conducting covert information operations (espionage, propaganda) during the Cold War. Other founding figures included CIA strategist Allen Dulles (later CIA director) and other former OSS employees. Many viewed the coming together of these circles as part of a "salon politics" approach.

From 1945 onwards, the group met regularly for Sunday dinners and receptions in Georgetown. For almost three decades, from 1945 to around 1974, influential hosts and guests gathered in the evenings to debate "issues