Editing Bilderberg Meeting (section)

== Origin ==
{{main|1954 Bilderberg Conference}}

The first conference holds its name from the location where it was first held from the 29th to the 31st of May 1954; the Bilderberg Hotel (Hotel De Bilderberg) in [[Oosterbeek]], [[Netherlands]].<ref name="AtlasObscura">''Atlas Obscura'', "[https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/hotel-de-bilderberg Hotel de Bilderberg]"</ref><ref name="BBC News Magazine 2011">{{cite news|work=[[BBC News]]|title=Bilderberg mystery: Why do people believe in cabals?|date=7 June 2011|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-13682082|access-date=14 June 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110610015521/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-13682082|archive-date=10 June 2011|url-status=live}}</ref> The hotel also gave its name to the attenders of the conference, the "Bilderbergers". The hotel is situated in a quiet location, approximately 7 kilometers west of the city of [[Arnhem]].<ref name="Gijswijt">Gijswijt, Thomas, W.,
''[https://books.google.com/books?id=EGFoDwAAQBAJ Informal Alliance: The Bilderberg Group and Transatlantic Relations during the Cold War, 1952–1968]'' (2018), Routledge. "The Hotel de Bilderberg was a medium-sized family-run hotel, chosen mainly for its quiet and remote location in the forests of the eastern Netherlands. It was not a particularly fancy hotel...but security was relatively easy to maintain since there was only one access road."</ref> It is owned and operated by the Bilderberg hotel chain, which runs 12 hotels and an event location in the Netherlands and one hotel in [[Germany]].<ref>[http://www.bilderberg.nl/uk/hotels/ Bilderberg hotels]</ref> At the time of the 1954 conference, it was a medium-sized family-run hotel.<ref name="Gijswijt"/>

The conference was initiated by several people, including [[Polish people|Polish]] politician-in-exile [[Józef Retinger]] who, concerned about the growth of [[anti-Americanism]] in Western Europe, proposed an international conference at which leaders from European countries and the United States would be brought together with the aim of promoting [[Atlanticism]]—better understanding between the cultures of the United States and [[Western Europe]] to foster cooperation on political, economic, and defense issues.<ref name="something">{{cite web|url=https://bilderbergmeetings.org/index.html|title=About Bilderberg Meetings|website=Bilderberg Meetings the Official Website|access-date=Jul 12, 2018|archive-date=17 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417074019/https://www.bilderbergmeetings.org/index.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="hatch2">{{cite book|first=Alden|last=Hatch|year=1962 |title=HRH Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands: An authorized biography |chapter=The Hôtel de Bilderberg|publisher=Harrap|location=London|oclc=2359663 |quote=The idea was to get two people from each country who would give the conservative and liberal slant}}</ref>

Retinger approached [[Prince Bernhard of Lippe|Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands]]<ref name="Yomiuri1991">{{cite news|work=[[Daily Yomiuri]]|date=8 December 1991|title=Japan–US Relations – Past, Present and Future|quote=Rockefeller: The idea (of creating the Trilateral Commission) was incorporated in a speech that I made in the spring of 1972 for the benefit of some industrial forums that the Chase held in different cities around Europe, … Then Zbig (Zbig Brzezinski) and I both attended a meeting of the Bilderberg Group … and was shot down in flames. There was very little enthusiasm for the idea. I think they felt that they had a very congenial group, and they didn't want to have it interfered with by another element that would—I don't know what they thought, but in any case, they were not in favor.}}</ref> who agreed to promote the idea, together with former [[Prime Minister of Belgium|Belgian prime minister]] [[Paul van Zeeland]], and the then head of [[Unilever]], [[Paul Rijkens]]. Bernhard in turn contacted [[Walter Bedell Smith]], the then head of the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]], who asked [[Dwight Eisenhower|Eisenhower]] adviser [[Charles Douglas Jackson]] to deal with the suggestion.<ref name="Aubourg">{{cite journal |title=Organizing Atlanticism: the Bilderberg Group and the Atlantic Institute 1952–63 |author=Aubourg, Valerie |date=June 2003 |journal=Intelligence & National Security |pages=92–105 |volume=18 |issue=2 |doi=10.1080/02684520412331306760|s2cid=153892953 }}</ref> The guest list was to be drawn up by inviting two attenders from each nation, one of each to represent "conservative" and "liberal" points of view.<ref name="hatch2"/> Fifty delegates from 11 countries in Western Europe attended the first conference, along with 11 Americans.<ref name="rockefeller">{{cite book |last=Rockefeller |first=David |author-link=David Rockefeller |title=Memoirs |publisher=Random House |location=New York |year=2002 |page=[https://archive.org/details/davidrockefeller00davi/page/412 412] |isbn=978-0679405887 |url=https://archive.org/details/davidrockefeller00davi/page/412 }}</ref>

The success of the meeting led the organizers to arrange an annual conference. A permanent steering committee was established with Retinger appointed as permanent secretary. As well as organizing the conference, the steering committee also maintained a register of attendee names and contact details with the aim of creating an informal network of individuals who could call upon one another in a private capacity.<ref name="hatch3">{{cite book |first=Alden |last=Hatch |year=1962 |title=HRH Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands: An authorized biography |chapter=The Hôtel de Bilderberg |publisher=Harrap |location=London |oclc=2359663 |quote=anybody who has ever been to a Bilderberg Conference should be able to feel that he can, in a private capacity, call on any former member he has met}}</ref> Conferences were held in [[France]], Germany, and [[Denmark]] over the following three years. In 1957, the first U.S. conference was held on [[St. Simons, Georgia|St. Simons Island, Georgia]], with $30,000 from the [[Ford Foundation]]. The foundation also supplied funding for the 1959 and 1963 conferences.<ref name="Aubourg" />