“War of the Worlds”: Let’s Take Another Look.

Today we’ll be examining a deeply fascinating quote from Daniel Hopsicker, author of Mad Cow Morning News, which is a pretty f***ing remarkable website.  He’s also written one of the best works on 9-11, “Welcome to Terrorland”.

His contention is that the infamous “War of the Worlds” radio broadcast of Orson Welles was more than just an inspired and infamous prank—it was a deliberate experiment in mass panic, funded by the Rockefeller Foundation. Considering the Rockefellers have funded a number of very sinister people --- and especially considering the Rockefellers are currently funding Dr. Stephen Greer of the Disclosure Project --- this would be a very important precedent, if it were true.

And there’s the tricky part --- is it?

From Daniel Hopsicker:

Rockefeller’s Favorite Martian

The Rockefeller family got interested in the reptoids earlier than most, and apparently for different reasons. Most use stories of UFO’s for mild amusement. Not the Rockefellers, though. They were interested in using the stories for control. In fact, if it weren’t for the Rockefeller Foundation’s previous mass psychology experiments, which starred the Martians, today’s cover-up effort by American officials might not be proceeding as smoothly as it has.

Here’s what happened:

At precisely 8pm on the evening of October 30th 1938, the Mercury Radio Network interrupted the music of Ramon Rachello and His Orchestra for a special news bulletin. A huge flaming object, believed to be a meteorite, had fallen on a farm near Grovers Mill, New Jersey. Moments later comes a correction:

“Its not a meteorite, no!  Incredibly, there are Martian cylinders falling all over the country!”

The famous War of the Worlds broadcast has begun. With its terrifyingly real descriptions of an invasion from Mars, before the night is out a million people will run panicked into the streets.

But what has been—for almost fifty years—a closely guarded secret, is this: Orson Wells’ broadcast was no mere show business stunt, but an Experiment in Fear, a psychological warfare test conducted for the Rockefeller Foundation.

Here’s a quote from “America Under Attack: A Reassessment of Orson Welles War of the Worlds” by Paul Heyler of Willfrid Laurier University:

“A grant from the Rockefeller Foundation to Princeton University helped create the Princeton Office of Radio Research. The director was Paul Lazersfeld, an Austrian Jewish emigre and a social psychologist whose expertise in quantitative methods was tempered by a humanist leaning. He teamed with two associates, psychologist Hadley Cantrell and CBS researcher Fred Stanton, a PhD in psychology who would eventually become network president.”

The broadcast was a psychological warfare experiment conducted by The Princeton Radio Project. The Rockefeller Foundation funded the project in the fall of 1937. An Office of Radio Research was set up with Paul F. Lazersfeld as director, and Frank Stanton and Hadley Cantrell as associate directors. Using demographic data on the broadcast’s audience gleaned from a 10-page interview questionnaire given to 135 people, they created a book, “Invasion From Mars: A Study in the Psychology of Panic.”

The results were available to only a few, apparently, with no talk of any paperback release Yet more than 12 percent of the American radio audience had listened to the broadcast. More than half that number took it seriously. By sociologist Hadley Cantrell’s account, published in a landmark study for the Rockefeller Foundation, more than a million people were frightened by Welles’ broadcast.

So is Hopsicker Full of Shit?

Actually, his 9-11 research is some of the only credible work we’ve found on that topic.  Let’s take a closer look at what evidence exists:

1. Hadley Cantrell was a typo

Actually, it’s Hadley Cantril, and Hadley really did write a book entitled “Invasion From Mars”.  You can get it on Amazon for less than $5. 

2. The Rockefeller Connection

Here’s a quote from “America Under Attack” A Reassessment of Orson Welles War of the Worlds�? by Paul Heyler of Willfrid Laurier University

Things fall apart when you try to dig up that Rockefeller report.  Paul Heyler is a name that only exists in other versions of Hopsickers’ report.  (The “Echo Chamber” effect of internet conspiracy theories.)

Another typo: there is a Wilfrid Laurier University up in Canada.  Apparently they just refer to themselves as “Laurier” these days. 

However. 

Establishing a connection between Hadley Cantril and the Rockefellers is pretty simple, because it’s already done for us.  Here’s an extended excerpt—cuz it’s full of juicy tidbits—from the academic journal Social Reality:

Towards late 1935—early 1936, Cantril began his effective, diversified and long-term collaboration with the Rockefeller Foundation, established in 1913 by the great philanthropist and titan of American business John D. Rockefeller (1839-1937). Scientific research funding has always been one of the Rockefeller Foundation’s priority directions, and from the mid-1939 on, it began to actively stimulate research in the field of propaganda.

John Marshall (1903-1980), who occupied leading posts in the Foundation for almost forty years, acted as the initiator of this enormous work. At that time, when most social researchers and liberal intellectuals in America had a negative outlook on propaganda, Marshall believed democratic propaganda was necessary for the country. He strove to unite psychologists and public opinion researchers efforts in working out the scientific principles of influencing people’s consciousness.

Marshal took an active interest in Cantril’s and Alport’s book on the psychology of radio. He saw in Cantril an intellectual and spiritual leader of this field of research. It is possible that one of Marshal’s considerations was that Cantril was personally acquainted with Nelson A. Rockefeller (1908-1979), an important businessman, ambitious politician and well-known philanthropist, the great-grandson of the Foundation’s founder. Cantril and Rockefeller met while studying at Dartmouth.

In 1936, with Marshall’s support, Cantril and Frank Stenton, (born 1908) founded the Princeton Radio Research Project, within which many studies on the role of radio in society’s life were conducted. The research on panic, which emerged in the course of a radio play “The War of the Worlds”, an adaptation of the famous novel by H. G. Wells produced by Orson Wells (1915-1985), the author’s then very young (quasi-) namesake, has been acknowledged as a classic work in social psychology and sociology.

At 8 PM on October 30, 1938, on Halloween eve, American radio listeners heard a report about a Martian landing on Earth. The sound effects used in the radio play produced the impression of a commencing battle with the Martians and growing panic among the population. Not everybody listened to the radio program from the very beginning. Those who tuned in a little later believed it to be reportage from the scene of the event. The announcer reported that the Martians were spreading out into New Jersey, that police had been sent to intercept them, laser weapons had been used, and that victims ran into the thousands. One heard the voices of “witnesses”, “official announcements” were made. The listeners started calling relatives and friends in other states. Those who took the time to listen to the end realized it had been a play. Yet many, seized by fear, fled their homes, highways were jammed with vehicles, people broke into churches interrupting public worship and recounted the events. Telephones went crazy in newspaper editorial offices and in radio studios.

The study of the population’s attitude towards the radio program made it possible to discern many intrinsic laws related to the effects of communicational influences on the behavior of large groups of people in a informational environment of anxiety. The reasons and mechanisms of panic’s emergence were described by Cantril and his coauthors in the book The Invasion From Mars: A Study in the Psychology of Panic, which is still topical today.

---link to full article (again)

Further Reading for Curious Primates

Television and the Hive Mind, by Mack White.  More detailed than Hopsicker’s account and most illuminating.

Collection of Amazon Excerpts related to Hadley Cantril.

A Perspective on TV Brainwashing from Catholic Apologetics International.  I can understand how some readers might have a problem with the source, but don’t be biased—Catholics, if nothing else, are great scholars.

Time Magazine Article from 1940 on the panic.  Full of details that people have overlooked since then.

Also Worth Noting

The War of the Worlds was remade by Sir Stephen “Close ET Encounters” Spielberg, and Tom “Operating Thetan” Cruise.  Funny quote from their infamous interview with Der Spiegel:

SPIEGEL: We visited one of your locations near Los Angeles and were amazed to find a fully staffed tent of the Scientology organization right next to the food tents for the journalists and extras.

Cruise: What were you amazed about?

SPIEGEL: Why do you go so extremely public about your personal convictions?

Cruise: I believe in freedom of speech. I felt honored to have volunteer Scientology ministers on the set. They were helping the crew. When I’m working on a movie, I do anything I can to help the people I’m spending time with. I believe in communication.

SPIEGEL: The tent of a sect at someone’s working place still seems somewhat strange to us. Mr. Spielberg, did that tent strike you as unusual?

Spielberg: I saw it as an information tent. No one was compelled to frequent it, but it was available for anybody who had an open mind and was curious about someone else’s belief system.

Cruise: The volunteer Scientology ministers were there to help the sick and injured. People on the set appreciated that. I have absolutely nothing against talking about my beliefs. But I do so much more. We live in a world where people are on drugs forever. Where even children get drugged. Where crimes against humanity are so extreme that most people turn away in horror and dismay. Those are the things that I care about. I don’t care what someone believes. I don’t care what nationality they are. But if someone wants to get off drugs, I can help them. If someone wants to learn how to read, I can help them. If someone doesn’t want to be a criminal anymore, I can give them tools that can better their life. You have no idea how many people want to know what Scientology is.

SPIEGEL: Do you see it as your job to recruit new followers for Scientology?

Cruise: I’m a helper. For instance, I myself have helped hundreds of people get off drugs. In Scientology, we have the only successful drug rehabilitation program in the world. It’s called Narconon.

SPIEGEL: That’s not correct. Yours is never mentioned among the recognized detox programs. Independent experts warn against it because it is rooted in pseudo science.

Cruise: You don’t understand what I am saying. It’s a statistically proven fact that there is only one successful drug rehabilitation program in the world. Period.