The Naked Capitalist
A Review and Commentary on Dr. Carroll Quigley's Book:
Tragedy and Hope -- A History of the World in Our Time
Reviewed by W. Cleon Skousen
[Originally published as a private edition by the Reviewer in 1970]
THIS ELECTRONIC VERSION (corrected and updated from the original) is
(C) Copyright 1994, 1998 by Verity Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.
----------------------------------------
Dr. Carroll Quigley's book,
Tragedy and Hope -- A History of the World in Our Time
was published by The Macmillan Company, New York, and Collier-Macmillan Limited, London.
The first printing of this 1,300 page volume was in 1966, price, $12.50.
Dr. Quigley is currently professor of history at the Foreign Service School of Georgetown
University in Washington, D.C. He formerly taught at Harvard and Princeton and has done
special research in the archives of France, Italy and England. He is the auth
or of the college
,
textbook,
Evolution of Civilizations
, and serves on the editorial board of the monthly publication,
Current History
.
Why?
Why do some of the richest people in the world support communism and socialism? Why
would they support what appears to be the pathway to their own destruction? Dr. Carroll Quigley
ssociated with many
of these dynastic families of the super-rich. He therefore writes as an authority on the world's
secret power structure. His answers to the above questions may astonish you.
----------------------------------------
[page 1]
Chapter One
Who is Trying to Take Over the World?
"I think the Communist conspiracy is merely a branch of a much bigger conspiracy!"
Dr. Bella Dodd
The above statement was made to this reviewer several years ago by Dr. Bella Dodd, a
former member of the National Committee of the U.S. Communist Party.
Perhaps this is an appropriate introduction to a review of Dr. Carroll Quigley's book,
Tragedy And Hope
.
Dr. Dodd said she first became aware of some mysterious super-leadership right after
World War II when the U.S. Communist Party had difficulty getting instructions from Moscow
on several vital matters requiring immediate attention. The American Communist
hierarchy was
told that any time they had an emergency of this kind they should contact any one of three
designated persons at the Waldorf Towers. Dr. Dodd noted that whenever the Party obtained
instructions from any of these three men, Moscow always ratif
capitalists!
What puzzled Dr. Dodd was the fact that not one of these three contacts was a Russian.
ied them.
Nor were any of them Communists. In fact, all three were extremely wealthy American
Dr. Dodd said, "I would certainly like to find out who is really running things."
This reviewer had also observed a number of strange developments which seemed to
point to a conspiratorial control center higher and stronger than either Moscow or Peiping. For
example, when Harry Dexter White (Under-Secretary of the U.S. Treasury during
World War II)
[page 2]
was discovered by the FBI to be a Soviet agent, the White House was immediately
informed. But instead of being fired or arrested, Harry Dexter White was appointed as the new
Executive Director of the U.S. Mission to the International
Monetary Fund of the United Nations.
He was also given a substantial increase in salary. J. Edgar Hoover was amazed. Attorney
eneral Herbert Brownell, Jr. stated publicly that President Truman knew White was a Soviet
spy when he made the appointment.
1(1)
Why would men in charge of the world's massive financial problems want an exposed
Soviet agent such as Harry Dexter White to occupy such a highly important position in the World
Bank? And why in the name of common sense would the President of the United S
tates approve
of such a thing? I heard both Congressmen and intelligence officers quizzically exclaiming,
"What's going on?"
It was not long after this that the former chairman of the Federal Reserve Board began
advocating economic aid and comfort to Communist China. His speech was all the more
shocking because the American people had just been jolted by a Congressional hearing
in which
it had been shown with sworn testimony that the U.S. State Department had either recklessly
allowed or deliberately propelled six hundred million Chinese allies into the grip of the
Communist Chinese leaders. Nevertheless, here was this American
capitalist (and former
chairman of the Federal Reserve Board) telling a large meeting (where the reviewer was present)
that the United States should immediately undertake extensive trade with Red China. Said he,
"We never fight the people we trade with." I
thought to myself, "Well, we certainly had to fight
Japan in spite of all the oil and scrap iron we sold her just before World War II." It did not seem
possible that this famous international banker would have forgotten such an elementary lesson
[page 3]
so quickly.
A couple of years later, while visiting Central and South America, I noticed that certain
well-known American banks were extremely powerful in controlling the politics and economic
affairs of many Latin American countries. But what was baffling about it w
as the fact that the
G
political regimes which these American banks supported were often virtual dictators who
promoted socialism and engaged in the confiscation of privately-owned industries, including
American industries. Many of these bank-sponsored regim
Action (ADA), or were members of the exclusive Council on Foreign Relations? Whether t
es were also openly pro-Communist.
While visiting Paraguay, I asked a man I had known for several years and who was
manager of the principal American bank in Paraguay, why his bank supported a dictatorship.
"Stability," he replied. "These developing countries need stability." Yet I noticed
that this dictator
was wiping out wealth-producing industries operating under private enterprise and placing
everything under government ownership or tight socialist control.
Why was an American-owned bank financing a hard-core socialist regime? Wherever I
had friends who knew the inside story in Latin American political circles, they verified the fact
that the massive swing to the Left in Central and South America was being f
inanced by certain
American banks. It just didn't make sense.
Politics in Washington were equally puzzling. Why were so many top government
officials always members of the Democratic Socialist cadre called Americans for Democratic
President was Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson or Nixon, it seemed to make
no difference. There was often a change of personalities, but membership in these two
organizations seemed a prerequisite for many top government jobs.
Another puzzle was the fact that whenever the political blunders of these high-powered
people aroused the anger of the public, they were not only allowed to quietly resign, but were
given extremely lucrative outside jobs, usually in one of the tax-exempt
foundations. It didn't
look like government "of the people" but government by certain people.
I was reminded of the words of Benjamin Disraeli: "The world is governed by very
different personages from what is imagined by those who are
not
behind the scenes." I began to
wonder if there might not be something to the
British Intelligence Digest
reports
[page 4]
which
claimed that there is a small but powerful control group behind the scenes which is extremely
influential in manipulating world events. The Digest seemed to have inside contacts with this
group and therefore avoided identifying them by na
me. It simply referred to the control center as
"Force X."
Professional investigators of criminal conspiracies will tell you that no matter how
carefully these conspiracies are organized, they do not remain secret for long because eventually
somebody on the inside becomes dissatisfied or abused and goes to the au
thorities with facts
which can be independently verified. Political conspiracies also have a way of reaching the
public, because someone on the inside is willing to tell the story. I have waited for thirty years for
somebody on the inside of the modern pol
itical power structure to talk. At last, somebody has.
Dr. Carroll Quigley Writes a Book on the World's Secret Power Structure
he
Dr. Carroll Quigley is a professor of history at the Foreign Service School of Georgetown
University. He formerly taught at Princeton and Harvard. He has done research in the archives of
France, Italy and England. He is the author of the widely known text
When Dr. Quigley decided to write his 1,300 page book called
,
Evolution of Civilizations
Tragedy And Hope
knew he was deliberately exposing one of the best kept secrets in the world. As one of the elite
"insiders," he knew the scope of this power complex and he knew that its lea
ders hope to
eventually attain total global control. Furthermore, Dr. Quigley makes it clear throughout his
book that by and large he warmly supports the goals and purposes of the "network." But if that is
the case, why would he want to expose this world-w
ide conspiracy and disclose many of its most
secret operations? Obviously, disclosing the existence of a mammoth power network which is
trying to take over the world could not help but arouse the vigorous resistance of the millions of
people who are its in
tended victims. So why did Dr. Quigley write this book?
His answer appears in a number of places but is especially forceful and clear on pages
979-980. He says, in effect, that it is now too late for the little people to turn back the tide. In a
spirit of kindness he is therefore urging them not to fight the n
oose which is already around their
necks. He feels certain that those who do will only choke
[page 5]
themselves to death. On the
other hand, those who go along with the immense pressure which is beginning to be felt by all
humanity will eventually find th
who are secretly operating behind the scenes.
emselves in a man-made millennium of peace and prosperity. All
through his book, Dr. Quigley assures us that we can trust these benevolent, well-meaning men
They
are the
hope
of the world. All who resist them
represent
tragedy
. Hence, the title for his book.
To assure us of his own unique qualification for the writing of this book, Dr. Quigley
"I know of the operations of this network because I have studied it for twenty years and
was permitted for two years, in the early 1960's, to examine its papers and secret records.
no aversion to it or to most of its aims and have, for much of my l
ife, been close to it and to many
of its instruments
. I have objected, both in the past and recently, to a few of its policies ... but in
general my chief difference of opinion is that i
t wishes to remain unknown, and I believe its role
in history is signi
ficant enough to be known."
2(2)
Anyone reading Dr. Quigley's
Tragedy And Hope
will have little difficulty detecting the
tremendous self-esteem of the author. He considers himself not only an "insider" but a member
of the intellectual elite among the insiders. He feels that the forces of
total global control are now
sufficiently entrenched so that they can reveal their true identity without fear of being
successfully overturned. He expresses the utmost contempt for members of the American middle
class who think they can preserve what he c
alls their "petty-bourgeois" property rights and
constitutional privileges.
3(3)
He also expresses contempt for those who thought the Communist conspiracy was the
real center of collectivized conspiracy. He r
idicules their conclusions,
and then turns right
states:
. , he
I have
4(4)
around and admits that their conclusions were correct -- American anti-Commun 5(5)
6]
[page
above) of his inside position with the "network," and this book is designe
ists had merely
erred in knowing whom to blame.
Although he is a brilliant compiler, it becomes quite apparent from the start that Dr.
Quigley's book is not intended to be objective. He himself boasts (as we saw in the quotation
d to portray modern
history the way the network wants it told. However, as we have also noted in the previous
quotation, Dr. Quigley admits he is telling more than his comrades-in-arms would care to have
disclosed. They want their conspiratorial subversion
to be kept a secret. Dr. Quigley thinks
it is time people knew who was running things.
We see no reason to question the basic historicity of the way Dr. Quigley says the
world-wide conspiratorial network developed, since these facts can be verified from other
sources. We note, however, that his interpretation of modern historical events is
is often careful to deliberately ignore many important historical facts and fails to quote the factual
often seriously
biased by expressions of opinion or uninhibited ridicule. In dealing with recent critical issues, he
conclusions brought out by the bi-pa
rtisan Congressional investigations.
The real value of
Tragedy And Hope
is not so much as a "history of the world in our
time" (as its subtitle suggests), but rather as a bold and boastful admission by Dr. Quigley that
there actually exists a relatively small but powerful group which has suc
ceeded in acquiring a
choke-hold on the affairs of practically the entire human race.
Of course, we should be quick to recognize that no small group could wield such gigantic
power unless millions of people in all walks of life were "in on the take" and were willing to
knuckle down to the iron-clad regimentation of the ruthless bosses behi
see, the network has succeeded in building its power structure by using tremendous quantities of
nd the scenes. As we shall
money (together with the vast influence it buys) to manipulate, intimidate, or corrupt millions of
men and women and their instituti
ons on a world-wide basis.
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