Editing Conspiracy theory (section)

=== Alleged CIA origins ===
[[File:WarrenReport-cover1.jpg|[[The Warren Report]]|thumb]]

The term "conspiracy theory" is itself the subject of a conspiracy theory, which posits that the term was popularized by the [[CIA]] in order to discredit conspiratorial believers, particularly critics of the [[Warren Commission]], by making them a target of ridicule.<ref name="Brotherton2015-4">{{cite book|author=Robert Brotherton|title=Suspicious Minds: Why We Believe Conspiracy Theories|chapter=Chapter 4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=awrcCQAAQBAJ|date=19 November 2015|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-1-4729-1564-1}}</ref> In his 2013 book ''Conspiracy Theory in America'', the political scientist Lance deHaven-Smith wrote that the term entered everyday language in the United States after 1964, the year in which the Warren Commission published its findings on the [[assassination of John F. Kennedy]], with ''The New York Times'' running five stories that year using the term.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TilCeCKDujQC|title=Conspiracy Theory in America|last1=deHaven-Smith|first1=Lance|date=15 April 2013|isbn=9780292743793|pages=3|publisher=University of Texas Press|quote=The term 'conspiracy theory' did not exist as a phrase in everyday American conversation before 1964.&nbsp;... In 1964, the year the Warren Commission issued its report, ''The New York Times'' published five stories in which 'conspiracy theory' appeared.|access-date=27 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160906032935/https://books.google.com/books?id=TilCeCKDujQC&printsec=frontcover|archive-date=6 September 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>

Whether the CIA was responsible for popularising the term "conspiracy theory" was analyzed by Michael Butter, a Professor of American Literary and Cultural History at the [[University of Tübingen]]. Butter wrote in 2020 that the CIA document ''Concerning Criticism of the Warren Report'', which proponents of the theory use as evidence of CIA motive and intention, does not contain the phrase "conspiracy theory" in the singular, and only uses the term "conspiracy theories" once, in the sentence: "Conspiracy theories have frequently thrown suspicion on our organisation {{sic}}, for example, by falsely alleging that [[Lee Harvey Oswald]] worked for us."<ref>{{cite web|last1=Butter|first1=Michael|title=There's a conspiracy theory that the CIA invented the term 'conspiracy theory' – here's why|url=https://theconversation.com/theres-a-conspiracy-theory-that-the-cia-invented-the-term-conspiracy-theory-heres-why-132117|website=The Conversation|publisher=The Conversation Trust (UK) Limited|access-date=23 November 2020|date=16 March 2020}}</ref>