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University of New Hampshire University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository Doctoral Dissertations Student Scholarship Fall 1981 "WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING": THE FBI AND POLITICAL SURVEILLANCE, 1908-1941 DAVID JOSEPH WILLIAMS Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation Recommended Citation WILLIAMS, DAVID JOSEPH, ""WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING": THE FBI AND POLITICAL SURVEILLANCE, 1908-1941" (1981). Doctoral Dissertations. 1314. https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation/1314 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship at University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INFORMATION TO USERS This was produced from a copy of a document sent to us for microfilming. 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Other___________ ■________________________________________________________ University Microfilms International Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. "WITHOUT UNDEESTANEING" THE EBI AMD POLITICAL SUEVEILLANCE, 1908-1941 BY DAVID J . WILLIAMS E. A. (History), Marquette University, 1974 A DISSERTATION Submitted to the University of New Hampshire in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements fcr the Deqree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate School Department of History September 1981 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. aLl RIGHTS RESERVED @ 1981 David J. Williams Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Ihis dissertation has keen examined and approved Dissertation director* Scbert M.Hennel Professor of Bistory Hans Heilbronner, Professor of History _______________________ W illia n a. Jones, Professor cf History , ! \ ) i B. tfatasin, PEOfe££Cr c£ HistOCT iilliau Preston, Jr., Prcfecsor of History John Jay Colleqe of Criminal Justice, City University of New York ■L (IKl Date Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGES ENTS Special thanks to all of the members of my dissertation committee, especially my thesis director, Robert Mennel. I would also like to thark ay fellow qraduate students, in particular Karen Andresen, Steve Cox, Ron lettieri, and Steve Weisbuch. This proiect would not have been possible without expert leqal ccunsel from my qood friend and attorney, Ray Dall'Csto. Sany warm thanks to him. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABSTRACT " HI THOUT UNDERSTA NDI NG*1 THE FBI AND POLITICAL SURVEILLANCE, 1908-1941 by David J. Williams University of New Hampshire By 1941, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, created in 1908 as the Justice Department's Bureau of Investigation, had become a vast, influential and semi-independent bureaucracy. Under the close' scrutiny of Director J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI publicly promoted its criminal investigation capabilities and highlighted dramatic episodes such as the Dillinger case. At the same time, however, the FBI unilaterally created a covert code of political crimes and conducted numerous illegal investigations of both prom inent and o rd in a ry Americans. This dissertation focuses on the development of FBI political surveillance between 1908 and 1941. Discussion of FBI enforcement of the criminal law will be limited to the aqency's implementation of political surveillance investigations. Special attention is given to analyzing the evolution of surveillance techniques, and the variety of surveillance methods. Who were the targets of political espionaqe? To what extent did the FBI v Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. spy on leqal political activities? The study will also discuss efforts of the executive and leqislative branches to control FBI political surveillance activities. T his d is s e r ta tio n r e l i e s p rim arily upon FBI i n v e s tig a tiv e f i l e s and Bureau memorandums in th e custody of th e N ational archives, and FBI files acquired throuqh the Freedom of Information Act. Other documentary evidence is drawn from the Congressional Becord. conqressicnal hearinqs, court records and decisions, manuscript collections, newspapers, and memoirs. vi Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. T SBL E OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................... V INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................... 1 Chapter I . THE ORIGINS OF THE EOREAU OF INVESTIGATION . 24 I I . POLITICAL IDEAS BECOME CFIM ES............................................... 68 i n . THE RED SCARE AND THE DEPORTATION RAIDS . 112 IV. THE EUEEAO AND ITS EARLY CRITICS ................................. 159 V. REFORM OF THE B I'S INTELLIGENCE OPERATIONS . 197 V. FBI FC1ITTCAL SURVEILLANCE, 1924-1 936 „................... 253 VII. REFORM AND PUBLIC RELATIONS, 1920-1940 . 304 V III. PRELUDE TO HAR, *936-1941 335 BIBLIOGRAPHY..............................................................'............. 334 APPENDIX .................................................................................................................. 3 98 \ Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Introduction The Federal Bureau of Investigation {FBI) was founded in 1908 with the primary purpose of investigating violations of the a n t i - t r u s t and bankinq law s. By 1941, the FBI was a semi-autorcncus aqency, free frcm

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