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MK Ultra
Today we dive into one of the CIA's most notorious mild control operations: MK Ultra. Why did it start? Why did it end? How did it inspire Greatful Dead lyrics? Listen in to find out!
Sources:
“The CIA’s Appalling Human Experiments with Mind Control Channel.” History.com. Accessed March 23, 2026. https://www.history.com/mkultra-operation-midnight-climax-cia-lsd-experiments.
Gross, Terry. “The CIA’s Secret Quest for Mind Control: Torture, LSD and a ‘Poisoner in Chief.’” NPR, September 9, 2019. https://www.npr.org/2019/09/09/758989641/the-cias-secret-quest-for-mind-control-torture-lsd-and-a-poisoner-in-chief.
“Sidney Gottlieb: The Infamous Gentle-Hearted Torturer.” Stuttering Foundation: A Nonprofit Organization Helping Those Who Stutter, October 27, 2023. https://www.stutteringhelp.org/content/sidney-gottlieb-infamous-gentle-hearted-torturer.
National Security Archive. CIA and the Behavioral Sciences : Mind Control, Drug Experiments and MKULTRA. Ann Arbor: Proquest Information and Learning Co., 2025.
Fisher, Brad L. “Secret Programs under the CIA Act of 1949.” In Hidden Cost of Freedom: The Untold Story of the CIA’s Secret Funding System, 1941-1962. University Press of Kansas, 2024. https://doi-org.turing.library.northwestern.edu/10.2307/jj.13840493.22.
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By Megan Tobias, Trevor Tobias, and JasonToday we dive into one of the CIA's most notorious mild control operations: MK Ultra. Why did it start? Why did it end? How did it inspire Greatful Dead lyrics? Listen in to find out!
Sources:
“The CIA’s Appalling Human Experiments with Mind Control Channel.” History.com. Accessed March 23, 2026. https://www.history.com/mkultra-operation-midnight-climax-cia-lsd-experiments.
Gross, Terry. “The CIA’s Secret Quest for Mind Control: Torture, LSD and a ‘Poisoner in Chief.’” NPR, September 9, 2019. https://www.npr.org/2019/09/09/758989641/the-cias-secret-quest-for-mind-control-torture-lsd-and-a-poisoner-in-chief.
“Sidney Gottlieb: The Infamous Gentle-Hearted Torturer.” Stuttering Foundation: A Nonprofit Organization Helping Those Who Stutter, October 27, 2023. https://www.stutteringhelp.org/content/sidney-gottlieb-infamous-gentle-hearted-torturer.
National Security Archive. CIA and the Behavioral Sciences : Mind Control, Drug Experiments and MKULTRA. Ann Arbor: Proquest Information and Learning Co., 2025.
Fisher, Brad L. “Secret Programs under the CIA Act of 1949.” In Hidden Cost of Freedom: The Untold Story of the CIA’s Secret Funding System, 1941-1962. University Press of Kansas, 2024. https://doi-org.turing.library.northwestern.edu/10.2307/jj.13840493.22.