The Burglary (99 page)
Authors: Betty Medsger
6
The director could not:
Clawson, “FBI's Hoover Scores Ramsey Clark, RFK; Praises Mitchell as âVery Human,'Â ”
Washington Post
, November 17, 1970.
THE SUBTERFUGE CONTINUES
1
The full explanation:
William Greider, “10,000 âPotential 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
, 43â44.
4
Congress achieved:
Theoharis,
Spying on Americans
, 40â64.
5
It was during debate:
Keller,
The Liberals and J. Edgar Hoover
, 34.
6
So great was his public:
Sullivan,
The Bureau
, 35â37.
7
The public relations arm:
John Fischer, “Personal and Otherwise: J. Edgar Hoover and the Politicians,”
Harper's
, March 1954: “â¦Â  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 annuallyâin TV and radio, comic books, suspense novels, films and news storiesâare still being devoted to the creation of a highly idealized stereotype of the G-man â¦Â by the FBI's own publicity outfit, which is widely regarded as one of the best in Washingtonâsecond, indeed, only to that of the Marine Corps.”
8
Stuart Ewen:
Ewen,
PR!
, 364â65.
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.â¦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.â¦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, andâalso marching to Hoover's drumbeatâthe 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 â¦Â to ensure that â¦Â 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.
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
, 243â43.
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, 699â703.
16
It was G. Gordon Liddy:
Wines, “Tape Shows Nixon Feared Hoover.” Liddy,
Will
, 238â50.
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
.
VICTORY AT CAMDEN
1
Hardy made his first:
Robert Hardy,
Camden
28
documentary script, 10.
2
In an indication:
Ungar,
FBI
, 482â83.
3
According to a minute-by-minute:
Sullivan,
The Bureau
, 152â53.
4
after 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 Sandy 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.
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: âCamden 28' Informer Says He Acted as âProvocateur,'Â ”
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., 209â14. 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
, 190â96.
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
, 218â22.
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.”
THE SECRET FBI EMERGES
1
For Kelley, those years:
Ungar,
FBI
, 466â69, 575.
2
Occasionally, for instance:
“Still Wanted,”
Time
, December 12, 1977.