About this episode

This episode explores the evolution and impact of think tanks, contrasting their original purpose with contemporary political influences.

Welcome to Origin Story. This week we explore the world of think tanks, a term that has developed two very different meanings. To many people, it suggests deceptively named and opaquely funded vehicles for the political agendas of right-wing billionaires — think Tufton Street. Yet most of the world’s leading think tanks still cleave to the original intention of producing conscientious research and bold new ideas, independent of political parties. How and when did these paths diverge? The first think tank, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, was born in 1910 during a period when governments were increasingly interested in using data and expertise to generate more rational policy-making. Accelerated by the calamitous irrationality of the First World War, this mission produced such influential bodies as Chatham House and the Brookings Institution. The so-called eggheads proved their worth in a crisis, from the New Deal to the Second World War. As the Cold War began, the quintessential think tank (a term coined in 1958) was the RAND Corporation and the industry’s first celebrity was nuclear strategist Herman Kahn, a charismatic provocateur who boasted about “thinking…

People in this episode

Host: Podmasters

Topics covered

• think tanks
• political agendas
• research
• neoliberalism
• history of think tanks

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Chatham House, Brookings Institution, RAND Corporation, Institute of Economic Affairs

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• The Luddites – Rage Against the Machine · July 7, 2026 · 1h 44m
• Paranormal Investigations – Is There Anybody Out There? · June 30, 2026 · 1h 43m
• Think Tanks – Part Two – The Room Where It Happens · June 23, 2026 · 1h 22m

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