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

Jerome, Fred

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312288565 ISBN 13: 9780312288563

Publisher: St. Martin's Press, 2002

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 this title

Review:

From 1933 until 1955, the Federal Bureau of Investigation compiled a 2,000-page file on Albert Einstein, hoping to "destroy" his immense stature by linking him to Soviet espionage activities. At one point, not long before the scientist's death, a serious attempt was made to have him deported. This alarming campaign--responsible in large part for Einstein's exclusion from the Manhattan Project--is the subject of Fred Jerome's The Einstein File. Einstein's disloyalty, in the FBI's view, was clearly evidenced by his adamant political stances. He was a socialist, a pacifist (though he advocated war with Germany), and an outspoken foe of McCarthyism, nuclear war, and racism. Jerome's skillful narrative weaves the file's hateful (and often ludicrously inaccurate) entries with American political history, creating an invaluable context for both Einstein's views and the FBI's actions. Further, Jerome points to the more recent "sanitizing" of Einstein, from angry activist to "genial, absent-minded professor." This is a fascinating, compelling tale, one that reads like the strangest of fictions. --H. O'Billovich

From the Back Cover:

Praise for The Einstein File

"The Einstein File is a frightening look at a dark past, hopefully gone forever. It also reestablishes Einstein as a committed social activist, antiracist, antiwar critic of capitalism, whose daring extended beyond mathematics."
---Julian Bond, NAACP Chairman

"Meticulously researched and beautifully written, The Einstein File details a bleak chapter in this nation's history, when a rogue elephant FBI rode roughshod over civil liberties, including the rights and privacy of one of the world's great scientists. As the "war on terrorism" begins to resemble the "war on communism," Fred Jerome's highly informative book sounds a profoundly cautionary note."
---Gerald Horne, author of Race Woman: The Lives of Shirley Graham Du Bois

"A well-written, provocative book that could---and should---alter the ways Hoover and Einstein are viewed."
---Denver Post

"Vivid and engrossing.... Everybody interested in American history should read it."
---Frederic Golden, former science editor of Time

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 1955, 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.

About this edition

• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0312288565
• ISBN 13: 9780312288563
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 384