The Institute’s American grant applications were repeatedly rejected in 1941.

Evidence

In the middle of June 1941 an individual grant for Adorno was rejected, as were two individual grants for Marcuse and Neumann at the end of June. No wonder Horkheimer began to think there were people turning up at the decisive meetings of the grant boards, prompted by information from old opponents of the Institute from its Frankfurt days, pointing out the obscure character of the circle at the Institute: there was no evidence that they really did any social research there; no sign that they wanted to adapt themselves to the American way of life; no adjustment to local customs, according to which the director and all the members of an academic institution were dependent on a board of well-known businessmen not only in name but in fact. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1150

Categorization

• QUESTION: Was there any documented evidence of old Frankfurt opponents actively lobbying grant boards, or was this Horkheimer’s inference? The text says Horkheimer ‘began to think’ — worth chasing further.