Enjoying the show? Support our mission and help keep the content coming by buying us a coffee.

This is a journey through history, connecting the 12th-century fall of the Knights Templar to a 20th-century political cover-up. We examine how power, across centuries, manages, twists, and sometimes fabricates historical narratives to avoid accountability and control the story. The central theme: the impulse to erase uncomfortable truths is a constant in human history.

The paradox of the Knights Templar is that an order founded on vows of poverty became the world’s first multinational financial institution.

• The Rise to Power: Starting in 1118 as simple "highway patrol for pilgrims" (their symbol was two Knights on one horse to symbolize poverty), the Templars quickly gained mystique by moving to the Temple Mount. Their true power was cemented by the 1139 Papal Bull, Omne Datum Optimum. This decree granted them total exemption from local taxes and made them accountable only to the Pope, creating a powerful, independent network across Europe.

• Pioneering International Banking: This unique legal structure enabled them to invent the international letter of credit system around 1150. Noblemen deposited valuables at a Templar house (like the London Temple) and redeemed the equivalent at another (Jerusalem). The Templars held the "float"—a massive pool of liquid capital—and became the go-to financial managers for European aristocracy, even managing the entire French royal treasury for 100 years.

• The Fall: Their success and secrecy bred resentment, especially from their biggest debtor, King Philip IV of France (Philip the Fair). Driven by financial ruin, Philip manufactured the conspiracy that led to their destruction. At dawn on Friday, October 13, 1307, royal agents simultaneously arrested hundreds of Templars, seizing their wealth.

• The Scandal & Martyrdom: Philip needed the Church's backing, so he accused them of shocking heresies (worshipping the idol Baphomet, spitting on the cross)—boilerplate charges historians confirm were extracted under horrific torture. In March 1314, Grand Master Jacques de Molay publicly recanted his forced confession and was burned at the stake. Legend claims his dying curse summoned both the King and the Pope to judgment, and both died within the year. This martyrdom cemented the enduring mystique of the Templars as victims of injustice, a sense later validated by the 2001 discovery of the Chinon Parchment, which showed Pope Clement V had privately absolved them of heresy before dissolving the order for political reasons.

Jumping centuries ahead, we see the same impulse to control the narrative, but the tool changes from torture to bureaucratic document manipulation.

• The Scapegoats: Following the devastating surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, the blame immediately fell on the military commanders in Hawaii, Admiral Husband Kimmel and General Walter Short, who were publicly disgraced.

• Bally's Project: Just nine days after the attack, a secret project was launched within the State Department, codenamed Bally's Project. Overseen by high-ranking diplomats, the actual goal was to sanitize the historical record and shield diplomats who had misjudged Japan's intent.

• Rewriting History in Real Time: We cite the chilling testimony of secretary Helen Schaffer, who described being ordered to retype official documents "as though from hindsight," essentially changing wording and analyses to make past advice look prescient when it wasn't.

• The Human Cost: The project successfully ruined the career of Frank A. Schuler Jr., a Foreign Service officer who had correctly warned that war was imminent but was punished for insubordination by his superiors.

The Templar saga and Bally's Project show that the drive to control the historical narrative when failure and accountability are involved is an ongoing challenge, persisting from medieval kings to modern government officials.