Covert Network

The International Rescue Committee was founded by socialists in the 1930s to aid the victims of fascism. The IRC attracted the support of prominent figures such as Eleanor Roosevelt, Norman Thomas, and Reinhold Niebuhr, as well as that of the Ford Foundation. It also became intimately entangled with the CIA during the most volatile days of the Cold War. The story of the IRC is a fascinating and little-known aspect of recent U.S. history.