Who Paid for Independence?

Day 190. Gloria Steinem died on September 2 at 92. Her death has prompted a reassessment of a life spent organizing, writing, and fighting for women’s equality. It’s also a reason to examine a part of that life she acknowledged decades ago: her work with the CIA. Death announcement and background.

Before she became a leading figure in women’s liberation, Steinem directed the Independent Research Service, a CIA-funded organization that sent American students to international youth festivals in 1959 and 1962. The connection was publicly reported in 1967. Contemporary reporting.

The Guardian’s obituary mentions the CIA connection in a paragraph about disputes over her prominence within feminism. The obituary.

It deserves a question of its own. What was an intelligence agency buying when it financed people who spoke the language of independence?

The agency’s own history provides an answer. Supporting the non-Communist left became a foundation of its political operations. Through the Congress for Cultural Freedom, it secretly supported publications and conferences that brought influential intellectuals together. Political credibility was something it could cultivate and finance. The CIA’s account.

Former CIA official Thomas Braden explained the mechanics in 1967. Use existing organizations. Disguise the American involvement. Allow recipients to disagree with aspects of American policy.

And, crucially: “Limit the money to amounts private organizations can credibly spend.” Braden’s account.

As an accountant, that last instruction caught my attention. Someone had to calculate how much independence would look reasonable in the budget.

A conference needs airfare. A publication needs printing. An organizer needs a salary. Financing those things helps determine whose ideas travel, whose arguments get published, and who can afford to keep working.

The people involved can believe every word they say. Concealed sponsorship still deprives their audience of information needed to judge the enterprise.

Steinem’s involvement belongs in our assessment of her political judgment. She knowingly participated in a project whose public identity concealed the institution paying for it. Her later achievements don’t answer the questions that decision raises.

Remembering someone means allowing the facts of their life to complicate the story we prefer.

We can recognize what Steinem helped women accomplish and examine what she helped the CIA accomplish. A serious account of her life has room for both.

The funding was concealed at the time. Its significance shouldn’t disappear in remembrance.