Troutbirder II

Troutbirder II
Click on Mark Twain to jump to Troutbirders book review blog

Thursday, September 18, 2014

The Burglary


It was during the Vietnam era and the country was torn and divided.  Some thought the war was immoral or unnecessary. To the patriotic “silent majority” it was essential to prevent the march of atheistic communism combined with “my country right or wrong.”   That is all water over the dam now though the fact that China attacked and fought a war with Vietnam in the aftermath and Vietnam now wants to  be our friend seems historically relevant. There was no "domino."

Still, The Burglary is only indirectly about Vietnam, what makes it an important and riveting book, is its portrait of the destructive power of excessive government secrecy and spying.  Relevant today, it tells the story of J Edgar Hoovers  FBI and his attempt to stifle any dissent by any Americans and/or groups he personally didn’t like……   And thus strike at the core values of a democratic society. 

The groups he hated included blacks, war protestors, the highly educated, unions, most homosexuals, left handed people, people with a certain shaped skull, hippies, anybody who disagreed with him and also strangely the C.I.A.   He loved secret files he had built to coerce and blackmail people and petty and stupid easily caught criminals who built the FBI’s “success ratio” though the mob didn’t attract his attention as they were a tough nut to crack.

The heart of the book though is about a very small group of ordinary criminals who broke  into an office in a small suburb of Philadelphia, stole some government files, and then sent them off to major newspapers across the country.  It was, of course, an FBI office  and the files revealed the depths of  Hoovers paranoia and violations of the American Constitution.  They, three women and five men, some with families and young children, were never caught.They were  quiet, ordinary, hardworking Americans but nevertheless their  break-in of the FBI office made them criminals in the eyes of the law.

It begans in 1971 in an America being split apart by the Vietnam War . . . This small group of activists the Citizens Commission to Investigate the FBI, inspired by Daniel Berrigan’s rebellious Catholic peace movement, set out to use a more active, but nonviolent, method of civil disobedience to provide hard evidence once and for all that the government was operating outside the laws of the land.

   The would-be burglars—nonpro’s—were ordinary people leading lives of purpose: a professor of religion and former freedom rider; a day-care director; a physicist; a cab driver; an antiwar activist, a lock smith ; a graduate student haunted by members of her family lost to the Holocaust and the passivity of German civilians under Nazi rule.

 
Betty Medsger's extraordinary book The Burglary recreates the who, the how and why of this fascinating story. The author, the first reporter to receive the FBI files, began to cover this story during the three years she worked for The Washington Post and continued her investigation long after she'd left the paper.  Regardless of any preconceived views you might have on the people and events of the Vietnam era,  The Burglary is a book well worth your time. I found the story both appalling and inspiring at the same time….

19 comments:

  1. Thanks TB, it's Joe's birthday soon, this would be an ideal gift... I just know he'd love it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sounds like a great read. Are you sure people who purchase it will not have their taxes audited?

    I think I'll take the chance.

    ReplyDelete
  3. What an amazing and frightening man he was. I'll have to check out the book.

    ReplyDelete
  4. My husband would probably like reading this book!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Appalling and inspiring at the same time I think I will pass...maybe someday I will read it. Isn't most everyone who spends any amount of time in Wash DC a scoundrel? :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Couldn't help a giggle at joeh!

    ReplyDelete
  7. This sounds fascinating TB and though I lived through the era, a lot of this is news to me. I will look for this book. Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  8. Sounds interesting. Although I'm not sure I want to know all that goes on at the top of our government. What we can see from here is pretty shady.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Good review, TB. I'll get it on the strength of it.

    I remember those times vividly, as do you. I was in VN two years, 66-68, with three months in Bethesda NH between them. I was in VVAW when I came back.

    It's difficult to understand those times, and what was going on today. People have no idea.

    ReplyDelete
  10. There's a pretty deep vein of fascism that runs through American history, of which Hoover was a manifestation. Look at Vietnam: we believe in freedom of the press and freedom of speech, but only if you write and say what we agree with.

    Otherwise you get the police riot at the 1968 Democratic National Convention or the massacre of unarmed children at Kent State in 1970. Chilling stuff.

    Nice to encounter a social studies teacher! I'm a college freshman majoring in history, so I just eat this stuff up.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Wow, this sounds fascinating. I definitely want to read it.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Sounds fun, J. Edgar kept lots under cover an outgrew his office duties.

    ReplyDelete
  13. It sounds like one of those books that I won't be able to put down. Can't wait ... thanks for the recommendation.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Just went over to the library website and put a hold on it. I should have it soon. Thanks for the recommendation. It sounds scary and fascinating at the same time.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hi Troutbirder! Long time no see!
    I used to work with a guy who loved to carry on about J. Ed and his wacky ways, so it might be fun to read this book. Since the breaker-inners were ordinary people they must have had help in finding these files from some FBI workers, would you say?

    cheers, Jo Up North

    ReplyDelete
  16. This sounds like a fascinating history. I remember much from this era, but it would be nice to know the rest of the story.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Sounds intriguing indeed. Never did like what I heard about Hoover. I suppose the book covers how such a person rose to such a high office. Worth reading -- thanks for the review ---- barbara

    ReplyDelete
  18. As William Faulkner famously said: "The past is never dead. It's not even past.”

    That's a very nice review.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Thanks for another of your cogent reviews. The Burglary is now on my must read list.

    ReplyDelete