Podcast
American History Tellers
This was an authorized FBI history, largely written by Bureau staff, that avoided discussing domestic surveillance and was promoted as objective journalism, becoming a New York Times bestseller.
That meeting resulted in one of the most important publications in FBI history. The FBI story, A Report to the People by Don Whitehead, appeared in 1956.
— Episode: J. Edgar Hoover's FBI - Controlling the...
Episode: J. Edgar Hoover's FBI - Controlling the Message |...
This was an authorized FBI history, largely written by Bureau staff, that avoided discussing domestic surveillance and was promoted as objective journalism, becoming a New York Times bestseller.
That meeting resulted in one of the most important publications in FBI history. The FBI story, A Report to the People by Don Whitehead, appeared in 1956.
In his foreword, Hoover claimed the book was a work of objective journalism by an award-winning reporter. He wrote, This volume, then, is Mr. Whitehead's report. He has selected the material which has been used, and the facts reported are supported by the Bureau's record.
The FBI edited and approved the final product, something no objective journalist would allow.