Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties by Tom O'Neill
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Once I picked this book up, I couldn't put it down. I think I passed out for a few hours in the middle but I basically read it in under 24 hours.
O'Neill documents his journey as a Hollywood reporter, tumbling down the rabbit hole of America's clandestine agencies from the surprising starting point of the Manson murder cases. It's a great starting point if you're not less familiar with that milieu, but if you are, the Hollywood angle is really novel and interesting. O'Neill's writing is thoughtful, cautious and accessible, not at all exasperated or conspiratorial, which I think are common to works in this vein.
I sincerely hope Mr. O'Neill continues his research and I can't wait to read his next book. What follows are my thoughts on the actual content of the research presented.
Spoilers ahead.
O'Neill makes some compelling cases:
– The narrative of Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders is a fabrication, made by a narcissist and an opportunist. I mean, it's written by a lawyer, so not really that surprising, but it remains the conventional narrative of Tate-LaBianca murders. Vincent Bugliosi, never had to admit any wrongdoing, and likely was complicit in covering up the actual misconduct that led to the Family being left to continue committing crimes for four months after those murders.
– Manson, despite being a repeat felon, was given a disturbing amount of leniency throughout his life. The conventional narrative would say that it was his charisma, and that may be a part of it, but there were myriad institutional failures that led to his being able to even form the Family in the first place. These institutional failures, and the cover-ups that inevitably follow, make it impossible to rule out more nefarious possibilities.
– The Family was a product of this leniency and an time and environment where clandestine services were experimenting on human beings using drugs to try to control their minds, a feat that, by all accounts, Charles Manson was able to accomplish. Those are facts, and unfortunately, O'Neill is unable to make a solid connection between the CIA's MKUltra program and the Family. In a way though, this adds to his credibility. He dutifully documents the covers ups, the sources who won't talk, or who lie, and frankly, the idea that “the truth will out” is a fairy tale. If all the people who knew are dead, or protecting themselves, and all the documents destroyed, or won't be released, how would we know?
For my part, after reading the book, here's what I believe:
I think Manson was just the kind of psycho that the CIA wanted to study. I think they systematically enabled him, keeping him out of prison, giving him freedom of movement, to see what he would do. Maybe they suggested some things, or ways of thinking about the world. Maybe he came up with it himself. After the Tate-LaBianca murders, I think the CIA, or the FBI, worked with local law enforcement and certain key figures such as Bugliosi, to cover up their negligence and craft a compelling, clean, official narrative, a la Helter Skelter.
I think Manson was a perfect asset for the government. He developed and tested manipulation techniques without being held back by ethical restrictions. He was aggressive toward black radical movements like the Black Panthers (I'm sure the FBI would have preferred they did start the race war). And as a bonus, he discredited the hippie movement in the popular imagination. When you enable psychotic right-wing elements in a society, they will inevitably do something awful. Spin that right and the bourgeois will stop caring so much about civil rights and corporate corruption and turn toward a strong central government and state security apparatus. That's the playbook, utilized all over the world, to this day, to topple governments, install dictatorships, marginalize communities, etc.
View all my reviews