There is a lot of truth to what you say. I read a book published in 1964 by the CFR about the Panama Canal that advocated giving the canal to Panama. Public opinion was strongly against it, but the will of the CFR prevailed.
The doctrine of containment was first published in the CFR quarterly "Foreign Affairs" in July of 1947 in an article titled "The Sources of Soviet Conduct," written by George Kennan using "X" as his nom de plume.
And let's not forget that charming little bit about how, "the 'house of world order' will have to be built from the bottom up rather than from the top down...but an end run around national sovereignty, eroding it piece by piece, will accomplish much more than the old-fashioned frontal assault."
In 1994 speaking on the WTO Newt Gingrich stated "we need to be honest about the fact that we are transferring from the United States, at a practical level, significant authority to a new organization. This is a transformational moment. I would feel better if the people who favor this would just be honest about the scale of change."