Kenneth O'Reilly | |
---|---|
Nationality | American |
Occupation | Professor of History |
Known for | Academic studies on the FBI |
Academic background | |
Education | University of Detroit (BA), Central Michigan University (MA) |
Alma mater | Marquette University (PhD) |
Academic work | |
Discipline | 20th-century U.S. History [ broken anchor ] |
Sub-discipline | FBI |
Notable works | Racial Matters:The FBI's Secret File on Black America,1960-1972 |
Website | https://www.kennethoreilly.com/ |
Kenneth O'Reilly is an American professor emeritus of 20th-century U.S. history who has written several books on the Federal Bureau of Investigation and its impact on the Federal government of the United States of America. [1] [2]
O'Reilly was born in New York City in 1951. [2]
He obtained a BA from the University of Detroit,an MA from Central Michigan University,and doctorate from Marquette University. [1] [2]
O'Reilly taught at Marquette University,the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee,and the University of Alaska Anchorage. [1] [2]
He is emeritus professor of history at the University of Alaska Anchorage and now teaches at the Milwaukee Area Technical College. He lives in Milwaukee,Wisconsin. [2]
In 1988,the New York Times cited his expertise,stating,"Kenneth O'Reilly,professor of history at the University of Alaska at Anchorage and author of Hoover and the Unamericans, said that wiretapping was so pervasive from the 1940s to the 1960s that virtually everyone was overheard who was important in Washington politics." [3]
O'Reilly has received a Chancellor's Awards for Excellence in Research and Teaching,plus grants and fellowships from numerous institutes and foundations that include:Gerald R. Ford Foundation,the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute,the Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Human Rights,the Fund for Investigative Journalism,the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation,the National Endowment for the Humanities,the Lyndon B. Johnson Foundation,the American Philosophical Society,and the Harry S. Truman Library Institute. [1] [2]
Racial Matters was a New York Times notable book of 1989. [2]
In 2010,historian Daniel Leab cited O'Reilly's book as important in understanding the impact of the FBI on other federal bodies such as the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). Specifically,his book Hoover and the Un-Americans is "still very pertinent... [because,as O'Reilly wrote] the FBI fed information to HUAC,and it did so consistently from before 1946" [as O'Reilly's book traces]. [4]
Books:
COINTELPRO was a series of covert and illegal projects conducted between 1956 and 1971 by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) aimed at surveilling,infiltrating,discrediting,and disrupting American political organizations that the FBI perceived as subversive. Groups and individuals targeted by the FBI included feminist organizations,the Communist Party USA,anti–Vietnam War organizers,activists in the civil rights and Black power movements,environmentalist and animal rights organizations,the American Indian Movement (AIM),Chicano and Mexican-American groups like the Brown Berets and the United Farm Workers,independence movements,a variety of organizations that were part of the broader New Left,and white supremacist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and the National States' Rights Party.
Helen Wilburforce Gandy was the American longtime secretary to Federal Bureau of Investigation director J. Edgar Hoover,who called her "indispensable". Serving in that role for 54 years she exercised great behind-the-scenes influence on Hoover and the operations of the Bureau. Following Hoover's death in 1972,she spent weeks destroying his "Personal File," thought to contain the most incriminating material Hoover used to manipulate or blackmail the most powerful figures in Washington.
John Edgar Hoover was an American law-enforcement administrator who served as the final Director of the Bureau of Investigation (BOI) and the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). President Calvin Coolidge first appointed Hoover as director of the BOI,the predecessor to the FBI,in 1924. After 11 years in the post,Hoover became instrumental in founding the FBI in June 1935,where he remained as director for an additional 37 years until his death in May 1972 –serving a total of 48 years leading both the BOI and the FBI and under eight Presidents.
Alger Hiss was an American government official accused in 1948 of having spied for the Soviet Union in the 1930s. The statute of limitations had expired for espionage,but he was convicted of perjury in connection with this charge in 1950. Before the trial Hiss was involved in the establishment of the United Nations,both as a US State Department official and as a UN official. In later life,he worked as a lecturer and author.
The United States Senate's Special Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws,1951–77,known more commonly as the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee (SISS) and sometimes the McCarran Committee,was authorized by S. 366,approved December 21,1950,to study and investigate (1) the administration,operation,and enforcement of the Internal Security Act of 1950 and other laws relating to espionage,sabotage,and the protection of the internal security of the United States and (2) the extent,nature,and effects of subversive activities in the United States "including,but not limited to,espionage,sabotage,and infiltration of persons who are or may be under the domination of the foreign government or organization controlling the world Communist movement or any movement seeking to overthrow the Government of the United States by force and violence". The resolution also authorized the subcommittee to subpoena witnesses and require the production of documents. Because of the nature of its investigations,the subcommittee is considered by some to be the Senate equivalent to the older House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC).
The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) is a progressive public interest association of lawyers,law students,paralegals,jailhouse lawyers,law collective members,and other activist legal workers,in the United States. The group was founded in 1937 as an alternative to the American Bar Association (ABA) in protest of that organization's exclusionary membership practices and conservative political orientation. They were the first predominantly white US bar association to allow the admission of minorities to their ranks. The group sought to bring more lawyers closer to the labor movement and progressive political activities,to support and encourage lawyers otherwise "isolated and discouraged," and to help create a "united front" against Fascism.
John Francis Cronin (1908–1994) was a Catholic priest of the Society of Saint Sulpice,who was an early advisor on anticommunism to freshman U.S. Representative Richard M. Nixon.
Elizabeth Terrill Bentley was an American NKVD spymaster,who was recruited from within the Communist Party USA (CPUSA). She served the Soviet Union as the primary handler of multiple highly placed moles within both the United States Federal Government and the Office of Strategic Services from 1938 to 1945. She defected by contacting the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and debriefing about her espionage activities.
William Mark Felt Sr. was an American law enforcement officer who worked for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 1942 to 1973 and was known for his role in the Watergate scandal. Felt was an FBI special agent who eventually rose to the position of Deputy Director,the Bureau's second-highest-ranking post. Felt worked in several FBI field offices prior to his promotion to the Bureau's headquarters. In 1980,he was convicted of having violated the civil rights of people thought to be associated with members of the Weather Underground,by ordering FBI agents to break into their homes and search the premises as part of an attempt to prevent bombings. He was ordered to pay a fine,but was pardoned by President Ronald Reagan during his appeal.
William Cornelius Sullivan was an assistant director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation who was in charge of the agency's domestic intelligence operations from 1961 to 1971. Sullivan was forced out of the FBI at the end of September 1971 due to disagreements with FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. The following year,Sullivan was appointed as the head of the Justice Department's new Office of National Narcotics Intelligence,which he led from June 1972 to July 1973. Sullivan died in a hunting accident in 1977. His memoir of his thirty-year career in the FBI,written with journalist Bill Brown,was published posthumously by commercial publisher W. W. Norton &Company in 1979.
Clifford Judkins Durr was an Alabama lawyer who played an important role in defending activists and others accused of disloyalty during the New Deal and McCarthy eras. He also was the lawyer who represented Rosa Parks in her challenge to the constitutionality of the ordinance,due to the infamous segregation of passengers on buses in Montgomery. This is what launched the 1955-1956 Montgomery bus boycott.
Max Lowenthal (1888–1971) was a Washington,DC,political figure in all three branches of the federal government in the 1930s and 1940s,during which time he was closely associated with the rising career of Harry S. Truman;he served under Oscar R. Ewing on an "unofficial policy group" within the Truman administration (1947–1952).
Athan George Theoharis was an American historian,professor of history at Marquette University in Milwaukee,Wisconsin. As well as his extensive teaching career,he was noteworthy as an expert on the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI),J. Edgar Hoover,and U.S. intelligence agencies,having written and edited many books on these and related subjects.
Courtney Ryley Cooper was an American circus performer,publicist and writer. During his career he published over 30 books,many focusing on crime;J. Edgar Hoover considered him at one time "the best informed man on crime in the U. S." He was also an expert on circuses,and was the chief publicist for Ringling Brothers,Barnum &Bailey Circus at the time of his death.
The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA),popularly the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC),was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives,created in 1938 to investigate alleged disloyalty and subversive activities on the part of private citizens,public employees,and those organizations suspected of having communist ties. It became a standing (permanent) committee in 1946,and from 1969 onwards it was known as the House Committee on Internal Security. When the House abolished the committee in 1975,its functions were transferred to the House Judiciary Committee.
Alexander Morton Campbell (1907–1968) was an Indiana lawyer who served in the United States Department of Justice as Assistant U.S. Attorney General for the Criminal Division,formally from August 1948 through December 20,1949,under Tom C. Clark as U.S. Attorney General (1945–49).
Counterattack was a weekly subscription-based,anti-communist,mimeographed newsletter that ran from 1947 to 1955. It was published by American Business Consultants,a "private,independent organization" started by three ex-Federal Bureau of Investigation agents.
Guenther Reinhardt (1904-1968) was a German-American writer and investigator,best known for his book Crime Without Punishment:The Secret Soviet Terror Against America (1952).
Defending Rights &Dissent (DRAD) is a national not-for-profit advocacy organization in the United States,dedicated to defending civil liberties,exposing government repression,and protecting the right of political dissent. DRAD was formed as the merger of the Defending Dissent Foundation (DDF) and the Bill of Rights Defense Committee (BORDC). DRAD is currently active in defending the right to protest,opposing political surveillance,and campaigning against the prosecution of national security whistleblowers.