In 1973 or so, a friend of mine in middle school gave me a copy of NDCC when he was toying with membership in the John Birch Society.

[link|http://www.amazon.com/None-Dare-Call-Conspiracy-Allen/dp/0899666612|None Dare Call it Conspiracy] by Gary Allen (p.8-9 of the paperback edition) - from 1971:

Those who believe that major world events result from planning are laughed at for believing in the "conspiracy theory of history." Of course, no one in this modern day and age really believes in the conspiracy theory of history -- except those who have taken the time to study the subject. When you think about it, there are really only two theories of history. Either things happen by accident neither planned nor caused by anybody, or they happen because they are planned and somebody causes them to happen. In reality, it is the "accidental theory of history" preached in the unhallowed Halls of Ivy which should be ridiculed. Otherwise, why does every recent administration make the same mistakes as the previous ones? Why do they repeat the errors of the past which produce inflation, depressions and war? Why does our State Department "stumble" from one Communist-aiding "blunder" to another? If you believe it is all an accident or the result of mysterious and unexplainable tides of history, you will be regarded as an "intellectual" who understands that we live in a complex world. If you believe that something like 32,496 consecutive coincidences over the past forty years stretches the law of averages a bit, you're a kook!


(Emphasis added.)

Even as a young teenager I could see that this passage was a nonsensical rant - attaching a made-up number to it only makes it more clearly the case. (In case you're not familiar with the book - it gets worse. ;-)

The more things change...

Cheers,
Scott.