Assault on the Left: The FBI and the Sixties Antiwar Movement

The New Left was founded in 1962, and as a social and political protest movement, it captured the attention of the nation in the Sixties. By 1968, the New Left was marching in unison with hundreds of political action groups to achieve one goal--the end of the war in Vietnam. Under J. Edgar Hoover's direction, the FBI went from an intelligence collection agency during WWII, to an organization that tried to undermine protest movements like the New Left. Hoover viewed the New Left as a threat to the American way of life, so in an enormous effort of questionable legality, the FBI implemented some 285 counter-intelligence (COINTELPRO) actions against the New Left. The purpose of COINTELPRO was to infiltrate, disrupt, and otherwise neutralize the entire movement. In truth, the FBI intended to wage war on the antiwar movement.

In this real-life spy story--J. Edgar Hoover and his G-Men, wiretaps, burglaries, misinformation campaigns, informants, and plants--Davis offers a glimpse into the endlessly fascinating world of the Sixties. Kent State, Columbia University, Vietnam Moratorium Day, the 1968 Democratic National Convention, the Cambodian invasion and March Against Death are all examined in this riveting account of the longest youth protest movement in American history. This is the only book devoted entirely to the New Left COINTELPRO, and the first one written after the declassification of more than 6,000 counterintelligence documents that reveal the true nature and extent of the FBI's Assault on the Left.

Author: James K. Davis
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Published: 04/22/1997
Pages: 240
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.23lbs
Size: 9.53h x 6.42w x 0.98d
ISBN: 9780275954550

Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 05/26/1997 pg. 78
Kirkus Reviews 05/01/1997 pg. 690
Library Journal 09/01/1997 pg. 197
Publishers Weekly 05/27/1997

About the Author

JAMES KIRKPATRICK DAVIS is president of Davis Advertising, Inc. in Kansas City. A student of American history for over 30 years, Mr. Davis is the author of Spying on America: The FBI's Domestic Counter-intelligence Program (Praeger, 1992). Mr. Davis also worked directly with Clarence Kelley, former Director of the FBI, as coauthor of the book Kelley: The Story of an FBI Director.