J. Edgar Hoover and the Anti-Interventionists: FBI Political Surveillance and the Rise of the Domestic Security State, 1939-1945
by Douglas M. Charles (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 2007).
Reviewed by Wendy McElroy
The Domestic Surveillance State is sometimes called the Electronic Police State. Those in political power use law enforcement to closely monitor the opinions and peaceful behavior of citizens in order to forestall and punish opposition. Typically the surveillance involves secret files, covert wiretapping, informants, the collection of personal data such as sexual preferences and other tactics that are odious to a free society. The Domestic Surveillance State is often associated with the East German Stasi or the Soviet KGB. But its roots are deep in American soil and it is reaching full growth with the War on Terror.
In his book J. Edgar Hoover and the Anti-Interventionists, history Professor Douglas M. Charles traces the modern American Surveillance State back to the Great Debate that occurred prior to America's entry into World War II. In 1941, intellectual conflict raged in print and over radio waves, in Congress and lecture halls, from pulpits and in living rooms. Should America provide aid in to the Allied side of the war then consuming Europe or should it remain non-interventionist? Apart from whether he wanted military involvement, President Franklin D. Roosevelt clearly supported massive aid to the British. Those who opposed intervention found themselves under a surveillance that was not merely new in style but also in depth. To access entire article, please click here.