It was by no means a certainty that the US would establish a formal intelligence agency after World War II. There had been, as we've discovered, a long tradition against secret spying in the United States; the documents of the time are also filled with frightened references to the United States creating its own "Gestapo."

Tonight’s class will examine how and why the CIA was created, first through the eyes of three historians; then, more interestingly, through an intensive look at some documents from the period. Keep in mind the context: there was no obvious model on which Truman administration officials could base their recommendations.