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Enemies
AMERICAN DEMOCRACY - GOVERNMENT
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6. ENEMIES: A HISTORY OF THE FBI - CHAPTERS TWENTY-ONE - TWENTY-FOUR (171 - 201) ~ July 9th - July 15th; No Spoilers, Please
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Chapter Overviews and SummariesChapter Twenty One: "It looks like World War III is here"
The war against Communists heated up. In July 1950, Truman gave Hoover a broader mandate, and Hoover gave Truman a report detailing the possibility that the American Communist Party would use atomic weapons on U.S. soil. In November 1950, China entered the war against the U.S. in Korea. Venona unveiled a spy at the British embassy in Washington. Hoover suspected Kim Philby was a Communist, and two men at the embassy, Donald Maclean and Guy Burgess, left to Eastern Europe. Hoover suspected these two men were gay, thus Communist. He escalated the Sex Deviates Program to drive homosexuals from government, education, and law enforcement. The FBI director talked to the Director of Central Intelligence, Walter Bedell Smith, about his concerns that the CIA had homosexuals and were infiltrated by Soviet spies. They decide to exchange liaisons. In the 1952 election, Hoover fed Nixon allegations about Adlai Stevenson. Eisenhower won the election and told Hoover he had a job for as long as he was president.
Chapter Twenty Two: No Sense of Decency
With Eisenhower, Hoover got a direct phone line to the president and sat in National Security meetings. Hoover screened and watched federal employees, while going after Soviet spies. Senator Joe McCarthy became a popular anti-Communist crusader as he used FBI reports to make a case of Communist spies in government. When McCarthy began to over-reach with accusation against the U.S. army, Eisenhower started to block the senator. Hoover cut McCarthy off from his reports, as well. McCarthy ended up disgraced and Hoover now became the leading anti-Communist crusader again.
Chapter Twenty Three: Games Without Rules
While Eisenhower had the CIA investigated for effectiveness, Hoover made sure he told the president and his aid, General James Doolittle, that the CIA was broken. Doolittle recommended rebuilding the CIA from the ground up, but Eisenhower did not do this, but began to rely on Hoover even more. Hoover sent a report to the president about doomsday attacks by Communists in the U.S.
Chapter Twenty Four: The Long Shadow
Hoover expanded his campaign against Communists. He had undercover agents in the Intelligence Division (the largest division of the FBI) who installed microphones and did burglaries. Hoover founded COINTELPRO, or the counter-intelligence program, to break up leftist organizations. All these activities were done in light of the Supreme Court eroding the Smith Act.
Hoover felt the Communists were behind the civil rights movement. He opened files on the major civil rights figures, including Thurgood Marshall and Martin Luther King. The FBI was not aggressive against the Klu Klux Klan as they were not really a threat as compared to Communists. Instead, Hoover created a new program called Solo, where undercover agents were placed at the highest levels of the American Communist Party.
Well, Ike is in office and it just shows how much a difference it makes when a president supports the FBI's efforts. Hoover even got a direct phone line to Ike. It reminds me of the FDR days.
It also reminded me of just how effective a method it is to come to a president and scare them to death. you will get a budget, power and a seat at the table.It is interesting for me to compare this book to "Legacy of Ashes". In that book, I felt the some of the criticism of the CIA lacked context. It was as if the CIA was fighting an enemy that wasn't present when the Soviets were clearly engaged in the same things the CIA was. Here, the context is much clearer, communism was a threat. The history has a context but now the actions of the FBI appear over the top to fight it I find myself shaking my head thinking just how many times can Hoover cry wolf?
I think if I was President I would have to listen to Hoover as well simply out of concern he might just be right. It's also interesting to note the fear of a briefcase bomb didn't start after 9/11. It's been with us for a very long time.
I've been pulled in two directions regarding Hoover's anti-communism. First, I've been surprised at the extent and seriousness of Russian espionage against the US. But then, I've been concerned with Hoover's response - ignoring laws and courts, and misuse of his powers.Now, on page 171 Weiner talks of Hoover's "assertion that millions of Russian children were training as parachutists." This is so bizarre a statement that I'm now anxious for more insight into Hoover. Who would make such a wild statement - did he believe it himself?
Yeah, I don't know either. I think he believed it, but he is great at getting what he wants.Could we have uncovered what we did without hoover's illegal wiretaps, break-in, etc.?
I was very interested in the section detailing the fall of Senator McCarthy, especially because I live in McCarthy's hometown of Appleton (I drive down McCarthy street everyday on my way to work). Although it seems that McCarthy and Hoover shared an equally intense passion for fighting communism, McCarthy lacked Hoover's political shrewdness, that 'intelligence of a certain kind' mentioned on pg 196. Although this also strikes me as a miscalculation on Hoover's part: he thought he could use McCarthy in the same way he used Nixon previously, but he misjudged McCarthy so that his erstwhile ally became a political liability.
There is so much that is repulsive about Hoover: His political machinations, his hatred of anyone who disagrees with him, his vitriolic fury over Communists (I am still surprised that he greased out of the McCarthy debacle). But, even though he was wrong about the outcome of the Communist threat, he knew. He understood terrorism. He was just a half century early. This statement does not condone his absolute disregard for the laws of the land and the Constitution, its just that Mr. Weiner makes it clear that Hoover really understood the underbelly of those who hate(d) the US and all it stands for. His intolerance of anyone who stood in his way was unacceptable, but I am still stunned at his prescience.
After reading these chapters I just wonder as to how much and to what extent The Department of Homeland Security is working with the FBI on the present day threats to our National Security. It seems that we had very little knowledge of the workings of the Communist party back in the 50's. I hope we are better attuned to what our enemies our trying to do today. I think Eisenhower was more comfortable with men like Hoover and his way of working outside the scope of the law. If anything Eisenhower was a US Army General who relied upon intelligence gathering without the encumbrance of worrying about violating the law. Military intelligence gathering is so much different than civilian intelligence. The military does whatever it wants and pretty much has no one to account to. I think Eisenhower saw nothing wrong with what Hoover was doing.
Clayton wrote: "After reading these chapters I just wonder as to how much and to what extent The Department of Homeland Security is working with the FBI on the present day threats to our National Security. It seem..."Interesting point about the military angle.
G wrote: "There is so much that is repulsive about Hoover: His political machinations, his hatred of anyone who disagrees with him, his vitriolic fury over Communists (I am still surprised that he greased ou..."Thanks, G. I think Hoover did see real threats and he did have some well placed agents in the CPUSA. Did you think the reports he sent about American Communist agents using dirty bombs and nukes accurate? Too far fetched?
I think he may have heard rumblings and extrapolated. I am trying not to read ahead, but included in this section was his response to the KKK which was to ignore them, even though they used ground level terrorism. Because he knew the Soviets had nuclear ability and intercontinental ability, and because of his great fear of Communism, I think he assumed the Communist Party in the US would use Soviet technical skills against us, as the KKK used basic terrorism against people of color. I think he thought if the Klan could do it on a small scale, the CPUSA could do it on a large scale.
G wrote: "There is so much that is repulsive about Hoover: His political machinations, his hatred of anyone who disagrees with him, his vitriolic fury over Communists . . .But, even though he was wrong about the outcome of the Communist threat, he knew. He understood terrorism. He was just a half century early."I had very similar thoughts reading this section. Hoover was wrong about a lot of stuff, and made some accusations that were so over the top they bordered on silliness. But if anyone foresaw the era of terrorism, it was him.
It is breathtaking to see the grand sweep in the increase of power and authority given to Hoover in the Eisenhower administration. I mean, I had always thought Eisenhower was a man of principal and integrity. Hoover's alliance with Nixon makes sense (as I remarked upon last week). But Eisenhower? I admit I didn't know that much about "Ike", but I'm feeling some disillusionment here.
Hello, Good Readers. A quick note to say I am back from Ireland and ready to answer one and all in the Q and A.
The whole interplay between Hoover and McCarthy was interesting. As someone else mentioned, it seemed like Hoover's political savvy won in the end. I get the impression that even though they had similar goals of rooting out communism, that Hoover wanted to be THE man responsible for this and get the credit for it.
I got the same impression. If you are indispensable, you hold onto power.
Interesting and telling brief comment on page 183: "...the FBI is J. Edgar Hoover..."Though this statement was made by a senator, JEH believed the same thing, which again caused him to act in an independent manner, outside of any sense of accountability.
Once JEH got an idea in his head, he seemed to lock in on it and not let it go, and he would pursue it relentlessly. His idea that there were Commies everywhere who were bent on the overthrow of the government sent him hounding after folks beyond what was surely reasonable. One case of this is mentioned on page 200: "But Hoover's belief that communism stood behind Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement never wavered."
Welcome to the sixth week of discussion for Enemies: A History of the FBI.
The sixth week's reading assignment is:
Week Six - July 9th - July 15th :
Chapters TWENTY-ONE, TWENTY-TWO, TWENTY-THREE, TWENTY-FOUR p. 171 - 201
TWENTY-ONE - "It looks like World War III is here.", TWENTY-TWO - No Sense of Decency, TWENTY-THREE - Game Without Rules, and TWENTY-FOUR - The Long Shadow
We will open up a thread for each week's reading. Please make sure to post in the particular thread dedicated to those specific chapters and page numbers to avoid spoilers. We will also open up supplemental threads as we did for other spotlighted books.
This book kicked off on June 4th. We look forward to your participation. Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Borders and other noted on line booksellers do have copies of the book and shipment can be expedited. The book can also be obtained easily at your local library, or on your Kindle/Nook. We offer a special thank you to Random House for their generosity.
There is no rush and we are thrilled to have you join us. It is never too late to get started and/or to post.
Bryan will be leading this discussion.
Welcome,
~Bentley & Bryan
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