Prompt Grok to create an Alex Jones-inspired headline about modern American politics and it would be easy to conceive a title similar to that of this article. Of course, like chemicals in the water turning frogs gay—or, at least, significantly impacting their sexual functions—this would result in another quarter in the “Alex Jones is right jar.”
Zohran Mamdani’s unexpected nomination as the Democrat nominee in New York City’s mayor’s race has been a boon for political pundits. For the left, he embodies the future of the American political left: a charismatic radical with bold visions who consistently churns out social media content that attempts to provide leftwing solutions to “kitchen table” problems. On the right, he is a perfect example of the true socialist impulses lurking behind their opposing party and, perhaps, a symptom of some deep-seated Islamic agenda in America.
While the political impact of Mamdanism is difficult to forecast, the history of the Mamdani family does serve as an interesting example of the consequences of state-directed immigration policy.
To truly understand the Mamdani story, we must return back to the days of the Cold War. In 1959, a Kenyan liberation activist named Tom Mboya organized with the African American Institute a plan to subsidize the travel of African college students to America for their intellectual development. While attempts to secure direct Washington funding initially stalled, Mboya found an essential benefactor in the form of Senator John F. Kennedy, who at the time was running for president in 1960.
His family’s Kennedy Foundation dedicated $100,000 to the program, resulting in 295 African students being brought to American universities as part of the initial run of the “Kennedy Airlift.” For JFK’s political ambitions, history judges it to be a prudent decision. Mboya’s time in America gave him the admiration of many of the leading Civil Rights leaders of the time, including Martin Luther King, Jr. and Harry Belafonte. In 2009, The Nation noted that Tom Shachtman, a historian of the effort, credits JFK’s support for the project as being “’equally if not more crucial’ in Kennedy’s razor-thin victories in several key states with significant African-American voting strength than the often-cited phone call Kennedy made to Coretta Scott King after her husband was arrested and a subsequent call Robert Kennedy made to the judge in the case.”
One of the students that benefited from this program was Mahmood Mamdani, father of Zohran.
While one could point to the Kennedy Airlift as a purely private venture, the historical record is a bit more complicated. While it is true that the Kennedy Foundation was a major benefactor in the plan to come to life, the Eisenhower State Department offered to match the funding offer, widely viewed as an attempt to prevent JFK from obtaining valuable political capital with black voters.
More important though, the CIA had their own plans for the students that made the trip to the United States. With rising Soviet influence in Africa, Washington officials saw the potential for the development of a rival political elite that could compete with political leaders whose alliance was directed towards Moscow. In 1967, it was revealed that the CIA was funneling money to a number of international youth groups and student organizations, which included the African American Institute—the same organization Mboya used to help support his airlift program. In 2024, the CIA published previously classified documents revealing that the organization had assets so deeply embedded in AAI that it would report full meeting minutes back to the State Department.
Originally reported by the Washington Post, historian Dr. Susan Williams noted “The exposure of the CIA was picked up by the radical magazine Ramparts and the Saturday Evening Post, which fleshed out the details. ‘Like electricians tracing out the underground wiring of complicated circuits’, reported one journalist in 1969, newsmen dug deeper and ‘examined hundreds of foundation tax records and grant lists. Again and again, to their amazement they succeeded in making connections between a labyrinth of non-profit organisations and a hidden generator. This generator was demonstrably the CIA’.”
The network of CIA funded groups were largely dismantled after the public revelations, which also served as a major PR win for the Soviet Union. Despite the backlash from the later reveal, the operation succeeded in its objectives in many ways. The African airlifts would eventually bring over 750 East African students to the United States, part of broader efforts organized by Mboya. Another example of Mboya’s success was his securing a scholarship through the African-American Students Foundation for Barack Obama, Sr., considered a protege of Mboya’s. Obama’s time in Hawaii would result in him meeting Ann Duram, whose professional career included, among other positions, time with USAID.
In terms of African politics, Mboya would return to Kenya to see his homeland declare independence from the United Kingdom in 1963 and serve in his nation’s government before being assassinated in 1969 at the age of 38. Another benefactor, George Saitoti, would become Vice President of Kenya in 1989, among others who would go on to have distinguished careers in and out of politics.
While it is arguable that the results of the Kennedy Foundation-CIA operation were more successful than other investments made by these organizations, there is a deeper ideological problem that becomes apparent. After all, if the goal of these efforts was to combat the spread of USSR ideology in Africa, what does it say that the products of these programs held their own socialist and Marxist views? The political views of Zohran Mamandi, for example, are easy to connect to those of his father, Mahmood, a Marxist professor of Post-Colonialist and African Studies professor at Columbia University.
According to Dr. Mamdani, his first exposure to the work of Karl Marx came after questioning by the FBI following his arrest during the civil rights movement a few years after his transportation to the United States. The Marxist influence on civil rights movement leaders led the FBI agent to ask Mahmood if he was familiar with his work, in which he claimed he was not, he decided to engage Marxist literature and take classes on the topic.
In doing so, we highlight two issues that illustrate the growth of Marxism in the United States in the 20th century, its influence on the civil rights movement, which became a cause of support among America’s political class despite initial opposition, and the growth of Marxist scholarship within American universities.
As such, attempts to cultivate political elites in contrast to Moscow were at best shallow facades when it came to differing solutions. This should not be surprising, given that America’s own government during the 20th century was actively engaging in increasingly socialist and interventionist policies, as its laissez-faire political legacy became an increasingly fringe political position.
Tragically, it was precisely those who were the most vocal at challenging the Soviet Union abroad that were most comfortable with embracing authoritarianism at home. In the words of Bill Buckley, “we have got to accept Big Government for the duration for neither an offensive nor a defensive war can be waged, given our present government skills, except through the instrument of a totalitarian bureaucracy within our shores.”
It is no surprise, then, that 20th Century America itself became an incubator of elites, and the children of those elites, that hold views hostile to this nation’s founding principles. The Kennedy Airlift is additionally an example of the consequences of Washington-designed immigration schemes designed for political objectives.
