Gloria Steinem's CIA-Linked Anti-Communist Work Deserves Recognition Despite Ideological Disagreements
Source: https://www.facebook.com/americanspectator/. "Gloria Steinem, CIA Operative | The American Spectator | USA News and Politics." September 9, 2026. spectator.org
The Gist
The author argues that Gloria Steinem, despite his strong disagreement with her feminist and pro-abortion legacy, deserves credit for a lesser-known chapter of her life: working with a CIA-backed organization to counter Soviet propaganda among young Americans during the Cold War. He backs this up with public historical records and personal firsthand accounts from a friend who worked alongside her at these events, concluding that people can be complex—capable of both actions he condemns and actions he admires.
Conclusion
Gloria Steinem's early Cold War work fighting communism through the CIA-linked Independent Research Service deserves acknowledgment and praise, even though the author strongly disagrees with her later feminist and pro-abortion advocacy.
Premises
- Steinem herself publicly confirmed in a 1967 New York Times interview that she worked full-time from 1958-1962 at the Independent Research Service, which was largely CIA-funded.
- Steinem organized and helped run anti-communist intelligence-gathering efforts at World Youth Festivals in Vienna (1959) and Helsinki (1962), events used by the Soviet Union to spread communist propaganda.
- The author's personal source, Cold War journalist Charlie Wiley, who was present at the Vienna festival and physically interacted with Steinem there, corroborated these facts firsthand and vouched for her sincere anti-communist commitment.
- Wiley categorized festival attendees into 'good guys' and 'bad guys,' explicitly placing Steinem among the 'good guys' who opposed Marxist propagandists.
- Steinem defended her CIA relationship by stating the agency was 'liberal, nonviolent, and honorable' and that she saw it as an ally against communism—indicating she did this work by genuine conviction, not coercion.
- A specific eyewitness anecdote (Wiley receiving 150 stolen communist delegate cards via Steinem, acting as an IRS/CIA contact) illustrates her active, functional participation in anti-communist intelligence work.
- People are capable of both good and bad; thus one can condemn Steinem's abortion advocacy while still praising her Cold War anti-communist contributions.
Assumptions
- Working for a CIA-funded front organization during the Cold War to combat communist propaganda constitutes commendable patriotic service.
- Personal eyewitness testimony (especially secondhand, now deceased) is sufficiently reliable to establish historical fact.
- The moral valence of a person's actions in one domain (anti-communism) can and should be evaluated separately from actions in another domain (feminism/abortion advocacy).
- Readers will find the revelation of Steinem's CIA ties surprising or underappreciated, justifying the article's premise that 'it's time others knew.'
- The CIA's Cold War covert operations, at least in this context, were fundamentally aligned with American values ('honorable') rather than ethically questionable state actions.