1945), 24 sound recordings of Spanish and English radio broadcasts (1941-1947), 3,386 still photographs including the Rockefeller Collection, 79 posters and drawings (1941-1945), 55 maps of South American locations, and 660 architectural and engineering plans for health and sanitation infrastructure. Records of subsidiary corporations and minutes of their meetings cover 1942-1949.[^27]
Audiovisual materials include 45 reels of motion picture film documenting Latin American activities and dignitaries' visits (1940-1945), 24 sound recordings of Spanish and English radio broadcasts (1941-1947), 3,386 still photographs including the Rockefeller Collection, 79 posters and drawings (1941-1945), 55 maps of South American locations, and 660 architectural and engineering plans for health and sanitation infrastructure. Records of subsidiary corporations and minutes of their meetings cover 1942-1949.[^29]
### Footnotes
@ -115,15 +117,17 @@ Audiovisual materials include 45 reels of motion picture film documenting Latin
[^13]: Proclaimed List, July 1941, 1,800 firms: TIME, "War Front: Blacklist"; FRUS 1941 Vol. VI, Document 313 (history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1941v06/d313). Colby and Dennett, Ch. 8 ("Nelson's Grand Alliance").
[^14]: *Saludos Amigos* premiere Rio de Janeiro August 24, 1942; US release February 6, 1943; Disney goodwill tour facilitated by CIAA: Dale Adams, "Saludos Amigos: Hollywood and FDR's Good Neighbor Policy," *Quarterly Review of Film and Video* 24, no. 3 (2007); Colby and Dennett, Ch. 8.
[^15]: *En Guardia* registered April 8, 1941; first issue summer 1941; circulation 750,000: research paper, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, scholarworks.utrgv.edu/art_fac/3/. NARA RG 229, "Propaganda Materials, 1941-1945" (NAID 540082); "Status of Projects Reports, 1942-1945" (NAID 2067594): NARA blog, text-message.blogs.archives.gov, September 26, 2017. Colby and Dennett, Ch. 8 and Ch. 13 ("The Junta Regroups").
[^16]: Panair do Brazil airfield agreement June 1941; Natal airbase 1942: The Pan Am Historical Foundation, panam.org. Colby and Dennett, Ch. 8 ("The Secret War for the Skies").
[^17]: Colby and Dennett, Ch. 8 ("Wings over the Amazon").
[^18]: NARA RG 229 Department of Transportation series, 129 linear feet: archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/229.html.
[^19]: US-Brazil rubber agreement, March 1942; $5 million fund; $100 per worker; guaranteed purchase through 1946: Americas Quarterly, "The Amazon's Greatest Generation?"; Quintus Curtius, "Brazil's Rubber Soldiers."
[^20]: Rubber Reserve Company incorporated June 28, 1940 as RFC subsidiary: Jesse H. Jones, *Fifty Billion Dollars: My Thirteen Years with the RFC* (Macmillan, 1951), pp. 406-415. Rubber Development Corporation, SEMTA, Washington Accords: ResearchGate, "Os Soldados da Borracha." FRUS 1943, Vol. V, Document 627 (September 9, 1943, McAshan to Ambassador Caffery): history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1943v05/d627. Colby and Dennett, Ch. 8 and Ch. 12.
[^21]: 60,000 rubber workers recruited 1943-1945; mortality estimates: Americas Quarterly, "The Amazon's Greatest Generation?"; Quintus Curtius, "Brazil's Rubber Soldiers." SESP records and health infrastructure plans: NARA RG 229; "History of the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs," 1947. Colby and Dennett, Ch. 8 and Ch. 12.
[^22]: Metals Reserve Company incorporated June 28, 1940 as RFC subsidiary (alongside Rubber Reserve Company and Defense Plant Corporation, all created the same day): Jesse H. Jones, *Fifty Billion Dollars*, pp. 389-405. Preclusive buying data assembly by January 1941: "History of the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs," 1947. Strategic materials by country: Foreign Affairs, "Our Economic Warfare," April 1942.
[^23]: Institute of Inter-American Affairs incorporated 1942: NARA, "Records of the Office of Inter-American Affairs." Servicios programs and 660 infrastructure plans: NARA RG 229; "History of the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs," 1947. Colby and Dennett, Ch. 8.
[^24]: Rockefeller appointed Assistant Secretary of State for American Republic Affairs, entry on duty December 20, 1944: State Department Historical Office, "List of Assistant Secretaries of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs," history.state.gov; Colby and Dennett, Ch. 8 and Ch. 12-13.
[^25]: Executive Order 9532, March 23, 1945; Executive Order 9608, August 31, 1945; Executive Order 9710, April 10, 1946, effective May 20, 1946; five subsidiary corporations transferred to Secretary of State: American Presidency Project.
[^26]: Colby and Dennett, Ch. 8, Ch. 12-13. SIS networks transferred to CIA at CIA's founding in 1947: CIA, "The Office of Strategic Services: America's First Intelligence Agency," cia.gov/stories/story/the-office-of-strategic-services-americas-first-intelligence-agency/.
[^27]: NARA RG 229 full description: archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/229.html; "History of the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs," 1947.
[^16]: Joseph E. Roop, "Foreign Broadcast Information Service. History. Part I: 1941-1947" (CIA, approved April 1969), pp. 158-159, on the letters of March 5, 1942 and July 29, 1942. https://archive.org/details/ForeignBroadcastInformationServiceHistoryPart11941-1947. Mercado, "FBIS Against the Axis, 1941-1945," note 24, gives the July 29, 1942 letter with the Kingsville passage. https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/kent-csi/vol45no5/html/v45i5a04p.htm.
[^17]: Roop, Part I, pp. 218-219, on Watson's letter of July 7, 1942, and pp. 101-102, on Leigh's letter of January 2, 1943. https://archive.org/details/ForeignBroadcastInformationServiceHistoryPart11941-1947.
[^18]: Panair do Brazil airfield agreement June 1941; Natal airbase 1942: The Pan Am Historical Foundation, panam.org. Colby and Dennett, Ch. 8 ("The Secret War for the Skies").
[^19]: Colby and Dennett, Ch. 8 ("Wings over the Amazon").
[^20]: NARA RG 229 Department of Transportation series, 129 linear feet: archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/229.html.
[^21]: US-Brazil rubber agreement, March 1942; $5 million fund; $100 per worker; guaranteed purchase through 1946: Americas Quarterly, "The Amazon's Greatest Generation?"; Quintus Curtius, "Brazil's Rubber Soldiers."
[^22]: Rubber Reserve Company incorporated June 28, 1940 as RFC subsidiary: Jesse H. Jones, *Fifty Billion Dollars: My Thirteen Years with the RFC* (Macmillan, 1951), pp. 406-415. Rubber Development Corporation, SEMTA, Washington Accords: ResearchGate, "Os Soldados da Borracha." FRUS 1943, Vol. V, Document 627 (September 9, 1943, McAshan to Ambassador Caffery): history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1943v05/d627. Colby and Dennett, Ch. 8 and Ch. 12.
[^23]: 60,000 rubber workers recruited 1943-1945; mortality estimates: Americas Quarterly, "The Amazon's Greatest Generation?"; Quintus Curtius, "Brazil's Rubber Soldiers." SESP records and health infrastructure plans: NARA RG 229; "History of the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs," 1947. Colby and Dennett, Ch. 8 and Ch. 12.
[^24]: Metals Reserve Company incorporated June 28, 1940 as RFC subsidiary (alongside Rubber Reserve Company and Defense Plant Corporation, all created the same day): Jesse H. Jones, *Fifty Billion Dollars*, pp. 389-405. Preclusive buying data assembly by January 1941: "History of the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs," 1947. Strategic materials by country: Foreign Affairs, "Our Economic Warfare," April 1942.
[^25]: Institute of Inter-American Affairs incorporated 1942: NARA, "Records of the Office of Inter-American Affairs." Servicios programs and 660 infrastructure plans: NARA RG 229; "History of the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs," 1947. Colby and Dennett, Ch. 8.
[^26]: Rockefeller appointed Assistant Secretary of State for American Republic Affairs, entry on duty December 20, 1944: State Department Historical Office, "List of Assistant Secretaries of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs," history.state.gov; Colby and Dennett, Ch. 8 and Ch. 12-13.
[^27]: Executive Order 9532, March 23, 1945; Executive Order 9608, August 31, 1945; Executive Order 9710, April 10, 1946, effective May 20, 1946; five subsidiary corporations transferred to Secretary of State: American Presidency Project.
[^28]: Colby and Dennett, Ch. 8, Ch. 12-13. SIS networks transferred to CIA at CIA's founding in 1947: CIA, "The Office of Strategic Services: America's First Intelligence Agency," cia.gov/stories/story/the-office-of-strategic-services-americas-first-intelligence-agency/.
[^29]: NARA RG 229 full description: archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/229.html; "History of the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs," 1947.