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From Monterey Pop to Altamont
OPERATION CHAOS
The CIA's War Against the Sixties Counter-Culture
by Mae Brussell, November 1976
(unpublished)
I DEATH, DRUGS, AND DEPRESSION
II THE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE
III THE ENEMY
IV THE BATTLEGROUND
V THE FINALE...Helter Skelter, Gimme Shelter
I DEATH, DRUGS, AND DEPRESSION
American and British pop/rock music during the 60's created an art form that has been described as one of the
most important cultural revolutions in history. Within a few years, between 1968 and 1976, many of the most
famous names associated with this early movement were dead. Mama Cass Elliott (earlier with the Mamas and
Papas), Jimi Hendrix, Otis Redding, Brian Jones (helped form the Rolling Stones with Mick Jagger and Keith
Richards), Janis Joplin were all at the Monterey Pop celebration, summer 1967.
Duane Allman Berry Oakley (helped form Allman group with Duane and Gregg Allman), Tim Buckley, Jim
Croce, Richard Farina, Donald Rex Jackson (road manager for Grateful Dead) Michael Jeffery (Jimi Hendrix'
personal manager), Brian Epstein (Beatles manager), Al Jackson (drummer for Wilson Pickett, back-up drummer
for Otis Redding), Vinnie Taylor (Sha-Na-Na) Paul T. Williams (choreographer for the Temptations, and one of
the original Temptations), Clarence White (Byrds), Robbie McIntosh (drummer Average White Band), Jim
Morrison (Doors), Pamela Morrison (Jim's wife), Rod McKernan "Pig Pen" (Grateful Dead), Phil Ochs, Gram
Parsons (Byrds, Flying Burritos, International Submarine Band, singing with Emmylou Harris), Sal Mineo,
Meredith Hunter (victim of ritual killing at Altamont Festival), Steve Perron (lead singer of Children, wrote hit
songs for ZZ TOP), and Jimmy Reed (influenced many groups, combined harmonica with guitar) were a few
possible victims.
Family and friends accepted the musicians depressions or accidents as having to do with alcohol, drug usage, or
both. Was anything added to their beverages or drugs to cause personality changes and eventual suicides? Almost
every death was shrouded with unanswered questions and mystery. Persons around the musicians had strange
backgrounds and were often suspect. All of these musicians were at the peak of a creative period and success at
the time they were offered LSD. Their personalities altered drastically. Optimism and gratification were replaced
with doubt and misery.
Why would young people with so much talent and influence as Phil Ochs, Janis Joplin, Gram Parsons, or Brian
Jones wallow in suffering, self doubt, and despondency? They were all loved, doing important contributions to
their concerts and compositions, cutting new records, recognized for their talent. It just doesn't make sense. Jimi
Hendrix, Mama Cass Elliott, Steve Perron choking from their vomit? I doubt it!! Phil Ochs just happened to be
touring Africa when a native "robber" jumped after him and cut his throat so that it affected his singing? The
most political symbol of protest against the war in Vietnam, songwriter for Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, and many
others, is selected from millions of U.S. tourists for assault to his vocal chords. Incredible!!
Way back in 1966 the American Broadcasting Co. was planning to merger with International Telephone and
Telegraph Co.(ITT). ABC had put aside $100,000 advance for the first television special by writer-poet Bob
Dylan. The production was to climax the season. On Saturday, July 30, 1966, Bob Dylan had a motorcycle

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accident. Dylan never got on the air, and ABC never merged with ITT. The merger required a lack of protest
from the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department. No comment. By now you know what I am thinking!!!
In addition to Dylan, Stevie Wonder, Eric Clapton, and the Dave Mason band, many others suffered near fatal
accidents. The nine years in which the musicians allegedly overdosed, drank themselves to death, drove over
cliffs, hung themselves, choked, crashed their motorcycles, went insane, or freaked out without any reasonable
explanation, were the same years that the FBI and CIA waged a domestic war against any kind of dissent.
Was Lennie Bruce the first victim? How about Jack Kerouac? Did Bruce pay his dues for comparing United
States police to Hitler's Gestapo. Was all the fuss about dirty words only a cover story? An important part of
neutralizing any group is to kill or discredit the leaders. Monterey Pop set the combined Government agencies in
motion.
"Never again was there a festival such as the one that took place that weekend of 1967. Never was there another
event where over thirty rock groups were inflated by no more that the joy of an enraptured audience and the
gorgeous pleasure of performance itself. There were eight, nine, ten times as many people running rock festivals
taking place only two years later. There was never another Monterey! The weekend was too intoxicating, too
radiant, too pure."
"Janis Joplin, Buried Alive"
Myra Friedman
By 1968, the FBI's Counterintelligence Program, and the CIA's Operation Chaos, had included among their long
list of domestic enemies "Advocates of New Lifestyles," "New Left," "Apostles of Non-Violence and Racial
Harmony" and "Restless Youth." Justification for indexing 300,000 law abiding citizens into files, and
wiretapping, bugging, or burglarizing offices was rationalized on the basis that violence was prevalent, the cities
were burning. Now we find out that being "non-violent" and wanting "racial harmony," according to recent
Congressional investigations, was also a crime.
The meeting place for this social, economic, and soon to become political, revolution was at the folk festival,
rock concerts, free park love-ins, at the FM radio stations, or home with favorite records. In the music there were
many messages. American youth were provided with a wide variety of radio stations to manage, alternative news
sources, and new ways to learn what was going on in the world. For the first time, young Americans found
themselves with enough space and time to communicate. The space was the entire continent, then the globe.
They wandered. Many left homes in large numbers, seeking contacts from strangers in distant communities. The
time was often twenty four hours each day. They dropped out from established institutions. Clocks disappeared.
Musicians were bringing these young people together from far away places.
"I see a great deal of danger in the air. Teenagers are not screaming over pop music anymore, they're screaming
for much deeper reasons. We're only serving as a means of giving them an outlet. Pop music is just the
superficial tissue. When I'm on the stage I sense that the teenagers are trying to communicate to me, like by
telepathy, a message of some urgency. Not about me or my music, but about the world and the way they live. I
interpret it as their demonstration against society and it's sick attitudes. Teenagers the world over are weary of
being pushed around by half-witted politicians who attempt to dominate their way of thinking and set a code for
their living. This is a protest against the system. And I see a lot of trouble coming in the dawn."
Mick Jagger
1967
Everything was beautiful until the insanity began. The CIA got into the business of altering human behavior in
1947. "Project Paperclip," an arrangement made by CIA Director Allen Dulles and Richard Helms, brought one
thousand Nazi specialists and their families to the United States. They were employed for military and civilian

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From Monterey Pop to Altamont OPERATION CHAOS The CIA's War Against the Sixties Counter-Culture by Mae Brussell, November 1976 (unpublished) I ????? DEATH, DRUGS, AND DEPRESSION II ????THE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE III??? THE ENEMY IV ???THE BATTLEGROUND V ?????THE FINALE...Helter Skelter, Gimme Shelter ? I??? DEATH, DRUGS, AND DEPRESSION American and British pop/rock music during the 60's created an art form that has been described as one of the most important cultural revolutions in history. Within a few years, between 1968 and 1976, many of the most famous names associated with this early movement were dead. Mama Cass Elliott (earlier with the Mamas and Papas), Jimi Hendrix, Otis Redding, Brian Jones (helped form the Rolling Stones with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards), Janis Joplin were all at the Monterey Pop celebration, summer 1967. Duane Allman Berry Oakley (helped form Allman group with Duane and Gregg Allman), Tim Buckley, Jim Croce, Richard Farina, Donald Rex Jackson (road manager for Grateful Dead) Michael Jeffery (Jimi Hendrix' personal manager), Brian Epstein (Beatles manager), Al Jackson (drummer for Wilson Pickett, back-up drummer for Otis Redding), Vinnie Taylor (Sha-Na-Na) Paul T. Williams (choreographer for the Temptations, and one of the original Temptations), Clarence White (Byrds), Robbie McIntosh (drummer Average White Band), Jim Morrison (Doors), Pamela Morrison (Jim's wife), Rod McKernan "Pig Pen" (Grateful Dead), Phil Ochs, Gram Parsons (Byrds, Flying Burrito ...
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