The War of the World experiment by Hadley Cantril (funded by Rockefeller)
A real Princeton professor named Hadley Cantril, a psychologist who specialized in radio propaganda, found himself ideally situated to analyze the inadvertent hoax. In 1940, he published a book, titled The Invasion from Mars: A Study in the Psychology of Panic, that is still pertinent in our age of misinformation. Cantril found that listeners were more likely to figure out the invasion was a fiction if they checked the information against sources that were not affected by the broadcast — for instance, if they turned the radio dial instead of calling friends or running outside to consult neighbors. Education was helpful — an 11-year-old girl stayed calm because she knew the work of H.G. Wells, whose 1898 novel, War of the Worlds, inspired the broadcast. Cantril found that a fantastical story will seem believable if it comes from a person who appears trustworthy. (One listener reported, “I believed the broadcast as soon as I heard the professor from Princeton and the officials in Washington.”)
used to inform the views of the doubtful, weaken the commitment of opponents, and strengthen the conviction of supporters." William Stephenson later admitted: "Great care was taken beforehand to make certain the poll results would turn out as desired. The questions were to steer opinion toward the support of Britain and the war… Public Opinion was manipulated through what seemed an objective poll."
https://spartacus-educational.com/SPYcantril.htm