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Landmark Giant #1
The FBI Story: A Report To The People
What is the FBI? How did it come into being? What has it accomplished? What are its powers? Above all, what does the mere fact of its existence mean to every citizen of the United States? This book, written with the cooperation of J. Edgar Hoover and FBI personnel, will answer these questions once and for all. The FBI Story, written by one of America's top reporters, Don Whitehead, and with a Foreword by J. Edgar Hoover, takes you behind the scenes to reveal the record of America's crusade against crime and subversion. The FBI Story names names, places and events. You'll read about cases which have made today's headlines as well as about the celebrated cases and notorious events which made yesterday's. You'll read about the Black Tom explosion and other acts of sabotage which were the prelude to America's entrance into World War I. You will find the case histories of the Wall Street Explosion and "Palmer's Raids"; the Harding Era and Gaston Means. The gangsters' rise to power in the roaring twenties and the "lady in red," Pretty Ana Cumpna, who betrayed John Dillinger, and Al Capone. Here too are the Lindbergh Kidnapping, the Kansas City Massacre and many other cases which placed the FBI in the forefront of the public's imagination. The FBI Story is also the story too of Pearl Harbor, the capture of the Japanese espionage messages, the German saboteurs' invasion of the United States and their capture, and other behind-the-scenes dramas of World War II. The book tells of the FBI's secret operations in South and Central America and the experiences of its Special Intelligence Service (SIS). How the FBI tricked the Germans through double agent radio stations is a "stranger than fiction" story. You'll read of the FBI's role in combating postwar crime as Don Whitehead reports on the kidnap murder of little Bobby Greenlease and the murder of a mother by her son high over a Colorado beet field when a plane fell carrying passengers and crew to their deaths. The fight against Communism in the United States, Smith Act prosecutions and the gathering of evidence which made these prosecutions possible are all portrayed. Also related are the cases of Hiss and Klaus Fuchs and the theft of the atomic secrets and the Rosenberg and Greenglass cases, which are revealed in detail. The history of the FBI in reality represents the people's efforts to achieve government by law. The FBI Story, then, is the story of America itself and the struggles to attain this ideal.
368 pages, Hardcover
First published November 10, 1956
5 people are currently reading
181 people want to read
About the author
Don Whitehead
38 books2 followersDon Whitehead was an American journalist. Among his many awards were the Medal of Freedom, the 1950 George Polk Award for wire service reporting, the 1951 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting, and the 1952 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting.
He studied at University of Kentucky from 1926 to 1928.He worked for the newspapers Lafollette Press (Harlan, Kentucky), and the Daily Enterprise beginning in 1928 where he covered the Harlan County War. He became a reporter for the Associated Press, in 1935.
Whitehead was a combat reporter during World War II.He covered the Eighth Army (United Kingdom) in Egypt, for the AP in September 1942 and then the American Army in Algeria and Tunisia in 1943.
He covered the Allied invasion of Sicily in July 1943 with the First Infantry Division. In addition he reported on the Allied invasion of Italy at Salerno in September 1943, the bloody Italian campaign in the fall of that year and the Anzio landings in January 1944.
Don Whitehead was on Omaha Beach with the 116th Infantry Regiment on June 6th, 1944 and was present for the Liberation of Paris and the first meeting of American and Russian forces on the Elbe River in May, 1945.
All total Don Whitehead made five amphibious landings with assault forces during World War II.
He received his first Pulitzer Prize, for international reporting (1951), for his coverage of the early months of the Korean War - where he again experienced months of front line combat.
He received his second Pulitzer, for national reporting, in 1953 for his coverage of President Eisenhower's post-election trip to South Korea in 1953.
He was Washington bureau chief for the New York Herald Tribune, from 1956 - 1957 and later a columnist for the The Knoxville (Tennessee) News-Sentinel.
His book, The FBI Story was adapted into a 1959 film starring James M. Stewart, aka: Jimmy Stewart.
His papers are held at the University of Tennessee.
Don Whitehead married Marie Patterson on December 20, 1928. They had a daughter, Ruth, and two grandchildren.
He studied at University of Kentucky from 1926 to 1928.He worked for the newspapers Lafollette Press (Harlan, Kentucky), and the Daily Enterprise beginning in 1928 where he covered the Harlan County War. He became a reporter for the Associated Press, in 1935.
Whitehead was a combat reporter during World War II.He covered the Eighth Army (United Kingdom) in Egypt, for the AP in September 1942 and then the American Army in Algeria and Tunisia in 1943.
He covered the Allied invasion of Sicily in July 1943 with the First Infantry Division. In addition he reported on the Allied invasion of Italy at Salerno in September 1943, the bloody Italian campaign in the fall of that year and the Anzio landings in January 1944.
Don Whitehead was on Omaha Beach with the 116th Infantry Regiment on June 6th, 1944 and was present for the Liberation of Paris and the first meeting of American and Russian forces on the Elbe River in May, 1945.
All total Don Whitehead made five amphibious landings with assault forces during World War II.
He received his first Pulitzer Prize, for international reporting (1951), for his coverage of the early months of the Korean War - where he again experienced months of front line combat.
He received his second Pulitzer, for national reporting, in 1953 for his coverage of President Eisenhower's post-election trip to South Korea in 1953.
He was Washington bureau chief for the New York Herald Tribune, from 1956 - 1957 and later a columnist for the The Knoxville (Tennessee) News-Sentinel.
His book, The FBI Story was adapted into a 1959 film starring James M. Stewart, aka: Jimmy Stewart.
His papers are held at the University of Tennessee.
Don Whitehead married Marie Patterson on December 20, 1928. They had a daughter, Ruth, and two grandchildren.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
September 4, 2023
I started this book with a cynical attitude. I didn't expect to like it and I had doubts about finishing it. It was published in 1956 when Director Hoover and his F.B.I. were Superstars in the United States. Herbert Hoover and the Bureau was unchallenged and unquestioned (at the time) in the use and abuse of legal and extralegal authority. The F.B.I. was leading the fight against the Red Menace in the mid 1950's. The United States ,and all of it's various governmental agencies, were on the side of the angels in 1956. Add to this mix the fact that Don Whitehead was allowed access to F.B.I. files with Hoover's permission (meaning he saw what Hoover wanted him to see)and I just knew I was in for a puff piece.
That was unfair to Mr. Whitehead.
After about a third of the way into the book I looked up Mr. Whitehead. Among his many achievements was a distinguished history as a combat reporter during World War II and Korea. He also had two Pulitzer Prizes. This was a writer who was far removed from being just another hired gun.
Why bother including Mr. Whitehead's personal history in this review?
Because this is a very well written and readable book. Despite being fifty-six years old and written in the slightly dramatic and verbose journalistic style of the period it grabbed my interest and kept me reading. Mr. Whitehead evidently saw his job to not only educate his readers, but entertain them.
Is it a flag waver? Yes. I felt like I was reading one of those corporate histories that so many companies commissioned back in the fifties and sixties. But ,instead of a celebration of American capitalism, it's celebrating American law enforcement. This is a book that provides a sanitized history of the Bureau (I suspect that Hoover had final editorial say over the book - just like the movie that came three years later) and Mr. Whitehead was not a radical or revisionist. He risked his life alongside American soldiers in two wars after all.He believed in the United States and he believed in Hoover and the F.B.I.
Mr. Whitehead was a good journalist, but he was also a company man (i.e. patriotic and pro-establishment) and it comes out in this book. The F.B.I. emerges as a professional and competent law enforcement organization. Which it was, and still is, despite some of the more problematic aspects. An organization that any true blue 1950 era American could be very proud of. Any issues and doubts that the reader might have about the Bureau are addressed and dismissed with ease. Mr. Whitehead was a skilled writer and a believer in the organization and Hoover in particular. He was a good choice to write this book.
In closing I have to recommend this book. It's well written and interesting. Even though one knows that it's a book intended to put the F.B.I. in the best possible light the skill that went into it is undeniable. Critics of the bureau are mentioned in the book and their criticisms of the F.B.I. are addressed and handled easily. This also fits with the type of book that it is. However the critics are mentioned - which I didn't expect. It earned this book the third star.
Ultimately this book is a very readable piece of primary history. Enough time has gone by that it's now longer contemporary and for me that makes it valuable.
I found my copy in a used bookstore. Like other older books I have reviewed The FBI Story:A Report To The People is worth the search.
That was unfair to Mr. Whitehead.
After about a third of the way into the book I looked up Mr. Whitehead. Among his many achievements was a distinguished history as a combat reporter during World War II and Korea. He also had two Pulitzer Prizes. This was a writer who was far removed from being just another hired gun.
Why bother including Mr. Whitehead's personal history in this review?
Because this is a very well written and readable book. Despite being fifty-six years old and written in the slightly dramatic and verbose journalistic style of the period it grabbed my interest and kept me reading. Mr. Whitehead evidently saw his job to not only educate his readers, but entertain them.
Is it a flag waver? Yes. I felt like I was reading one of those corporate histories that so many companies commissioned back in the fifties and sixties. But ,instead of a celebration of American capitalism, it's celebrating American law enforcement. This is a book that provides a sanitized history of the Bureau (I suspect that Hoover had final editorial say over the book - just like the movie that came three years later) and Mr. Whitehead was not a radical or revisionist. He risked his life alongside American soldiers in two wars after all.He believed in the United States and he believed in Hoover and the F.B.I.
Mr. Whitehead was a good journalist, but he was also a company man (i.e. patriotic and pro-establishment) and it comes out in this book. The F.B.I. emerges as a professional and competent law enforcement organization. Which it was, and still is, despite some of the more problematic aspects. An organization that any true blue 1950 era American could be very proud of. Any issues and doubts that the reader might have about the Bureau are addressed and dismissed with ease. Mr. Whitehead was a skilled writer and a believer in the organization and Hoover in particular. He was a good choice to write this book.
In closing I have to recommend this book. It's well written and interesting. Even though one knows that it's a book intended to put the F.B.I. in the best possible light the skill that went into it is undeniable. Critics of the bureau are mentioned in the book and their criticisms of the F.B.I. are addressed and handled easily. This also fits with the type of book that it is. However the critics are mentioned - which I didn't expect. It earned this book the third star.
Ultimately this book is a very readable piece of primary history. Enough time has gone by that it's now longer contemporary and for me that makes it valuable.
I found my copy in a used bookstore. Like other older books I have reviewed The FBI Story:A Report To The People is worth the search.
August 16, 2017
This was an interesting book. The history of the FBI is well-told and while Whitehead is focused on a decidedly pro-FBI bias, he's not so biased that the story rings false. The various cases he includes as examples are well chosen and almost as interesting as a Criminal Minds plot. And the way the intelligence portion of the US government has changed over the years is particularly interesting. It is easy to get the impression that the current agencies have always been and will always be in place with their current jurisdictions, but clearly they have changed a lot over the years.
This book was written during the Cold War, and was published in the late 50's, when the Red Scare had not yet cooled and given way to more clear thinking and sense, so the last few chapters on the horrific dangers of communism (and I suspect that Whitehead did not really understand the socioeconomic theory of communism at all, just the Russian and Chinese Communist party activities) make sense, even if it is hard to imagine being that scared of communism now. But, substitute 'Islam' for 'communism' in his concluding chapters and they read like the phobic nonsense behind recent anti-Islamic sentiments.
This book was written during the Cold War, and was published in the late 50's, when the Red Scare had not yet cooled and given way to more clear thinking and sense, so the last few chapters on the horrific dangers of communism (and I suspect that Whitehead did not really understand the socioeconomic theory of communism at all, just the Russian and Chinese Communist party activities) make sense, even if it is hard to imagine being that scared of communism now. But, substitute 'Islam' for 'communism' in his concluding chapters and they read like the phobic nonsense behind recent anti-Islamic sentiments.
December 23, 2024
To be taken with a grain of salt as Hoover wrote the forward to this book. It is very pro-fbi however as the book ends with the Rosenberg execution in 1953, it doesn't go into the 1960s in the controversy there. Whitehead does a good job of listing the reorganization of the agency in the twenties and the processes for searching the Un-American activities. He defends the is that shearch for Communists + stresses how they don't infringe on their civil liberties.
He defends against the insinuation that the FBI has become the Gestapo and lists the limiting factors of investigations. That's
" But there is one condition under which the FBI could become a gestapo. This could happen if the traditional checks and restraints were corrupted or eliminated by a dictatorial government and the FBI was then used as a political tool" p322
He defends against the insinuation that the FBI has become the Gestapo and lists the limiting factors of investigations. That's
" But there is one condition under which the FBI could become a gestapo. This could happen if the traditional checks and restraints were corrupted or eliminated by a dictatorial government and the FBI was then used as a political tool" p322
May 26, 2025
After reading books, which led to the understanding of concerns about personal freedom, these details leave me breathless. WHY? Our current news media has become so vindictive, sarcastic and vile to anyone that dares to step back and ask the question: 'If I put my name in place of (pick any politician or position reviled); What would my reaction to the 'news' be? Fair? Honest? or just plain biased, mean and ugly. Are we, everyday, hardworking Americans allowing our thoughts to be invaded by ugliness or caused to Think independently?
I sincerely hope independent thinkers will begin with the dictionary.
I sincerely hope independent thinkers will begin with the dictionary.
November 3, 2017
I read this when I was in grade school/junior high and found it awesome at the time, which is why I have given it a 5 star rating. Looking back, the book was probably a PR exercise by J. Edgar Hoover to some extent, but even so, you still get a good overview of the Bureau's history, albeit somewhat idealized.
August 12, 2022
Entertaining.
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🎥Movie version, 1959 with James Stewart and Vera Miles.
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🎥Movie version, 1959 with James Stewart and Vera Miles.
August 24, 2022
I would have liked to get through this months ago if not years! Very entertaining!
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews