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10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Max Millikan.md
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@ -54,6 +54,12 @@ relations:
start: 1955-06-05
end: 1955-06-10
fn: 16
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Quantico Vulnerabilities Panel]]"
role: "panel member, Quantico II; source book papers on thresholds of U.S. effort and economic policy"
start: 1955-08
end: 1955-11
fn: 17
---
Max F. Millikan was an economist at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] who was a member of the [[Project Troy]] study group of 1950 to 1951, took leave in January 1951 to head the Office of Research and Reports at the [[Central Intelligence Agency]], and became the first director of the [[Center for International Studies]] at MIT in 1952.
@ -92,19 +98,19 @@ In February 1961 [[Allen Dulles|Allen W. Dulles]] wrote to Millikan, as director
### Quantico Vulnerabilities Panel, 1955
In June 1955 Millikan was one of eleven experts whom [[Nelson Rockefeller]] invited to [[Quantico Vulnerabilities Panel|Quantico]], Virginia, to study methods of exploiting Communist bloc vulnerabilities. The panel met June 5 to 10. [[Walt Rostow]] of the Center for International Studies was designated its chairman, and the other members included [[Frederick Dunn]], [[C. D. Jackson]], [[Philip Mosely]] and Hans Speier.[^16]
In June 1955 Millikan was one of eleven experts whom [[Nelson Rockefeller]] invited to [[Quantico Vulnerabilities Panel|Quantico]], Virginia, to study methods of exploiting Communist bloc vulnerabilities. The panel met June 5 to 10. [[Walt Rostow]] of the Center for International Studies was designated its chairman. The other members were [[Frederick Dunn]], [[C. D. Jackson]], [[Ellis A. Johnson]], [[Paul Linebarger]], [[Philip Mosely]], [[George Pettee]], [[Stefan Possony]], Hans Speier and [[Charles A. H. Thomson]].[^16] Millikan was also one of the twelve members of the second panel, which was often called Quantico II. That group met in Washington in late August and at Quantico in September 1955, and its source book contains two papers by Millikan, "Thresholds of U.S. Effort" and "Economic Policy as an Instrument of Political and Psychological Policy."[^17][^18]
### Funding
[[Patrick Oster]] of the [[Chicago Sun-Times]] reported in the [[Washington Post]] of September 11, 1977 that the CIA had secretly financed an MIT research project on how to turn Soviet scientists into agents, carried out by [[Anthony J. Wiener]], "who at the time was affiliated with MIT's Center for International Studies, which was set up in 1951 with CIA money and had as its first director Max F. Millikan, a former assistant director of the agency." The article placed the project under "Project MK-ULTRA" and said the money passed through the [[Society for the Investigation of Human Ecology]].[^17] [[Time]] of February 24, 1967 reported "directly and without masquerade" "$300,000 to finance M.I.T.'s topflight Center for International Studies," and that MIT then "terminated the contract 'for practical, not moral reasons.'" In the same article Millikan, described as "the sage director of M.I.T.'s International Center," was quoted: "The number of my friends around here who have swallowed this 'invisible government' line is disturbing."[^18] Testifying before the Internal Security Subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee, [[Andreas Lowenfeld]] said of the center in 1951 and 1952: "they had some kind of contract with the CIA," and, asked whether he knew it was a CIA operation, "I was never formally told, but it became apparent." Asked whether Walt Rostow was in charge, he said: "He was acting, I guess … and then Mr. Millikan came."[^19]
[[Patrick Oster]] of the [[Chicago Sun-Times]] reported in the [[Washington Post]] of September 11, 1977 that the CIA had secretly financed an MIT research project on how to turn Soviet scientists into agents, carried out by [[Anthony J. Wiener]], "who at the time was affiliated with MIT's Center for International Studies, which was set up in 1951 with CIA money and had as its first director Max F. Millikan, a former assistant director of the agency." The article placed the project under "Project MK-ULTRA" and said the money passed through the [[Society for the Investigation of Human Ecology]].[^19] [[Time]] of February 24, 1967 reported "directly and without masquerade" "$300,000 to finance M.I.T.'s topflight Center for International Studies," and that MIT then "terminated the contract 'for practical, not moral reasons.'" In the same article Millikan, described as "the sage director of M.I.T.'s International Center," was quoted: "The number of my friends around here who have swallowed this 'invisible government' line is disturbing."[^20] Testifying before the Internal Security Subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee, [[Andreas Lowenfeld]] said of the center in 1951 and 1952: "they had some kind of contract with the CIA," and, asked whether he knew it was a CIA operation, "I was never formally told, but it became apparent." Asked whether Walt Rostow was in charge, he said: "He was acting, I guess … and then Mr. Millikan came."[^21]
A [[Philadelphia Inquirer]] clipping in agency files, headlined "Penn Denies Campus Has CIA Agents," states: "On April 26, Dr. Max Millikan, director of the MIT Center of International Studies, said the college would reluctantly drop research contracts with the CIA because they were 'subject to misinterpretation.'" It quotes Millikan, "There never was a secret" about the contracts.[^20] A letter of April 21, 1971, on the center's letterhead and sent to [[Richard Helms]] by a writer whose name is redacted in the copy, states that "some years ago our Center for International Studies cancelled contracts with the CIA." The writer places the break with the agency: "It was the CIA and not the university which declined to continue relations on such terms."[^21]
A [[Philadelphia Inquirer]] clipping in agency files, headlined "Penn Denies Campus Has CIA Agents," states: "On April 26, Dr. Max Millikan, director of the MIT Center of International Studies, said the college would reluctantly drop research contracts with the CIA because they were 'subject to misinterpretation.'" It quotes Millikan, "There never was a secret" about the contracts.[^22] A letter of April 21, 1971, on the center's letterhead and sent to [[Richard Helms]] by a writer whose name is redacted in the copy, states that "some years ago our Center for International Studies cancelled contracts with the CIA." The writer places the break with the agency: "It was the CIA and not the university which declined to continue relations on such terms."[^23]
### Death
MIT's archival description of his papers states that Millikan was a member of the MIT faculty from 1949, was appointed professor of economics and director of the Center for International Studies on returning to MIT in 1952, and held both posts until his death on December 14, 1969.[^1] MIT's account of the center says that its first director served for more than fifteen years and urged faculty to become "social science entrepreneurs."[^11] MIT News in 2026 describes him as an adviser to President [[John F. Kennedy]] who drafted the proposal for the [[Peace Corps]], and says that a 1961 memorandum from him to Kennedy helped inspire its creation.[^22]
MIT's archival description of his papers states that Millikan was a member of the MIT faculty from 1949, was appointed professor of economics and director of the Center for International Studies on returning to MIT in 1952, and held both posts until his death on December 14, 1969.[^1] MIT's account of the center says that its first director served for more than fifteen years and urged faculty to become "social science entrepreneurs."[^11] MIT News in 2026 describes him as an adviser to President [[John F. Kennedy]] who drafted the proposal for the [[Peace Corps]], and says that a 1961 memorandum from him to Kennedy helped inspire its creation.[^24]
The MIT President's report for 1969 to 1970 states that he was "Director of the Center since a few months after its founding in 1952" and died on December 14, 1969, aged 56, and the Dean's report for that year calls him "A valued member of both the Department of Economics and the Department of Political Science."[^23]
The MIT President's report for 1969 to 1970 states that he was "Director of the Center since a few months after its founding in 1952" and died on December 14, 1969, aged 56, and the Dean's report for that year calls him "A valued member of both the Department of Economics and the Department of Political Science."[^25]
### Footnotes
@ -124,10 +130,12 @@ The MIT President's report for 1969 to 1970 states that he was "Director of the
[^14]: CIA Office of Security, memorandum for the Director of Central Intelligence, April 11, 1958, CIA reading room document 0001477407, https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/0001477407
[^15]: Allen W. Dulles, letter to Max F. Millikan, Director, Center for International Studies, February 27, 1961, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP80B01676R003500160028-9. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01676r003500160028-9
[^16]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955-1957, Volume XIX, National Security Policy*, document 26, editorial note on the Quantico Panel, p. 84, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1955-57v19/d26
[^17]: Patrick Oster, "CIA Envisioned Soviet Scientists as U.S. Agents," Chicago Sun-Times, reprinted in the Washington Post, September 11, 1977, p. A-9, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP88-01315R000400460003-8. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp88-01315r000400460003-8
[^18]: Time, February 24, 1967, vol. 89, no. 8, The Nation, pp. 15 to 16, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP84-00161R000400210135-8. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp84-00161r000400210135-8
[^19]: U.S. Senate, Committee on the Judiciary, Internal Security Subcommittee, extracts from hearings (Part 3) on State Department security and passport regulations, testimony of Andreas F. Lowenfeld (Part 3, pp. 331 to 332), CIA reading room document CIA-RDP75-00149R000400560007-3. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp75-00149r000400560007-3
[^20]: Philadelphia Inquirer clipping, headline "Penn Denies Campus Has CIA Agents," CIA reading room document CIA-RDP73-00475R000401020013-7. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp73-00475r000401020013-7
[^21]: Letter dated April 21, 1971, on Center for International Studies letterhead, 30 Wadsworth Street, Cambridge, to Richard M. Helms, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP80B01086A000900210009-2. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01086a000900210009-2
[^22]: MIT News, "Understanding the world, from the Cold War to the age of AI," September 17, 2026. https://news.mit.edu/2026/understanding-world-from-cold-war-to-age-of-ai-0917
[^23]: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Report of the President for the academic year 1969 to 1970, Center for International Studies, p. 218, and report of the Dean of Humanities and Social Science, p. 196. https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/160013
[^17]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955-1957, Volume XIX, National Security Policy*, document 42, editorial note on the Quantico II Panel, pp. 153-154, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1955-57v19/d42. Lists Millikan among the twelve members invited on August 16, 1955.
[^18]: "Psychological Aspects of United States Strategy: Source Book of Individual Papers," November 1955, CIA reading room copy, CIA-RDP86B00269R000300120001-4, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp86b00269r000300120001-4. Contents list papers 2 ("Thresholds of U. S. Effort") and 3 ("Economic Policy as an Instrument of Political and Psychological Policy") by Max Millikan, Director, Center of International Studies, MIT.
[^19]: Patrick Oster, "CIA Envisioned Soviet Scientists as U.S. Agents," Chicago Sun-Times, reprinted in the Washington Post, September 11, 1977, p. A-9, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP88-01315R000400460003-8. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp88-01315r000400460003-8
[^20]: Time, February 24, 1967, vol. 89, no. 8, The Nation, pp. 15 to 16, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP84-00161R000400210135-8. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp84-00161r000400210135-8
[^21]: U.S. Senate, Committee on the Judiciary, Internal Security Subcommittee, extracts from hearings (Part 3) on State Department security and passport regulations, testimony of Andreas F. Lowenfeld (Part 3, pp. 331 to 332), CIA reading room document CIA-RDP75-00149R000400560007-3. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp75-00149r000400560007-3
[^22]: Philadelphia Inquirer clipping, headline "Penn Denies Campus Has CIA Agents," CIA reading room document CIA-RDP73-00475R000401020013-7. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp73-00475r000401020013-7
[^23]: Letter dated April 21, 1971, on Center for International Studies letterhead, 30 Wadsworth Street, Cambridge, to Richard M. Helms, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP80B01086A000900210009-2. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01086a000900210009-2
[^24]: MIT News, "Understanding the world, from the Cold War to the age of AI," September 17, 2026. https://news.mit.edu/2026/understanding-world-from-cold-war-to-age-of-ai-0917
[^25]: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Report of the President for the academic year 1969 to 1970, Center for International Studies, p. 218, and report of the Dean of Humanities and Social Science, p. 196. https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/160013