The burglary: the discovery of J. Edgar Hoover's secret FBI
(Book)
An account of the 1971 break-in of the FBI offices in Media, Pennsylvania, by a group of unlikely activists cites their roles in triggering major changes in the FBI and confirming that J. Edgar Hoover had run a personal shadow-FBI.
The never-before-told full story of the history-changing break-in at the FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania, by a group of unlikely activists--quiet, ordinary, hardworking Americans--that made clear the shocking truth and confirmed what some had long suspected, that J. Edgar Hoover had created and was operating, in violation of the U.S. Constitution, his own shadow Bureau of Investigation. It begins in 1971 in an America being split apart by the Vietnam War . . . A small group ofactivists--eight men and women--the Citizens Commission to Investigate the FBI, inspired by Daniel Berrigan's rebellious Catholic peace movement, set out to use a more active, but nonviolent, method of civil disobedience to provide hard evidence once and for all that the government was operating outside the laws of the land. The would-be burglars--nonpro's--were ordinary people leading lives of purpose: a professor of religion and former freedom rider; a day-care director; a physicist; a cab driver; an antiwar activist, a lock picker; a graduate student haunted by members of her family lost to the Holocaust and the passivity of German civilians under Nazi rule. Betty Medsger's extraordinary book re-creates in resonant detail how this group of unknowing thieves, in their meticulous planning of the burglary, scouted out the low-security FBI building in a small town just west of Philadelphia, taking into consideration every possible factor, and how they planned the break-in for the night of the long-anticipated boxing match between Joe Frazier (war supporter and friend to President Nixon) and Muhammad Ali (convicted for refusing to serve in the military), knowing that all would be fixated on their televisions and radios. Medsger writes that the burglars removed all of the FBI files and, with the utmost deliberation, released them to various journalists and members of Congress, soon upending the public's perception of the inviolate head of the Bureau and paving the way for the first overhaul of the FBI since Hoover became its director in 1924. And we see how the release of the FBI files to the press set the stage for the sensational release three months later, by Daniel Ellsberg, of the top-secret, seven-thousand-page Pentagon study on U.S. decision-making regarding the Vietnam War, which became known as the Pentagon Papers. At the heart of the heist--and the book--the contents of the FBI files revealing J. Edgar Hoover's "secret counterintelligence program "COINTELPRO, set up in 1956 to investigate and disrupt dissident political groups in the United States in order "to enhance the paranoia endemic in these circles, "to make clear to all Americans that an FBI agent was "behind every mailbox, "a plan that would discredit, destabilize, and demoralize groups, many of them legal civil rights organizations and antiwar groups that Hoover found offensive--as well as black power groups, student activists, antidraft protestors, conscientious objectors. The author, the first reporter to receive the FBI files,began to cover this story during the three years she worked for The Washington Post The Burglary -- From the Hardcover edition.
Hoover, J. Edgar -- (John Edgar), -- 1895-1972.
Intelligence service -- Moral and ethical aspects -- United States.
Leaks (Disclosure of information) -- United States -- Case studies.
United States. -- Federal Bureau of Investigation -- Corrupt practices -- History.
Whistle blowing -- United States -- Case studies.
Notes
Medsger, B. (2014). The burglary: the discovery of J. Edgar Hoover's secret FBI. First edition. New York, Alfred A. Knopf.
Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)Medsger, Betty. 2014. The Burglary: The Discovery of J. Edgar Hoover's Secret FBI. New York, Alfred A. Knopf.
Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)Medsger, Betty, The Burglary: The Discovery of J. Edgar Hoover's Secret FBI. New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 2014.
MLA Citation (style guide)Medsger, Betty. The Burglary: The Discovery of J. Edgar Hoover's Secret FBI. First edition. New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 2014.
Record Information
Last Sierra Extract Time | Apr 21, 2024 06:13:05 PM |
---|---|
Last File Modification Time | Apr 21, 2024 06:13:28 PM |
Last Grouped Work Modification Time | Apr 21, 2024 06:13:12 PM |
MARC Record
LEADER | 08477cam a2200733 i 4500 | ||
---|---|---|---|
001 | 852681883 | ||
003 | OCoLC | ||
005 | 20140508031445.0 | ||
008 | 130627t20142014nyuac b 001 0 eng | ||
010 | |a 2013024540 | ||
019 | |a 825046374 | ||
020 | |a 9780307962959|q (hardcover)|q (alkaline paper) | ||
020 | |a 0307962954|q (hardcover)|q (alkaline paper) | ||
020 | |z 9780307962966 (ebook) | ||
035 | |a (OCoLC)852681883|z (OCoLC)825046374 | ||
040 | |a DLC|b eng|e rda|c DLC|d IG#|d OCLCO|d YDXCP|d BTCTA|d BDX|d VHP|d CDX|d CGU|d HF9|d ITD|d UPM|d EEK|d DEBBG|d CLZ | ||
042 | |a pcc | ||
043 | |a n-us--- | ||
049 | |a HEVA | ||
050 | 0 | 0 | |a HV8144.F43|b M43 2014 |
082 | 0 | 0 | |a 363.250973/0904|2 23 |
100 | 1 | |a Medsger, Betty.|0 https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n79006945 | |
245 | 1 | 4 | |a The burglary :|b the discovery of J. Edgar Hoover's secret FBI /|c Betty Medsger. |
250 | |a First edition. | ||
264 | 1 | |a New York :|b Alfred A. Knopf,|c 2014. | |
264 | 4 | |c ©2014. | |
300 | |a x, 596 pages :|b illustrations, portraits ;|c 25 cm | ||
336 | |a text|2 rdacontent | ||
337 | |a unmediated|2 rdamedia | ||
338 | |a volume|2 rdacarrier | ||
504 | |a Includes bibliographical references (pages 567-578) and index. | ||
505 | 0 | |a In the absence of oversight -- Choosing burglary -- The team is formed -- The burglars in the attic -- Time out for White House meeting -- With thanks to Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier -- Escape to the farm -- J. Edgar Hoover's worst nightmare -- FBI and burglars in a race -- To publish or not to publish -- Appropriate for the secret police of the Soviet Union -- I'm thinking of turning you in -- Being American while Black and other insights from media -- The subterfuge continues -- COINTELPRO hovers -- Victory at Camden -- Defeat at Camden -- The secret FBI emerges -- Crude and cruel -- Closing cases -- Dumbstruck that it meant something -- Unconditionally positive -- Very pleased, missing the joy -- Building little pockets of life -- You didn't do that -- Fragile reform -- The NSA files -- Questions. | |
520 | |a An account of the 1971 break-in of the FBI offices in Media, Pennsylvania, by a group of unlikely activists cites their roles in triggering major changes in the FBI and confirming that J. Edgar Hoover had run a personal shadow-FBI. | ||
520 | 0 | |a The never-before-told full story of the history-changing break-in at the FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania, by a group of unlikely activists--quiet, ordinary, hardworking Americans--that made clear the shocking truth and confirmed what some had long suspected, that J. Edgar Hoover had created and was operating, in violation of the U.S. Constitution, his own shadow Bureau of Investigation. It begins in 1971 in an America being split apart by the Vietnam War . . . A small group ofactivists--eight men and women--the Citizens Commission to Investigate the FBI, inspired by Daniel Berrigan's rebellious Catholic peace movement, set out to use a more active, but nonviolent, method of civil disobedience to provide hard evidence once and for all that the government was operating outside the laws of the land. The would-be burglars--nonpro's--were ordinary people leading lives of purpose: a professor of religion and former freedom rider; a day-care director; a physicist; a cab driver; an antiwar activist, a lock picker; a graduate student haunted by members of her family lost to the Holocaust and the passivity of German civilians under Nazi rule. Betty Medsger's extraordinary book re-creates in resonant detail how this group of unknowing thieves, in their meticulous planning of the burglary, scouted out the low-security FBI building in a small town just west of Philadelphia, taking into consideration every possible factor, and how they planned the break-in for the night of the long-anticipated boxing match between Joe Frazier (war supporter and friend to President Nixon) and Muhammad Ali (convicted for refusing to serve in the military), knowing that all would be fixated on their televisions and radios. Medsger writes that the burglars removed all of the FBI files and, with the utmost deliberation, released them to various journalists and members of Congress, soon upending the public's perception of the inviolate head of the Bureau and paving the way for the first overhaul of the FBI since Hoover became its director in 1924. And we see how the release of the FBI files to the press set the stage for the sensational release three months later, by Daniel Ellsberg, of the top-secret, seven-thousand-page Pentagon study on U.S. decision-making regarding the Vietnam War, which became known as the Pentagon Papers. At the heart of the heist--and the book--the contents of the FBI files revealing J. Edgar Hoover's "secret counterintelligence program "COINTELPRO, set up in 1956 to investigate and disrupt dissident political groups in the United States in order "to enhance the paranoia endemic in these circles, "to make clear to all Americans that an FBI agent was "behind every mailbox, "a plan that would discredit, destabilize, and demoralize groups, many of them legal civil rights organizations and antiwar groups that Hoover found offensive--as well as black power groups, student activists, antidraft protestors, conscientious objectors. The author, the first reporter to receive the FBI files,began to cover this story during the three years she worked for The Washington Post The Burglary -- From the Hardcover edition. | |
600 | 1 | 0 | |a Hoover, J. Edgar|q (John Edgar),|d 1895-1972.|0 https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n79077374 |
610 | 1 | 0 | |a United States.|b Federal Bureau of Investigation|0 https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n78095617|x Corrupt practices|0 https://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh99005368|x History.|0 https://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh99005024 |
650 | 0 | |a Intelligence service|0 https://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85067175|x Moral and ethical aspects|0 https://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh00006099|z United States.|0 https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n78095330-781 | |
650 | 0 | |a Leaks (Disclosure of information)|0 https://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh97004223|z United States|0 https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n78095330-781|v Case studies.|0 https://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh99001484 | |
650 | 0 | |a Whistle blowing|z United States|0 https://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2008113470|v Case studies.|0 https://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh99001484 | |
650 | 0 | |a Burglary|0 https://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85018068|z United States|0 https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n78095330-781|v Case studies.|0 https://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh99001484 | |
655 | 7 | |a Case studies.|2 lcgft|0 https://id.loc.gov/authorities/genreForms/gf2017026140 | |
907 | |a .b41182492 | ||
948 | |a MARCIVE Comp, in 2022.12 | ||
948 | |a MARCIVE Comp, 2019.05 | ||
948 | |a MARCIVE Comp, 2018.03 | ||
948 | |a MARCIVE Comp, 2017.10 | ||
948 | |a MARCIVE August, 2017 | ||
948 | |a MARCIVE extract Aug 5, 2017 | ||
989 | |1 .i81426215|b 3482600187020|d srnfa|g -|m |h 8|x 0|t 0|i 0|j 18|k 131219|n 02-08-2017 22:29|o -|a 363.25|r MED(StaffRetrieval) | ||
989 | |1 .i82381756|b 1220004756518|d gcnnf|g -|m |h 7|x 0|t 0|i 8|j 70|k 140131|n 10-03-2022 20:41|o -|a 363.25|r MED|u 1220004756518gcnnb092363.25MED701151p$29.95p | ||
989 | |1 .i82466282|b 1130003209230|d pc|g -|m |h 7|x 0|t 0|i 0|j 2|k 140206|n 03-20-2021 20:59|o -|a 363.25|r M492 | ||
989 | |1 .i82582026|b 1090060282993|d mpmnf|g -|m |h 16|x 0|t 0|i 13|j 7|k 140221|n 09-28-2021 16:37|o -|a 363.2509|r M492b|u 363.2509M492b1251090060282993mpmnb$29.95p7-BTnas092 | ||
989 | |1 .i84115567|b 1010002119162|d as|g -|m |h 3|x 0|t 0|i 3|j 18|k 140508|n 05-29-2021 15:41|o -|a HV8144.F43 M43 2014 | ||
989 | |1 .i91465850|b 32104000145258|d pran|g -|m |h 7|x 1|t 0|i 2|j 2|k 150312|n 03-02-2023 00:49|o -|a HISTORY / US / 20th Century | ||
989 | |1 .i9454248x|b 1070003965885|d flgmn|g -|m |h 1|x 0|t 0|i 0|j 18|k 150516|o -|a HV8144.F43|r M43 2014 | ||
989 | |1 .i123722251|b 31813004906367|d below|g -|m |h 8|x 0|t 0|i 1|j 300|k 190216|n 04-29-2022 20:51|o -|a 363.250973 MEDSGER | ||
995 | |a Loaded with m2btab.ltiac in 2022.12 | ||
995 | |a Loaded with m2btab.ltiac in 2019.05 | ||
995 | |a Loaded with m2btab.ltiac in 2018.03 | ||
995 | |a Loaded with m2btab.ltiac in 2018.03 | ||
995 | |a Loaded with m2btab.ltiac in 2017.10 | ||
995 | |a Loaded with m2btab.ltiac in 2017.08 | ||
995 | |a Initial Bemis load m2btab.test019 in 2019.02 | ||
998 | |e -|f eng|a as|a be|a ep|a ev|a fl|a gc|a gcn|a mp|a mpm|a pc|a pr|a sr |