The Special Studies Project was a study funded by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and conceived by its then president,

Nelson Rockefeller Nelson Aldrich "Rocky" Rockefeller (July 8, 1908 – January 26, 1979) was the 41st vice president of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977 under President Gerald Ford. He was also the 49th governor of New York, serving from 1959 to 197 ...

, 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 (May 27, 1923 – November 29, 2023) was an American diplomat and political scientist who served as the 56th United States secretary of state from 1973 to 1977 and the 7th National Security Advisor (United States), natio ...

, who was then on the faculty of

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

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

Edward Teller Edward Teller (; January 15, 1908 – September 9, 2003) was a Hungarian and American Theoretical physics, theoretical physicist and chemical engineer who is known colloquially as "the father of the hydrogen bomb" and one of the creators of ...

, 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. Since its founding, the Carnegie Corporation has endowed or othe ...

) 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'' magazines. He has been called "the most influential private citizen in the Amer ...

, along with his brothers 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, Townsend Hoopes,

, Laurance Rockefeller,

, Carroll L. Wilson, and economist Arthur Smithies. *Panel III - International Economic and Social Objectives and Strategy ; chaired by Milton Katz. Harlan Cleveland was a panellist. *Panel IV - U.S. Economic and Social Policy; chaired by Thomas B. McCabe *Panel V - U.S. Utilization of Human Resources; chaired by John W. Gardner *Panel VI - U.S. Democratic Process; chaired by James A. Perkins *Panel VII - The Moral Framework of National Purpose; chaired by Richard McKeon, the report written by Robert Heilbroner 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 (, , ''Satellite 1''), sometimes referred to as simply Sputnik, 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 progra ...

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

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', 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 the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...

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, joint session of the United States Congress near the beginning ...

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