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Why did CIA activities within the US generate more controversy than what…
Why did CIA activities within the US generate more controversy than what the CIA did outside the US?
American Exceptionalism
they thought they were above other countries; they didn't view the laws of other countries as as legitimate as their own; it was the means to and end
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it was created to fight communism, and the public were often told how communism meant no civil liberties/freedom, so when their liberties were infringed upon it cast the US government as hypocritical; making it seem worse than what they were actually doing abroad
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The US were known for being isolationists; they were the outlier when it came to creating permanent foreign agencies
(does this relate to the American psyche in the years to come? they viewed themselves as different/on another playing level than other countries?)
isolationism comes with this ! how their policies were structured and how the American public viewed themselves as 'other'
Backlash of the 70's
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The Vietnam War
can't talk actually about the war because that was outside of the US, but the war resulted in a lot of student protests resulting in the CIA surveying US citizens
created a lot of controversy; the idea that they were invading the civil liberties of US citizens (when again, they had done much worse abroad)
Watergate Scandal
this was hugely controversial, because it revealed how the US government was spying on its own citizens
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Arguably unethical activities of the CIA (in the 50's?) that happened outside of the US, but weren't as condemned as the activities within
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intervention in Eastern European countries (eg these are democratic nations, so why aren't they concerned with going against the people's free will to vote communist?
whistleblowing? when US citizens felt that the US government was hindering people's civil liberties they broadcasted it to the people, who were then outraged (but this can only relate to incidents about activities within the US, eg not Pentagon Papers)
argument that they had become a 'rogue elephant', the idea that they had too much autonomy
is this restricted to their activities abroad, where they were criticised for overthrowing governments and killing people, or does it come into the controversial activities they did within the US as well?
a lot of their controversies that occurred abroad happened early on, so 1: there was less media to broadcast it, and 2: their role was still confusing to many so they didn't know how to react
operation PBSUCCESS
Organised CIA coup to take down the Guatemalan government; and so the democratically elected Guatemalan President: Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán to protect the profits of the United Fruits Company
when was the blowback of this (were there negative consequences? w4 seminar notes implies there are)
argument: maybe this wasn't as criticised in the US because it was successful? (then can come in with unsuccessful missions)
eg Bay of Pigs very unsuccessful (did this create more or less controversy than the CIA activities within the US?
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Communist propaganda
Communists would exploit particular groups they knew to be susceptible to their propaganda, eg students (the younger generation); civil rights groups (eg black panthers)
their propaganda put a harsh light on the CIA (has to be specifically about the CIA not just the US - eg when they manipulated the situation in Vietnam where the CIA tortured/abused people?)
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Winning the Cold War
when the CIA lost its prime mission of watching the Soviet Union, did they lose public esteem? (and thus make more mistakes)
don't just focus on controversy within the public, but also with US domestic politicians ?