Project Troy
Nation Involved: United States of America
Time Period: Fall of 1950
Project Troy is now pretty famous, but for many years the American government hid it from us. While some might not refer to this as an “experiment,” it actually was. Yet it was ultimately more psychological and political. The U.S. State Department met with scholars and physicists from Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and RAND Corporation in the Fall of 1950. The idea was to find ways to undergo political warfare, including how to stop Soviet jamming on the Voice of America broadcasts. This first began during World War II.
The U.S. Office of War Information decided to launch a major campaign of propaganda both in the United States and outside of it. They would do this through radio broadcasts, newspapers, photos, movies, and any form of notable media. Yet President Truman wanted to expand upon this. Thus, after OWI handed over control to the Interim International Information Service within the State Department. Eager to live up to what the President wanted, they brought the 21 scholars, academics, and scientists in for three months to figure out how to expand their propaganda.