Thomas Braden

Thomas Braden

Thomas Wardell Braden (born 1918) is an American journalist.

In 1940 he joined the British Army. He was later recruited by the US Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the predecessor to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). He moved to Washington DC and became part of a group of journalists known as the Georgetown Set. Braden joined the CIA and in 1950 became head of International Organizations Division (IOD). His efforts focused on promoting anti-Communist elements in groups like AFL-CIO.

While head of the IOD, Braden played an important role in Operation Mockingbird. Many years later he revealed his role in these events: :"If the director of CIA wanted to extend a present, say, to someone in Europe - a Labour leader - suppose he just thought, This man can use fifty thousand dollars, he's working well and doing a good job - he could hand it to him and never have to account to anybody.... There was simply no limit to the money it could spend and no limit to the people it could hire and no limit to the activities it could decide were necessary to conduct the war - the secret war.... It was a multinational. Maybe it was one of the first. Journalists were a target, labor unions a particular target - that was one of the activities in which the communists spent the most money."cite book|title=Thomas Braden, interview included in the Granada Television program, World in Action: The Rise and Fall of the CIA|year=1975]

Braden left the CIA in November, 1954, and became owner of the Oceanside, California newspaper, "The Blade-Tribune". He became a popular newspaper columnist and worked as a political commentator on radio and television. He also was at one time a candidate for governor of California. After a 1967 "Ramparts" article exposed CIA involvement in groups like the National Student Association, Braden responded with "I'm glad the CIA is 'immoral' " [I'm glad the CIA is 'immoral.', Thomas W. Braden, "The Saturday Evening Post", May 20, 1967.] in "The Saturday Evening Post". His work landed him on the master list of Nixon political opponents.

In 1975 Braden published the autobiographical book, "Eight is Enough", which inspired a television series. The book focused on his life as the father of eight children and also touched on his political connections as a columnist and ex-CIA operative and as husband to a sometime State Department employee and companion of the Kennedy family, Joan Vermillion Braden. The television series, however, bore little relationship to the book other than naming the original characters after the Braden family and giving the lead character a job in journalism.

From 1978 to 1984 he co-hosted the "Buchanan-Braden Program", a three-hour radio show with Pat Buchanan. He and Buchanan also hosted the CNN program "Crossfire" at the show's inception in 1982, with Braden interviewing guests and debating Buchanan or Robert Novak. Although Braden's role in the programs was promoted as representing the political left, some critics have questioned this label. Media critic Jeff Cohen, in a Truthout column titled "I'm Not a Leftist, But I Play One on TV," notes:

Braden left Crossfire in 1989.

References

External links

* [http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKbraden.htm Profile of Braden from Spartacus Educational]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Thomas Braden — Thomas Wardell Braden, né le 22 février 1917 à Greene dans l Iowa et mort le 3 avril 2009 à Denver dans le Colorado[1], était un journaliste américain et un ancien responsable de la CIA. Sommaire 1 Biographie …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Tom Braden — Thomas Wardell Braden (* 22. Februar 1917 in Greene, Iowa; † 3. April 2009)[1] war ein US amerikanischer Journalist und Geheimdienstagent. Bekannt wurde er als Autor des Buches Eight is Enough, aus dem eine TV Serie wurde, sowie als Co Moderator… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Thomas McKean High School — Infobox Secondary school name = Thomas McKean High School native name = motto = established = 1966 type = Public category label = category = gender label = gender = affiliations = affiliation = president = chairman label = chairman = principal =… …   Wikipedia

  • Braden — This interesting and unusual name is a variant of the surname Bradden, which is of Anglo Saxon origin, and is locational from a place called Bradden in Northamptonshire. The placename is derived from the Olde English pre 7th Century brade , broad …   Surnames reference

  • Operación Sinsonte — El sello de la Agencia Central de Inteligencia Información Sede Lan …   Wikipedia Español

  • Operation Mockingbird — was a secret Central Intelligence Agency campaign to influence foreign media beginning in the 1920s. The activities, extent and even the existence of the CIA project remain in dispute: the operation was first called Mockingbird in Deborah Davis… …   Wikipedia

  • Larry McDonald — Lawrence Patton McDonald (né le 1er avril 1935 et décédé le 1er septembre 1983) était un député américain à la Chambre des représentants des États Unis représentant le 7e district de Géorgie du parti démocrate, de tendance conservatrice. Sommaire …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Lawrence McDonald — Larry McDonald Lawrence Patton McDonald (né le 1er avril 1935 et décédé le 1er septembre 1983) était un député américain à la Chambre des représentants des États Unis représentant le 7e district de Géorgie du parti démocrate, de tendance… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Association for Cultural Freedom — The Congress for Cultural Freedom (CCF) was an anti communist advocacy group founded in 1950. In 1967, it was revealed (first by Ramparts and later by mainstream news outlets) that the United States Central Intelligence Agency was instrumental in …   Wikipedia

  • Richard M. Bissell, Jr. — Richard Mervin Bissell, Jr. (September 18, 1909 ndash; February 7, 1994) was an American intelligence officer.Early yearsRichard Mervin Bissell, Jr. was born in the Mark Twain House in Hartford, Connecticut, and went to Groton School in Groton,… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”