ABSTRACT
As far-reaching as the arguments in the classified supplement to the 1950 Berkner report were, Berkner’s second State Department assignment thrust him still further into the ideological labyrinth of the Cold War. The assignment was to help create and carry out a special contract study on new methods and approaches to propaganda. The State Department, especially in the person of Undersecretary James Webb, was eager to assert leadership in this area and to circumvent what it believed was military reluctance to relinquish de facto control over post-war propaganda operations. The result was Project Troy, 1 the first civilian-sponsored foray into the “summer study” business. “Summer studies,” so called because the earliest examples (an Air Force study, code-named Lexington, to determine the feasibility of a nuclear-powered airplane and a Navy study, code-named Hartwell, of means to assure uninterrupted overseas transport in the face of a large and sophisticated fleet of Soviet submarines) were all scheduled to coincide with the summer recess in the academic calendar. Military planners quickly seized upon summer studies as a convenient way to engage outside experts in a concentrated effort to address important military problems. 2
