"conspiracy theory" went back further, with basically no instances in the 40s/50s but some in the 30s, and after the Fed, then again after JFK, etc.
1967 rings a bell. That was when CIA issued a "suggestion" to Mockingbird Media.
If it was used in the 1930's, I wonder if there were rumblings about either the Federal Reserve/Income Tax/Titanic, or if it was WWI or gold confiscation.
It was 1967 when that report I linked to was released, but the phrase "conspiracy theorist" didn't show up in the media (according to the small dataset I looked at) until 1973. It is "conspiracy theory" that showed up before that. Note the difference. One is a theory, about a conspiracy. The other is targeted at a person. YOU can be a conspiracy theorist but you can't be a conspiracy theory.
In the old newspapers I looked at it wasn't a weapon, it was just a term like you would use now, like "cooking recipe" or whatever. As for the specific conspiracies I don't remember. If I think about it tomorrow I will make an effort to find the links.
1967 rings a bell. That was when CIA issued a "suggestion" to Mockingbird Media.
If it was used in the 1930's, I wonder if there were rumblings about either the Federal Reserve/Income Tax/Titanic, or if it was WWI or gold confiscation.
It was 1967 when that report I linked to was released, but the phrase "conspiracy theorist" didn't show up in the media (according to the small dataset I looked at) until 1973. It is "conspiracy theory" that showed up before that. Note the difference. One is a theory, about a conspiracy. The other is targeted at a person. YOU can be a conspiracy theorist but you can't be a conspiracy theory.
In the old newspapers I looked at it wasn't a weapon, it was just a term like you would use now, like "cooking recipe" or whatever. As for the specific conspiracies I don't remember. If I think about it tomorrow I will make an effort to find the links.