Description
Book SynopsisThe long history of the Federal Bureau of Investigation under J. Edgar Hoover is studded with serious questions about the Bureau’s professionalism and accountability. Revelations in the recent cases of Wen Ho Lee, Robert Hannsen, and Timothy McVeigh illustrate these misgivings. In Chasing Spies, Athan Theoharis, historian and perhaps the foremost authority on the FBI’s record, raises urgent new uncertainties about the Bureau’s behavior—and about the prospects for giving the FBI expanded powers of surveillance during the current national emergency. Mr. Theoharis here redefines the politics of the World War II and cold war eras, moving the debate beyond the narrow perspective triggered by the release of KGB records and intercepted Soviet consular reports (the Venona messages). The intriguing issue, he argues, is not the effectiveness of Soviet espionage activities as supported by the new evidence. Nor is it the long-standing charges of “softness toward communism” in the Roosevelt and Truman administrations. The real issue, he says, is the failure of the FBI to apprehend and convict Soviet agents. Based on meticulous research in FBI files, Chasing Spies uncovers the FBI’s role in the most important espionage cases of the cold war years. The book shows how secrecy immunized FBI operations from critical scrutiny and enabled FBI officials to mask their counterintelligence failures while promoting a politics of McCarthyism.
Trade ReviewNo historian knows the records as well as Athan Theoharis...a much-needed corrective to the contemporary overinflation of the significance of Soviet espionage. -- Ellen Schrecker, Professor of History, Yeshiva University, author of
Many are the Crimes
An important book. -- Tom Wicker
Athan Theoharis calmly explores a major paradox of the Cold War: that J. Edgar Hoover, for all his fulminations against communism, failed to apprehend and convict Soviet spies busily at work in the United States. Chasing Spies greatly illuminates this notable FBI counterintelligence failure. -- Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.
Startling.... He provides new insights into the dark history of the McCarthy era. -- Nadine Strossen, president, American Civil Liberties Union and professor of law, New York Law School
Table of Contents
Part 1 Acknowledgments vii Part 2 Preface: The Hazards of Research into Soviet and American Secrets 3 Part 3 The Soviet Espionage Threat 15 Part 4 The Failure of U.S. Counterintelligence 34 Part 5 The Comintern Apparatus Investigation 62 Part 6 Politicizing Justice: The Hiss and Remington Indictments 110 Part 7 The Politics of Counterintelligence 139 Part 8 The Politics of Morality 170 Part 9 The Perils of Partisanship 198 Part 10 The Lessons of History 235 Part 11 Notes 251 Part 12 Index 295
