The Future of Freedom
The Future of Freedom Conference was held in Milan, Italy in 1955, arranged by the CIA front organization Congress for Cultural Freedom (CCF).
Overview
Topics included "Challenge to a free society", "Economic systems: Their aims and their realities", "the systematic abuse of free institutions for the purpose of their subversion", "threats and obstacles to a free society" and "Safeguards of a free society".[1]
Frances Stonor Saunders, in her The Cultural Cold War described the intrigues around the Milan conference:
Stuart Hampshire remembered more of the boudoir politicking than of the debates themselves (which were, according to Hannah Arendt, 'deadly boring'). Whilst George Kennan was intoning on 'The Strategy of Freedom' (a typical Kennan theme – freedom, like foreign policy, needed to be strategically organized), Sidney Hook's bedroom became the focus of a cell opposed to Dwight [Macdonald]'s appointment. A quick shuffle down the corridor led to Arthur Schlesinger's bedroom, which was where the faction in support of Dwight's appointment gathered. 'Dwight was vetoed, principally by Sidney Hook,' Hampshire remembered. 'And I saw very strongly then that there was a central control – the apparat at work. Certainly, Dwight would have been a loose cannon. You never knew what he might do or say next. And they weren't going to have it.' But Schlesinger dug his heels in: 'I supported him. So did the CIA, and they pressured Josselson to accept, which he did reluctantly.'[2]
Known Participants
25 of the 150 participants already have pages here:
| Participant | Description |
|---|---|
| Hannah Arendt | Philosopher |
| Raymond Aron | French sociologist who attended 3 Bilderbergs from 1957 to 1966 |
| Luigi Barzini | Italian anti-communist journalist and politician, Attended 1980 Bilderberg meeting. |
| Max Beloff | "Think-tanks can be important in bringing about a change in broad public perceptions..." British historian who founded the University College of Buckingham, now the University of Buckingham. |
| Willy Brandt | West German Chancellor 1969-1974 |
| Max Brauer | Mayor of Hamburg. One of a dozen men whom Józef Retinger consulted when setting up the Bilderberg |
| Hugh Gaitskell | A UK Labour politician who reportedly died of a rare illness in hospital. |
| John K. Galbraith | US economist |
| Friedrich Hayek | Influential economist |
| Denis Healey | Bilderberg Steering committee member, who attended 23 Bilderberg meetings. |
| Sidney Hook | American philosopher and anti-communist activist. |
| Roy Jenkins | UK politician |
| Arthur Schlesinger Jr. | In the Office of Strategic Services from 1943-1945. |
| George Kennan | Suspected US deep politician, member of the Georgetown Set |
| Seymour Lipset | US neoconservative sociologist who attended the 1970 Bilderberg conference, and was a member of several intelligence-connected groups such as the American Committee for Peace in Chechnya, Committee for the Free World and Committee on the Present Danger. |
| Richard Löwenthal | A Jewish exile from Nazi Germany, he soon was attached to US and UK intelligence services. After the war became a major intellectual in the Social Democratic Party of Germany, and often consulted by the SPD’s leaders, especially Willy Brandt and Ernst Reuter. He attended the 1968 Bilderberg conference. |
| Adriano Olivetti | Italian industrialist possibly murdered by the CIA during a hostile takeover of his revolutionary computer department by General Electric. |
| Denis de Rougement | Attended the first 4 Bilderbergs. Promoted European federalism |
| Karl Schiller | Single Bilderberger German politician |
| Carlo Schmid | Founder member of the Bilderberg Steering committee |
| Urs Schwarz | Attended 2 Bilderbergs in the 1960s as ex International Press Institute/President |
| Ignazio Silone | OSS member |
| Pierre Uri | French economist who played a key role in the development of the 1957 Treaty of Rome, setting up the European Economic Community, the precursor to the European Union. Attended Bilderberg 1963, Bilderberg 1969 and Bilderberg 1975. |
| Bruno Visentini | Italian politician |
| Michel Woitrin | Professor of economics and general administrator of the Catholic University of Louvain. Bilderberg/1969. Harvard International Seminar. |
