This article investigates the Cold War entanglements of the concept of “creativity”
with the US military. The field of creativity studies came about after World
War II, and the military was a vital site for the production of knowledge about creative
thinking. Creativity emerged on the geopolitical radar, in terms of the acquisition of
creative thinking skills, attempts to “think the unthinkable” (atomic futures), and the
detection of creative citizens. Creative, divergent thinking garnered a renewed urgency
with the Sputnik shock, which showcased that conformist practices in knowledge production
would not put an American on the moon. Between 1945 and 1965, the concept
of creativity—as something to be defined, measured, and stimulated—was framed as a
matter of national security and an object of geopolitical concern. This ensuing traffic in
knowledge between Cold War academic and military contexts has been constitutive of
present-day understandings of creative, undisciplined thought.