In 1953, John McCloy, former U.S. Under Secretary of War, former President of the World Bank and former High Commissioner in Germany, took over as president of the Ford Foundation. In this last role, McCloy provided cover for numerous CIA agents. It was he who, as president of the foundation, ensured that the agency’s interests were met, creating an internal committee to deal specifically with the CIA, composed of himself and two other foundation executives. “They would check with this specific committee and, when it was judged to be a reasonable thing, that did not go against the long-term interests of the Foundation, the project was handed over to internal staff and other executives of the house [without that they] were aware of the origins of the proposal”, said McCloy’s biographer, quoted by Frances Stonor Saunders in her book “Who Paid the Piper? The CIA and the Cultural Cold War”.
“Once this arrangement was established,” the author continues, “the Ford Foundation was officially engaged as one of the organizations that the CIA could mobilize in the political war against communism. The foundation’s archives reveal a wealth of joint projects” (p. 160).
The Ford Foundation has always been infested with CIA agents, from the highest to the lowest levels of the entity. Some of its presidents, such as Paul G. Hoffman (the entity’s first president), John McCloy and McGeorge Bundy, were important U.S. government officials and worked directly with the CIA.
In September 1950, the Ford Foundation’s charter of principles was established, which remains in force to this day. Known as the Gaither Report (because he was responsible for its preparation), it presupposed “investments in institutions, new theories [our emphasis], publication channels and training of personnel and professional elites in Social Sciences”, highlights Wanderson Chaves, doctor in History by the University of São Paulo, citing the Report (Revista Crítica Histórica, Year VI, n° 11, July/2015, p. 234). The report itself stipulated intrinsic collaboration with the State Department and the CIA.
Hellbound and Down 