Well, we didn’t find out until about 30 years later that “conspiracy theorist” Tom Brokaw was right all along that Deep Throat was none other than… Mark Felt! Ok, ok, Brokaw doesn’t really fit the definition of conspiracy theorist. He did not, however, have any proof for his belief: it was just a hunch. A hunch he was willing to bet money on.
I’ve often wondered if anyone guessed we were using spy satellites to spy on the Soviets in the 1960’s. In retrospect, it seems like a pretty obvious conclusion to draw. The fact that we were launching satellites was public knowledge, and everyone also knew about the U-2 flights over the USSR after Mr. Powers’ crash in 1960. At some point when I can afford Nexus/Lexus access I’ll have to research this question more.
It’s hard to say, but the FBI’s COINTELPRO might count. That depends on your definition of “conspiracy theory” versus “a real conspiracy that hasn’t been proven yet.”
Wikipedia sez it’s difficult to assess to what extent it was historically treated as a so-called conspiracy theory before COINTELPRO was actually proved to exist.
As for Tom Brokaw’s guess of Mark Felt, well… I agree that “Mark Felt is Deep Throat!” doesn’t rise to the level of a conspiracy theory, because dozens of people were suspected of the role for going on thirty years, and Mr. Brokaw just happened to be one of the ones that guessed right. A conspiracy theory would likely have involved Woodward denying that Deep Throat even existed.
A handful of people knew there was a Deep Throat, and they kept his identity secret. This is a far cry from the typical conspiracy theory of “thousands of NASA employees secretly colluded in creating a hoax of the Moon landing,” or “millions of Jews are secretly conspiring to take over the world.” A conspiracy, by definition, involves others; and I would say your average conspiracy theory involves many, many others.
Robber Barons? Definitely a conspiracy, especially in the sense of restraints of trade and corrupting the political process. But not sure it’s the kind of conspiracy under discussion here. I would hazard to guess, though, that the muckrakers would have said “yes.”
Do the shenanigans of cigarette companies count? I read a lot of supporting documents and a couple books on the subject for a torts class (forgive me for forgetting the names at the moment… I believe one was written by an ex FDA head) back in law school. I was truly surprised at the revelations of what really happened.
The effort expended by tobacco companies to conceal their research, quash suits against them, etc., certainly seem to me to be large enough scale in terms of harm to society, evil overlord corporate profiteering, ruthless treatment of critics and investigators, and underhanded lobbying efforts to qualify as a Vast Conspiracy. Add to that the long term nature of the effort, only coming to light in relatively recent times, and it seems to me that this is one heck of a conspiracy–one that shocked even the most ardent and cynical critics.
Depending on how you define ‘conspiracy theories’ and what you consider to be American, I think Gladio works pretty well.
Back in the weird 70’s the CIA was rumored to be behind half the crazy stuff that went on in Europe. Later on a lot of information surfaced about the Gladio project, and it turned out that the CIA was behind some of it. Not to mention the Vatican (P2).
Another personal favorite is MKUltra -
[shrill voice and beehive haircut]They’ve done something to him ! He’s different. Why won’t anybody believe me ![/shrill voice] Turns out that your nice soothing Doctor was in on it too…
The wacky conspiracy theories aren’t any stranger than the real conspiracies, they’re just… less true.
Iran/Contra and Cointelpro both sound like good fits to me.
The 2000 California Energy “crisis”. At the time, anyone who suggested the shortages were the result of artificial manipulation on the part of Enron and other energy providers was dismissed as a conspiracy nut. Turned out to be true, although the truth came out within a few years, not after decades.
Good call. Actually, outside of the West Coast (and, being in New York, I can’t say for sure how prevalent it is inside the W.C.) the notion that that whole energy debacle–up to and including what seems to be Arnold’s path to the governorship–was artificially created may not be so widespread.
A smaller one that comes to mind is Grover Cleveland’s surgery for cancer. Apparently, in 1893, they discovered a malignant cancer on Grover Cleveland’s hard palate. In strict secrecy, he assembled his medical team on the presidential yacht, where he had it (and a lot of his jaw) removed in a risky surgery. He also had another jaw surgery. When the newspapers broke it, the doctors involved and Cleveland all denied. The press was apparently placated. The surgery was curative. Only in 1917, 24 years later, did all of the details come out.
Thanks for posting that dahfisheroo.! Right now all my coworkers are looking at me laughing hysterically and wondering if I’ve lost what semblance of sanity I once possessed.
There are scores of proved price collusions involving businesses (agreeing to set prices to milk customers) or corporate officers agreeing to collude to hide bad news/prop up stock prices – people are going to jail all the time for this sort of thing
I’m surprised that more people don’t cry foul over the circumstances of William Casey’s death. The director of the CIA for seven years in the Reagan administration, he reportedly contracted a brain tumor, had brain surgery, and died a few months later. I mean… if this was a spy novel, you’d immediately presume that he was “retired” in a manner intended to keep secrets.
It’s not proven, but I’ve heard rumors (mostly from non-American sources) that the CIA has the ability to give someone a serious case of cancer. I presume this involves injecting the person with cancerous cells, but like all good conspiracy theories this one is short on verifiable details. If see how this would be an attractive assassination method for certain situations – no bullet-ridden bodies or messy explosions – just slip some cancerous cells into the guy’s next flu vaccine, and in a few months he’s no longer a problem.
And then the body’s own immune system recognizes foreign invaders and attacks them. I dunno if that’s a foolproof method. “Making somebody get cancer” can make them die, yes, but over a very long and unpredictable period of time, during which they can still blab secrets and compromise your operation.
Take Casey: the Iran-Contra thing wasn’t exposed until November 1986, and Casey is said to have died in May 1987 of a brain tumor. They would have had to have decided to cancerize him the very moment the story hit the presses, wouldn’t they? Seems unlikely to me.
And still we haven’t come to a conclusion on what makes a suspicious thing, with some rumored collusion, into a full-blown conspiracy theory.
IIRC, there was a “conspiracy” to display FDR as vigorous and healthy and to minimize pictures of him in his wheelchair. Cagney’s Yankee Doodle Dandy featured a song and dance skit with a tap-dancing FDR* - something that I don’t think would play very well today.
