Of G-Men and Eggheads: The FBI and the New York Intellectuals

    This book isn’t as much about the New York intellectuals of the 50’s as it is about the politics of surveillance. According to the author, there was little protection against wiretapping until the 1990’s, so the FBI bugged homes and cars at will. The courts would not allow wiretaps to be used as evidence, but the FBI still listened in on Charles Chaplin, James Baldwin, Malcolm X, Dr. King, and countless others. There’s irony in that too, because none of those men posed any real danger to the American people. I’m not surprised by the author’s revelations on FBI bugging, given that that Hoover and his henchmen were never warm to the intellectuals or activists. Nonetheless, this book raises questions on two issues; firstly, the threat that the targets actually posed, and secondly, the goals that the FBI had in mind.

    Lionel Trilling is prominent in this book, and in the greatest irony, he was suspected of being a Trotskyite. I say irony, because Trotsky was anti-Stalin, which the FBI plants (spies if you prefer) never realized. As for his years of teaching philosophy at NYU, he doesn’t seem to have made much of an impact. Dwight MacDonald, another forgotten intellectual, was another weird obsession for J. Edgar Hoover. Again, nothing gained by either side.

    This entire book has zilch to do with New York City or its intellectuals, so don’t bother. It’s an ineffectual book about ineffectual people.