Reclaiming Einstein's LegacyWhy the FBI went after the "Person of the Century, and how the same mistakes are being repeated
In his book The Einstein File, Fred Jerome explains why and how J. Edgar Hoover's FBI put together an 1800 page dossier on the greatest scientist of the time. Nominally about the past, his account contains important lessons for everyone living in the US today, and for many people elsewhere. First of all, Einstein advocated antimilitarism, internationalism, and socialism, causes that Hoover considered repugnant. But the scientist didn't just harbor "unpopular" opinions; he actively and openly supported the causes he believed in. For example, he served as Honorary Chairman of the War Resisters League, was on the National Committee of the Friends of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, and vigorously backed Henry Wallace's 194S Progressive Party presidential campaign.
Above all, Einstein passionately supported civil rights and opposed racism.
Another goal of the FBI probe was to establish a connection between Einstein and the British atomic spy Klaus Fuchs, in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
Years later this "intelligence," although thoroughly discredited by the Bureau s own investigators, was still being distributed by Hoover to other agencies.
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Although Hoover's campaign to brand Einstein a communist and have him deported basically failed, it did succeed in one important way. The director's concern was that Einstein's views might become widely known, and influence others. That didn't happen.
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As he wrote in 1949, Einstein understood that it is difficult for the individual to make intelligent use of his political rights because power is concentrated in a few hands that "inevitably control, directly or indirectly, the main sources of information (press, radio, education)." Einstein certainly attempted to make his political views public.
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Most mainstream media don't even acknowledge that Einstein had a political life.
But Jerome properly describes it. Einstein, he writes, was "a man who never stops trying, never stops working to bring about liberty, equality, and fraternity for everyone, not just those who can afford to pay." If exposure of Hoover's once-secret files, perhaps abetted by a growing alternative media movement open to progressive ideas, creates a new awareness of Einstein's political convictions and courageous activism, that could certainly be called poetic justice.
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