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The 1950s was a time of intense interest in accounts of mind control, and the term "brainwashing" was coined in 1950. At a time of high Cold War tension, the book ''I Was Stalin's Prisoner'' (1952), a first-person account of US executive Robert A. Vogeler's experiences with mind control as a political prisoner in Hungary, produced derivative fiction. ''Brain-Washing in Red China'' (1951) and other writings by Edward Hunter proclaimed the danger and potentially devastating possibilities of brainwashing. Inaccurate reports to the effect that numerous American POW's had defected to the Chinese in Korea caused alarm; in fact there were only a few.  Richard Condon's novel ''The Manchurian Candidate'' (1959), the basis for this film tapped into public fascination and concern over mind-control techniques. Novels by William Burroughs, A. E. van Vogt, and Francis Pollini all incorporate brainwashing themes. By the time of Walter Wager's ''Telefon'' (1975), the subject of brainwashing techniques had become passé.<ref>David Seed, "Brainwashing And Cold War Demonology." ''Prospects'' 1997 22: 535-573.</ref>

The 1950s was a time of intense interest in accounts of mind control, and the term "brainwashing" was coined in 1950. At a time of high Cold War tension, the book ''I Was Stalin's Prisoner'' (1952), a first-person account of US executive Robert A. Vogeler's experiences with mind control as a political prisoner in Hungary, produced derivative fiction. ''Brain-Washing in Red China'' (1951) and other writings by Edward Hunter proclaimed the danger and potentially devastating possibilities of brainwashing. Inaccurate reports to the effect that numerous American POW's had defected to the Chinese in Korea caused alarm; in fact there were only a few.  Richard Condon's novel ''The Manchurian Candidate'' (1959), the basis for this film tapped into public fascination and concern over mind-control techniques. Novels by William Burroughs, A. E. van Vogt, and Francis Pollini all incorporate brainwashing themes. By the time of Walter Wager's ''Telefon'' (1975), the subject of brainwashing techniques had become passé.<ref>David Seed, "Brainwashing And Cold War Demonology." ''Prospects'' 1997 22: 535-573.</ref>

Some scholars have concluded there was no such brainwashing but it was a real fear at the time. The film picks up and elaborates on this fear, and suggests that a "part light-induced, part drug-induced" technique would be effective. The 1954 film "Prisoner of War" also is based on brainwashing POW's in Korea.

Some scholars have concluded there was no such brainwashing but it was a real fear at the time. The film picks up and elaborates on this fear, and suggests that a "part light-induced, part drug-induced" technique would be effective. The 1954 film "Prisoner of War" starring [[Ronard Reagan]] is based on brainwashing POW's in Korea.

 

Yet perhaps these nay-sayers have ignored one salient fact: the 1950s were ''not'' the first time that an aggressive power, dominated by "true believers" in an ideology, had used subconscious conditioning to impel men to commit political murder. Centuries earlier, at the time of the [[Crusades]], the secret order known as the Assassins used a form of conditioning, part drug-induced (specifically, [[hashish]], hence the name ''assassins'' or ''hashshasheen'', literally "hashish addicts") and part sexual, to produce men dedicated to political murder in the name of [[Islam]]. That the USSR and/or the PRC would have used a much more sophisticated technique (described in the film as part light-induced and part drug-induced), if such a technique had been feasible, ought to have surprised no one. If today the consensus remains that no such mental conditioning (other than harsh interrogation under sleep deprivation) was possible, that is only because no Western psychiatrist or neurologist has ever duplicated the technique, nor do the archives of the Soviet [[KGB|Committee for State Security]] contain anything that one could reliably construe as a reference to any such technique.

At the time of its release in 1962, the film defied plot analysis or genre categorization, but the film's subject of US soldiers brainwashed by Chinese forces during the Korean War found particular resonance in US popular culture. Beginning in 1952, popular journalists frightened and titillated their readers with sometimes dubious tales of Communist mind-control techniques. Some critics who analyzed the film in 1962-63, however, saw the film as a [[leftist]] commentary on McCarthyism - the character of Senator John Ickes Iselin, the stepfather of Staff Sergeant Raymond Shaw, bears striking resemblances to Joseph McCarthy, if only as parody and burlesque. The film's real target was "Mom-ism," since it was the supposedly invasive upbringing of Raymond Shaw by his mother that made him a good candidate for brainwashing according to some, and viewed by others as a subtle attempt to help break down the nuclear family by [[liberals]]. <ref>Susan L. Carruthers, "The Manchurian Candidate (1962) And The Cold War Brainwashing Scare." ''Historical Journal of Film, Radio And Television'' 1998 18(1): 75-94. 0143-9685</ref>

At the time of its release in 1962, the film defied plot analysis or genre categorization, but the film's subject of US soldiers brainwashed by Chinese forces during the Korean War found particular resonance in US popular culture. Beginning in 1952, popular journalists frightened and titillated their readers with sometimes dubious tales of Communist mind-control techniques. Some critics who analyzed the film in 1962-63, however, saw the film as a [[leftist]] commentary on McCarthyism - the character of Senator John Ickes Iselin, the stepfather of Staff Sergeant Raymond Shaw, bears striking resemblances to Joseph McCarthy, if only as parody and burlesque. The film's real target was "Mom-ism," since it was the supposedly invasive upbringing of Raymond Shaw by his mother that made him a good candidate for brainwashing according to some, and viewed by others as a subtle attempt to help break down the nuclear family by [[liberals]]. <ref>Susan L. Carruthers, "The Manchurian Candidate (1962) And The Cold War Brainwashing Scare." ''Historical Journal of Film, Radio And Television'' 1998 18(1): 75-94. 0143-9685</ref>