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Young J. Edgar: Hoover, the Red Scare, and the Assault on Civil Liberties
In 1919, when J. Edgar Hoover was 24 years old, a New York City postal clerk discovered sixteen bombs wrapped in individual packages — America's first instance of homegrown terrorism. Then-Attorney General Palmer vowed a crackdown and enlisted Hoover as his deputy. Amid the hysteria, details of abuses emerged, Palmer fell, and the rise of J. Edgar Hoover began. Hoover's drive to gain immense power, as well as his coolness and calculation, is explored in Young J. Edgar. With the Palmer raid a as a lens through which to view the terror–hysteria of post-9/11 America, Young J. Edgar reaches the heart of our modern debate over personal freedom in a time of war and fear.
496 pages, Hardcover
First published May 8, 2007
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282 people want to read
About the author
Kenneth D. Ackerman
13 books52 followersKen Ackerman, a writer and attorney in Washington, D.C., is a 25-year veteran of senior positions in Congress, the executive branch, and financial regulation.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
April 9, 2017
It's not a new story: How to balance individual rights and privacy with public safety. We have laws in place that are supposed to protect individual liberties from the abuse of power, but that hasn't always been the case. Many people are familiar with the Red scare of the late '40s and early '50s, but that wasn't the first. In 1919 and 1920, immediately after WWI and the Russian revolution the US went through a period of fear and paranoia of anarchists and communists. Of course there was some reason to fear, there were bombings, but there were many abuses of power including warrant-less searches and arrests and detention without access to legal counsel, on a large scale, affecting thousands of people.
In the center of all of the activity was J. Edgar Hoover, who as a young man just out of law school made himself indispensable to those in power. He worked in the Department of Justice under A. Mitchell Palmer, the US Attorney General whose house was the target of a bombing in June of 1919. Hoover was instrumental in organizing the Palmer raids of November 1919 and January 1920 which swept up thousands of people in multiple cities across the country. Although the main targets were immigrants involved in the Russian Workers Union, the Communist Party, and the Communist Labor party, many other people were caught in the sweep including native born US citizens, and teachers and students taking night classes. For example, of the 650 arrested in New York City during the first raid, only 43 were eventually deported, but this was after they all were arrested, held often without counsel, and many were beaten. During this time, Hoover began collecting names and creating files, accumulating over 100,000 names within the first couple of years.
The book revolves around Hoover's activities during and after the raids. Ackerman does an excellent job giving you the lay of the land and describing all the major players, with enough background to let you understand who everyone is, but without derailing the story with too many tangents. He gives basic information on Hoover's background and at the end of the book a summary of the rest of Hoover's career. It is not a full-fledged biography of Hoover and is not intended to be, but the period it covers is fascinating. Many of the players destroyed their careers because of involvement in the raids, but somehow, Hoover seemed to get of scott free and of course had a very long career as director of the Bureau of Investigation.
The book is well-written and fast-paced. If you are interested in this period of American history, I highly recommend it.
In the center of all of the activity was J. Edgar Hoover, who as a young man just out of law school made himself indispensable to those in power. He worked in the Department of Justice under A. Mitchell Palmer, the US Attorney General whose house was the target of a bombing in June of 1919. Hoover was instrumental in organizing the Palmer raids of November 1919 and January 1920 which swept up thousands of people in multiple cities across the country. Although the main targets were immigrants involved in the Russian Workers Union, the Communist Party, and the Communist Labor party, many other people were caught in the sweep including native born US citizens, and teachers and students taking night classes. For example, of the 650 arrested in New York City during the first raid, only 43 were eventually deported, but this was after they all were arrested, held often without counsel, and many were beaten. During this time, Hoover began collecting names and creating files, accumulating over 100,000 names within the first couple of years.
The book revolves around Hoover's activities during and after the raids. Ackerman does an excellent job giving you the lay of the land and describing all the major players, with enough background to let you understand who everyone is, but without derailing the story with too many tangents. He gives basic information on Hoover's background and at the end of the book a summary of the rest of Hoover's career. It is not a full-fledged biography of Hoover and is not intended to be, but the period it covers is fascinating. Many of the players destroyed their careers because of involvement in the raids, but somehow, Hoover seemed to get of scott free and of course had a very long career as director of the Bureau of Investigation.
The book is well-written and fast-paced. If you are interested in this period of American history, I highly recommend it.
September 9, 2012
In "Young J. Edgar: Hoover, the Red Scare, and the Assault on Civil Liberties," Kenneth Ackerman plays to his strengths. He has served more than 25 years in senior posts on Capitol Hill and in the executive branch, as well as in private practice as a Washington, D.C., attorney, and the result is a chilling account of how the rule of law in a war on terror can be subverted into a war of terror.
Mr. Ackerman traces Hoover's rise from 1917 as a young attorney in the Department of Justice, to his appointment in 1921 as deputy director of the Bureau of Investigation, to his promotion in 1924 as director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. A hard worker superb at navigating the federal bureaucracy, Hoover made himself indispensable not long after Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer decided to implement his infamous raids ("the Red Scare") in November 1919.
At first, Mr. Ackerman acknowledges, the raids were "applauded by top officials in government, media, business, academia, and religion, almost across the board." In the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, anarchists and communists in this country spoke openly about violently overthrowing the American government. A series of riots and bombings seemed to signal that the Reds were advancing toward their goal.
Palmer, a Woodrow Wilson progressive, had resisted calls for a government crackdown on radicals. But when his own home was bombed and he realized that he and his family had narrowly escaped death, he decided that nothing less than an extermination of the Red threat could secure his government's survival.
Implementation of extralegal procedures seemed essential. Or as Mr. Ackerman puts it:
There is a seductive downward spiral in times of crisis from ‘doing something' to ‘doing what it takes' to ‘doing anything.'
Abetted by Hoover's dogged surveillance of radicals and by his extraordinary record-keeping and filing apparatus, Palmer had plenty of people to round up. Mr. Ackerman provides a persuasive account of Palmer's mindset and why it led to a "civil liberties catastrophe":
Probable cause to get a search warrant or an arrest warrant, providing prisoners a fair trial, including access to a lawyer … these rules can seem arcane and counterproductive when they occasionally get in the way, stopping police from preventing a crime, helping a guilty person go free, or interfering in the tracking of a possible terrorist. But they serve an essential purpose: they force the government to get its facts straight before it deprives any person — citizen or immigrant — of his or her freedoms, locks them up, deports them, seizes their property, or invades their privacy.
On January 2, 1920, Hoover sent federal marshals to arrest 2,700 suspected communists in 33 cities A later raid rounded up another 3,000. Many of the arrested were union leaders and immigrants and their crime was, at worst "guilt by association," as Mr. Ackerman notes.
Not only did Hoover continue to feed Palmer's enthusiasm for the raids, he lied about his part in this despicable episode. Later he would use many of the same illegal methods to pursue suspects throughout his five decades as FBI director. Mr. Ackerman calls the attorney general's reliance on the 24-year-old Hoover Palmer's biggest single mistake. "Despite his clear genius for organization," he writes, "Edgar lacked the other essential qualification for the job, the life experience and human context to appreciate the responsibility that came with power."
As hard as Mr. Ackerman is on Hoover, he does not demonize him. The biographer's own "life experience" and knowledge of power tell him that men like Hoover result from how their superiors deport themselves. Thus Mr. Ackerman excoriates Woodrow Wilson's "loyalists" for creating the myth that the president "had nothing to do with" supporting the Palmer raids. If so, Mr. Ackerman insists, "it was only because he [Wilson] kept himself ignorant, not because Mitchell Palmer refused to tell him."
Mr. Ackerman finds Hoover's immediate superiors even more culpable: "There were at least five people in the Justice Department who outranked Edgar at the time. … But none of them objected. Instead, they let Edgar call the tune from below" — a point that attorney Jackson Ralston made clear testifying before Congress in 1921, when the public and Congress turned against Palmer's violation of the Constitution.
That Mr. Ackerman has a moral with an urgent contemporary ring is apparent in his conclusion: "To the extent that our modern war on terror is paralleling the attitudes of the 1919-1920 Red Scare, we have to wonder: How many young J. Edgar Hoovers are we creating today?"
Mr. Ackerman traces Hoover's rise from 1917 as a young attorney in the Department of Justice, to his appointment in 1921 as deputy director of the Bureau of Investigation, to his promotion in 1924 as director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. A hard worker superb at navigating the federal bureaucracy, Hoover made himself indispensable not long after Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer decided to implement his infamous raids ("the Red Scare") in November 1919.
At first, Mr. Ackerman acknowledges, the raids were "applauded by top officials in government, media, business, academia, and religion, almost across the board." In the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, anarchists and communists in this country spoke openly about violently overthrowing the American government. A series of riots and bombings seemed to signal that the Reds were advancing toward their goal.
Palmer, a Woodrow Wilson progressive, had resisted calls for a government crackdown on radicals. But when his own home was bombed and he realized that he and his family had narrowly escaped death, he decided that nothing less than an extermination of the Red threat could secure his government's survival.
Implementation of extralegal procedures seemed essential. Or as Mr. Ackerman puts it:
There is a seductive downward spiral in times of crisis from ‘doing something' to ‘doing what it takes' to ‘doing anything.'
Abetted by Hoover's dogged surveillance of radicals and by his extraordinary record-keeping and filing apparatus, Palmer had plenty of people to round up. Mr. Ackerman provides a persuasive account of Palmer's mindset and why it led to a "civil liberties catastrophe":
Probable cause to get a search warrant or an arrest warrant, providing prisoners a fair trial, including access to a lawyer … these rules can seem arcane and counterproductive when they occasionally get in the way, stopping police from preventing a crime, helping a guilty person go free, or interfering in the tracking of a possible terrorist. But they serve an essential purpose: they force the government to get its facts straight before it deprives any person — citizen or immigrant — of his or her freedoms, locks them up, deports them, seizes their property, or invades their privacy.
On January 2, 1920, Hoover sent federal marshals to arrest 2,700 suspected communists in 33 cities A later raid rounded up another 3,000. Many of the arrested were union leaders and immigrants and their crime was, at worst "guilt by association," as Mr. Ackerman notes.
Not only did Hoover continue to feed Palmer's enthusiasm for the raids, he lied about his part in this despicable episode. Later he would use many of the same illegal methods to pursue suspects throughout his five decades as FBI director. Mr. Ackerman calls the attorney general's reliance on the 24-year-old Hoover Palmer's biggest single mistake. "Despite his clear genius for organization," he writes, "Edgar lacked the other essential qualification for the job, the life experience and human context to appreciate the responsibility that came with power."
As hard as Mr. Ackerman is on Hoover, he does not demonize him. The biographer's own "life experience" and knowledge of power tell him that men like Hoover result from how their superiors deport themselves. Thus Mr. Ackerman excoriates Woodrow Wilson's "loyalists" for creating the myth that the president "had nothing to do with" supporting the Palmer raids. If so, Mr. Ackerman insists, "it was only because he [Wilson] kept himself ignorant, not because Mitchell Palmer refused to tell him."
Mr. Ackerman finds Hoover's immediate superiors even more culpable: "There were at least five people in the Justice Department who outranked Edgar at the time. … But none of them objected. Instead, they let Edgar call the tune from below" — a point that attorney Jackson Ralston made clear testifying before Congress in 1921, when the public and Congress turned against Palmer's violation of the Constitution.
That Mr. Ackerman has a moral with an urgent contemporary ring is apparent in his conclusion: "To the extent that our modern war on terror is paralleling the attitudes of the 1919-1920 Red Scare, we have to wonder: How many young J. Edgar Hoovers are we creating today?"
January 23, 2017
I really don't know where to start from. The Government, represented by Attorney General Mitchell Palmer has decided to launch a long drawn out war against Communists. In his mind, communism is synonymous to 'anarchism' and 'violence'. His war begins after a set of bombs meant to target him and other officials including Frankling D. Roosevelt are launched in his neighbourhood.
He forms a team of 'tough men' among them J. Edgar Hoover who is only 24 years old at the time (1919). Young Edgar is loyal and committed to his work. Together they launch one of the most shocking raid against communists in American History. They arrest thousands of immigrants across the United States on the pretext that they are revolutionists with plans to overthrow the United States Government.
To support their actions, they drag in the office of the Secretary of Labour under the leadership of Louis Post. The Immigration Act has given the Labour Inspectors powers to conduct deportation hearings with an additional power of deportation to the Secretary of Labour. After persuading Camminetti, an official at the office, they launch their offensive. They arrest hundreds of thousands of people with warrants, without warrants, and wiyhout the right to talk to an attorney.
Many are held in communicado with the agents acting as state provocatures. Through undercover operations, they are able to listen into various groups meetings with whom they believe are radicals. Most of them are deportated back to Russia, Poland etc without any sufficient cause. Prisons overflow with people who die of various diseases including Tuberculosis.
It is this Government act that pits them against some of the State officials, Lawyers, and Judges around the country. Judge Underson, Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes and others raise their opposition against this government excess from the bench. Lawyers such Frank Frankfuter, Clarrence Darrow, Ralston, Roscoe Pound and many others become the representatives of those who have been labelled anarchists due to there utterances against the government.
With Palmer vying for Presidency, the war escalates to an uncontrollable magnitude. Louis Post, who is opposed to the mass deportations of people without reasonable cause becomes an unapologetic critic of Attorney General's actions. It opens a floodgate of anger and denouncement from Plamer and his supporters in Congress.
This is a test of the democracy of America. A test to the tolerance of criticism and freedom of speech for the American people.
He forms a team of 'tough men' among them J. Edgar Hoover who is only 24 years old at the time (1919). Young Edgar is loyal and committed to his work. Together they launch one of the most shocking raid against communists in American History. They arrest thousands of immigrants across the United States on the pretext that they are revolutionists with plans to overthrow the United States Government.
To support their actions, they drag in the office of the Secretary of Labour under the leadership of Louis Post. The Immigration Act has given the Labour Inspectors powers to conduct deportation hearings with an additional power of deportation to the Secretary of Labour. After persuading Camminetti, an official at the office, they launch their offensive. They arrest hundreds of thousands of people with warrants, without warrants, and wiyhout the right to talk to an attorney.
Many are held in communicado with the agents acting as state provocatures. Through undercover operations, they are able to listen into various groups meetings with whom they believe are radicals. Most of them are deportated back to Russia, Poland etc without any sufficient cause. Prisons overflow with people who die of various diseases including Tuberculosis.
It is this Government act that pits them against some of the State officials, Lawyers, and Judges around the country. Judge Underson, Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes and others raise their opposition against this government excess from the bench. Lawyers such Frank Frankfuter, Clarrence Darrow, Ralston, Roscoe Pound and many others become the representatives of those who have been labelled anarchists due to there utterances against the government.
With Palmer vying for Presidency, the war escalates to an uncontrollable magnitude. Louis Post, who is opposed to the mass deportations of people without reasonable cause becomes an unapologetic critic of Attorney General's actions. It opens a floodgate of anger and denouncement from Plamer and his supporters in Congress.
This is a test of the democracy of America. A test to the tolerance of criticism and freedom of speech for the American people.
June 15, 2013
I knew the content would be interesting and was pleasantly surprised to see the well crafted text. The paragraphs flowed from page to page and chapter to chapter. It was hard to put down. Well selected photos accompany the text and add even more understanding.
This is more than a bio of one man, it is a bio of the times. I did not know that Hoover cut his bureaucratic teeth on the Red Scare, so this book rounds out his portrait for me.
Ackerman's engaging prose brings to life the colorful people of the times. He presents Palmer in all his complexity. President Wilson is totally detached not only from the Red Scare but also the upcoming election where he has a son-in-law in contention. The totally obscure Louis Post is a true hero. Many great legal minds, Frankfurter, Darrow, Cardozo, Holmes and others play a role. I had not known of the eccentric millionaire socialist Lloyd before nor the colorful immigration official from California, Caminetti.
The most intriguing story of all, of course, is Hoover's. The reader learns how his character and style were formed. As a young man he got away with a tremendous breach of the US Constitution and he lied to his mentors. He knew how and when to be on and off the stage and who to play up to. He was probably given a pass for his presumed honesty, long hours of work and his youth.
I was struck by narrow the decision making. Only a few people held the reins than made life impossible for many. While the book doesn't spell it out, I would imagine people lost their homes (be they foreclosures or evictions) and children went hungry. None of the perpetrators suffered much. Hoover went on to great "success", Caminetti went on to comfortable obscurity and Wilson is heralded for his international vision. Palmer suffers somewhat but not in proportion to his deeds. The main hero is virtually unknown to history.
This is more than a bio of one man, it is a bio of the times. I did not know that Hoover cut his bureaucratic teeth on the Red Scare, so this book rounds out his portrait for me.
Ackerman's engaging prose brings to life the colorful people of the times. He presents Palmer in all his complexity. President Wilson is totally detached not only from the Red Scare but also the upcoming election where he has a son-in-law in contention. The totally obscure Louis Post is a true hero. Many great legal minds, Frankfurter, Darrow, Cardozo, Holmes and others play a role. I had not known of the eccentric millionaire socialist Lloyd before nor the colorful immigration official from California, Caminetti.
The most intriguing story of all, of course, is Hoover's. The reader learns how his character and style were formed. As a young man he got away with a tremendous breach of the US Constitution and he lied to his mentors. He knew how and when to be on and off the stage and who to play up to. He was probably given a pass for his presumed honesty, long hours of work and his youth.
I was struck by narrow the decision making. Only a few people held the reins than made life impossible for many. While the book doesn't spell it out, I would imagine people lost their homes (be they foreclosures or evictions) and children went hungry. None of the perpetrators suffered much. Hoover went on to great "success", Caminetti went on to comfortable obscurity and Wilson is heralded for his international vision. Palmer suffers somewhat but not in proportion to his deeds. The main hero is virtually unknown to history.
January 27, 2014
I learned about a whole crazy time in history that I never knew about. When everyone was afraid that anyone could be a dangerous Red.
December 4, 2025
Given the current furor over civil rights abuses going on with immigration and deportation programs in this country, it helps to remember we’ve been here before. This is a relevant book for the modern reader.
In November of 1919 the DOJ launched a sweeping round up of over 3,000 immigrants and U.S. citizens in an effort to ferret out communists, anarchists and “red” labor activists. They were arrested without warrants, placed in chains, and herded into cold overcrowded facilities at Ellis Island, where there weren’t enough blankets, food, or toilets. Two men died of pneumonia, one of them a U.S. citizen and a veteran of World War I.
It was the first “Red Scare”.
It’s a compelling, well researched book. There are heroes as well as villains, some of which most of us have never heard of, but those heroes are worthy of praise for their integrity. Some of these men had flaws themselves, but their virtues stood out during this debacle.
My only problem with it is that Ackerman at times slides into a narrative style known as free indirect discourse, where historical figures’ thoughts, feelings or assumptions are used without quotation marks, or in this case, apparently without adequate historical justification given Ackerman’s notes. Ackerman seems to assume the figure would have been thinking or feeling such a thing at a particular moment, and gives the reader the impression that he was.
But that aside, the reader will learn a great deal about the history of violations of the Constitution’s protections that took place a hundred and six years ago. If you think that’s ancient history, it is when my grandparents were starting to make their way in the world, and my dad was a toddler.
These civil rights violations were engineered by the man pictured on the cover. Young J. Edgar.
In November of 1919 the DOJ launched a sweeping round up of over 3,000 immigrants and U.S. citizens in an effort to ferret out communists, anarchists and “red” labor activists. They were arrested without warrants, placed in chains, and herded into cold overcrowded facilities at Ellis Island, where there weren’t enough blankets, food, or toilets. Two men died of pneumonia, one of them a U.S. citizen and a veteran of World War I.
It was the first “Red Scare”.
It’s a compelling, well researched book. There are heroes as well as villains, some of which most of us have never heard of, but those heroes are worthy of praise for their integrity. Some of these men had flaws themselves, but their virtues stood out during this debacle.
My only problem with it is that Ackerman at times slides into a narrative style known as free indirect discourse, where historical figures’ thoughts, feelings or assumptions are used without quotation marks, or in this case, apparently without adequate historical justification given Ackerman’s notes. Ackerman seems to assume the figure would have been thinking or feeling such a thing at a particular moment, and gives the reader the impression that he was.
But that aside, the reader will learn a great deal about the history of violations of the Constitution’s protections that took place a hundred and six years ago. If you think that’s ancient history, it is when my grandparents were starting to make their way in the world, and my dad was a toddler.
These civil rights violations were engineered by the man pictured on the cover. Young J. Edgar.
June 30, 2019
Read this book as part of my research into the Palmer Raids - for a book I am writing. It covers the raids of 1919 and 1920 in good detail as well as the personalities of Mitchell Palmer and J Edgar Hoover, who was just 24 when he took over the Radical Division of the forerunner of the FBI. It was Hoover that masterminded the raids and the arrests; Hoover that was willing to forego due process in most cases; Hoover that defended Palmer in various courts and senate / house committee meetings throughout.
This book shows the USA in a bad light in many ways but also the best of the USA in the attorneys that worked against Palmer and Hoover. Many risked their careers to uphold the spirit of due process and the law against the crazed populism of the anti-red propaganda that developed in the USA after WWI and so soon after the Bolshevik revolution of November, 1917 that also culminated in the bombs (including one in Palmers residence) that set off the raids and were actually the result of Italian anarchists not communists.
It is an important story, well-researched and written. Of the hundreds seized in the two raids, many Russians were shipped out of the USA on the SS Buford but very few were eventually deported from the second (including the two from England who are the subject of my intended book who departed the shores of New York in 1922).
This book shows the USA in a bad light in many ways but also the best of the USA in the attorneys that worked against Palmer and Hoover. Many risked their careers to uphold the spirit of due process and the law against the crazed populism of the anti-red propaganda that developed in the USA after WWI and so soon after the Bolshevik revolution of November, 1917 that also culminated in the bombs (including one in Palmers residence) that set off the raids and were actually the result of Italian anarchists not communists.
It is an important story, well-researched and written. Of the hundreds seized in the two raids, many Russians were shipped out of the USA on the SS Buford but very few were eventually deported from the second (including the two from England who are the subject of my intended book who departed the shores of New York in 1922).
June 14, 2018
I enjoyed this book and I enjoyed the author's ability to write and stay fairly neutral. The author does take a stand that against the Palmer Raids and the abuse of power by J. Edgar Hoover, but he does also display the reasons behind the raids are understandable and gives Hoover a human face and not as a monster. I am also happy that this author sticks to known facts and avoids rumors, like Hoover's alleged homosexuality, cross-dressing, and having an African ancestors (the author explains that is no creditable evidence to any of it, however he accepts that there could be truth in it but there will probably never be any real evidence showing them to be true.)
The basics of the book covers the Red Scare and the Palmer Raids and the after effects of the raids. But the author covers a bit about Hoover's and his family's background prior to his job with the Dept of Justice and what happen to the key players on both sides after the Senate hearings on Palmer.
The basics of the book covers the Red Scare and the Palmer Raids and the after effects of the raids. But the author covers a bit about Hoover's and his family's background prior to his job with the Dept of Justice and what happen to the key players on both sides after the Senate hearings on Palmer.
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April 24, 2019Everyone should read more about the period in American history from the end of the Civil War to the end of WWII. You should do so because this was the period in which there was both the greatest hope and the greatest failure. This volume does an excellent job of portraying how the rot that had destroyed the Southern United States, the rot of counter-reconstruction, overcame the North. But for the fact that Wilson's health and intellect sufferred a sudden and precipitous decline at the end of this period, the U.S. would have become a fascist state long before there was a Nazi Germany.
May 24, 2020
Excellent story of the Red Scare, circa 1920. Scary time brought to life.
December 20, 2007
An insightful and penetrating study of the development of the character of the future director of the FBI, and his impact on American society and culture. This book avoids the focus on the question of Hoover's sexual identity and its attendant but irrelevant sensationalism of many other studies of Hoover; it also looks at the nativist bigotry of that time, which we see echoed today although aimed at different groups - Hispanic and Arabic people rather than Italians and Russians - but showing up in the same willingness by many to strip their fellow citizens of their civil rights based on their identities rather than their actions. Along with the shameful record of the McCarthy era and the state-sponsored terrorism of the House UnAmerican Activities Committee, this book is scary but hopeful, in light of the fact that the past's abuses have eventually led to the construction of sturdier defenses of our civil rights when enough people got angry and disgusted, and a call to action to help raise that level of anger and disgust today.
February 10, 2008
A fascinating look at the U.S. government's response to a terrorist threat in 1919. J. Edgar Hoover began to hone his skills on keeping track of people on index cards at this time. In January 1920 suspected Communists and anarchists were rounded up, often without warrants, imprisoned and threatened with deportation. In many instances the government refused to explain the charges against individuals claiming that doing so would reveal secret government sources. The good news is that there were individuals who fought this assault on civil liberties. The bad news is that there are still many who think that protecting the country must be done by forgetting civil liberties.
January 9, 2008
A very interesting account of the early career of J. Edgar Hoover. This book offers a wonderful history of the Palmer Raids and the Red Scare. While the subject matter is compelling, the author's writing style leaves something to be desired.
November 6, 2011
The book covers the years 1919 and 1920, when it all began (Hoover's reign). It does summarize Hoover's upbringing and his history after those years. The book is chocked full of information. I had to keep notes in order to absorb (and remember) it all.
August 24, 2015
Only read the first 2 chapters. Those chapters had talked about A Mitchell Palmer. That's why I read it.
June 4, 2012
good concise explantion of Hoover's motivations at a young man
June 16, 2012
well researched. well documented. surprised that then tiny Nashua,NH had over 150 leftist activists to arrest! or 60 in Manchester,NH. Apparently, NH was a socialist hotbed!
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews