disinfozone/The_Info_Web
1
0
Fork 0
Code Issues Pull requests Projects Releases Packages Wiki Activity Actions

vault backup: 2026-10-12 16:23:53

Browse source
This commit is contained in:
disinfo.zone 2026-10-12 16:23:53 -04:00
parent 438c1d0e77
commit bf9bed6383
No known key found for this signature in database
43 changed files with 2029 additions and 424 deletions
Download patch file Download diff file Expand all files Collapse all files

7
10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Frank Wisner.md
View file

@ -40,13 +40,15 @@ Political action: In Italy and France, the OPC organized substantial programs to
In 1950 Wisner approved a 50,000-dollar project for a Berlin conference of non-Communist intellectuals, the event that became the [[Congress for Cultural Freedom]]. The project outline, which essentially reiterated a December proposal by [[Michael Josselson]], was approved on April 7, 1950 on the condition, in Wisner's words, "that Lasky would not be permitted to figure publicly in this operation": he wanted the project's initiator, the former Army historian [[Melvin J. Lasky|Melvin Lasky]], and [[James Burnham]] kept out of sight in Berlin.[^2] Josselson defended Lasky when the request reached him, cabling that "No other person here, certainly no German, could have achieved such success."[^3] On August 4, 1950 a memorandum from Louis Glaser to Frank Lindsay recorded Lasky's activities in connection with the congress under the project name PDQUICK.[^4] On August 8, 1950 Wisner wrote to C. D. G. Breckinridge that he remained "very disturbed" at the non-observance of his April memorandum, called Lasky's conduct "a major blunder," and stated: "unless means can be found to sanitize this operation by the removal of Lasky, Burnham and other persons of known or traceable official significance from overt roles in the proposed continuing organization, then I am unwilling to have OPC continue its backing." A postscript recorded that General Magruder had shown a report on the congress to Secretary Johnson, who showed it to the President, "who expressed himself as being very well pleased."[^5] The CIA history states that Burnham was happy to step aside, that Wisner described Lasky's visibility as "a major blunder," recognized as such "by our best friends in the Department of State," and that "Lasky had to go, and OPC contrived to have him removed from the project and canceled his operational clearance." The steering committee made the congress a permanent body on November 27, 1950.[^6]
The minutes of the CIA Deputies' Meeting of July 21, 1952 record Wisner as having "Noted that we were prepared to talk to Mr. Luce's representative any time he came to Washington and that we had sufficient material on hand which would allow TIME and/or LIFE to publish an exclusive story on the Duclos affair over and above the information already made public." In response to a query from the Director, [[Walter Bedell Smith]], on authenticity, Wisner stated that "(1) we were 90% positive that the information in question was authentic; (2) he would, however, pass this along to the TIME and/or LIFE representative; (3) we now have in our possession a photostat copy of Duclos' diary which was written in longhand; (4) he believed we were on safe ground in our '90% estimate' since the Communists had already vociferously decried publicity given so far to the Duclos papers."[^7]
### Hungary and Breakdown
The Hungarian Revolution of October-November 1956 was the defining catastrophe of Wisner's career. Radio Free Europe, which the OPC had established and which operated under CIA direction, had broadcast material encouraging Hungarian resistance with language that could reasonably have been interpreted as implying the United States would provide military support if Hungarians revolted. When Soviet tanks crushed the revolution in November 1956, the United States did not intervene.
Wisner had traveled to Europe to observe the situation and was in Budapest as the uprising was crushed. The experience - watching Soviet armor destroy a popular uprising that American broadcasts had encouraged while the United States did nothing - produced a psychological breakdown from which he never fully recovered. He was diagnosed with manic-depressive illness (bipolar disorder) and hospitalized. He returned to the CIA but never regained his operational authority.
He was assigned as London station chief in 1959, a posting that reflected his diminished status within the agency hierarchy. He resigned in 1962.[^7]
He was assigned as London station chief in 1959, a posting that reflected his diminished status within the agency hierarchy. He resigned in 1962.[^8]
### Death
@ -62,4 +64,5 @@ Evan Thomas's 1995 account *The Very Best Men* placed Wisner alongside [[Richard
[^4]: Louis Glaser to Frank Lindsay, "Activities of Mr. Melvin Lasky in connection with Congress for Cultural Freedom (Project PDQUICK)," August 4, 1950, Political and Psychological Staff Job 78-016R, box 1, folder 4, as cited in ISCAP 2014-090, Doc. 1, pt. 3.
[^5]: Memorandum for Mr. Breckinridge, "Berlin Congress for Cultural Freedom; activities of Melvin Lasky," signed F.G.W., August 8, 1950, with postscript, CIA reading room copy. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-0001318530
[^6]: ISCAP 2014-090, Doc. 1, pt. 3 of 12 (Burnham stepping aside, the August memorandum, "Lasky had to go," the November 27, 1950 establishment of the congress). https://www.archives.gov/files/declassification/iscap/pdf/2014-090-doc-1-part-3.pdf
[^7]: Thomas, Evan. *The Very Best Men: Four Who Dared: The Early Years of the CIA.* Simon & Schuster, 1995. Pisani, Sallie. *The CIA and the Marshall Plan.* University Press of Kansas, 1991.
[^7]: Central Intelligence Agency, Deputies' Meeting, July 21, 1952, p. 1. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/1952-07-21.pdf
[^8]: Thomas, Evan. *The Very Best Men: Four Who Dared: The Early Years of the CIA.* Simon & Schuster, 1995. Pisani, Sallie. *The CIA and the Marshall Plan.* University Press of Kansas, 1991.