From Conspiracy theories on topics like UFO activity at Roswell and the second JFK shooter to modern 9-11 truthers and anti-vaxxers, it seems that conspiracy theories beginnings date back to about the 1950's (or perhaps I'm just not aware of conspiracy theory references older than that). Are conspiracy theories a relatively recent development? If not, what are some older examples?
Are conspiracy theories a relatively recent development? If not, what are some older examples?
I'm not sure that they are. Richard Hofstadter's The Paranoid Style in American Politics cites American conspiracies and fears about the Illuminati, Jesuits, Catholics, Masons, and others going back to the revolutionary period. These concerns about conspiracy were at various times organized into actual political force, such as the Anti-Masonic party or the anti-Catholic Know Nothing Party.
Anti-semitisim, which often includes conspiracies about Jewish cabals, has its own long history in the United States as well.