Iron Mountain: the conspiracy that duped America

History Extra podcast

Immediate Media

History

4.3 • 4.5K Ratings

🗓️ 22 July 2025

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

As the war in Vietnam spiralled out of control, US president Lyndon B Johnson was confronted by a different type of threat: a fake report so convincing that it tricked Americans into believing dangerous disinformation. But that was never the intention. Revisiting The Report From Iron Mountain, journalist Phil Tinline speaks to James Osborne, to reveal how a satirical report evolved into something far more sinister than anyone could have predicted. (Ad) Phil Tinline is the author of Ghosts of Iron Mountain: The Hoax that Duped America and its Sinister Legacy (Apollo, 2025). Buy it now from Waterstones: https://go.skimresources.com?id=71026X1535947&xcust=historyextra-social-histboty&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.waterstones.com%2Fbook%2Fghosts-of-iron-mountain%2Fphil-tinline%2F9781035903849. The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello darlings, I'm dead.
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0:20.0	So what are you watching at the moment? Squid game, Dad. Let's watch it together this weekend. That'd be nice. What's it on again? Netflix. You've got EETV, so you just switch it on. What season are we up to? Um, four? That's stranger things, Mom. And what about the kids? Don't worry, they'll watch Coca-Mellon for the hundredth time.
0:38.0	Switch on Netflix with EETV, plus change-up sports and entertainment.
0:42.5	It's TV with the ultimate flex for the whole family.
0:45.5	EETV requires EE broadband, separate 24-month contracts for TV and broadband content of airy-term supply.
0:54.0	Welcome to the History Extra podcast, fascinating historical conversations from the makers of BBC History Magazine.
1:03.7	What makes certain conspiracy theories capture the popular imagination?
1:09.5	And how do they evolve over time? Speaking to James Osborne for today's
1:14.8	episode, the journalist and author Phil Tinline revisits the report from Iron Mountain, a fake
1:21.7	satirical government document from the 1960s that was deemed to be so convincing by many that it spawned generations of conspiracy theories.
1:31.8	Before we get into the meat of this story, just to get us into the right mindset for this,
1:36.5	can you outline the political and social climate of the 60s for listeners?
1:40.8	Because it seems like it's genuinely no exaggeration to say that this might be one of the
1:45.3	most tumultuous periods of American history. Absolutely. I mean, there's a big difference,
1:50.7	depending on, of course, where you are in the 60s. Obviously, you've had the assassination of President
1:55.1	Kennedy in 1963, which makes a fairly big contribution to conspiracy culture in America,
	...

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