The Burglary

by Betty Medsger

  1 The full explanation: William Greider, “10,000 ‘Potential Subversives’: U.S. Keeps Index for Emergency Arrests,” Washington Post, June 13, 1971.

  2 It was later revealed: Schwarz and Huq, Unchecked and Unbalanced, 33.

  3 When Attorney General: Robert Justin Goldstein, “The FBI’s Forty-Year Plot,” Nation, July 1, 1978. Theoharis, Spying on Americans, 43–44.

  4 Congress achieved: Theoharis, Spying on Americans, 40–64.

  5 It was during debate: Keller, The Liberals and J. Edgar Hoover, 34.

  6 So great was his public: Sullivan, The Bureau, 35–37.

  7 The public relations arm: John Fischer, “Personal and Otherwise: J. Edgar Hoover and the Politicians,” Harper’s, March 1954: “… The FBI Legend has now become enshrined in the American Credo, along with George Washington’s cherry tree and Paul Revere’s horse. For many years it has been skillfully built up by one of the most sustained publicity operations on record. Millions of words annually—in TV and radio, comic books, suspense novels, films and news stories—are still being devoted to the creation of a highly idealized stereotype of the G-man … by the FBI’s own publicity outfit, which is widely regarded as one of the best in Washington—second, indeed, only to that of the Marine Corps.”

  8 Stuart Ewen: Ewen, PR!, 364–65.

  In 1922, Walter Lippmann postulated that to be successful in mobilizing public opinion around a cause, it is necessary to delineate your opposition as villains and conspirators.…A vigorous conservative publicity machine took Lippmann’s axiom to heart. From the late forties onward, it became increasingly common to characterize the New Deal’s social Keynesian as nothing less than a perfidious drift toward communism. A foreign evil menaced the home front, and governmental activism in social and economic affairs was its most tangible expression. One of the nation’s leading publicists in this regard was J. Edgar Hoover.…Following this lead, notorious congressional committees (the House Un-American Activities Committee and the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee) launched investigations of Communist infiltration in the United States, and—also marching to Hoover’s drumbeat—the commercial media system increasingly presented frightful dramatizations of what would happen if the “Red Menace” was permitted to succeed.

  One item created by the bureau for children was the Child Molester’s Coloring Book. Episodes of Disney’s Mickey Mouse Club were filmed in Hoover’s office with the Mouseketeers happily dancing by Dillinger’s face mask, the director’s favorite relic of the bureau’s best years. Once Walt Disney unintentionally offended his friend Hoover. A chubby cat in an animated film was identified as an undercover FBI agent known as D.C. (Darn Cat). As an official FBI memo put it, the cat “happily forages in garbage cans every night.” That cat, noted the memo, “seems to ridicule the FBI agent.” A memo written by one of the highest officials at FBI headquarters, and not with tongue in cheek, concluded, “Every effort will be made through the Los Angeles office to protect the Bureau’s interest in this proposed movie. Recommendation: The Crime Records Division will continue to follow this matter closely … to ensure that … the Bureau’s interests are protected.” An apologetic Disney changed the script and promised he would never again portray the bureau “other than in a favorable light due to his high esteem for the Director and the Bureau.”

  9 With a few notable exceptions: Ungar, FBI, 178.

  10 In the fall of 1971: Louis Fisher, “Detention of U.S. Citizens,” CRS Report for Congress, April 28, 2005 (analysis of U.S. detention policies, 1950 through post 9/11 detention of “enemy combatants”).

  11 When President Nixon: “Statement on Signing Bill Repealing the Emergency Detention Act of 1950,” September 25, 1971.

  12 Immediately after: Gentry, J. Edgar Hoover, 653.

  13 Hoover’s secret FBI had trumped: Theoharis, in his introduction to A Guide to the Microfilm Edition of the J. Edgar Hoover Official and Confidential Files, ix, describes the methods used by the director to catalog his secret files.

  15. COINTELPRO HOVERS

  1 My story on the files: Betty Medsger and Ken Clawson, “FBI Secretly Prods Colleges on New Left,” Washington Post, April 6, 1971.

  2 But in that same memorandum: Davis, Assault on the Left, 207, based on FBI Memorandum, Headquarters to Field Offices, April 8, 1971, 216n39.

  3 He took that extreme step: Theoharis, Spying on Americans, 150.

  4 There was evidence: “The File on J. Edgar Hoover,” Time, October 25, 1971.

  5 Life ran a striking image: “The 47-Year Reign of J. Edgar Hoover: Emperor of the FBI,” Life, April 9, 1971.

  6 A month after the Life cover: Sally Quinn, “The Night the Director Stole the Show,” Washington Post, May 25, 1971.

  7 President Nixon defended: Richard Nixon, Panel Interview at the Annual Convention of the American Society of Newspaper Editors, April 16, 1971. Available at website of the American Presidency Project, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=2982&st=&st1=.

  8 With 5,500 members: William W. Turner, “Mr. Hoover’s Loyal Legion,” Nation, February 7, 1972.

  9 One of the benefits: Ungar, FBI, 273.

  10 On April 17, 1971: Nash, Citizen Hoover, 243–43.

  11 Hoover spoke: Ungar, FBI, 257.

  12 “The great majority”: “The File on J. Edgar Hoover,” Time, October 25, 1971.

  13 Only a few hours: Christopher Matthew, “Nixon Personally Ordered Break-in: He’s on Tape Demanding Theft at Brookings Think Tank,” San Francisco Chronicle, 1996. Nixon Tapes, Nixon-Hoover conversation, June 30, 1971.

  14 “He should get”: Michael Wines, “Tape Shows Nixon Feared Hoover,” New York Times, June 5, 1991.

  15 Nixon had a meeting: Gentry, J. Edgar Hoover, 691, 699–703.

  16 It was G. Gordon Liddy: Wines, “Tape Shows Nixon Feared Hoover.” Liddy, Will, 238–50.

  17 When the president learned: Robert M. Smith, “After Almost Half a Century, the Process of Selecting a Director of the F.B.I. Begins; Bureau Policies to Face Wide Scrutiny by the Public,” New York Times, May 3, 1972. John P. MacKenzie, “Hoover: Monument of Power for 48 Years,” Washington Post, May 3, 1972.

  18 Haldeman suggested: “Nixon and the FBI: The White House Tapes,” National Security Archive, http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB156/.

  19 Hoover’s remains lay: “Lying in State,” Architect of the Capitol, http://www.aoc.gov/nations-stage/lying-state.

  20 Felt also took over: David Robb, “The Other Secret Life of Watergate’s Deep Throat,” Hollywood Today, March 9, 2008.

  21 In his eulogy: President Richard Nixon, “Eulogy Delivered at Funeral Service for J. Edgar Hoover,” May 4, 1972, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/print.php?pid=3397. Also available on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-BbMC6bUn4.

  16. VICTORY AT CAMDEN

  1 Hardy made his first: Robert Hardy, Camden 28 documentary script, 10.

  2 In an indication: Ungar, FBI, 482–83.

  3 According to a minute-by-minute: Sullivan, The Bureau, 152–53.

  4after he was killed: “William C. Sullivan, Ex-F.B.I. Aide, 65, Is Killed in a Hunting Accident,” New York Times, November 10, 1977. Novak, The Prince of Darkness, 210.

  5 “Three guys jumped me”: Michael Doyle, Camden 28 script, 20.

  6 Given his strong opposition: Ibid., 3.

  7 “What do you do”: Ibid., 1.

  8 The bureau’s sense of triumph: Hoover/Mitchell press release, August 22, 1971.

  9 About the same time: Donald B. Proctor, “Accused Camden Leader Linked to Media Raid,” Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, August 30, 1971.

  10 He sent letters: Kissinger, letter acknowledging J. Edgar Hoover’s August 23, 1971, letter about Camden arrests, September 2, 1971.

  11 When they arrived: Joan Reilly, Camden 28 script, 14.

  12 It did not take long: Mike Giocondo and Michael Doyle, Camden 28 script, 21.

  13 Hardy reported what: Hardy, Camden 28 script, 26.

  14 One day Sa
ndy Grady: Doyle, Camden 28 script, 27.

  15 When the Camden defendants: Author interview with Michael Doyle.

  16 “And I remember the three of us”: Ibid.

  17 Three days later: Ibid.

  18 After the funeral: Ibid.

  17. DEFEAT AT CAMDEN

  1 Just a month after: Frank Donner, “A Special Supplement: The Theory and Practice of American Political Intelligence,” New York Review of Books, April 22, 1971, 27.

  2 In a step: Robert W. Hardy Affidavit, filed in County of Philadelphia, February 28, 1972. Donald M. Janson, “F.B.I. Is Accused of Aiding a Crime: ‘Camden 28’ Informer Says He Acted as ‘Provocateur,’ ” New York Times, March 16, 1972. “The Law: Informers Under Fire,” Time, April 17, 1972.

  3 “They reassured me”: Robert Hardy, Camden 28 script, 35, 40.

  4 As the Camden trial: Kairys, Philadelphia Freedom, 214.

  5 On the witness stand: Ibid., 209–14. Donald M. Janson, “Informer Testifies F.B.I. Had Him Provoke Camden Draft File Raid,” New York Times, April 11, 1973.

  6 When the defendants met: Kairys, Philadelphia Freedom, 190–96.

  7 One by one: Ibid., 214. Betty Medsger, “Justice in a Camden Court,” Progressive, October 1973, 3 (reprint).

  8 Howard Zinn told: Zinn, Camden 28 script, 42. Kairys, Philadelphia Freedom, 214.

  9 Never in a courtroom: Elizabeth (Betty) Good, Camden 28 script, 45. Kairys, Philadelphia Freedom, 214.

  10 She had just assumed: Good, Camden 28 script, 47.

  11 Betty Good surprised: Medsger, “Justice in a Camden Court,” Progressive, October 1973.

  12 Kairys emphasized: Kairys, Philadelphia Freedom, 218–22.

  13 “No, you will”: Doyle, Camden 28 script, 50.

  14 On the fourth day: Kairys, Philadelphia Freedom, 223. Medsger, “Justice in a Camden Court.”

  15 The hum of conversations: Trial transcript, 8792.

  16 Chief prosecutor John Barry: Medsger, “Justice in a Camden Court.”

  18. THE SECRET FBI EMERGES

  1 For Kelley, those years: Ungar, FBI, 466–69, 575.

  2 Occasionally, for instance: “Still Wanted,” Time, December 12, 1977.

  3 Representative Hale Boggs: Donner, The Age of Surveillance, 117.

  4 Stern persisted: Letters: Stern to Deputy Attorney General Kleindienst, March 20, 1972; Kleindienst to Stern, April 25, 1972; Stern to Kleindienst, June 30, 1972; Stern to Deputy Attorney General Ralph E. Erickson, August 21, 1972; Stern to Erickson, August 31, 1972; Stern to Acting FBI Director L. Patrick Gray, September 6, 1972; Gray to Stern, September 18, 1972; Stern to Erickson, September 29, 1972; Stern to Kleindienst, October 26, 1972; Stern to Erickson, January 12, 1973.

  5 At first, the department appealed: Laurence Stern, “Hoover War on New Left Bared,” Washington Post, December 7, 1973. In this story is a brief description of Acting Attorney General Robert Bork’s decision to release the first COINTELPRO file to NBC reporter Carl Stern. Bork: “The law and the public policy expressed in the Freedom of Information Act did not warrant appealing the District Court decision.” Laurence Stern, author of the article, reports that the release of the COINTELPRO file was the “first time the Justice Department released documents in a Freedom of Information Act challenge.” “Mr. Hoover’s Dirty Tricks,” Washington Post, March 15, 1974.

  6 Long issued a statement: Book II, Final Report of the Select Committee, April 26, 1976. Theoharis, Spying on Americans, 113. Gentry, J. Edgar, 587.

  7 FBI director Kelley opposed: Ungar, FBI, 32–34.

  8 Four months after: Saxbe, I’ve Seen the Elephant, 193. Hearing on FBI Counterintelligence Programs, November 20, 1974, House of Representatives, Civil Rights and Constitutional Rights Subcommittee of the Committee on the Judiciary.

  9 Two days before: Ungar, FBI, 470. “Hoover’s Closet,” Time, December 2, 1974.

  10 The tipping point: Seymour Hersh, “Huge CIA Operation Reported in U.S. Against Anti-War Forces, Other Dissidents in Nixon Years, Files on Citizens: Helms Reportedly Got Surveillance Data in Charter Violation,” New York Times, December 22, 1974.

  11 The programs that: Ungar, FBI, 479.

  12 “It was not uncommon”: Jim Edwards, “The Journalist and the G-Man,” Brill’s Content, November 2000.

  19. CRUDE AND CRUEL

  1 Antiwar activists’ oranges: David J. Garrow, “FBI Political Harassment and FBI Historiography: Analyzing Informants and Measuring the Effects,” Public Historian 10, no. 4 (Autumn 1988): 5–18.

  2 Agents hired prostitutes: Theoharis, J. Edgar Hoover, Sex, and Crime, 100.

  3 The Media break-in changed: Author interview with Athan Theoharis, February 2013.

  4 “an embryonic version”: Donner, The Age of Surveillance, 183.

  5 “The bureau constituted itself”: Ibid., 180.

  6 “highly personalized”: Ibid., 177.

  7 Files were maintained: John M. Goshko, “Hoover’s Files Focus on Sex Scandals: Voracious Collector of Rumors,” Washington Post, November 24, 1976. Theoharis, J. Edgar Hoover, Sex, and Crime, 57–115.

  8 “As the director saw”: Ungar, FBI, 466.

  9 Frustrated by recent: Davis, Assault on the Left, 4–5. Note: It was the Supreme Court’s 1956 reinterpretation of the Smith Act that was particularly upsetting to Hoover. Passed in 1940, it made it a crime to advocate the overthrow of the government by violence. In 1956, as Davis summarizes the court’s action, “simple advocacy alone of ideas was not, in and of itself, punishable. The government would now have to prove advocacy of actual violent actions in order to obtain convictions.”

  10 The Church Committee investigation: William M. Kunstler, “Writers of the Purple Page,” Nation, December 30, 1978. In summarizing what emerged from the records of the Church Committee and the Socialist Workers Party trial, Kunstler notes that “it is possible for the first time to put in one place the staggering dimensions of what turns out to have been not merely a ‘rough, tough, dirty business’ but an everyday tool of law enforcement.” Crewdson, “F.B.I. Was Not as Advertised and Won’t Ever Be the Same,” Nation, August 1, 1976.

  11 “The FBI abuses”: F. A. O. Schwarz Jr., “Intelligence Activities and the Rights of Americans,” Record of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York 32 (January/February 1977).

  12 On the first day: Schwarz, testimony on first day of Church Committee investigation of FBI, “Intelligence Activities—Federal Bureau of Investigation,” 30, November 18, 1975.

  13 He used his secret power: John Kifner, “F.B.I. Sought Doom of Panther Party: Senate Study Says Plot Led to Internal Splits, ‘Gang Warfare’ and Killings,” New York Times, May 9, 1976.

  14 “Never once”: Schwarz and Huq, Unchecked and Unbalanced, based on Church Committee, Book II, 14, 141.

  15 Schwarz has concluded: Ibid., 6, 45.

  16 Among all of the political: Garrow, The FBI and Martin Luther King Jr., 101–50.

  17 Chicago Black Panther leader: Jeffrey Haas, “Fred Hampton’s Legacy,” Nation, November 24, 2009. Gentry, J. Edgar Hoover, 620–21.

  18 People knowledgeable: Rosenfeld, Subversives, 419–24, 429, 432–35, 441, 445–46. Seth Rosenfeld, “FBI Files Reveal New Details About Informant Who Armed Black Panthers,” Mother Jones, September 7, 2012, http://cironline.org/reports/fbi-files-reveal-new-details-about-informant-who-armed-black-panthers-3833.

  19 In Memphis: Marc Perrusquia, “FBI Admits Noted Memphis Civil Rights Photographer Ernest Withers Was Informant,” Memphis Commercial Appeal, July 3, 2012. Perrusquia, “Memphis FBI Agent Led Cadre of Informants That Included Ernest Withers,” Memphis Commercial Appeal, December 19, 2010. Perrusquia, “Withers Secretly Gave FBI Photos of Martin Luther King’s Staff, Spied on Memphis Movement,” Memphis Commercial Appeal, March 30, 2013.

  20 A Los Angeles agent: Gentry, J. Edgar Hoover, 647. “The FBI vs. Jean Seberg, Time, September 24, 1979. Ronald J. Ostrow, “FBI Probe of Actress Jean Seberg Found More Extensive Than Reported,” Los Angeles Tim
es, January 9, 1980. Kevin Roderick, “Bellows, Jean Seberg and the FBI,” LA Observed, March 13, 2009. Lorraine Bennett, “Actress Jean Seberg Found Dead in Her Auto in Paris,” Los Angeles Times, Septem-ber 9, 1979. “FBI Admits Spreading Lies About Jean Seberg,” Los Angeles Times, September 13, 1979. Ronald J. Ostrow, “Extensive Probe of Jean Seberg Revealed: FBI File Shows Actress Was Investigated from 1969 to ’72,” Los Angeles Times, January 6, 1980. Allan M. Jalon, “A Faulty Tip, a Ruined Life and Hindsight,” Los Angeles Times, April 23, 2002.

  21 Publicly, he was the ringmaster: Schrecker, The Age of McCarthyism, 27.

  22 In fact, Hoover provided: Oshinsky, A Conspiracy So Immense, 257.

  23 He gave HUAC: J. Edgar Hoover, “Speech Before the House Committee on Un-American Activities,” March 26, 1947, http://voicesofdemocracy.umd.edu/hoover-speech-before-the-house-committee-speech-text/.

  24 The job of HUAC: Navasky, Naming Names, 319.

  25 Those unverified: O’Reilly, Hoover and the Un-Americans, 195.

  26 The accused had no access: Robert Justin Goldstein, “Prelude to McCarthyism: The Making of a Blacklist,” Prologue (journal of the U.S. National Archives & Records Administration) 38, no. 3 (Fall 2006), http://www.archives.gov.

  27 The large contribution: Athan Theoharis, “The FBI and the American Legion Contact Program, 1940–1966,” Political Science Quarterly 100, no. 2 (Summer 1985): 271–86.

  28 In an internal memorandum: Sullivan to DeLoach memorandum, July 19, 1966.

  29 That is illustrated: Theoharis, J. Edgar Hoover, Sex, and Crime, 150–51.

  30 To name a few: Mitgang, Dangerous Dossiers, 37–188. Raines, Alien Ink, 187–266, 319–65.

  31 Science fiction writers: Alison Flood, “Ray Bradbury Investigated for Communist Sympathies,” Guardian, August 30, 2012.

  32 So were some publishers: Mitgang, Dangerous Dossiers, 194–208.

  33 A wide array: Peter Dreier, “Albert Einstein: Radical Citizen and Scientist,” Truthout, June 25, 2012, http://truth-out.org/news/item/9192-albert-einstein-radical-citizen-and-scientist. Jerome, The Einstein File, 121, and many other pages.