Dodd Report
The Dodd Report and the Investigation of Tax-Exempt Foundations
The Dodd report stands as a significant document in the history of American congressional investigations into non-governmental organisations and their influence on public policy and education.
Submitted to the Special Committee to Investigate Tax-Exempt Foundations and Comparable Organizations, commonly known as the Reece Committee, the report was the product of an inquiry led by Norman Dodd, a former banker appointed as the committee's research director. The investigation, conducted between 1952 and 1954, sought to determine whether major philanthropic foundations were utilising their immense financial resources to support un-American activities, subversion, or purposes contrary to the interest and tradition of the United States.
Definition of Subversion and Key Findings
A central element of the Dodd report was its specific and expansive definition of the term subversive. The report defined subversion as any action having as its purpose the alteration of either the principle or the form of the United States Government by other than constitutional means.
This definition allowed the committee to look beyond mere affiliation with the Communist Party or explicit criminal acts and instead examine broader ideological shifts and systemic changes within the governance and social structure of the nation.
Utilising this framework, Dodd and his research staff argued that major entities such as the Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Carnegie Endowment were directing their funds excessively towards specific academic projects. These projects were concentrated at prestigious institutions including Columbia University, Harvard University, the University of Chicago, and the University of California.
The objective of this funding, according to the report, was to enable the rise of oligarchical collectivism.
The report suggested the deterioration in scholarship and teaching techniques was the result of a premature effort to reduce limited knowledge of social phenomena to the level of an applied science, thereby facilitating social engineering.
The Revolution of 1933-1936
The Dodd report presented a historical analysis identifying a drastic change in the United States between 1933 and 1936, which it characterised as a revolution.
The research indicated that during this period, the responsibility for the economic welfare of the American people was transferred heavily from the local community and individual to the Executive Branch of the Federal Government.
This shift represented a fundamental transformation in the structure of American governance and society.
Crucially, the report asserted that this revolution occurred without violence and with the full consent of the overwhelming majority of the electorate. However, it argued that such a peaceful transition could not have occurred unless education in the United States had been prepared in advance to endorse it.
The implication was that the foundations had utilised the educational system to condition the populace to accept a new paternalistic role for the federal government, thereby altering the traditional American ethos of individualism and local responsibility.
Promotion of Internationalism and Moral Relativism
Beyond the structural changes to government, the Dodd report highlighted the ideological dissemination of internationalism and moral relativism by the foundations. The investigation found that these tax-exempt organisations were focused on steering society towards internationalist perspectives, often at the expense of national sovereignty and traditional societal structures.
The promotion of moral relativism was identified as a key message, which served to undermine absolute moral standards and facilitate the acceptance of collectivist and socialist ideas.
The report concluded that while the foundations may not have directly supported organisations operating to support communism in the strict sense, but were nevertheless guilty of subversion in the true meaning of the term.
They were accused of actively supporting attacks upon the American social and governmental systems and financing the promotion of socialism and collectivist ideologies.
Recommendations and Legislative Proposals
In light of these findings, the Reece Committee's final report proposed significant changes to the laws governing tax-exempt organisations. The recommendations included the implementation of a rule against perpetuities to limit the lifespan of non-institutional foundations to a period of ten to twenty-five years.
Most notably, the committee proposed a ban on the use of foundation funds to support socialism, collectivism, or any other form of society or government at variance with the basic principles of the United States. This was a marked expansion of existing laws, which only prohibited the use of funds for the support of communism and fascism.
Dissent and Controversy
The findings of the Dodd report and the subsequent final report of the Reece Committee were highly controversial and met with significant opposition.
The committee's Democratic members refused to sign the final report and issued a stinging minority report. They characterised the proceedings as barbaric and accused Chairman Reece and the committee staff of harbouring a deep-seated and pathological antagonism toward foundations.
The minority report highlighted the testimony of Aaron M. Sargent, who had claimed that the United States income tax was part of a plot by Fabian Socialists operating from England.