Manchurian Candidates
SUMMARY
The programmed assassin who doesn't know he's loaded. Sirhan's lawyers still argue it.
FULL DOSSIER
The fear of the programmed assassin, named for Condon's 1959 novel. Documented: MKULTRA files show the CIA genuinely investigated hypnotic couriers and whether a subject could be made to act against will (Subproject 128 adjacent; the 1954 'ARTICHOKE' memo asking whether an individual could be made to perform an assassination is declassified and cited in Senate records). Also documented: no evidence it ever worked. The lore attaches the template to Sirhan Sirhan and others; the record supports the attempt, not the achievement.
SOURCES ON RECORD
01ARTICHOKE memo (Jan 1954), CIA FOIA
02Condon, The Manchurian Candidate (1959)
03Church Committee Book I (1976)
04Melton hypnosis program files
CROSS-REFERENCED FILES
◉ OPEN THIS FILE ON THE GLOBE