by Master of Deceit: J. Edgar Hoover;America in the Age of Lies
According to a recent survey . . . how to teach evolution: Nicholas Bakalar, “On Evolution, Biology Teachers Stray from Lesson Plan,” New York Times, February 7, 2011.
“we who were strong in love! . . . was very heaven!” William Wordsworth, “The Prelude.” Although they are written in a poetic voice that takes some effort to make out, Wordsworth’s lines really do capture what it is to be young at a revolutionary moment — with a hint of how you view that golden enthusiasm when you look back on it later.
“The tree of liberty . . . patriots and tyrants”: Thomas Jefferson letter to William Smith, November 13, 1787 (widely available online).
“shall grow weary . . . overthrow it”: Lincoln’s first inaugural address (widely available online). American Communists often cited both Jefferson’s and Lincoln’s lines, especially in the mid-1930s, when they were stressing how all-American they were.
“suddenly realized . . . a glory to die”: Reed, 257–259.
“A great idea has triumphed”: quoted in Reed, 309.
Chapter Two: The Rise of J. Edgar Hoover: The First Secret
“‘wild’ and ‘crazy’ and ‘irresponsible’”: quoted in Max Eastman, “John Reed, Bolshevik Envoy to the United States — A Character Sketch,” The Evening Call, February 3, 1918, Early American Marxism website, http://www.marxisthistory.org/subject/usa/eam/index.html.
Eastman was, at the time, a big fan of Reed’s and was citing these negative terms as coming from weak, conventional people.
“Christian nations,” quoted in Powers, Secrecy and Power, 29. One of the shining strengths of Powers’s book is how he blends his reading of the surviving scraps of Hoover’s childhood writing with a broader look at the world in which Hoover grew up. Powers is as unsparing in his consideration of evidence as Theoharis and Cox are in The Boss, but Powers is somewhat more willing to consider or credit what Hoover’s own views might have been. Powers is also interested in media and popular culture as well as in Hoover and the FBI, which adds an extra dimension to his treatment.
“the saddest moment of the year . . . part of my life”: quoted in Gentry, 66. The line seems like something anyone might have written, but in view of how much Hoover’s life was later built around small circles of men bonded in secret activities, it suggests a stronger feeling than the usual platitude.
Theoharis and Cox, in The Boss, posit that working in a male secret society was central to Hoover and helped him deal with his inner conflicts. Their book is a careful study of Hoover based on close reading of FBI documents. It is drier and more narrowly focused than the Powers book but is an essential resource that anyone who researches Hoover must use. I personally felt more drawn to their psychological reading of Hoover than the more broadly social-cultural one used by Powers.
Gentry’s is an engaging book; he is a journalist who is a good writer and did extensive research. As I compared it with Powers’ and with Theoharis and Cox’s, though, I felt it too easily broadcast rumor as fact and is not as reliable as the other two. It is a good read and offers many useful and juicy quotations, but its interpretations need to be checked against other sources.
“a very forceful kind of person,” “made herself felt,” “always expected that J.E. was going to be successful,” “pushed,” “as much as she could,” “ran a beautiful home for him,” and “very strong personalities”: quoted in Demaris, 5–6. Every subsequent author has used Demaris’s interviews as the basis for describing Hoover’s relationship with his mother.
“the only person . . . abiding affection”: quoted in Purvis, 61.
Chapter Three: “There Will Have to Be Bloodshed”
“We have been dreaming . . . tyrannical institutions”: quoted in Ackerman, 15. This book is readable and informative and captures this early phase of Hoover’s career better than any other work I’ve seen. Any student or teacher who wants to focus on the Palmer raids should use it.
“American Workingmen” and “A successful revolution . . . invincible”: Nikolai Lenin, “A Letter to American Workingmen,” The Liberator, vol. 1, no. 11 (January 1919), 8, Marxists Internet Archive, http://marxists.anu.edu.au/history/usa/culture/pubs/liberator/index.htm. The entire issue of the Liberator with Lenin’s letter is viewable here. I found looking at the ads, books reviews, and other articles helpful. It gave me a sense of the world in which readers would have found the speech — the bookstores and tearooms where radicals gathered in New York.
“Palmer . . . in this country”: quoted in Ackerman, 25.
“make a study of subversive activities” and “what action . . . prosecution”: ibid., 64.
Chapter Four: “We’re Going Back to Russia — That’s a Free Country”
“We’re going back to Russia — that’s a free country”: ibid., 117. For a fuller depiction of the raid and its aftermath, see Ackerman, 113–119. I also used Finan, 1–2, and the National Popular Government League report of 1920, which he cites. You can find that report, which makes for fascinating reading, at the Internet Archive, http://www.archive.org/details/toamericanpeople00natiuoft.
For a broader background on Communism and anti-Communism in the period of the raids, see Morgan, 54–87. This readable survey traces the history of Communism in America, Communist spying, and anti-Communism throughout the period covered in this book. I found it very useful as a background book to consult. High-school students doing reports should use its index to orient themselves to key players and issues.
“convert small strikes . . . we must be merciless”: quoted in Ackerman, 121–122.
Chapter Five: Legal Rights: Hoover vs. Louis Post
traveled to South Carolina in 1871 to gather evidence against the Ku Klux Klan: Post is discussed in Ackerman, but I found the interesting detail about his early role working against the Klan in Jeffreys-Jones, 23. This is a readable, recent survey of FBI history that is a useful survey for a high-school student. The tone is less labored than some, less angry than others, which makes it all the more useful.
“The Bully Bolshevik,” “disrespectfully dedicated . . . Post,” and “The ‘Reds’ at Ellis Island . . . land of the brave”: quoted in Ackerman, 274–276.
Part Two: The War of Images
Chapter Six: Clyde: The Second Secret
“stocks have reached . . . plateau”: quoted in Robert Brent Toplin, “The Parallel with 1929 We Ignore at Our Peril,” History News Network, September 23, 2008, http://hnn.us/articles/54824.html.
“The tougher the attacks get, the tougher I get”: quoted in Powers, Secrecy and Power, 474.
J. Edgar Hoover was a real-life Sherlock Holmes . . . nation safe: ibid., 167.
“looks utterly unlike . . . mincing step”: quoted in Gentry, 159.
The question of Hoover’s possible homosexuality, especially his extremely close relationship with Clyde Tolson, is explored by any author who writes about him. The first two rumors were given wide currency by Anthony Summers, a British hack author of gossip-filled celebrity bios. Despite his dubious credentials, the stories were so widely shared that they are now taken by many nonexperts as absolute truth. Nearly every adult I spoke with about this book began by asking about Hoover’s supposed cross-dressing. I suspect there is an element of vengeance in people’s desire to believe such unlikely tales — the relentless inquisitor turns out to have a closet full of secrets. In J. Edgar Hoover, Sex, and Crime, Theoharis, who has studied Hoover’s files in the most scholarly detail and is one of his most severe critics, examines each of the Summers myths and demolishes them. In The Lavender Scare, David Johnson points out that the orgy rumor is “clearly a homophobic fantasy” (page 11). These tales should be laid to rest.
Of course we can ultimately only surmise what happened in private between Hoover and Tolson. Hoover’s lifetime secretary destroyed his confidential files, and no historian has reported finding Tolson’s papers. Unless some new evidence suddenly appears, we are left to rely on best guesses. In Secrecy and Power, Powers describes Hoover and Tolson as lif
e partners on the emotional level, but that is as far as he can be certain. He is the one who found the photo of the sleeping Tolson. I found the shot of reclining Tolson in the FBI NARA file. In The Boss, Theoharis and Cox postulate that Hoover was so repressed, so focused on his work, and so attached to his clusters of male friends that he did not need further intimacy. To me this image of a man whose defense was against himself is more compelling than seeing him as a person who was hiding his actions from others.
“homosocial”: Rosswurm, 30. Rosswurm uses the term within a longer discussion of Hoover’s childhood and personality that is quite useful, though certainly written for an academic audience.
“I have always held girls . . . for my actions”: quoted in Ackerman, 321.
Hoover’s fears: Theoharis and Cox, 47. In that book’s acknowledgments, the authors thank Michael Sheard, a Yale psychiatrist, and his wife, Wendy Stedman Sheard, for comments and for guiding them to relevant psychological literature which they used in the text.
“electrocute” and the description of the air-filtration system: Gentry, 462.
“the boss don’t understand . . . death of them”: ibid., 280.
“compact body . . . virile humanity”: ibid., 159.
Chapter Seven: Public Enemy Number One: John Dillinger
“My conscience . . . stole from the people”: ibid., 167.
“John Herbert Dillinger . . . July, 1934”: Whitehead, 103. Whitehead was a prize-winning journalist, and the book is an easy read. However, in light of what we now know, it is as interesting for what it doesn’t say, or how it spins the stories it tells, as for actual information about the FBI.
“a challenge to law and order and civilization itself”: quoted in Gentry, 168.
Any book on Hoover written since the 1970s includes the Purvis story. More recently, Purvis’s son cowrote a book-length indictment of Hoover’s treatment of his father; I mined it for useful quotations and rich descriptions about the run-up to the Little Bohemia raid (Purvis, 95–96) and the disastrous raid itself (110).
“fever for action”: Purvis, 97.
“Halt!” “We’re federal officers!” and “Stop the car”: ibid., 110.
“stay on Dillinger. Go anywhere the trail takes you”: quoted in Whitehead, 104.
“who was pacing the library . . . Washington,” “darted toward an alley . . . pocket,” and “Slugs tore into . . . chase was over”: ibid., 105–106.
“OK, Johnnie, drop your gun”: quoted in Powers, Broken, 153. This more recent book by Powers incorporates much of the story told in Secrecy and Power but extends it beyond Hoover’s day.
“One man alone is responsible . . . Hoover”: quoted in Purvis, 185.
“Mr. Purvis is also . . . on the publicity there”: ibid., 189–190.
“our system of operations . . . a case is broken”: ibid., 235.
“so-called ‘hero’ of a situation”: ibid., 247.
“If it’s the last thing I do . . . dead or alive”: ibid., 260. While I found these quotations in Purvis’s book, the description of the Hoover-Purvis conflict is in line with the reliable analysis in Powers, Secrecy and Power, 224–226.
“he is not to come to the office”: quoted in Powers, Secrecy and Power, 263.
“inside story . . . man-hunting organization”: Purvis, 281.
“closerthanthis,” “slight case of merger,” “infanticipating,” “the Mister and Miseries,” “sharing separate teepees,” and “Good evening . . . ships at sea”: quoted in Gabler, 267. This is an intelligent, deeply researched, fascinating book. It is long, and diligently covers all of Winchell’s life, so students and teachers are more likely to dip into it than read it through. The citations are nearly impossible to make out, as the relevant page is stacked amid so much other type that the reader constantly gets lost. Still, it is a necessary resource for anyone researching the growth of the media and the power of celebrity culture, subjects that should be of interest to many high-school students.
“found out his favorite drink . . . about everybody”: ibid., 187. The Stork Club is another subject that would make for terrific student research; the ancestor of modern “hot” clubs guarded by velvet ropes, it offers a window into a different time and place that links to our own obsessions. As a starting point, Gabler’s book offers a mini-history of the club. There are also a number of websites devoted to it.
“See Uncle Sam . . . march on crime”: quoted in Powers, Secrecy and Power, 162.
Chapter Eight: The Crisis of Capitalism: The Third Secret
“At the very moment . . . showed striking gains”: Proletarian Literature in the United States. I found this book both disturbing and fascinating reading. Looking back from the twenty-first century, I found the insistence of what art needs to be quite alien. On the other hand, the assumption of how cultured and widely read in European literature any artist would be is also striking. An alert high-school student interested in the rules we set for art — whether the assumptions we have today or those of the past — will find much to discover in Joseph Freeman’s introductory essay, from which the quotation is taken.
The largely unknown story of the Americans who immigrated to the Soviet Union during the Depression and their grim fate is retold in Tzouliadis. This is a useful resource for any motivated student who wants to explore the subject. For the Abolins’ trip to Russia, the school, and baseball, see pages 17–19.
examples of Communist front organizations: Morgan, 167–172.
American Communist Party membership numbers: Schrecker, McCarthyism, 11 and 15.
“an enslaved and oppressed people”: “Minutes of the Second Congress of the Communist International,” Fourth Session, July 25, Marxists Internet Archive, http://www.marxists.org/history/international/comintern/2nd-congress/ch04.htm#v1-p121.
“Negro Moses”: quoted in O’Reilly, 14. Any student or teacher interested in exploring the FBI’s involvement with civil rights, black nationalism, and black communities can use this book as a resource. See also Powers, Secrecy and Power, 128.
“The colored people . . . if they had the opportunity”: quoted in Powers, Secrecy and Power, 411.
The story of the Hoover family possibly being partially African American comes from Millie McGhee, Secrets Uncovered (Havre De Grace, MD: Allen-Morris, 2002), and is cited in Ackerman, 5 and 42. It is easy to find summaries of McGhee’s argument on the Internet. The problem is that she is relying not only on family oral history — which may well be true but needs confirmation — but also on memories of her own that she claims to have blocked and then recovered through therapy. This is very treacherous territory where fantasy, mythology, and fact can easily blur. Ackerman cites a genealogist who does not think her case is convincing.
For information on the Scottsboro case, see James Goodman. This book is a treat in-the-waiting for any serious AP American history teacher or student. An example of modern history writing, it retells the full story of the Scottsboro case and also explores the different ways each beat in the trials was framed, explained, told, and retold by the many communities who had a stake in the outcome. Thus it is as much about many segments of America as it is about the fate of the nine young men. For basic facts about the case, see Douglas O. Linder, “Famous American Trials: The ‘Scottsboro Boys’ Trials, 1931–1937,” University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Law website, http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/scottsboro/scottsb.htm.
“overwhelming drama of moral struggle” and Wright’s conversion to Communism: Crossman, 155. This is a vivid, wonderfully written book that makes an engaging source for any student or teacher interested in such subjects as the Depression, Communism, writing, black writers, or the life of Richard Wright.
Hoover on Scottsboro: O’Reilly, 17–18.
“isolated each artist . . . and go mad” and “the revolution . . . mass-meeting”: quoted in Proletarian Literature in the United States, introduction.
“You are either pioneers . . . will mould you” and “
You will be indescribably crushed . . . total destruction”: quoted in Tanenhaus, 75. The editorial writer was Whittaker Chambers, who appears later in the book under the pseudonym Carl. Chambers is a seemingly unlikely subject for a biography, since to an earlier generation of writers he was the villain, or at best a dupe, in a central trial of the postwar era. But in carefully sorting through his life and writing, Tanenhaus gives a sense of the crosscurrents of the Cold War. The book was useful to me both in taking me through one person’s journey in and out of Communism and in taking conservatism — which is so much a part of our political landscape now — seriously. Any motivated student who is writing about the Cold War in America, Communist spying, or the flashpoint conflicts of the time needs to make use of this book.
“Get out of our ranks!” “I-It’s May Day . . . to march,” “Get out,” “hands lifted me . . . flowed past me,” and “they’re blind”: Crossman, 160–161.
Part Three: The Turning Point: Subversive Activities
Chapter Nine: The Secret Assignment
the coup plot: Gentry, 201–206.
the Texas group and the “Jew Deal”: Burrough, 131. This book is an easy introduction to the history of Texas oil money, which played an important part in the Hoover story. It’s an entertaining read and a good place to start if you want to research that strand in American history. A student interested in looking at energy policy — using that current issue as a lens for understanding U.S. and world history — could do well to use Daniel Yergin’s The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991) (also a PBS series, available on DVD) along with Burrough to get oriented.
“If you wore . . . not get arrested”: quoted in Morgan, 149.