O is for Operation Midnight Climax Part I - Breakin‘ Brains

Enter the Rabbit Hole

What's got three letters, can change your brain chemistry, and messed a lot of people up in the 60s. Why, it's the CIA of course! Alisha and Will take a look at everybody's favorite spooks and the beginnings of their infamous MKUltra program. Did the CIA unlock the secrets of mind control, or is it just torture? Hint: it's mostly just torture. So sit back, relax, and pop this episode directly on your tongue as we once again Enter the Rabbit Hole. (WARNING: ETRH SHOULD ONLY BE INGESTED VIA THE EARS)

Sources:

Articles:

Guide to the George White Papers, 1932-1970 M1111

https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf6k40059b/

The Secret History of Fort Detrick, the CIA’s Base for Mind Control Experiments (Stephen Kinzer, Politico, Sep 2019)

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/09/15/cia-fort-detrick-stephen-kinzer-228109/

The CIA's Secret Quest For Mind Control: Torture, LSD And A 'Poisoner In Chief' (Terry Gross, Fresh Air, NPR Sep 2019)

https://www.npr.org/2019/09/09/758989641/the-cias-secret-quest-for-mind-control-torture-lsd-and-a-poisoner-in-chief

Brainwashed : The Secret CIA Experiments in Canada (The Fifth Estate, Dec 2017)

https://www.cbc.ca/fifth/episodes/2017-2018/brainwashed-the-secret-cia-experiments-in-canada

Project MKUltra: When the CIA Tested LSD on Unsuspecting Americans (Josh Clark, How Stuff Works, Jun 2019)

https://history.howstuffworks.com/history-vs-myth/cia-lsd.htm

1953–1964: Operation Midnight Climax — CIA’s lurid ventures into sex, hookers and LSD (Alliance for Human Research Protection, Jan 2015)

https://ahrp.org/1953-1964-operation-midnight-climax-cias-lurid-ventures-into-sex-hookers-and-lsd/

'Apparently Useless': The Accidental Discovery of LSD (Tom Shroder, The Atlantic, Sep 2014)

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/09/the-accidental-discovery-of-lsd/379564/

Albert Hofmann, Inventor of LSD, Embarks on Final Trip (David Biello, Scientific American, April 2008)

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/inventor-of-lsd-embarks-on-final-trip/

Sex, Drugs and the CIA (Douglas Valentine, Counterpunch, June 2002)

https://www.counterpunch.org/2002/06/19/sex-drugs-and-the-cia-2/

The Diaries Of a CIA Operative (John Jacobs and Paul Avery, The Washington Post, Sep 1977)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1977/09/05/the-diaries-of-a-cia-operative/65b08a3e-c95a-434e-b1c6-c05f726a3a6f/

Secret Agents, Secret Armies: The Short Happy Life of the OSS (National World War II Museum, May 2020)

https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/wwii-secret-agents-the-oss

OSS: The Predecessor of the CIA (Sarah Pruitt, History.com, Aug 2018)

https://www.history.com/news/oss-the-predecessor-of-the-cia

The True Story of Brainwashing and How It Shaped America(Lorraine Boissoneault, Smithsonian Magazine, May 2017)

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/true-story-brainwashing-and-how-it-shaped-america-180963400/

Brainwashed (Monica Kim, Foreign Policy, Feb 2019)

https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/02/18/brainwashed-north-korea-prisoners-of-war-monica-kim/

Videos:

MK Ultra: The CIA's Mind Control Fiasco | Answers With Joe (Joe Scott, Dec 2019)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejaGzxEevGI&ab_channel=JoeScott

Stephen Kinzer ─ Poisoner in Chief: Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA Search for Mind Control (Stephen Kinzer, Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, Oct 2019)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uX4ksoSCoeE&ab_channel=WatsonInstituteforInternationalandPublicAffairs

Compensation for CIA-funded brainwashing experiments paid out to victim's daughter 60 years later (The National, Oct 2017)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sov_sbVCpr0&ab_channel=CBCNews%3ATheNational

CIA Mind Control | CIA Secret Experiments (National Geographic, uploaded Mar 2008)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUW-frxo2X4&ab_channel=WIRED

Audio:

Operation Midnight Climax (iHeartRadio, Mar 2021)

https://open.spotify.com/show/0lPmZAi7ymc7jLFbfDBWwS?si=cud6eKgjRKybOxLTWeJBHg&dl_branch=1

443 - George Hunter White (The Dollop, Aug 2020)

https://open.spotify.com/episode/3CnrVFagijPtZT83mRPDdc?si=brG2fNnOQQOWh05uJv_ULg&dl_branch=1

Books:

Albion Dreaming: A popular history of LSD in Britain. Andy Roberts. Published September 1st 2008. Marshall Cavendish Limited.