P_j.6 ! (o..J) vvrN L.l-
HUMAN EVE4TS
~ ~ ~`' east Gh n _;'l.
- - - is MY.?.971. - ----- - - ---
~
Msm Steinem's CIA Connection
ByJOHN D. LOFTON JR.
With all the wild charges about the
Central Intelligence Agency, it is under-
standable why feminist leader Gloria
Steinem is a little touchy about her
Loftcn points out the inconsistency of
Ms. Steinem (above) in her statements
regarding past dealings with the Cen-
tral Intelligence Agency.
collaborator. Angered by this, Ms.
Steinem called me, denied any relation
with the CIA and very nicely threatened
me with a lawsuit if I did not delete the
allusion. Since she came on pretty strong
and had caught me downtown away from
my backup source material, I complied
and eliminated the reference.
But after studying the evidence,
having talked to one of the reporters
who originally wrote a news story
detailing her relationship with the
CIA and having talked with her at
length about the subject, I am con-
tinced that what I originally wrote
was fair comment.
The source for my reference was a Feb.
18. 1967. story in the Washington Post
by Robert Kaiser reporting Ms. Steinem
as ac::no`.4ledgins that she had worked
clcseiv ?%ith the CIA to organize groups
of Ameri.:an youth to attend World
)i'ouz) '= tiva!s in Vienna and Helsinki
19A9 3rd 0"]. AIS direckof l curl.:: r: ' .: t
R esczrck
Kaiser, financed in part by a foundation
used as a conduit for CIA money, Ms.,
Steinem is quoted as saying of the CIA
agents, "with whom she collaborated,"
as Kaiser put it: "I found them Liberal;
and farsighted and open to an exchange
of ideas."
"The CIA," she declared, "was the
only one with enough guts and foresight
to see that youth and student affairs were
important."
A few days later, the New York Times
carried a similar story quoting Ms.
Steinem as saying of her CIA connection:
involvement with and defense of the Cen-
tral Intelligence Agency over a decade
ago.
As she puts it--in some pretty loose
talk herself-'`I don't think it's funny to
be lumped with murderers and if the
press is even half-right, that is what this
group of governmental people are."
But, as they saying goes, methinks Ms.
Steinem cloth protest too much.
In a : ent column quoting her on the
Equal Rights Amendment, I referred in
passing :o :GIs. Steinem as a former CIA
"Far from being shocked by this
involvement, I was happy to find some
liberals in government in those days who
were farsighted and cared enough to get
Americans of all political views to the
festivals."
But now, Ms. Steinem denies every-
thing-and then again, she doesn't. She
says the newspaper accounts were mis-
taken and because of the "hysteria of the
times," used the letters "CIA" when
they should have said "NSA,". which
stands for the National Student Associa-
tion. But what about the Washington
Post story quoting you as using the letters
$
o
003003 0 -
- When I press her, she admits that at
the time, she had a good idea that the
CIA was in part financing her organiza-
tion, though "at extremely long-distance
and with no control," which- she says is
the "morally important thing."
Furthermore, she concedes that NSA
people had told her that their money-was
coming, in part, from CIA-funded foun-
dations, which she says "seemed like a
good use, better than buying planes and
bombs."
Reached by phone in North Carolina,
where he is 'a visiting professor at Duke:
University, Washington Post reporter
Kaiser told me he is "baffled" by Ms.
Steinem's denials of having collaborated
with the CIA. He calls her denials "silly"
and says he stands by his story.
In Washington, Gene Theroux, who
succeeded Ms. Steinem as head of the
Independent Research Service, is reluc-
tant to talk about the CIA's role in bank-
rolling the group. "Oh, brother," he says
when I ask. But he does say that the
record shows that when Ms. Steinem
hcadcd the orgggainization, it did get money
from foundations funded by the CIA.
When I called Gloria Steinem back,
after she found out that I had killed
the CIA reference to her in my col-,
umn, she was very pleased. She said
she was just getting ready to call me
to let me know "that everything was
cool and it's nice to know people
check facts."
Indeed it is. And a further checking of
the facts has made me sorry that I ever
knuckled under in the first place.
As for Ms. Steinem's feeling that I am
simply dredging something up from her
distant past to exploit her because she's
famous, I would remind her that he was
the Jae .e?,) :o :,,:,c an tsslie
this'.!:: ie thinf;,riot'me-
(~ L 5'e I tri c ~
Approved For ReleaC[ 2~0 ~eil tit tlk--P aye bye it1 000300380009-2
"as a joke," an -ironic comment," you