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Abstract
Conceived by an FBI's public relations official as a “small book” on communism, J. Edgar Hoover's Masters of Deceit: The Story of Communism in America and How to Fight It became a bestseller after its release in 1958. The book's arrival, at a time when the communist movement in the United States was in decline, helped revive slumbering American anti-communists. The book's sales were propelled by FBI promotional efforts and by ardent anti-communists who purchased dozens or even hundreds of copies to distribute to civic organizations and students across the country. An examination of the production, promotion, and defense of Masters of Deceit reveals the power Hoover had to create relationships with similar-thinking Americans who identified strongly with him personally and with the FBI.
Notes
1 “D. W. Brogan Dead; British Historian,” New York Times, January 7, 1974, 34.
2 Denis W. Brogan, “The Man under the Bed,” Spectator, October 3, 1958, 27.
3 Ibid., 28.
4 For a thorough review of FBI history and extensive bibliography, see Athan Theoharis et al., eds., The FBI: A Comprehensive Reference Guide (New York: Oryx Press, 2000).
5 Harry Schwartz, “Closing Date Set by Daily Worker,” New York Times, January 9, 1958, 8.
6 “Communist Party Losses,” New York Times, March 21, 1952, 28.
7 Joseph A. Loftus, “Eisenhower Signs Red Control Bill, Citing Protection, New York Times, August 25, 1954, 1.
8 Harry Schwartz, “US Communists Survey a Weakened Party,” New York Times, December 13, 1959, 183.
9 Maurice Isserman, William R. Kenan, and Michael Kazin, America Divided: The Civil War of the 1960s (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 11.
10 Matthew Cecil, Hoover's FBI and the Fourth Estate: The Campaign to Control the Press and the Bureau's Image (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2014), 43–75.
11 Robert van Gelder, “J. Edgar Hoover Discusses Crime and Criminals,” New York Times Book Review, February 13, 1938, 89.
12 Ibid.
13 Athan Theoharis and John Stuart Cox, The Boss: J. Edgar Hoover and the Great American Inquisition (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1988), 351.
14 Theoharis et al., eds., The FBI: A Comprehensive Reference Guide, 346.
15 For a more detailed look at Nichols's work, see Matthew Cecil, Branding Hoover's FBI: How the Boss' PR Men Sold the Bureau to America (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2016).
16 Louis B. Nichols, memorandum to Clyde Tolson, 25 June 1951, FBI 67-205182-208, 1. File obtained from the FBI through a Freedom of Information Act request.
17 Ibid., 2.
18 Ibid.
19 William C. Sullivan, memorandum to Alan H. Belmont, 31 October 1955, FBI 62-102673-6.
20 For a discussion of the production of The FBI Story: A Report to the People, see Cecil, Hoover's FBI and the Fourth Estate, 239–245.
21 Cecil, Branding Hoover's FBI, Chapter 4.
22 Louis B. Nichols, memorandum to Clyde Tolson, 23 October 1957, FBI 62-104277-19, 1. The FBI's file on Masters of Deceit includes sixty sections and was originally obtained by independent researcher Ernie Lazar and posted at https://archive.org/details/lazarfoia. Other FBI files cited in this article were obtained by the author from the FBI using the Freedom of Information Act.
23 Ibid.
24 Louis B. Nichols, memorandum to Clyde Tolson, 27 January 1957, FBI 62-58054-45X.
25 J. Edgar Hoover, handwritten note on Nichols to Tolson, 27 January 1956.
26 J. Edgar Hoover, Masters of Deceit: The Story of Communism in America and How to Fight It (New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1958), 3.
27 Louis B. Nichols, memorandum to Clyde Tolson, 23 September 1957, FBI 62-104277-4.
28 Fred J. Baumgardner, memorandum to Alan H. Belmont, 24 September 1957, FBI 62-104277-11, 1.
29 Ibid., 2.
30 Ibid.
31 Louis B. Nichols, memorandum to Clyde Tolson, 26 September 1957, FBI 62-104277-11, 2. (Note that separate but related documents in FBI files often bear the same serial number.)
32 Ibid., 3.
33 Clyde Tolson, handwritten note on Nichols to Tolson, 26 September 1957, 3.
34 Don Whitehead, letter to Louis B. Nichols, 3 September 1957, FBI 62-104277-8.
35 George Sokolsky, letter to Louis B. Nichols, 30 August 1957, FBI 62-104277-6.
36 William I. Nichols, letter to Louis B. Nichols, 23 July 1957, FBI 62-104277-6, 2.
37 Maureen McManus, news release, “J. Edgar Hoover to Be Published by Holt” [ca. 25 November 1957], copy in FBI files, 62-104277-24.
38 J. Edgar Hoover, letter to Edgar T. Rigg, 25 November 1957, FBI 62-104277-26.
39 W. S. Tavel, memorandum to John P. Mohr, 29 December 1958, FBI 62-104277-1113.
40 Clyde Tolson, memorandum to J. Edgar Hoover, 5 December 1957, FBI 62-104277-37.
41 The first order for five thousand copies in Clyde Tolson to Edgar T. Rigg, 10 February 1958, FBI 62-10477-unserialized. The last of more than a dozen recorded orders of Masters of Deceit for employees cited in the available files is mentioned in Clyde Tolson to [redacted] Holt Sales Manager, 1 May 1963, FBI 94-41128-72.
42 Gordon A. Nease, memorandum to Clyde Tolson, 3 January 1958, FBI 62-104277-47.
43 Clyde Tolson, memorandum to J. Edgar Hoover, 9 January 1958, FBI 62-104277-57, 1.
44 Detailed reports of the edits are included in the Masters of Deceit file. For example, Milton A. Jones, memorandum to Gordon A. Nease, 17 January 1958, FBI 62-104277-69.
45 Gordon A. Nease, memorandum to Clyde Tolson, 22 January 1958, FBI 62-104277-73.
46 January 20 editorial attached to SAC Memphis, memorandum to J. Edgar Hoover, 21 January 1958, FBI 62-104277-82.
47 March 1, 1958, edition of the American Legion Firing Line, attached to Gordon A. Nease, memorandum to Clyde Tolson, 27 January 1958, FBI 62-104277-83.
48 Advance copy of editorial attached to Clyde Tolson, letter to Edgar T. Rigg, 30 January 1958, FBI 62-104277-94.
49 Milton A. Jones, memorandum to Gordon A. Nease, 18 February 1958, FBI 62-104277-133.
50 R. R. Roach, memorandum to Alan H. Belmont, 3 February 1958, FBI 62-104277-108, 1–2.
51 Clyde Tolson, memorandum to J. Edgar Hoover, 31 January 1958, FBI 62-104277-96.
52 SAC San Diego, memorandum to J. Edgar Hoover, 19 January 1961, FBI 62-104277-1836.
53 Milton A. Jones, memorandum to Gordon A. Nease, 18 December 1958, FBI 62-104277-1105.
54 J. Edgar Hoover, handwritten note on Jones to Nease, 18 December 1958.
55 Fred C. Koch to J. Edgar Hoover, 1 April 1958, FBI 62-104277-441.
56 William C. Sullivan, memorandum to Alan H. Belmont, 9 March 1961, FBI 62-104401-791.
57 J. Edgar Hoover to Fred C. Koch, 7 April 1958, FBI 62-104277-441.
58 SAC Cincinnati, memorandum to J. Edgar Hoover, 8 September 1958, FBI 62-104277-953.
59 Robert Lehman [redacted] at Henry Holt and Co., 20 May 1958, FBI 62-104277-727.
60 SAC Cincinnati, memorandum to J. Edgar Hoover, 13 September 1958, FBI 62-104277-1616.
61 John P. Mohr, memorandum to Clyde Tolson, 20 October 1960, FBI 94-54297-unserialized.
62 Cartha DeLoach, memorandum to John P. Mohr, 27 April 1961, FBI 62-104277-2029.
63 SAC Cincinnatti, memorandum to J. Edgar Hoover, 14 February 1961, FBI 62-104277-1889.
64 Clyde Tolson, handwritten note on [redacted, Foremanship Foundation] to J. Edgar Hoover, 20 January 1961, FBI 62-104277-1831.
65 Gordon A. Nease, memorandum to Clyde Tolson, 24 October 1958, FBI 62-104277-1007.
66 Peter E. Rentschler to SAC E. D. Mason, 14 March 1961 FBI 62-104277-1927.
67 Louis B. Nichols to J. Edgar Hoover, 12 May 1958, FBI 62-104277-685.
68 Milton A. Jones, memorandum to Gordon A. Nease, 19 May 1958, FBI 62-104277-unserialized.
69 Clyde Tolson, handwritten note on Jones to Nease, 19 May 1958.
70 Gordon A. Nease, memorandum to Clyde Tolson, 21 May 1951, FBI 62-104277-unserialized.
71 For example, Milton A. Jones, memorandum to Gordon A. Nease, 11 August 1958, FBI 62-104277-926; Milton A. Jones, memorandum to Gordon A. Nease, 18 August 1958, FBI 62-104277-912; Milton A. Jones, memorandum to Gordon A. Nease, 25 August 1958, FBI 62-104277-925; Milton A. Jones, memorandum to Gordon A. Nease, 2 September 1958, FBI 62-104277-928.
72 Book-of-the-Month Club advertisement, New York Times, August 26, 1958, 30.
73 John B. Oakes, “Conspirators against the American Way,” New York Times, March 9, 1958, 127.
74 Alan H. Belmont, memorandum for L. V. Boardman, 7 March 1958, FBI 94-8-51-unserialized.
75 J. Edgar Hoover, handwritten note on Belmonth to Boardman, 7 March 1958, FBI 94-8-51-unserialized.
76 G. A. Nease, memorandum to Clyde Tolson, 10 March 1958, FBI 94-8-51-391.
77 For examples, see Cecil, Hoover's FBI and the Fourth Estate, 177–192.
78 George Sokolsky, “Reviews a Review of Hoover's Book,” New York Journal American, March 17, 1958, 20.
79 J. Edgar Hoover, Masters of Deceit: The Story of Communism in America (New York: Henry Holt, 1958), 257.
80 Ibid., 246.
81 Patrick S. Washburn, A Question of Sedition: The Federal Government's Investigation of the Black Press during World War II (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986), 11–29.
82 Ibid., 33–40.
83 Richard Gid Powers, Broken: The Troubled Past and Uncertain Future of the FBI (New York: Free Press, 2004), 228.
84 House Committee on Un-American Activities, “Preliminary Report on Neo-Fascist and Hate Groups,” December 17, 1954, 10, https://archive.org/details/preliminaryrepor00unit.
85 “Zionists—The Only Real ‘Masters of Deceit,’” Common Sense, May 1, 1958, 1.
86 Ibid.
87 [Redacted to J. Edgar Hoover, 5 May 1958, FBI 62-104277-639.
88 [Redacted] to J. Edgar Hoover, 21 June 1958, FBI 62-104277-817.
89 [Redacted] to J. Edgar Hoover, 15 May 1958, FBI 62-104277-649.
90 [Redacted] to J. Edgar Hoover, 12 November 1958, FBI 62-104277-1040.
91 [Redacted] to J. Edgar Hoover, 24 November 1958, FBI 62-104277-2401.
92 [Redacted] to J. Edgar Hoover, 1 May 1958, FBI 62-104277-604.
93 [Redacted] to J. Edgar Hoover, 16 August 1958, FBI 62-104277-920.
94 Marion B. S. Weatherill to J. Edgar Hoover, 11 November 1958, FBI 62-104277-1048.
95 [Redacted] to J. Edgar Hoover, 12 June 1961, FBI 62-104277-2112.
96 “F.B.I. Chief Donates Royalties,” New York Times, February 9, 1958, 51.
97 Theoharis et al., eds., The FBI: A Comprehensive Reference Guide (New York: Oryx Press, 1999), 243.
98 Michael Newton, The FBI Encyclopedia (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2003), 114.
99 Ibid., 114–115.
100 J. Edgar Hoover, memorandum to John Mitchell, 11 May 1971, FBI 94-50053-74.
101 Theoharis et al., eds., The FBI: A Comprehensive Reference Guide, 319.
102 United States Department of Justice, “The Department of Justice Report on the Relationship between United States Recording Company and the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Certain Other Matters Pertaining to the F.B.I.,” January 1978, 25, obtained from the Harold Weisberg Archive, Digital Collection, http://jfk.hood.edu.
103 Ibid.
104 William C. Sullivan, The Bureau: My Thirty Years in Hoover's FBI (New York: W.W. Norton, 1979), 105.
105 Milton A. Jones, memorandum to Thomas E. Bishop, 5 May 1971, FBI 62-104277-3350.
106 J. Edgar Hoover, handwritten note on Jones to Bishop, 5 May 1971, FBI 62-104277-3350.
107 Hoover to Mitchell, 11 May 1971.
108 Ibid.
109 Thomas E. Bishop, memorandum to John P. Mohr, 14 May 1971, FBI 94-50053-69, 1–2.
110 Ibid.
111 J. Edgar Hoover, handwritten note on Bishop to Mohr, 14 May 1971, 2.
112 Ovid Demaris, The Director: An Oral Biography (New York: Harper's Magazine Press, 1975), 90.