The Special Studies Project was a study funded by the

Rockefeller Brothers Fund The Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF) is a philanthropic foundation created and run by members of the Rockefeller family. It was founded in New York City in 1940 as the primary philanthropic vehicle for the five third-generation Rockefeller brothe ...

and conceived by its then president,

Nelson Rockefeller Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (July 8, 1908 – January 26, 1979), sometimes referred to by his nickname Rocky, was an American businessman and politician who served as the 41st vice president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. A member of t ...

, to 'define the major problems and opportunities facing the U.S. and clarify national purposes and objectives, and to develop principles which could serve as the basis of future national policy'. The study ran between 1956 and 1960. Nelson recruited

Henry Kissinger Henry Alfred Kissinger (; ; born Heinz Alfred Kissinger, May 27, 1923) is a German-born American politician, diplomat, and geopolitical consultant who served as United States Secretary of State and National Security Advisor under the preside ...

, who was then on the faculty of

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

, as director of the project; he had first met Kissinger in 1955. He also brought on board figures including

Edward Teller Edward Teller ( hu, Teller Ede; January 15, 1908 – September 9, 2003) was a Hungarian-American theoretical physicist who is known colloquially as "the father of the hydrogen bomb" (see the Teller–Ulam design), although he did not care f ...

, Charles Percy,

Dean Rusk David Dean Rusk (February 9, 1909December 20, 1994) was the United States Secretary of State from 1961 to 1969 under presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, the second-longest serving Secretary of State after Cordell Hull from the ...

, John Gardner (president of the

Carnegie Corporation The Carnegie Corporation of New York is a philanthropic fund established by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 to support education programs across the United States, and later the world. Carnegie Corporation has endowed or otherwise helped to establis ...

) and

Henry Luce Henry Robinson Luce (April 3, 1898 – February 28, 1967) was an American magazine magnate who founded ''Time'', ''Life'', '' Fortune'', and ''Sports Illustrated'' magazine. He has been called "the most influential private citizen in the America ...

, along with his brothers

Laurance Laurance is a surname or given name. Notable people with the name include: Surname * John Laurance (1750–1810), American lawyer and politician from New York * William F. Laurance (born 1957), American-Australian biology professor * Bill Laurance ...

and John D. 3rd. Six panels were constituted that looked at sweeping issues ranging from military/security strategy to foreign policy, to international economic strategy and defense department and governmental reorganization. The seven sub-panels were: *Panel I - International Objectives and Strategies ; chaired by

, the report was written mostly by August Heckscher *Panel II - International Security Objectives and Strategy; directed by

. Panellists included Frank Altschul, Gordon Dean, James B. Fisk,

Roswell Gilpatric Roswell Leavitt Gilpatric (November 4, 1906 – March 15, 1996) was a New York City corporate attorney and government official who served as Deputy Secretary of Defense from 1961–64, when he played a pivotal role in the high-stake strategi ...

Townsend Hoopes Townsend Walter Hoopes II (April 28, 1922 – September 20, 2004) was an American historian and government official, who reached the height of his career as Under Secretary of the Air Force from 1967 to 1969. Biography Hoopes, known as Tim, w ...

Laurance Rockefeller Laurance Spelman Rockefeller (May 26, 1910 – July 11, 2004) was an American businessman, financier, philanthropist, and conservationist. Rockefeller was the third son and fourth child of John D. Rockefeller Jr. and Abby Aldrich Rockefeller. A ...

, Carroll L. Wilson, and economist Arthur Smithies. *Panel III - International Economic and Social Objectives and Strategy ; chaired by Milton Katz.

Harlan Cleveland Harlan Cleveland (January 19, 1918 – May 30, 2008) was an American diplomat, educator, and author. He served as Lyndon B. Johnson's U.S. Ambassador to NATO from 1965 to 1969, and earlier as U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for International O ...

was a panellist. *Panel IV - U.S. Economic and Social Policy; chaired by

Thomas B. McCabe Thomas Bayard McCabe (July 11, 1893 – May 27, 1982) was an American businessman who served as the 8th chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1948 to 1951. McCabe also served as president and CEO of Scott Paper Company for 39 years. Backgroun ...

*Panel V - U.S. Utilization of Human Resources; chaired by

John W. Gardner John William Gardner (October 8, 1912 – February 16, 2002) was Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) under President Lyndon Johnson. He was a strong advocate for citizen participation and founded Common Cause; he became known as ...

*Panel VI - U.S. Democratic Process; chaired by

James A. Perkins James Alfred Perkins (October 11, 1911 – August 19, 1998) was the seventh president of Cornell University, from 1963 to 1969. Biography Perkins was born in 1911 in Philadelphia, graduated with honors in 1934 from Swarthmore College, and rece ...

*Panel VII - The Moral Framework of National Purpose; chaired by

Richard McKeon Richard McKeon (; April 26, 1900 – March 31, 1985) was an American philosopher and longtime professor at the University of Chicago. His ideas formed the basis for the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Life, times, and influences McKeo ...

, the report written by

Robert Heilbroner Robert L. Heilbroner (March 24, 1919 – January 4, 2005) was an American economist and historian of economic thought. The author of some 20 books, Heilbroner was best known for ''The Worldly Philosophers: The Lives, Times and Ideas of the Great ...

was never published. The military subpanel's report was rush-released much earlier than the others, about two months after the USSR launched

Sputnik Sputnik 1 (; see § Etymology) was the first artificial Earth satellite. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957 as part of the Soviet space program. It sent a radio signal back to Earth for t ...

, in October, 1957. It was given prominent treatment on the front page of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', selling thousands of copies and garnering unprecedented influence. Many of its major recommendations - principal among them a massive arms buildup to counter perceived Soviet military superiority - were adopted by U.S. President

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

in his

State of the Union The State of the Union Address (sometimes abbreviated to SOTU) is an annual message delivered by the president of the United States to a joint session of the United States Congress near the beginning of each calendar year on the current conditi ...

address in January, 1958.Rushed release of military subpanel's report - see Cary Reich, ''The Life of Nelson A. Rockefeller: Worlds to Conquer, 1908-1958'', New York: Doubleday, 1996. (pp.650-667) The project was finally published in its entirety in 1961 as ''Prospect for America: The Rockefeller Panel Reports''. The archival study papers are stored in the ''Rockefeller Archive Center'' at the family estate; portions of the papers are still restricted, over four decades after the report was published.

References

{{reflist Research projects United States national commissions