Institute for Policy Studies

The story of IPS began at a high-powered State Department meeting of generals and defense industry executives in 1961, at the height of the Cold War. In the room were White House staffer Marcus Raskin and State Department lawyer Richard Barnet, who had joined the Kennedy Administration with hopes of systemic transformation. But after hearing the speeches and rhetoric of the officials that day, the two young public servants concluded that systemic change can only happen through the power social movements. Within two years, Raskin and Barnet had left the Kennedy Administration and founded the Institute for Policy Studies, where they could more freely “speak truth to power.”