| The information that follows provides the history of a Roadshow of
Deception. The Roadshow of Deception was used to demonstrate psychological
warfare techniques and strategies to different Whitehouse Administrations.
The Roadshow of Deception was used to convince different presidential administrations
to use psychological warfare techniques on American citizens.
Four people staged and presented the Roadshow of Deception. They were Nelson Rockefeller, Hadley Cantril, Gerard B. Lambert, and Adlebert Ames. However, there were many other men involved in developing the psychological warfare techniques; putting together the communication apparatus to apply those techniques; and effectively coordinating the psychological operations (PSYOPS) used to manipulate the American public and people in other nations. Many of the men worked in United States intelligence agencies and the US Department of State. Many of the men worked in the British Secret Service and the British State Department. The Americans belonged to a group called the Council on Foreign Relations; the British to a group called the Royal Institute of International Affairs. The Council on Foreign Relations and the Royal Institute of International Affairs were formally founded in 1919. The Council on Foreign Relations and Royal Institute of International Affairs continue to effectively coordinate psychological operations used to manipulate the American public and people in other nations. The Council On Foreign Relations headquarters is the Pratt House, 58 E. 68th Street, NY, NY, 10021. England's Royal Institute of International Affairs headquarters is Chatham House, 10 St. James' Square, London, SW1Y 4LE, UK. The Council on Foreign Relations and the Royal Institute of International Affairs have branch organizations in other nations including Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, Australia, India, France, China, Japan, Netherlands, and the Soviet Union.1 Few Americans have heard of the Council on Foreign Relations. The Council grew out of a secret society funded by money left by Cecil Rhodes. Rhodes was a racist, a sexist, a white supremacist, and an imperialist. Lord Rothschild and Alfred Beit bankrolled Rhodes. Rothschild and Beit were racist, sexist, white supremacist, and imperialists too.The banking house of Rothschild maintained one of the great intelligence services of the nineteen century. The private intelligence they gathered helped the Rothschild's to successfully place their investments. According to former CIA chief Allen Dulles, "In 1815, while Europe awaited news of the Battle of Waterloo, Nathan Rothschild in London already knew that the British had been victorious. In order to make a financial killing, he then depressed the market by selling British Government securities; those who watched his every move in the market did likewise, concluding that Waterloo had been lost by the British and their allies. At the proper moment he bought back in at the low, and when the news was finally generally known, the value of government securities soared." In American the banking houses of Morgan and Rockefeller would come to maintain the great intelligence services of the 20th century. The intelligence services of the houses of Morgan and Rockefeller would include control of the intelligence services of the United States government. Many agents of the banking houses of Morgan and Rockefeller would go to work for United States intelligence agencies. During World War I, one of the most important elements of agent authentication was the fabrication of passports, identification cards and other documents. The censorship and documents branch was headed by Commander Henry S. Morgan of the United States Naval Reserve, a son of financier J. P. Morgan Jr.. Morgan's agency collected and compiled intelligence from mail, cables, and telephone conversations intercepted by the War Department under the government's wartime censorship powers. 2 John Cecil Rhodes and his followers knew how to apply psycho-political operations effectively to justify their conquests. The conquests were made in the name of an ideology -- civilizing "the white man's burden." Rhodes would leave a legacy that would help to formalize international psycho-political operations and covert activities. Cecil Rhodes was instrumental in establishing British control over South Africa. Rhodes gained fabulous riches digging diamonds in South Africa. In 1888 Rhodes consolidated several diamond companies into the De Beers Consolidated Mines. The same year Rhodes sent ten thousand pounds to England for the cause of Irish Home Rule. In 1889 Rhodes obtained the charter for the British South Africa Company. Rhodesia was named in his honor. Rhodes became a South African statesman. Rhodes established a racist system of government which would be named apartheid. The racist policy called for strict separation of the races. Blacks were restricted to certain occupations. Blacks received far lower wages than whites for the same work. Only whites could run for or hold public office. In 1948 the policy of separate development of the races was made official. The new policy was called apartheid. On May 31, 1961 the Union of South Africa withdrew from the British commonwealth and became the Republic of South Africa. Until the end of 1993 the Government of South Africa was a trilateral parliament. The parliament had one house for whites; one house for Coloureds (people of mixed race); and one house for Asians. The parliament had no franchise or representation for blacks. Between the ages of 24 and 26 Cecil Rhodes made seven wills. The first will established a secret society -- it was called the "Secret Society Will." The seventh will established the Rhodes Scholarships. The scholarships were to be awarded to Americans, Germans, and colonials for study at Oxford. All Souls College at Oxford would become the secret societies headquarters. Rhodes third will made his financier, Lord Rothschild trustee. The Rhodes Scholarship will changed the trustee to Rothschild's son-in-law Lord Rosebury. Rothschild was Jewish, Rosebury wasn't. Rosebury, was a more fitting trustee then his Jewish father-in-law. Rhodes was born 5 July 1853. The first will, written in 1877, established the "Secret Society" --"The Round Table." Rhodes was the first Round Table leader. Rhodes' wills insured Round Table members the funds to carry on for generations to come. The men of the Round Table were English upper class -- the University Educated -- The Wealthy -- the Privileged. The group was publicly referred to as the English "establishment." Secret Society members included students from Oxford and Cambridge. The Oxford boys included Cecil Rhodes, Arnold Toynbee, Lord Alfred Milner, Arthur Glazebrook, Sir George Parkin, Philip Lyttleton Gell, and Sir Henry Birchenough. The Cambridge boys included Reginald Baliol Brett ( aka Lord Esher), Sir John B. Seeley, Lord Albert Grey, Arthur Edmund Garrett. The aim of the secret society, and the purpose of the Rhodes Scholarships, was to spread English ruling class tradition throughout the English-speaking world. The boys of Oxford and Cambridge would devote their lives to extension of the British Empire and uplift of England's urban masses as two parts of one project which they called "extension of the English-speaking idea." Pursuit of the "extension of the English-speaking idea" included becoming rich through war and plunder. The imperialism of the time of Rhodes generated $40 billion in gold, diamonds, and slaves. The Round Table boys captured the lions share of the spoils resulting from their ignoble efforts.3 It was in the years following the Civil War that many of America's great fortunes would be made. England had launched its industrial revolution one hundred years earlier. Fortunes were made by both northern and southern families during the civil war. Many men that made fortunes from the Civil War sent their sons to England for an education. Some boys attended preparatory schools some attended Universities such as Cambridge and Oxford. Some boys went abroad accompanied by American nannies. Some of the nannies sent abroad had been slaves before the war, and were now gainfully employed by their former masters. The men and their wives traveled abroad to visit their sons and tour England. Pompous manor houses in the English style sprung up on the sooty hillsides outside Pittsburgh. Entire rooms where purchased from Northumbrian castles and shipped to Tarrytown along with acres of heavy English Furniture. English butlers and nannies were hired and brought back to America as servants. A newly acquired "social voice" developed. It was a blend of the Southern accent, Yankee accent, and inflections copied from the British aristocracy. While attending Oxford and Cambridge many of the American boys became interested in the pursuit of the "extension of the English-speaking idea" which included becoming rich through war and plunder. Some of these American boys were invited to join the "Round Table." 4 The Round Table remained secret for 14 years. The Oxford boys and the Cambridge boys were introduced to each other by one of England's most sensational journalists William T. Stead (1840-1912). Like Rhodes, Stead was a racist, a white supremacist, a sexist, and an imperialist. Rhodes enjoyed Stead's articles. The two became close friends. On February 5, 1891 Rhodes and Stead formally established the secret society "The Round Table". Rhodes was the leader. William Stead, Reginald Baliol Brett ( the Cambridge Group - Lord Esher ), Alfred Milner (from the Oxford Group - Lord Milner) formed an executive committee. In 1897 Milner became high commissioner in South Africa and Governor of the Cape Colony. Lord Arthur Balfour, Sir Harry Johnson, Lord Rothschild, and Lord Albert Grey were listed as members of a "Circle of Initiates." An outer circle known as the "Association of Helpers" would be established in other nations. The first two secret Round Table Groups of the outer circle were the Australia Round Table and New Zealand Round Table were established between 1890-1893. William T. Stead recruited members through his magazine Review of Reviews.5 In 1902 Rhodes died. The leadership of the Round Table passed to Lord Alfred Milner who became chief Rhodes Trustee. While governor general and high commissioner in South Africa Milner recruited a group of young men from Oxford and Toynbee hall to help organize his administration. In South Africa under Milner's direction this group was known as Milner's "Kindergarten." Sir George Parkin became the Organizing Secretary of the Rhodes' Trust and Milner's second in command. During the next seven years the "Round Table" was busy establishing a network in the chief British Dependencies and in the United States. The United States Round Table members included ( George Louis Beer, Walter Lippmann, Frank Aydelotte, Whitney Shepardson, Thomas W. Lamont, Jerome D. Green, Frederick Dixon, and others ). One of the functions of the network would be to gather private intelligence. The intelligence services of the Round Table would be modeled after one the great intelligence services of the nineteenth century -- the intelligence services of the banking house of Rothschild, made available to the group by Lord Rothschild, a charter member of the Round Table, and the sugar daddy that bankrolled Rhodes. The intelligence gathering activities would be used to help the "Round Table Group" members to achieve successful investments. The intelligence gathering activities would also be used to provide information to media people like Stead, who would focus psychological operations at different target groups through various publishing houses and newspapers controlled by Round Table group members. Council members George Louis Beer, Edward Mandel House, Walter Lippmann, Whitney Shepardson, James T. Shotwell, Charles Seymour, and Isaiah Bowman would become charter members of America's first formal Intelligence organization the Inquiry. The idea for the Inquiry was suggested to President Wilson by Felix Frankfurter. Between 1909-1913 the outer circle,the 'Association of Helpers,' was expanded to other chief British dependences. The Canadian Round Table was established by Arthur Glazebrook and George Parkin (Milner's Oxford undergraduate friends). The South Africa Round Table was established by Sir Patrick Duncan, B. K. Long, and Sir Dougal Malcom (men of Milner's "Kindergarten"). The India Round Table was established by Sir William Marris, Lord James Meston, and Lord Malcom Haily (men of Milner's "Kindergarten"). The Australian Round Table and New Zealand Round tables were expanded by Parkin (1889-1910) and Lionel Curtis (1910-1919). The secret society "Round Table" groups were financed with Rhodes' money and funds from Rhodes' supporters including Alfred Beit (1853-1906), Sir Abe Bailey (1864-1940), and the Astor Family (1915). Since 1925 substantial contributions have been made by foundations and firms associated with the international banking fraternity especially the Carnegie United Kingdom Trust, J.P. Morgan organizations, Rockefeller Family organizations, Whitney Family organizations, the associates of Lazard Brothers, and Morgan, Grenfell, and Company. The Rothschild banking dynasty was founded in Frankfurt Germany by Mayer Amschel Rothschild. Rothschild had five sons. Each son would establish a branch in a different country. Amschel, the eldest, remained in Germany with his father. Solomon, the second son, founded a branch in Vienna Austria. Nathan, the third son, founded the London branch. Carl the fourth son, founded a branch in Naples Italy. Jacob, the fifth son founded the Paris branch. Other international family banking dynasties arose including Baring, Larzard, Erlanger, Warburg, Schroder, Selingman, the Speyers, Mirabud, Mallet, Fould, Peabody, and Morgan.6 The most effective means of controlling political appointments and deciding political issues was through a Round Table Group controlled international financial network. The banking dynasties differed markedly from regular savings or commercial banks. They had special names, in England they were known as "merchant bankers," in France they were called "private bankers," and in the United States, there were known as "investment bankers." The characteristics that distinguished an "investment bank" included : 1. they were international ( which meant "investment banks didn't owe allegiance to any one nation, their allegiance shifted in favor of the nation resulting in the banking network maximizing its profit); 2. they lent money to the government ( which meant "investment banks", to paraphrase McKenna, directed the policy of Governments and held in the hollow of their hands the destiny of the people ); 3. they made money from investments in bonds (which meant "investment banks" were interested in controlling the countries inflation rates. Knowing how inflation would go was like knowing which horse would win a horse race in advance. An "investment bank" could make money in periods of inflation or deflation if they knew which was going to happen) 4. they remained private unincorporated firms, usually partnerships (which meant since the "investment banks" were private unincorporated firms they did not have to make their business public. Since the public did not know if the "investment banks" were buying or selling bonds the "investment banks" could use this knowledge to help control inflation and deflation by buying and selling. This also meant that the "investment banks" could keep their commercial ventures a secret. This included financing such ventures as Cecil Rhodes South African adventure. It also allowed financing covert operations that would result in the imperialism of the time of Rhodes that generated $40 billion in gold, diamonds, and slaves through war and plunder. It also allowed the same "investment bank" to make money by financing both sides of a war. During the Civil War the House of Rothschild and other banking dynasties made money by financing both the northern and southern causes. A the famous American banking house that financed both the northern and southern causes was the banking house of George Peabody & Company. George Peabody & Company made London its base of operations so it could take part in directing the capital which flowed from Europe to pioneering America. J. P. Morgan's father was a partner in George Peabody & Co. J. P. Morgan began working at his daddies famous London banking house as an apprentice when he was 19 years old. He left London in 1857 and returned to the rising financial center to establish a banking house of his very own. In March 3, 1863 Morgan was investigated by a Committee on Government Contracts. Morgan was investigated for participating in the purchase and resale of defective rifles to General Fremont who headed the Northern troops quartered near St. Louis. The defective rifles shot off the thumbs of soldiers using them. The army refused to pay. Morgan filed a claim against the government for $109,912. Morgan had loaned only $17,486 to purchase the defective weapons. The committee report refused Morgan the payment. The committee report on Morgan, said, "He cannot be looked upon as a good citizen, entitled to favorable consideration of his claim, who seeks to augment the vast burdens daily increasing, that are to weigh on the further industry of the country, by demands upon the treasury for which nothing entitled to the name of an equivalent has been rendered...Worse than traitors in arms are the men who pretending loyalty to the flag, feast and fatten on the misfortunes of the nation, while patriot blood is crimsoning the plains of the South and bodies of their countrymen are moldering in the dust." 7 In the period between the end of the civil war and the beginning of the 20th century the United States changed from a merchantile-agrarian democracy to a unified industrial society. A small group of young entrepreneurs was largely responsible for the change. This group gained economic control of the nation. The men "were Jay Gould, Jim Fisk, J. P. Morgan, Philip Armour, Andrew Carnegie, James Hill and John Rockefeller, Collis Huntington, Leland Stanford, [and] Jay Cooke. In the ensuing years all of the members of this band of youth would have met with their first "windfalls"... and the end of the war would see them masters of money, capitalists equipped to increase their capital. In the hour of danger and confusion it was as if they alone were prepared. It was as if the Second American Revolution were fought for them. " The members of this new ruling class were generally called "barons," "kings," "empire-builders," or even "emperors". They were aggressive men; sometimes they were lawless; in important crises, nearly all of them tended to act without those established moral principles which fixed more or less the conduct of the common people of the community.." 8 Morgan, Rockefeller, and Carnegie were members of the Cecil Rhodes' American Round Table Group. The Robber Barons engaged in intense rivalries. These rivalries often resulted in severe economic depressions causing misery for hundreds of millions of people, in various nations throughout the world. The rivalries and picturesque combats were played out in the press. Sometimes the press was used to initiate the depression. In June of 1871, Pierpoint Morgan joined forces with Anthony Drexel, the second largest "investment banker" in Philadelphia. A company called Drexel, Morgan & Co. was formed and linked to the J.S. Morgan branch in London. The Northern Pacific Railroad was the country's second transcontinental railroad. It was being financed by the most powerful "investment banking" house in the United States Jay Cooke and Co., the largest "investment banker" in Philadelphia. Cooke had a virtual monopoly on government financing. Cooke was the major source of money for funding the North during the civil war. He operated through a Washington DC banking house, his partner was Anthony Drexel. Cooke was so successful at raising money for the war effort that he eventually became the sole fiscal agent of the government. G.W. Childs ran the Philadelphia Ledger. Drexel, Morgan's new partner, had loaned Childs the money to establish the Philadelphia Ledger. In June of 1871, the Philadelphia Ledger began attacking the Northern Pacific Railroad. Ulysses Simpson Grant ran for re-election in 1872. Cooke was counting on Grant to be re-elected. Part of Grant's re-election promise was a $300,000,000 government loan to "refinance" the Northern Pacific Railroad. Cooke spent a lot of money to help Grant win. Cooke was providing $1,000,000 a month for Railroad Construction. This money was coming from the sale of Northern Pacific bonds by Jay Cooke & Co. offices in the United States and in London.. The adverse publicity at home and abroad hurt bond sales. Cooke could only sell enough bonds to cover $200,000 of the $1,000,000 a month needed by Northern Pacific. Cooke had to buy the other $800,000 in bonds himself, which he did. The Railroad started having problems; a section sank into a northern lake, the President was ousted for corruption. As time approached for the $300,000,000 refunding loan the Philadelphia Ledger beefed up its anti-Northern Pacific campaign. It printed a rumor that Cooke needed the new government funding operation to "bolster up their credit, which had been impaired by the connection with the Northern Pacific." In February of 1873 the $300,000,000 loan went down to defeat. Cooke had been counting on the loan -- so had a lot of other people. Cooke's troubles made money tight, the price of gold soared in London. Drexel & Morgan Co. did quite well. Northern Pacific bonds became harder and harder to sell. On September 18th Grant and Cooke were eating breakfast at Cooke's home in Philadelphia. Cooke received a telegram from his partner in New York. Cooke and the President went to the Philadelphia office. There Cooke told the President and his Philadelphia associates that at 11:00 his partner closed the doors of the branch office in New York. Cooke turned his face away from the President and the men who surrounded him and cried. A few minutes latter the doors to Jay Cooke & Co., Third St., Philadelphia swung shut. Soon allied brokers and 5,000 commercial houses followed it into bankruptcy. The Wall Street rout continued for ten days. It was everyman for himself. Only the strongest survived. The strongest were Morgan, Rockefeller, and Carnegie, the men who belonged to America's Round Table. A few young adventures preyed upon the rich debris and became rich themselves. One of the scavengers was Edward H. Harriman. The country entered a depression that would last for five years.9 By 1901 there were two major "investment banks" left in the United States The House of Morgan, and the House of Rockefeller . A powerful but smaller firm was the House of Kuhn-Loeb & Co. These three houses were all closely connected to the Round Table group. The chief financial genius of Kuhn, Loeb and & Co. was Round Table group member Otto Kahn (February 21, 1867- March 29, 1934). Kahn was born in Mannheim, Germany. Otto's father was a financier for the Deutsche Bank. Otto went to work at the bank when he was seventeen. At twenty-one Otto was transferred to the London Branch, grew fond of London and became a British Citizen. At twenty-six (1893) Otto accepted a position with the banking house of Speyer & Company in New York. The House of Speyer was one of the largest and oldest international banking dynasties in Europe. That year a financial panic began that lasted four years. After two years at Speyer (1895), Otto Kahn returned to Europe to travel, study art, and listen to music. On January 6, 1896 Kahn married Addie Wolff, daughter of a former partner of Khun-Loeb & Co. Kahn became a member of the Khun, Loeb & Co. a year latter. Kahn and his wife were wealthy. Kahn collected art and became a major force in establishing the Metropolitan Opera Company. In 1902 Paul and Felix Warburg, of the House of Warburg, another of the largest and oldest "investment banking" houses in Europe arrived in America. They left their brother Max in Frankfurt Germany to run the family bank. Paul Warburg married Nina Loeb, Felix married Jacob Schiff's daughter Frieda Schiff. Jacob Schiff was the senior partner at Kuhn-Lobe & Co. Both brothers became Kuhn-Lobe partners. Paul Warburg's salary was $500,000 a year. Kahn became the chief financial genius of Kuhn-Loeb & Co. Prior to America's entry into World War I, another Round Table member was hired by Kuhn-Loeb & Co, like Kahn, he was an Englishman and member of the Round Table. His name was Sir William Wiseman. Wiseman was the New York Section Chief of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service. After America's entry into the war Wiseman would leave Kuhn & Lobe and serve as intermediary between President Wilson's administration and the British government. Wiseman was introduced to Wilson by another Round Table member, Edward Mandel House. Wiseman returned to Kuhn Lobe & Co. shortly after the Paris Peace Conference. While Wiseman's work in the Secret Intelligence Agency allegedly ended, he remained in contact with his successor agents who held that post in the years between wars including: Maurice Jeffes; Captain Henry Maine; Commander H.B. Taylor, Royal Navy; Captains Sir James Paget, Royal Navy; and William Stephenson. 10 Kahn entered Kuhn-Loeb & Co. just as Edward Harriman was rising to power. Harriman depended upon Kahn for financing his titanic railroad transactions. Harriman was also aligned with the House of Rockefeller. The other major railroad baron was James J. Hill, who was aligned with the House of Morgan. J. Pierpoint Morgan had surrounded himself with a group of partners. All his partners were energetic -- many were handsome enough to be Hollywood leading men, though Morgan wasn't much to look at himself. The ablest of his partners were Charles H. Coster (a railroad expert) , Egisto Fabbri (an Italian economist and mathematician), George W. Perkins (from the First National Bank), George F. Baker (from the First National Bank) , George S. Bowdoin, J. Hood Wright, and Robert Bacon (future Ambassador to London). Morgan and his partners had been busily acquiring direct control of numerous banks and insurance companies. In his campaign of secret alliances Morgan controlled the National Bank of Commerce, First National Bank; and was linked to Hanover, Liberty, and Chase. Morgan dominated three great life insurance companies New York Life, Equitable Life, and the Mutual Life. As 1900 approached these companies owned about one billion dollars in assets. By law they were required to invest $55,000,000 each year. Morgan Partners Perkins, Baker, and Morgan were also life insurance company directors. Morgan and his partners would buy securities from themselves. Morgan was investigated, twice. One investigation was directed by Charles Evans Hughes ( the Armstrong investigation in New York). The other was the Pujo Committee investigation lead by Louis Brandeis. The Pujo investigation concluded that Morgan directed a great pool of banks and insurance companies to purchase securities he floated; then the proceeds of these securities were deposited either directly into the House of Morgan, or its controlled banks, the First National, the Bank of Commerce etc. The Pujo committee found that Rockefeller's National City Bank co-directors Cleveland H. Dodge, James Stillman, J. Ogden Armour, William Rockefeller operated in the same way. Brandeis concluded, "They control people through people's own money. The power and growth of power of our financial oligarches comes from wielding the savings and quick capital of others." The House of Morgan and the House of Rockefeller already knew that. With the investigations closed they lost no further time and extended themselves with amazing speed in a concentrated effort to control all of the nations savings. 11 A spectacular contest for the stock of Northern Pacific Railroad began between the Hill-Morgan forces and the Harriman-Rockefeller-Kahn forces (May 3-9, 1901). The Northern Pacific stock was run up by Robert Bacon of Morgan and Company. The public, didn't know exactly what was happening. The perception given by the press was that the House of Rockefeller and the House of Morgan were locked in a life-and-death struggle. The by-product was a sudden panic. When the smoke cleared thousands of people had been ruined. Morgan was blamed. Morgan replied, "I owe the Public Nothing." The Round Table groups House of Morgan and House of Rockefeller shook hands and formed an interlocking directorship. The Truce of 1901 was negotiated by the Round Table Groups House of Khun Lobe & Co. With their rivals out of the way the Round Table Group members began a psycho-political operation to give the public a perception of a much mellower and virtuous group of capitalists. As a result the public perceived the age of the "Robber Baron" was over. What they didn't know was the age of the "Subtle Fascist" had begun.12 Edward Mandell House was the seventh son of a seventh son. According to House, "We originally came from Holland and the name was Huis, which finally fell into House. Father ran away from home and went to sea when a child, and did not return to his home until he had become a man of property and distinction. He came to Texas when it belonged to Mexico. He joined the revolution, fought under General Burleson, and helped make Texas a republic. For his services in this war he received a grant for land in Coryell County. He lived to see Texas come into the Union, secede, and return to the Union. He lived in Texas under four flags."13 According House's biographer, Charles Seymour, "Thus wrote Colonel House in the summer of 1916, when a brief lull in his political activities gave opportunity for him to reconstruct on paper something of the background that lay behind his rapid rise to national and international eminence. Although the family was in its origin Dutch, his forbearers were for some three hundred years English, and it was from England that his father ran away. House himself, a seventh son, was born in 1858, at Houston, Texas, and this State he has always regarded as his home. Even more than those of Wilson or Walter Page, with whom he later was so closely associated, his first years were touched by the excitement and turmoil of the times."14 The turmoil of the times was the Civil War (1861 - 1865). Thomas House had become a millionaire growing Cotton on his Coryell County land. Thomas House used some of his money to buy ships. The ships carried goods that were bought and sold. Two commodities House traded in were cotton and slaves. Some Southerners managed to profit from the Civil War. Thomas House was one. When the war began Lincoln blockaded the Southern coast. Thomas House increased his wealth by using his ships to run the blockades.Thomas House became rich and avoided risk by hiring men to run the blockades while he observed safely from shore. According to Edward House, "During the war he sent many ships out from Galveston with cotton, to run the blockade to near-by ports, such as Havana and Belize Honduras. At that time we had a house in Galveston as well as in Houston. The Galveston home covered an entire block. The house was a large red brick Colonial one, with white pillars, and an orange grove took up most of the grounds, and oleanders encircle them. In determining when to send his ships out, Father was governed largely by the weather. Dark, stormy nights were the ones chosen. In the afternoon he would go up to the cupola of our house, and with his glasses he would scan the horizon to see how many Federal gunboats were patrolling the coast. Then his ship would go out in the early part of the night. In the morning, at daylight, he would be again on the lookout to count the Federal gunboats, to see if any were missing. If they were all there, he felt reasonably sure his ship had gotten through the blockade. It would be months before he knew definitely whether his ships had come safely to port or whether they had been captured. When he lost one, the loss was complete; but when one got through, the gain was large. He had a working arrangement with the Confederate Government by which the return voyage brought them clothing, arms, and munitions of war of all kinds. The terrible days between Lee's surrender and bringing some sort of order out of the chaos in the South made a lasting impression on my mind. I cannot recall just now long the interim was, but it must have been a full year or more. There was one regiment of Texas soldiers that came to Houston and disbanded there. They looted the town. They attempted to break into Father's storehouse, but he stood at the doors with a shotgun...Murder was rife everywhere; there was no law, there was no order. It was unsafe to go at night to you next-door neighbor's. When Father had this to do, he always reached for his shotgun or six-shooter and held it ready to shoot while both going and coming."15 Men of war met at the House plantation to discuss military strategy. One of those men was Jefferson Davis. On January 1863 Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation freeing "all slaves in rebellion." The proclamation encouraged slaves to rebel and kill their owners -- their reward would be their Freedom. Slave owners had cause to hate Lincoln. Lee's surrender on April 9th 1865 was bad news for Thomas House -- his blockade running business was over. Lincoln would be assassinated five days latter. This encouraged southern troops to fight on. The news of Lincoln's assassination was a cause for celebration at the House plantation. The last rebel troops surrendered a month later May 26, 1865. In 1866 the Ku Klux Klan formed secretly in the South. They were a vigilante group, that terrorized blacks, and used frontier justice against carpet baggers, and criminals that traveled throughout the south during reconstruction. Thomas House and some of Edward's older brothers joined the Texas Klan. 16 After the civil war Edward was sent to preparatory school in England. Edward developed close friendships with his English schoolmates. Some of Edward's schoolmates would become members of Cecil Rhodes Round Table group, so would Edward. Some of Edward's schoolmates would grow up to become the most powerful English diplomats and spies in Britain. Edward would grow up to be on of the most powerful diplomats and spies in America. Edward's mother died when he was fourteen. Edward returned to the States to complete his education. According to House, "I had expected to be able to enter Yale, but I found myself wholly unprepared and reluctantly entered the Hopkin's Grammar School of the Class of '77...What I had been taught was of but little use, and I would have been better off as far as Latin and Greek were concerned if I had known nothing and had started from the beginning. I studied but little, and I soon found I should have difficulty in joining the Class of '81 in Yale. Meanwhile, Oliver T. Morton, a son of Senator Oliver P. Morton of Indiana, and I had become fast friends and we agreed to tutor and go to Cornell instead of Yale. Both Morton and I were more bent on mischief than upon books and, while the mischief was innocent, it made us poor students." 17 House didn't get good grades -- House did get a good education.Oliver T. Morton's father was a potential Republican presidential Candidate. Morton was an Republican. House, being from the south, was an ardent Democrat. The youngmen's friendship, coupled with an interesting political presidential race, would provide House with educational experience, that no planned curriculum could ever have offered. The youngmen followed the election campaign. They argued politics, they read about politics, they debated political issues, and they cut class to attend political meetings. House relates, "Every near-by political meeting I attended, and there was no one more interested in the nomination and election of the presidential candidates of 1876 than I. At every opportunity I would go to New York and hang about Democratic Headquarters which, I remember, were at the Everett House in Union Square. I used to see Mr. [Samuel] Tilden go in and out, and wondered then how so frail a looking man could make a campaign for President. Bayard, Blaine, and others I heard speak whenever the opportunity occurred, and I believe that I was as nearly engrossed in politics as I have ever been since. Before the nominations were made, I was, of course, hoping to see young Morton's father nominated for President, and it was a bitter disappointment to us both when the telegraph operator handed us out the first slip giving new that the Republicans had compromised upon Rutherford B. Hays. The operator knew us, for we were continually hanging about the office instead of attending to our studies. Morton's father was such a poser at the time that there was no difficulty in his having access to any information that was to be had. Ardent Democrat that I was, and ardent Republican that he was, young Morton and I had no unpleasant discussions. After the election and during the contest that followed, it was utterly impossible for me to bring myself to think of desk or books. I was constantly going to Washington with Morton, in order to be near the center of things. I was usually the guest of the Mortons, who lived at the time at the Ebbitt House. I knew much of everything that was going on. Republican leaders would come in day and night to consult the distinguished invalid who was directing the fight for Hayes. In this way, directly and indirectly, I saw and met many well-known Republicans in public life at that time."18 When the election results of 1876 came in Rutherford B. Hayes (Republican) believed he had lost the election to Samuel Tilden (Democrat). It was discovered that a few Southern States had submitted two different sets of electoral votes. A dispute arose over the result. A electoral commission was appointed by Congress. Eight Republicans and seven Democrats served on the commission. All the disputed votes were awarded to Hayes. Hayes became president by one electoral vote. Hayes did keep a promise he made to the Southerners -- he withdrew troops from all areas still occupied in the South, ending the era of reconstruction. 19 In 1880 Thomas House died. Edward House dropped out of Cornell and returned to Texas. Edward inherited his father's greatest wealth the cotton plantations. The Civil war had made it impossible for Edward to inherit his father's slaves. Edward managed the plantations for ten years. In 1890 he sold the plantations and invested the money in bank notes. The interest provided Edward Mandell House with financial independence for the rest of his life.20 Besides the Plantations, Edward inherited his daddies friends. They were older than Edward. After the civil war they were the men that formed the Ku Klux Klan. The Ku Klux Klaners were the old-timers who dispensed vigilante justice. Some of that justice was warranted -- some of the justice was simply murder. By 1880 a new legitimate group was in charge of dispensing justice in Texas -- the Texas Rangers. They wore stars, carried arms, were paid salaries, and killed in the line of duty. They were hard men, and tough men. They were aggressive, virile and domineering men. Intimidation was one way they used to keep the peace. Many of them had big brawny bodies -- all of them had big egos -- all of them had six-shooters buckled around their waists. Many of the Texas Rangers were members of the Klan. Edward was the new master. It was Edward's job to gain their loyalty. Edward gained their loyalty by stroking their egos. Edward would use his money and influence to try and make them famous. Edward described his new friends as "that intrepid band that made Texas what she is to-day. I make obeisance to them! Nothing daunted them. They tore a principality from a sovereign state and moulded a trackless wilderness into a great commonwealth. These men were the heroes of my childhood; and now when I am growing old and have seen many men and many lands, I go back to them and salute them, for I find they are my heros still."21 One of the oldest and perhaps best of these "friends" was a Texas Ranger named Captain Bill McDonald. According to House, "In my early boyhood I knew many of the Bill McDonalds type, although he was perhaps the flower of them all. I knew personally many of the famous desperados, men who had killed so many that they had almost ceased to count their victims. There were two types of so-called "killers" - one that murdered simply for the pure love it, and others that killed because it was in their way of duty. Bill McDonald belonged to this latter class. So also did Blue-eyed Captain McKinney of the Rangers, whom I knew in my ranching days in southwest Texas. McKinney was finally ambushed and killed, as almost every sheriff of La Salle County was killed during that particular period. Whenever I went to our ranch, I was never certain that I would return home alive. Feuds were always going on, and in some of these our ranch was more or less involved."22 Many of the Sheriff's of La Salle county were little more than hired thugs -- licensed to kill. They were loyal to the men running the county. If those men's interest were threatened the Sheriffs administered discipline. The Governor of Texas from 1890 to 1894 was Governor Hogg. Edward Mandell House was instrumental in getting Hogg elected. During his administration rail-road workers struck. Governor Hogg used Texas Ranger Bill McDonald to break up the strike. According to House, "Governor Hogg...broke up strikes during his administration. Captain Bill McDonald, of the Ranger Service, was the instrument he used. Hogg sent word to the leaders that if they continued to uncouple cars, or to do anything that might interfere with the movement of trains, he would shoot holes through them big enough to see through. When Bill conveyed this to the ringleaders and presented himself as the instrument through which it was to be done, lawlessness ceased." Edward inherited the Texas Ku Klux Klan.23 The success of the Hogg campaign insured the political position of House in Texas. Edward Mandell House helped to make four men governor of Texas (James S. Hogg (1892), Charles A. Culberson (1894), Joseph D. Sayers (1898), and S. W.T. Lanham (1902)). After the election House acted as unofficial advisor to each governor. House would say in regard to the Hogg election, "So in politics I began at the top rather than at the bottom and I have been doing since that day pretty much what I am doing now; that is, advising and helping wherever I might." Hogg, caught onto House. Hogg gave House the title "Colonel" by promoting House to his staff. Appointment to the official Staff of the Governor was a Texas political custom of dubious honor. Along with the staff position came a uniform they could wear to official gatherings or "bestow upon an ancient and grateful darkey." Governor Hogg appointed House to his staff without telling him. Upon receiving the staff officer's uniform House did give it to a servant. The title Colonel stuck. Despite his protest, he became "Colonel House" or even "The Colonel.".24 House wanted to control more than Texas, House wanted to control the country. House would do so by becoming a king maker instead of a king. House learned by controlling two or three men in the Senate; two or three men in the House; and the President -- he could control the country. Edward saw his father, Thomas, become rich and avoid risk by hiring men to run the blockades while observing safely from shore. House would do the same in the political arena. He would find a candidate that he could influence. He would be instrumental in helping that candidate achieve office. He would influence the candidate from behind the scenes. The people would perceive one man was representing them, when in reality, an entirely different man was in control. House could influence that man to betray his constituents with no risk to himself. House had learned a great secret -- how to control a country. House didn't need to influence millions of people, he need only influence a handful of men. The less the people knew about him or what he was doing, the better off he was. House would profit from remaining in the shadows. House would help establish a secret society in America that would operate in the same fashion -- the Council on Foreign Relations. In 1912, Woodrow Wilson (president of Princeton 1902-1910, governor of New Jersey 1911-13) ran as a Democrat in a three man presidential race. Howard Taft was the incumbent Republican. Former President Theodore Roosevelt ran on the Progressive party ticket. Wilson's main financial genius and support came from a group of directors of the House of Rockefeller's National City Bank including: Cleveland H. Dodge, J. Ogden Armour, James Stillman, and William Rockefeller. Otto Kahn, and Jacob Schiff of the House of Khun-Lobe & Co. provided additional financial support. The House of Morgan guided the Progressive campaign of Teddy Roosevelt. Morgan partner George Perkins provided Roosevelt with money, speeches, and men from Wall Street to help his campaign. The House of Morgan also gave money to the Wilson campaign. The republican vote was divided and Wilson was able to beat them both, won by a land slide, and became 28th President of the United States. After the election Wilson's financial backers provided him with their own agents to act as unofficial advisors. Among these advisors was a young lawyer named Felix Frankfurter. Frankfurter worked for the New York "establishment" law firm Hornblower, Byrne, Miller and Potter. Another adviser was Edward Mandell House. Without House, Wilson may never have become president. Wilson was nominated as Democratic candidate because of support from William Jennings Bryan. Colonel House obtained Bryan's support for Wilson. House became Wilson's closest unofficial advisor. The Round Table Group had four pet projects, a graduated income tax, a central bank, creation of a Central Intelligence Agency, and the League of Nations.25 In the period between 1901 and 1913 the House of Morgan and the House of Rockefeller formed close alliances with the Dukes and the Mellons. This group consolidated their power and came to dominate other Wall Street powers including: Carnegie, Whitney, Vanderbilt, Brown-Harriman, and Dillon-Reed. The Round Table Group wanted to control the people. The Round Table Group would control the people by controlling the government. The Round Table Group would control the government by using the government to tax people and having the government deposit the peoples money in a central bank. The Round Group would take control of the bank and therefore have control of the money. The Round Table Group would take control of the State Department and formulate government policy, which would determine how the money was spent. The Round Table Group would control the CIA which would gather information about people, and script and produce psycho-political operations focused at the people to influence them to act in accord with Round Table Group State Department policy decisions. The Round Group would work to consolidate all the nations of the world into a single nation, with a single central bank under their control, and a single International Security System. Between 1901-1913 the Establishment worked hard at achieving these goals. Some of the men involved were American Round Table group members and insiders Allen Dulles, John Dulles, Dean Rusk, Jerome Greene, James T. Shotwell, John H. Davis, Elihu Root, and Philip Jessup, Felix Frankfurter, and Edward Mandell House. Some of the first legislation of the Wilson Administration was the institution of the graduated income tax (1913). An inheritance tax was also instituted. These tax laws were used to rationalize the need for legislation that allowed the establishment of tax-exempt foundations. The tax-exempt foundations became the link between Round Table members private corporations and the University system. The Round Table Group would control the Universities by controlling the sources of their funding. The funding was money sheltered from taxes being channeled in ways which would help achieve Round Table Group aims. With the achievement of the graduated income tax, the American Round Table Group focused on establishing the United States Central bank.26 On March 13, 1907 a financial panic was triggered by rumors that the Knickerbocker Bank, and The Trust Company of America were about to become insolvent. The rumors were started by the House of Morgan. There was a run on the banks. Morgan helped to avert the panic he helped to create. Morgan imported $100 million worth of gold from Europe to stop the run on the banks. This exercise was a Round Table group psycho-political operation. It provided America with the perception and rationalization that what the United States needed was a central banking system. The Senate created the National Monetary Commission to study the problem. Senator Nelson Aldrich (John D. Rockefeller's father-in-law) headed the commission. To investigate the matter the Commission toured the continent of Europe to study the European central banking system. Aldrich didn't have any banking experience. It took nearly two years and $300,000 of tax-payer money to wine and dine the men of the European central banking system before the committee was able to complete their study. Towards the end of 1910, a group of men held a secretive meeting on Jekyl Island, Georgia. The meetings purpose was to write the final recommendations for the National Monetary Commission report. Senator Aldrich arranged the meeting. The men who attended included: Henry P. Davison (House of Morgan - J.P. Morgan and Co.); Benjamin Strong (House of Morgan - Bankers Trust Co.); Frank A. Vanderlip (House of Rockefeller - National City Bank ); A. Piatt Andres (Assistant Secretary of the Treasury); and Paul Warburg ( House of Warburg and House of Khun-Lobe & Co.). According to the memoirs of Frank Vanderlip, "Despite my views about the value to society of greater publicity for the affairs of corporations, there was an occasion, near the close of 1910, when I was as secretive - indeed as furtive - as any conspirator...I do not feel it is any exaggeration to speak of our secret expedition to Jekyl Island as the occasion of the actual conception of what eventually became the Federal Reserve System." Congress created the Federal Reserve to stabilize and secure the nations financial system. President Woodrow Wilson signed the Federal Reserve act on 23 December 1913.27 In December of 1963, on the fiftieth anniversary of the Federal Reserve, the fifth edition of a book titled, The Federal Reserve System: Purposes and Functions was printed. As with earlier editions, the purpose of the book was to better public understanding of the System's trusteeship for the nations credit. This edition, and the former editions, were collaborative products of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors staff. The book tells us that the Federal Reserve's, "original purposes, as expressed by its founders, were to give the country an elastic currency, to provide facilities for discounting commercial paper, and to improve the supervision of banking." It then explains, "From the outset, there was recognition that these original purposes were in fact parts of broader objectives, namely, to help counteract inflationary and deflationary movements, and to share in creating conditions favorable to a sustained, high level of employment, a stable dollar, growth of the country, and a rising level of consumption. Acceptance of the broader objectives has widened over the years. Over the years too, the public has come to recognize that these domestic objectives are related to the country's ability to keep its flow of payments with foreign countries in reasonable balance over time. Today it is generally understood that the primary purpose of the System is to foster growth at high levels of employment, with a stable dollar in the domestic economy and with over-all balance in our international payments. How is the Federal Reserve System related to production, employment, the standard of living, and our international payments position? The answer is that the Federal Reserve, through its influence on credit and money, affects indirectly every phase of American enterprise and commerce and every person in the United States..." In 1924 Reginald McKenna chairman of the Board of Midland Bank, and former British Chancellor of the Exchequer (i.e. head of the Central Bank of England 1915-16), told Midland Bank stockholders in England "They who control the credit of a nation direct the policy of governments and hold in their hands the destiny of the people." The Board of Directors of the United States Federal Reserve system must have been familiar with McKenna. Midland Bank was established by the head of the Round Table, Lord Alfred Milner. The Federal Reserve is a corporation, accountable to the United States government, but owned by banks which have purchased shares of stock. The Federal Reserve Bank is the bankers banker. If a commercial or savings bank wants to lend more money to customers, it borrows money from its bank - the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve is a watchdog that audits every banks records to make sure loan decisions are based on sound judgements and that regulations are being followed. The Federal Reserve is; the controller of the currency; the US Governments bank where, the Treasury has its bank account; the nation's check-clearing system - processing over 15 billion checks a year; and keeper of the worlds gold. The gold is kept in a vault at the New York Federal Reserve bank. Most of the gold stored in the Fed belongs to other nations and represents about one-third of the official gold reserves of the the world's non-communist countries. The Federal Reserve is run by a seven-member board of Governors appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. Terms of office last 14 years to insulate governors from political pressures. Terms are staggered, with one expiring every two years. There's one chairman and one vice-chairman, both of whom hold terms of four years. The seven members of the board of Governors, the President of the Federal Reserve bank of New York, and 4 other Federal Reserve Bank Presidents are members of a group called the Federal Open Market Committee. This Committee is responsible for the purchase and sale of government securities. That means that they are responsible for influencing the cost and availability of money and credit. In 1913, Colonel House helped to pick the charter members of the original Federal Reserve Board. Among those chosen were Paul Warburg [ House Warburg and House of Khun-Lobe & Co. ] and Benjamin Strong [ House of Morgan and House of Khun-Lobe & Co. ]. House, Warburg, and Strong were American Round Table group members. According to Round Table Group historian, Carrol Quigley, the aim of the dynastic banking houses was, "...nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole. This system was to be controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert, by secret agreements arrived at in frequent private meetings and conferences. The apex of the system was to be the Bank for International Settlements in Basle, Switzerland, a private bank owned and controlled by the world's central banks which were themselves private corporations. Each central bank , in the hands of men like Montague Norman of the Bank of England, Benjamin Strong of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, Charles Rist of the Bank of France, and Hjalmer Schact of the Reichs bank, sought to dominate its government by its ability to control Treasury loans, to manipulate foreign exchanges, to influence the level of economic activity in the country, and to influence cooperative politicians by subsequent economic rewards in the business world."28 Montague Norman was a member of the British Round Table Group, Benjamin Strong was a member of the American Round Table Group. According to Quigley, "Strong owed his career to the favor of the Morgan Bank, especially of Henry P. Davison, who made him secretary of Bankers Trust Company of New York (in succession to Thomas W. Lamont) in 1904, used him as Morgan's agent in the banking rearrangements following the crash of 1907, and made him vice-president of the Bankers Trust (still in succession to Lamont) in 1909. He became governor of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York as the joint nominee of Morgan, Kuhn, Loeb and Co. in 1914. Two years later, Strong met Norman for the first time, and they at once made an agreement to work in cooperation for the financial practices they both revered."29 Alan Greenspan, Paul Volcker, G. William Miller, and William McChesney Martin have all chaired the Federal Reserve board. All are members of the Council on Foreign Relations. As of September 1993, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that handling losses in failed savings and loan institutions would cost $120 billion from 1990 through 1998 (this figure does not include $60 billion spent before 1989). Wasn't one of the jobs of the Federal Reserve to be watchdog? In 1987 leaders of America's major banks went to Tokyo. They met with our finance minister and governor of the central bank. They urged more positive cooperation by Japanese banks. The big American banks were caught in the dilemma of their Latin American Debt. On the one hand, they had to suffer the losses caused in part by their own overlending, which meant they could not continue being exposed to new loans to Latin America. On the other hand, they were unable to jettison Latin America, which for them was an important market. The leaders of the banks attending the meeting were John Reed of Citibank, Willard Butcher of Chase, Lewis Preston of Morgan, and Tom Clausen of the Bank of America. Reed, Butcher and Preston are all members of the Council on Foreign Relations. With the creation of the Central Bank the Round Table Group focused their attention on creating a Central Intelligence Agency and the League of Nations. Prior to America's entry into the war, the State department, not the justice department, had assumed the role of dealing with German Subversion and sabotage. The "rationalization" was counterespionage was more a problem of foreign relations than of domestic law enforcement. Frank L. Polk, a "northeastern establishment" lawyer the State Departments chief legal officer became the focal point of United States government counterespionage activities. Polk coordinated the counterespionage work of groups such as the Secret Service, the Bureau of Investigation, and British Naval Intelligence. In September of 1917 Felix Frankfurter suggested the idea for a new agency to President Wilson. The new executive agency would be a planning organization to prepare American policy for President Wilson. Frankfurter explained that the new agency would work closely with the State department to help formulate the policy. The State Department would forward copies of consular reports and other information requested by the agency. The agency would also obtain information from private sector sources. These sources would include the National Geographic Society, the Carnegie Institution, and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, The General Rubber Company, the Standard Oil Company of New York, and the American Tobacco Company. Wilson liked Frankfurter's idea and established the agency. Its charter members were Colonel Edward Mandell House, Walter Lippmann, James T. Shotwell, and Isaiah Bowman. The typical staff member was recruited from an Ivy League University. Academic disciplines included geography, economics, modern languages, and especially history. There were several lawyers on Staff. One David Hunter Miller, was in charge of the agency's financial accounts. Hunter had joined the State Department in 1917. He had been a law partner of Gordon Auchincloss. Auchincloss worked in the State department and was Colonel House's son-in-law. The agency was America's first Central Intelligence Agency. The agency was given the cryptic name the Inquiry. The Inquiry headquarters were established in the offices of the American Geographical Society whose director was Isaiah Bowman. 30 The Inquiry had been in existence less than three months when it received an urgent message from the White House to complete its mission. The Inquiry was asked to produce its formulation of American Policy immediately. On 8 January 1917 Wilson assembled a joint session of Congress. He presented his Fourteen Points. They were designed to appeal directly to the people of Europe, over the heads of their government. The 14 Points were drafted by members of the the Inquiry. The members of the Inquiry became charter members of the Council on Foreign Relations. The 14 Points were an abysmal failure. Many of the best were traded off at the Paris Peace conference to insure the successful acceptance of the League of Nations. The League of Nations made it through the Paris Peace Conference. The American people objected to the League of Nations because they didn't want other nations deciding whether or not to send American citizens to war. The senate turned down the League of Nations. But, the American Round Table Group had established three of its four pet projects, a graduated income tax, a central bank, creation of a CIA ( the Inquiry ).31 The American and British Round Table groups were the secret society's back bone. By 1914 (the beginning of World War I) there were secret Round Table Groups established in seven countries: 1. England, 2. the United States, 3. South Africa, 4. Canada, 5. Australia, 6. New Zealand and 7. India. In 1919 (after the Paris Peace Conference) the seven Round Table Groups were formally established as the Institute of International Affairs at a meeting held at the Majestic Hotel in Paris on March 19, 1919. The meeting was hosted by Edward Mandell House. In 1920 the American Group broke off from the other six groups because of anti-British feelings in America caused by the War. The American Institute took the cryptic name the Council on Foreign Relations. The other six groups became the Royal Institute of International Affairs, with a central headquarters at Chatham house in England. Between 1919-1928 other Groups would establish their own Institute of International Affairs headquarters. The Canadian Group became the Canadian Institute of International Affairs in 1928. Canadian Institute of International Affairs (CIIA) headquarters are at 15 King's College Circle, Toronto, ON M5S V9 (416) 979-1851 and 31 Wellesley Street, Toronto M4Y 1G9, Canada. The semi-secret groups opened headquarters, held meetings, and published a quarterly magazine, The Round Table, to which all groups contributed. The groups kept in touch by personal correspondence, frequent visits, and through their quarterly magazine. Membership was by invitation only. But anyone could purchase a copy of the groups magazine, many influential non-members did. The stated purpose of the semi-secret organization was to study the international aspects of political, economic, and strategic problems; carry out research projects advised by study groups of selected leaders in education, public service, business and media; and operate international affairs fellowship programs. The unstated purpose of the groups centered on Cecil Rhodes desire to federate the English speaking peoples and to bring all the habitable portions of the world under their control. It was for this purpose Rhodes left part of his great fortune to found the Rhodes Scholarships at Oxford. It was for this purpose the Round Table Groups were established. Another function of the international network of Round Table Groups was to gather intelligence information and carry out well planned covert operations to further Round Table group aims. |