Operation Long Leash (active from 1950 to 1967) was a covert CIA program during the Cold War that secretly supported artists, particularly in the Abstract Expressionist movement. The goal was to promote Abstract Expressionism as a symbol of American artistic and intellectual freedom, contrasting with the rigid, state-controlled art of the Soviet Union. This covert cultural propaganda aimed to demonstrate the superiority of Western values through literature, art, and intellectual discourse. It was closely linked to the Congress for Cultural Freedom
(CCF), which was later exposed as being CIA-funded. Some who benefited from the program include but are not limited to: Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline and Robert Motherwell.
