Who Coined the Phrase "Conspiracy Theorist"?

conspiracy

(kənˈspɪrəsɪ)

n, pl -cies

1. a secret plan or agreement to carry out an illegal or harmful act, esp with political motivation; plot

2. the act of making such plans in secret

conˈspirator n

conspiratorial, conˈspiratory adj

conˌspiraˈtorially adv

As a Conspiratorialist, I subscribe to the belief that there is a Shadow Government (or Deep State or Secret Cabal or Ruling Elite) made up of bankers, old-money families, secret societies and other often-invisible forces that have acted against the interests of nearly everyone else down through history.

Pretty much anyone who seeks to expose elements of this ongoing conspiracy is ridiculed as a purveyor of "conspiracy theories," and is instantly discounted (or worse) by authoritarian voices of "reason" and "science."

It turns out that a certain intelligence agency, in the early 60's, coined the phrase "conspiracy theory" to discredit anyone who voiced opposition to the Warren Commission's report on the JFK assassination, which determined the Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone gunman who killed the President.  Here's how former Reagan White House aid Paul Craig Roberts put it in 2016:

The Term “Conspiracy Theory” Was Invented by the CIA In Order To Prevent Disbelief of Official Government Stories

Ron Unz reports on the cold shoulder given to an extensively researched book that concludes that World War II hero General George Patton was murdered by the CIA because he became a powerful critic of Washington. http://www.unz.com/runz/was-general-patton-assassinated/ [1]

The book was ignored because the US media and public have been programmed to regard the US government as a truth-teller and those who expose government crimes as “conspiracy theorists.”

In 2013 Professor Lance Dehaven-Smith in a peer-reviewed book published by the University of Texas Press showed that the term “conspiracy theory” was developed by the CIA as a means of undercutting critics of the Warren Commission’s report that President Kennedy was killed by Oswald. The use of this term was heavily promoted in the media by the CIA. https://www.amazon.com/Conspiracy-Theory-America-Discovering/dp/0292757697/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1471971025&sr=1-1&keywords=Conspiracy+Theory+in+America [2]

It is ironic that the American left is a major enforcer of the CIA’s strategy to shut up skeptics by branding them conspiracy theorists.

This would be just one example of how the Ruling Elite has, through its control of mainstream media, marginalized and eliminated any conversation having to do with the inner workings of the global power structure.  The Shadow Government must at all costs prop up the intricate network of lies, distortions and manipulations that have protected its true intentions down through the centuries, so it cannot tolerate a population that wakes up to its Mass Deception.

What would happen if something came along to expose this Mass Deception, such that the entire world has no choice but to wake up from its long, deep sleep?

I think we are in the process of answering this question.

As our current President often says, "We'll see what happens."