Chasing Spies: How the FBI Failed in Counter-Intelligence But Promoted the Politics of McCarthyism in the Cold War Years [Hardcover]

Athan Theoharis (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1566634202 | ISBN-13: 978-1566634205 | Publication Date: January 21, 2002

The 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.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Marquette University historian Theoharis (J. Edgar Hoover, Sex, and Crime), a leading scholar of the FBI, draws deeply on internal documents to argue that often-illegal FBI investigations subverted the agency's mission of combating Communist espionage while providing extensive background information for McCarthy, HUAC and others. Cold War historians have concerned themselves with the FDR and Truman administrations' putative "softness toward Communism," which, Theoharis argues, is unfortunate for two reasons. One, it's not true: the FBI budget skyrocketed from $5 million to $90 million between 1936 and 1952, and Roosevelt's Attorney General Francis Biddle approved all of Hoover's wiretap requests; Hoover himself assured Roosevelt in 1941 that the FBI had Soviet agents "under constant scrutiny." Second, the argument fails to consider the FBI's various failures in capturing and convicting Soviet spies, its use of illegal wiretaps, the transcripts of which would be inadmissible in a trial, and its role in the "creation of a culture of lawlessness." Spies were uncovered by Venona Project codebreakers and the confessions of Elizabeth Bentley, but the FBI failed to build cases even then, argues Theoharis. And when the major COMRAP investigation documented merely "that American Communists were Communists, not Soviet spies," FBI attention shifted from espionage to influence not just in government, but everywhere from Hollywood to Colorado classrooms. Though the title suggests a bracing pace and a revelation-filled read, Theoharis's book is more of a studied analysis that seeks to paint a better portrait of the FBI's crucial hidden role in generating the culture of suspicions and blacklists that dominated McCarthyism.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

We have thrilled to the revelations about Soviet espionage in the United States that have appeared in such recent books as Allen Weinstein and Alexander Vassiliev's The Haunted Wood (LJ 11/15/98) and John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr's Venona (LJ 4/15/99). However, author Theoharis, who has spent the past 30 years investigating the activities of J. Edgar Hoover and his FBI (see, for instance, From the Secret Files of J. Edgar Hoover), insists that we know only a part of the story. Much of the information from both Soviet and American archives has been heavily censored by their respective governments. Reflecting decades of research, Theoharis argues that Hoover's FBI was much more interested in promoting an anti-Communist agenda, which would enhance the credibility of the agency and its political influence, than in countering Soviet espionage. Theoharis presents chilling evidence of illegal FBI wiretapping and other surveillance activities none of which would have withstood legal challenges in its unending effort to identify Communist sympathizers and fellow travelers. From Hollywood actors to Martin Luther King Jr. to political opponents of Washington politicians the FBI considered them all potential enemies of the state. Theoharis's book is an outstanding contribution to the growing historical literature on the Cold War and a potent warning to anyone who thinks we have heard the last word on the Cold War we haven't. Heartily recommended for all collections. Ed Goedeken, Iowa State Univ. Lib.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Ivan R Dee (January 21, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566634202
• ISBN-13: 978-1566634205
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,392,477 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fantastic book, May 11, 2005

By 

Charlie the Jesuit (Worcester, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chasing Spies: How the FBI Failed in Counter-Intelligence But Promoted the Politics of McCarthyism in the Cold War Years (Hardcover)

I used this book for an undergraduate course on U.S. intelligence history at a very selective college and it was universally well-received.

The book presents a comprehensive treatment and assessment of FBI counter-intelligence dating back to the 1930's. This is a shadowy subject since the crime-fighting "celebrity" cases of the 30's (See: Bryan Burroughs' _Public Enemies) have always drowned-out the birth and growth of the FBI's formidible intelligence/counterintelligence capabilities. An aspect that has been forgotten in all this, to my mind, is that there is a reason the FBI has been deemed the "lead agency" in the current "War on Terror" - this book tracks that history.

It is a tragic history that engages Soviet Espionange, the Smith Act cases, and their politicization in the McCarthy era. The book also addresses the revelations of the 1996 Venona Transcripts and pays attention to the latest contentions in a fluid and changing historiography. Oh, and it keeps you wanting to turn the page.

CRG
Worcester, MA

2 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How the FBI failed in counterintelligence, April 10, 2002

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chasing Spies: How the FBI Failed in Counter-Intelligence But Promoted the Politics of McCarthyism in the Cold War Years (Hardcover)

Athan Theoharis' Chasing Spies tells how the FBI failed in counterintelligence but succeeded in promoting McCarthyism during the Cold War. Chapters focus on the failure of the organization to apprehend and convict Soviet agents, their rejection of information which could have been used against suspected spies, and the efforts of the agency and Hoover to use the information for personal gain.