1913
1913: The Year America Was Stolen
Some dates in history are so pivotal that once you understand them, the entire story of our modern world begins to make sense.
1913 is one of those dates.
For historical context, World War I started in 1914, a conflict that redrew borders, ended empires, and created new ones. But before the first shot was fired, the groundwork for a century of control was laid right here in the United States. In 1913, a handful of new institutions quietly emerged, each one shaping our lives in ways most Americans still don’t fully understand.
Let’s connect the dots.
The Federal Reserve
Created on December 23, 1913, under the Federal Reserve Act, this institution is neither federal nor does it hold reserves in the traditional sense. It’s a private banking cartel with the legal authority to control our money supply. Instead of Congress printing and controlling money directly, private bankers now loan it to the government, and to us, with interest. This shift handed the keys of the U.S. economy to a small group of unelected financiers.
The IRS
1913 also brought the 16th Amendment, allowing the creation of the federal income tax. For the first time in U.S. history, the average citizen was required to hand over a percentage of their labor directly to Washington. The timing is no coincidence: once you can print money (Federal Reserve) and tax the people (IRS), you have a system where we work, they print, and we all pay them back with interest. Property taxes add another layer of unfairness. Even though we own our homes and land, the government claims the right to demand “rent” on what is legally ours. Fail to pay, and they can seize the property we’ve worked a lifetime to acquire, essentially penalizing ownership itself. Combined with income taxes, it’s a system that ensures most of us are always working to pay for the privilege of existing in a society controlled by the few.
The Rockefeller Foundation
Officially chartered in 1913, the Rockefeller Foundation funneled oil money into philanthropy, but “philanthropy” with a purpose. Through grants, lobbying, and strategic partnerships, they helped reshape medicine, education, and scientific research in the United States. This influence steered medical schools away from natural and holistic healing, pushing instead for pharmaceutical-based medicine, an industry the Rockefellers were heavily invested in.
The American Cancer Society (Formed later, but the groundwork began here)
While the ACS wouldn’t formally organize until the 1910s and 1920s, its early financial backers were tied to the same circles funding the Rockefeller medical revolution. Chemicals once used in wartime (including mustard gas) were repurposed into chemotherapy agents, shifting focus away from potential cures and toward profitable treatments. While marketed as charity, much of the funding ended up cycling into pharmaceutical investments.
The Anti-Defamation League
Founded in 1913, the ADL positioned itself as a civil rights organization but quickly became known for policing public speech and silencing critics of certain political and financial interests. What started as a defense group evolved into an influential player in shaping public discourse, deciding which criticisms were acceptable and which were “dangerous.”
The Titanic Connection
A year earlier, in 1912, the Titanic sank in the icy waters of the North Atlantic. Among the dead were some of the most powerful opponents of the creation of the Federal Reserve, men like Benjamin Guggenheim, Isidor Straus, and John Jacob Astor IV. Meanwhile, J.P. Morgan, who was deeply involved in orchestrating the Fed, had a first-class suite booked, but canceled his trip last minute. Mere coincidence? Some researchers aren’t convinced.
Then Came War
In 1914, World War I began, a war in which private industries profited massively from the slaughter. Many of the same families and institutions established in 1913 found themselves in prime position to fund the war effort and profit from it.
What’s Happened Since 1913?
The dollar has lost over 96% of its value since the Fed’s creation.
U.S. debt has exploded into numbers no one can repay.
The middle class is shrinking, while wealth consolidates at the top.
War is now an industry, a perpetual business model, not an unfortunate last resort.
Money itself is no longer real, reduced to digital entries and paper promises.
If you trace the path of power, wealth, and influence from today back to its roots, many of the threads lead right to that fateful year: 1913, the year we lost control of our country without a single shot being fired.