MKUltra started when the CIA tried to learn mind control, because there were rumors of the soviet union having it. The main cause of MKUltra was pure pressure that made the CIA feel like they needed to fight back.
The first experiments of MKUltra started in 1952, while the main dangerous experiment started in around 1953. They were stopped in around 1973 due to their constant failure in getting any closer to mind control. Due to the Rockefeller Commission and the Church Committee's efforts the public finally learned about the pain some of their colleagues went through in around 1975.
"Photo of soviut cooperation on non proliferation/during the cold war" -War On the Rocks
"Americans became obsessed with brainwashing during the Korean War. Prisoners of war returned home, denouncing the American way of life, hearing them paringpropaganda, the CIA became convinced the Communists had found the key to brainwashing. Now the Americans had to unlock the mystery of mind control."
MK Ultra: CIA mind control program in Canada (1980) - The Fifth Estate
"There was great worry that the Soviuts had developed rather esoteric and unusual methods of so called brainwashing people."
"There was contunued pressure put upon anybody within the agency in connection with trying to explain or understand brainwashing. So we were charged with a rather elaborate attempt to try to find out chemical, psychological, any kind of means that people could use to influence the bahavior of other people."
-Dr. Jhon Gettinger (cheif psychologist -25 years)
MK Ultra: CIA mind control program in Canada (1980) - The Fifth Estate
Whether or not MKUltra could have been avoided is entirely unknown, but its beginning might have helped the future more, than it never happened.