When Conspiracy Theories Turn out to be True

All too often, people dismiss conspiracy theorists as crazy, a little paranoid, or a few cards short of a deck. And to be fair, many conspiracy theories can be a little whacky. From the world governed by lizard men, to Paul McCartney having died twenty years ago and replaced by a doppelganger, it’s no wonder, conspiracy theorists get a bad name. All too often, the term conspiracy theorist conjures up images of Internet nerds, sitting on a leather sofa eating potato chips with little else to do but come up with crazy ideas, or people who are just plain paranoid. But not all conspiracy theorists are a hamburger short of a Happy Meal, and not all conspiracies are that farfetched. In fact, there have been plenty of examples of conspiracy theories that the mainstream population has dismissed as paranoid fantasies, which have actually turned out to be true.


Since Machiavelli wrote his adage to Realpolitik, The Prince, conspiracies have played an integral part of politics. Telling people what it is believed they want to know, rather than the truth, has been a guiding principle of all sorts of political regimes, from the authoritarian states of Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia, to the so-called free democracies of the United States and Western Europe. And it is in these more democratic nations where conspiracy theories have flourished, and many of which have often been found to have at least some semblance of truth behind them:

Manhattan Project

In essence, a conspiracy is just a secret, but it is the scale of these secrets and the number of people involved in keeping them that truly elevates a secret to the level of conspiracy theory. And on this premise, there has never been a bigger conspiracy that that of the Manhattan Project. The Manhattan Project, the codename for the atomic bomb development and testing program, was perhaps the largest conspiracy ever concocted by the United States. Between 1942 and 1946, more than 130,000 people were involved in the project, from scientists such as Robert Oppenheimer, to regular army personnel, radio operators and even taxi drivers, all sworn to government secrecy. The conspiracy lasted for an amazing 25 years without the media and mainstream public knowing a thing about it. Of course, the reason for secrecy was clear. With Nazi Germany building its own atomic weaponry during WWII, then Soviet Russia during the Cold War, the powers that be didn’t want their own plans getting out. However, with so many people able to keep the secret for so long, the Manhattan Project serves as reminder that even the largest scale of conspiracy theory could have some basis in truth.

The infamous Watergate Hotel and office complex:

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Watergate

A story straight from the pages of a political thriller, the Watergate scandal rocked American politics and serves as a sobering reminder that even the leader of the free world is susceptible to keeping the odd secret from the people. The Watergate scandal emanated from a break in at the Watergate Hotel in Washington DC during 1972, when the Democratic National Committee was using the hotel as their headquarters. After the arrest of five men in connection to the break-in, the FBI discovered the burglars were in receipt of payments that came from a Republican fundraising group for the re-election for President Nixon. Further investigations discovered that Nixon had recorded several telephone conversations, which not only provided evidence that he knew about the break-in, but also had tried to cover it up. The scandal ultimately led to his resignation.

The Iran-Contra Affair

Another shady political conspiracy also involving the Republicans, this time under President Reagan’s administration. What started out as an altruistic deal to release US hostages held by Iranian terrorists during the 1980’s, led to the United States executive eventually selling arms to Iran in exchange for the hostages’ release. This was bad enough, but the profits from the sale were then siphoned off to support Nicaraguan rebels, known as the Contras, in an attempt to overthrow the Nicaraguan government, a violation of International law. Congress finally uncovered the conspiracy in 1987, although no evidence ever emerged that President Reagan knew anything about the diversion of funds to the Nicaraguan rebels, plenty of people in his administration certainly did know.