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

Jerome, Fred

ISBN 10: 0312288565 / ISBN 13: 9780312288563

Published by St. Martin's Press, New York, 2002

About this Item

xxii, 358, [4] pages. Occasional footnotes. Illustrations. Appendix. Notes. Sources. Index. DJ has wear, soiling, edge tears and chips. Fred Jerome is a veteran journalist and science writer whose articles and op-ed pieces have appeared in dozens of 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, more recently, has taught journalism at Columbia Journalism School, NYU, and numerous other New York-area universities. In 2002, he developed and taught a course at New School University, titled "Scientists as Rebels." In 1979, he invented the Media Resource Service, a widely acclaimed telephone referral service putting thousands of journalists in touch with scientists. More than 30,000 scientists volunteered for the MRS, answering media questions in their areas of expertise. But the success of the MRS was before the Internet. "If I'd really been smart," he says, "I'd have invented the Internet, instead." For nearly a quarter century, from Einstein's arrival in the United States in 1933 until his death in 1955, Hoover's FBI, with help from several other federal agencies, collected more than 1800 pages of "derogatory information" in an effort to undermine Einstein's influence and destroy his prestige. The government's most intensive effort came in the early 1950's at the height of McCarthyism and America's Red-scare. "The Einstein File" is the story of that anti-Einstein campaign, but also the story behind it -- the why of the campaign -- providing the first detailed picture of Einstein's little-known political beliefs and activities. A passionate pacifist, socialist, internationalist and outspoken critic of racism, Einstein used his worldwide prestige to denounce McCarthy's congressional hearings, publicly urging witnesses to refuse to testify. The book braids historical events and excerpts from the FBI's Einstein dossier with a story of international intrigue and espionage. For besides abhorring Einstein's politics - and because he abhorred them -- Hoover attempted, for five years, to link Einstein to a Soviet spy ring, which necessarily becomes a profile of Einstein's quite extraordinary, and unusually over-looked, career as a political activist. Although the FBI had released parts of its Einstein dossier in 1983, Fred Jerome was able to obtain hundreds of pages previously withheld or blacked out by the Bureau's censors "for security reasons," pages which reveal, among other things, the extent to which Hoover and his agents went in collecting information on Einstein and his friends and colleagues -- monitoring their phone calls, opening their mail, rummaging through their garbage and even surreptitiously breaking into and searching residences. First Edition [Stated], First Printing [Stated].

Seller Inventory # 72855

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Einstein File; J. Edgar Hoover's Secret War Against the World's Most Famous Scientist
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press, New York
• Publication Date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0312288565
• ISBN 13: 9780312288563
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Very good
• Dust Jacket Condition: good
• Seller catalogs:
  • Atomic Bomb
  • FBI
  • Racism

About this title

Synopsis

From the moment of Einstein's arrival in the U.S. in l933 until his death in l955, J. Edgar Hoover's FBI, with help from several other federal agencies, busied itself collecting "derogatory information" in an effort to undermine Einstein's influence and destroy his prestige. For the first time Fred Jerome tells the story of that anti-Einstein campaign, as well as the story behind it--why and how the campaign originated, and thereby provides the first detailed picture of Einstein's little known political activism.

Unlike the popular image of Einstein as an absent-minded, head-in-the-clouds genius, the man was in fact intensely politically active and felt it was his duty to use his world-wide fame shrewdly in the cause of social justice. A passionate pacifist, socialist, internationalist and outspoken critic of racism (Einstein considered racism America's "worst disease"), and personal friend of Paul Robeson and W.E.B. DuBois, Einstein used his immense prestige to denounce McCarthy at the height of his power, publicly urging witnesses to refuse to testify before HUAC.

The story that emerges not only reveals a little known aspect of Einstein's character, but underscores the dangers that can arise, to threaten the American Republic and the rule of law, in times of obsession with national security.

About the Author

Fred Jerome is a 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, more recently, has taught journalism at Columbia, New York University, and other New York-area universities. He established the Media Resource Center, a widely acclaimed telephone referral service putting thousands of journalists in touch with scientists.