The Sisson Documents and their 'distinguished place' in the history of disinformation. Issue 6 (19th September 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Hamilton, John Maxwell; Georgacopoulos, Christina
• Is Part Of: Intelligence and national security. Volume 36:Issue 6(2021)
• Page Start: 881
• Page End: 897
• Publication Date: 2021-09-19
• Subjects: Espionage -- Periodicals; Intelligence service -- Periodicals; National security -- Periodicals; 327.12
• DOI: 10.1080/02684527.2021.1946953
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0268-4527

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Russian interference in American politics appears today in sophisticated forms thanks to technology, but disinformation is not a new phenomenon. The influence of foreign disinformation on domestic policy has antecedents in the First World War, when the American government distributed fabricated documents supplied by anti-Communist revolutionaries to make false claims about a German-Bolshevik conspiracy. The so-called Sisson Documents strengthened a narrative the Wilson administration created that the Bolsheviks were German stooges who, with German support and direction, took Russia out of the war and promoted unrest in the United States. The Wilson administration sold the German-Bolshevik conspiracy through a pro-war, patriotic American press, whose pages were laced with talk of pervasive German conspiracies.