The Theorists’ Gambit: Kenneth Thompson’s Cultivation of Theoretical Knowledge About Politics During the Early Cold War

Abstract

Kenneth Thompson was at the beginning of his professional life as a Rockefeller Foundation official at the time of the 1953–1954 Council on Foreign Relations-sponsored meetings on theories of international relations. As he took on more prominent roles at Rockefeller in the latter half of the 1950s, Thompson made cultivating a broad conception of theory in international relations and in the social sciences one of his main priorities. I begin by offering a brief overview of the foundation's aims and programs in international relations from the late 1930s to the early Cold War. Then, relying principally on archived Rockefeller Foundation records, I discuss how Thompson interpreted these aims and sought to realize them. Specifically, I focus on how two grants Thompson designed for Columbia University and the University of California, Berkeley, aimed to make a robust, eclectic theorizing the basis for intellectuals' contributions to public life. I conclude by assessing the lasting impact of Thompson's “theorists' gambit” on the fields of international relations and political theory.