Editing Merian C. Cooper (section)

== Politics and business ventures ==
In the 1950s, Cooper supported [[Joseph McCarthy]] in his crusade to root out Communists in Hollywood and Washington, D.C.<ref name="living dangerously" />{{rp|386–91}}

He backed [[Barry Goldwater]] in the [[1964 United States presidential election]].<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QfHXAAAAQBAJ&q=Merian%20Cooper | title=When Hollywood Was Right: How Movie Stars, Studio Moguls, and Big Business Remade American Politics| isbn=9781107650282| last1=Critchlow| first1=Donald T.| date=2013-10-21| publisher=Cambridge University Press}}</ref>

Cooper founded Advanced Projects Corporation (1966–1972), a technology venture focused on developing [[3D television|3D color television]], whose mission he described as "revolutionizing both theatrical productions and exhibition as well as television".<ref name="living dangerously" />{{rp|374}}<ref>{{Cite archival metadata |author=James V. D'Arc, John N. Gillespie |title = Advanced Projects Corporation records, 1966-1972, MSS 2008 Series 12. Merian C. Cooper papers, MSS 2008 |url = https://archives.lib.byu.edu/repositories/14/archival_objects/122577 |repository = L. Tom Perry Special Collections |location = Provo, UT |date=2000 |access-date = 10 April 2025}}</ref> He served as the chairman of its board and enlisted [[Charles B. Fitzsimons]] as president, inventor [[Wadsworth E. Pohl]] as vice president, Kathy Ryan as executive secretary, and his own son Richard, General [[John R. Alison]] (an old comrade from China), [[William Douglas Burden]], [[Thomas Gardiner Corcoran|Thomas Corcoran]] and lawyer Earl S. Wright as directors.<ref name="living dangerously" />{{rp|374}} The company won the contract to build and operate the [[Ozark Folk Center]] and started the construction of its facility in 1971 before running out of funds and leasing the site to the [[Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage, and Tourism|Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism]] in May 1972.<ref>{{citation |title=Ozark Folk Center State Park |work=[[Encyclopedia of Arkansas]] |date=July 21, 2023 |url=https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/ozark-folk-center-state-park-1245/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190527190518/https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/ozark-folk-center-state-park-1245/ |archive-date=27 May 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite interview |last=Jennings |first=Jean |interviewer-last=Lea |interviewer-first=Anne |title=Creation and Development of the Arkansas Folk Festival and Ozark Folk Center – An Oral History Project |publisher=Lyon College Regional Studies Center |location=Mountain View, AR |date=June 14, 2003 |url=https://home.lyon.edu/mslibrary/rcol/jennings.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250410175850/https://home.lyon.edu/mslibrary/rcol/jennings.htm |archive-date=10 April 2025 |url-status=live}}</ref>