The Einstein File: J. Edgar Hoover's Secret War Against the World's Most Famous Scientist

From the moment of Albert Einstein's arrival in the United States in l933, the year of the Nazis' ascent to power in Germany, until his death in l955, J. Edgar Hoover's FBI, assisted by several other federal agencies, began feverishly collecting "derogatory information" in an effort to undermine the renowned physicist's influence and destroy his reputation. Using material newly obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, Fred Jerome tells the story in depth of that anti-Einstein campaign, why and how the campaign originated, and provides the first detailed picture of Einstein's little-known political activism. The Einstein File not only reveals a little-known aspect of Einstein's considerable social and humanitarian concerns, but underscores the dangers that can arise to the American republic and the rule of law in times of obsession with national security.

Fred Jerome is senior consultant to the Gene Media Forum, Newhouse School of Communications, Syracuse University. His articles and op-ed pieces have appeared in many publications including Newsweek and the New York Times. As a reporter in the South during the early 1960s, he covered the exploding Civil Rights movement, and has taught journalism at Columbia and New York University. He is currently teaching a course at The New School titled "Scientists and Rebels." He invented the Media Resource Service in 1980, a widely acclaimed telephone referral service putting thousands of journalists in touch with scientists.