Athan Theoharis
Athan Theoharis | |
---|---|
Born | Athan George Theoharis (1936-08-03)3 August 1936 Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA |
Died | 3 July 2021(2021-07-03) (aged 84) Syracuse, New York, USA |
Alma mater | University of Chicago |
Occupation | Professor of history |
Employer | Marquette University |
Known for | The Boss: J. Edgar Hoover and the Great American Inquisition (1988), From the Secret Files of J. Edgar Hoover (1992) |
Spouse | Nancy Artinian |
Children | Jeanne Theoharis, Liz Theoharis, George Theoharis |
Parent(s) | George Theoharis, Adeline Konop |
Athan George Theoharis (August 3, 1936 – July 3, 2021) 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.[1][2]
Background
Born in Milwaukee on August 3, 1936, to Greek immigrants George Theoharis and Adeline Konop,[1] Theoharis earned all of his degrees from the University of Chicago: two bachelor's degrees in political science in 1956 and 1957, a master's degree in 1958, and his Ph.D. in history in 1965.[2]
Career
Theoharis taught at Texas A&M University, Wayne State University, City University of New York, State University of New York at Buffalo, and at Marquette University.[1][3]
The scope of his writings has extended to Cold War history, anti-communism in America, civil rights and the politics of government secrecy.[4]
Grants and awards
Theoharis's grants and awards include:
- 1965, 1966: Grant from the Truman Institute for National and International Affairs
- 1971: Grant from the Institute for Humane Studies
- 1976: American Bar Association Gavel Award
- 1976: National Endowment for the Humanities summer fellowship
- 1979: Binkley-Stephenson Award
- 1980: Grant from the Field Foundation
- 1980: Albert Beveridge research grant
- 2002: Lawrence G. Haggerty Award for Research Excellence
- 2003: Wisconsin Academy of Arts, Science and Literature, fellow
- 2006: American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin's Eunice Z. Edgar Lifetime Achievement Award
Personal life and death
Theoharis married Nancy Artinian. They had three children: Jeanne Theoharis, Liz Theoharis, and George Theoharis.[1][2]
Athan George Theoharis died age 84 on July 3, 2021 in Syracuse, New York, from pneumonia.[1][2]
Legacy
At the time of his death, the Milwaukee Sentinel Journal called him a "persistent scourge of the FBI" due to its violations of American civil liberties.[2]
Theoharis was an early pioneer in the use of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and wrote a guidebook on FOIAs for scholars.[2]
Work
Theoharis's first book was Anatomy of Anti-Communism (1969), which was quickly followed with the publication of his revised PhD dissertation, directed under the supervision of Walter Johnson, titled The Yalta Myths: An Issue in U.S. Politics, 1945–1955 (1970). The book explored the changing symbolism of the Yalta Conference and how it affected the domestic politics of both the Republican and Democratic Parties.
This was followed by his influential Seeds of Repression: Harry S. Truman and the Origins of McCarthyism (1971), and his influential article "Roosevelt and Truman on Yalta: The Origins of the Cold War" in Political Science Quarterly (1972). The former located the origins of so-called McCarthyism not with the junior senator from Wisconsin but with the context of the Cold War and President Harry Truman's flawed leadership and anti-Communist rhetoric which created a climate permitting the advent of the phenomenon of McCarthyism. The article highlighted Truman's role in determining, in part, the way in which the Cold War materialized.[5]
In 1975, because of his work exploring the Truman and Eisenhower loyalty and security programs as well as his articles on FBI wiretapping, Theoharis was asked by the Church Committee to conduct research at presidential libraries. The Church Committee - the Senate select committee to study governmental operations with respect to intelligence activities - was formed by Senator Frank Church after Nixon administration, FBI, and CIA abuses became public. First without and then with qualified security clearances, Theoharis examined some presidential records relating to the FBI and White House at the Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson presidential libraries. He also examined some FBI records for the Church Committee at FBI headquarters.[2]
Following this work, and changes made to the Freedom of Information Act in the 1970s, in 1976 Theoharis became a specialist in the history of the FBI. He focused on FBI records procedures, rather than individual FBI targets, leading to discoveries or further understandings of the complexities and uses of FBI office files (as opposed to "official" FBI files), the JUNE mail file, the National Security Electronic Surveillance Index Card File, Surreptitious Entries file, COMPIC file, and COMRAP file.
His work has led some of his graduate students also to embark on FBI research. Two of his former PhD students include Kenneth O'Reilly (FBI and HUAC) and Christopher Gerard (FBI and the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee). Several of his master's students also studied the FBI with him while taking PhDs elsewhere: David Williams (PhD, University of New Hampshire) studied the early history of the FBI; Francis MacDonnell (PhD, Harvard University) studied the FBI and the Fifth Column; Douglas M. Charles (PhD, University of Edinburgh) studied the FBI and the anti-interventionist movement of 1939–45, and the FBI's Obscene File. Charles R. Gallagher, S.J. (Boston College) credits Theoharis with inspiring an integration of FBI and intelligence sources into the study of Vatican diplomatic relations.
- Books
- Theoharis, Athan (1969). Anatomy of Anti-Communism. Hill and Wang.
- Theoharis, Athan (1970). The Yalta Myths: An Issue in U.S. Politics. University of Missouri Press. ISBN 0-8262-0088-5.
- Theoharis, Athan (1971). Seeds of Repression : Harry S. Truman and the origins of McCarthyism. Quadrangle Books. ISBN 9780812901696.
- Theoharis, Athan; Griffith, Robert, eds. (1974). The Specter: Original Essays on the Cold War and the Origins of McCarthyism. New Viewpoints. ISBN 0-531-06493-X.
- Theoharis, Athan (1978). Spying on Americans: Political Surveillance from Hoover to the Huston Plan. Temple University Press. ISBN 0-87722-141-3.
- Theoharis, Athan, ed. (1979). The Truman Presidency: The Origins of the Imperial Presidency and the National Security State. E.M. Coleman Enterprises. ISBN 0-930576-12-8.
- Theoharis, Athan & Dubofsky, Melvyn (1982). Imperial Democracy: The United States since 1945. Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-451766-0.
- Theoharis, Athan, ed. (1982). Beyond the Hiss Case: The FBI, Congress, and the Cold War. Temple University Press. ISBN 0-87722-241-X.
- Theoharis, Athan & Cox, John Stuart (1988). The Boss: J. Edgar Hoover and the Great American Inquisition. Temple University Press. ISBN 0-87722-532-X.
- Theoharis, Athan, ed. (1992). From the Secret Files of J. Edgar Hoover. Ivan R. Dee, Publisher. ISBN 1-56663-017-7.
- Theoharis, Athan, ed. (1994). The FBI: An Annotated Bibliography and Research Guide. Garland Science. ISBN 0-8153-0871-X.
- Theoharis, Athan (1995). J. Edgar Hoover, Sex, and Crime: An Historical Antidote. Ivan R. Dee, Publisher. ISBN 1-56663-071-1.
- Theoharis, Athan, ed. (1998). A Culture of Secrecy: The Government versus the People's Right to Know. University Press of Kansas. ISBN 0-7006-0998-9.
- Theoharis, Athan, ed. (1999). The FBI: A Comprehensive Reference Guide. Checkmark Books. ISBN 0-8160-4228-4.
- Theoharis, Athan (2002). Chasing Spies: How the FBI Failed in Counterintelligence but Promoted the Politics of McCarthyism in the Cold War Years. Diane Publishing Co. ISBN 0-7567-8730-0.
- Theoharis, Athan & Theoharis, Jeanne (2002). These Yet to Be United States: Civil Rights and Civil Liberties in America Since 1945. Wadsworth Publishing. ISBN 0-15-506989-6.
- Theoharis, Athan (2004). The FBI & American Democracy: A Brief Critical History. University Press of Kansas. ISBN 0-7006-1345-5.
- Edited by Theoharis, Athan; Immerman, Richard & Olmsted, Kathryn (2005). The Central Intelligence Agency: Security under Scrutiny. Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-33282-7.
{{cite book}}
:|author1=
has generic name (help) - Theoharis, Athan (2007). The Quest for Absolute Security: The Failed Relations Among U.S. Intelligence Agencies. Ivan R. Dee. ISBN 978-1-56663-697-1.
- Theoharis, Athan (2011). Abuse of Power: How Cold War Surveillance and Secrecy Policy Shaped the Response to 9/11. Temple University Press. ISBN 978-1-4399-0665-1.
- Theoharis, Athan (16 December 2011). Expanded Powers: The FBI, the NSA, and the Struggle Between National Security and Civil Liberties in the Wake of 9/11. Now and Then Reader LLC. ISBN 9781937853068. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
References
- ^ a b c d e Sandomir, Richard (11 July 2021). "Athan Theoharis, Chronicler of F.B.I. Abuses, Dies at 84". New York Times. Retrieved 11 July 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g Higgins, Jim (8 July 2021). "Marquette's Athan Theoharis used Hoover's secret files to document the FBI's illegal actions". Milwaukee Sentinel Journal. Retrieved 11 July 2021.
- ^ "Athan Theoharis". Marquette University. Spring 2006.
- ^ "News Center // Marquette University".
- ^ Contemporary Authors Online, Thomson Gale, 2009
External links
- Marquette University
- New York Review of Books
External videos | |
---|---|
Athan Theoharis: The FBI's Massive Illegal Spying Operation in the 1960s, Organization of American Historians, April 17, 2015 |
- v
- t
- e
- Morgenthau Plan
- Hukbalahap Rebellion
- Jamaican political conflict
- Dekemvriana
- Guerrilla war in the Baltic states
- Operation Priboi
- Operation Jungle
- Occupation of the Baltic states
- Cursed soldiers
- Operation Unthinkable
- Gouzenko Affair
- Division of Korea
- Indonesian National Revolution
- Operation Masterdom
- Operation Beleaguer
- Operation Blacklist Forty
- Iran crisis of 1946
- Greek Civil War
- Baruch Plan
- Corfu Channel incident
- Turkish straits crisis
- Restatement of Policy on Germany
- First Indochina War
- 1947 Polish parliamentary election
- Truman Doctrine
- Asian Relations Conference
- May 1947 crises
- Partition of India
- Indo-Pakistani War of 1947–1948
- 1947–1949 Palestine war
- Marshall Plan
- Comecon
- 1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état
- Incapacitation of the Allied Control Council
- Al-Wathbah uprising
- Tito–Stalin split
- Berlin Blockade
- Annexation of Hyderabad
- Madiun Affair
- Western betrayal
- Iron Curtain
- Eastern Bloc
- Western Bloc
- Chinese Civil War
- Malayan Emergency
- March 1949 Syrian coup d'état
- Operation Valuable
- Bamboo Curtain
- McCarthyism
- Korean War
- Arab Cold War (1952–1979)
- 1952 Egyptian revolution
- Iraqi Intifada (1952)
- Mau Mau rebellion
- East German uprising of 1953
- 1953 Iranian coup d'état
- Pact of Madrid
- Bricker Amendment
- 1954 Syrian coup d'état
- Petrov Affair
- Domino theory
- 1954 Geneva Conference
- 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état
- Capture of the Tuapse
- First Taiwan Strait Crisis
- Jebel Akhdar War
- Algerian War
- Kashmir Princess
- Bandung Conference
- Geneva Summit (1955)
- Vietnam War
- Cyprus Emergency
- "On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences"
- 1956 Poznań protests
- Hungarian Revolution of 1956
- Polish October
- Suez Crisis
- "We will bury you"
- Operation Gladio
- Syrian Crisis of 1957
- Sputnik crisis
- Ifni War
- Iraqi 14 July Revolution
- 1958 Lebanon crisis
- Second Taiwan Strait Crisis
- 1959 Mosul uprising
- 1959 Tibetan uprising
- Laotian Civil War
- Kitchen Debate
- Cuban Revolution
- Sino-Soviet split
- Congo Crisis
- Simba rebellion
- 1960 U-2 incident
- Bay of Pigs Invasion
- 1960 Turkish coup d'état
- Albanian–Soviet split
- Iraqi–Kurdish conflict
- Berlin Crisis of 1961
- Berlin Wall
- Annexation of Goa
- Papua conflict
- Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation
- Sand War
- Portuguese Colonial War
- Cuban Missile Crisis
- El Porteñazo
- Sino-Indian War
- Communist insurgency in Sarawak
- Ramadan Revolution
- Eritrean War of Independence
- North Yemen Civil War
- 1963 Syrian coup d'état
- Assassination of John F. Kennedy
- Aden Emergency
- Cyprus crisis of 1963–1964
- Shifta War
- Mexican Dirty War
- Guatemalan Civil War
- Colombian conflict
- 1964 Brazilian coup d'état
- Dominican Civil War
- Rhodesian Bush War
- Indonesian mass killings of 1965–1966
- Transition to the New Order (Indonesia)
- ASEAN Declaration
- 1966 Syrian coup d'état
- Cultural Revolution
- Argentine Revolution
- South African Border War
- Korean DMZ Conflict
- 12-3 incident
- Greek junta
- 1967 Hong Kong riots
- Years of Lead (Italy)
- Six-Day War
- War of Attrition
- Dhofar War
- Al-Wadiah War
- Nigerian Civil War
- Protests of 1968
- Prague Spring
- USS Pueblo incident
- 1968 Polish political crisis
- Communist insurgency in Malaysia
- Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia
- 17 July Revolution
- 1968 Peruvian coup d'état
- 1969 Sudanese coup d'état
- 1969 Libyan revolution
- Goulash Communism
- Sino-Soviet border conflict
- New People's Army rebellion
- Détente
- Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
- Black September
- Alcora Exercise
- Corrective Movement (Syria)
- Western Sahara conflict
- Cambodian Civil War
- Communist insurgency in Thailand
- 1970 Polish protests
- Koza riot
- Realpolitik
- Ping-pong diplomacy
- 1971 JVP insurrection
- Corrective Revolution (Egypt)
- 1971 Turkish military memorandum
- 1971 Sudanese coup d'état
- Four Power Agreement on Berlin
- Bangladesh Liberation War
- 1972 visit by Richard Nixon to China
- North Yemen-South Yemen Border conflict of 1972
- Yemenite War of 1972
- Munich massacre
- 1972–1975 Bangladesh insurgency
- Eritrean Civil Wars
- 1973 Uruguayan coup d'état
- 1973 Afghan coup d'état
- 1973 Chilean coup d'état
- Yom Kippur War
- 1973 oil crisis
- Carnation Revolution
- Spanish transition to democracy
- Metapolitefsi
- Strategic Arms Limitation Talks
- Second Iraqi–Kurdish War
- Turkish invasion of Cyprus
- Angolan Civil War
- Cambodian genocide
- June 1976 protests
- Mozambican Civil War
- Oromo conflict
- Ogaden War
- 1978 Somali coup attempt
- Western Sahara War
- Ethiopian Civil War
- Lebanese Civil War
- Albanian–Chinese split
- Third Indochina War
- Cambodian–Vietnamese War
- Operation Condor
- Dirty War (Argentina)
- 1976 Argentine coup d'état
- Egyptian–Libyan War
- German Autumn
- Korean Air Lines Flight 902
- Nicaraguan Revolution
- Uganda–Tanzania War
- NDF Rebellion
- Chadian–Libyan War
- Yemenite War of 1979
- Grand Mosque seizure
- Iranian Revolution
- Saur Revolution
- Sino-Vietnamese War
- New Jewel Movement
- 1979 Herat uprising
- Seven Days to the River Rhine
- Struggle against political abuse of psychiatry in the Soviet Union
- Salvadoran Civil War
- Soviet–Afghan War
- 1980 and 1984 Summer Olympics boycotts
- Gera Demands
- Peruvian Revolution
- Gdańsk Agreement
- Solidarity
- Eritrean Civil Wars
- 1980 Turkish coup d'état
- Ugandan Bush War
- Gulf of Sidra incident
- Martial law in Poland
- Casamance conflict
- Falklands War
- 1982 Ethiopian–Somali Border War
- Ndogboyosoi War
- United States invasion of Grenada
- Able Archer 83
- Star Wars
- 1985 Geneva Summit
- Iran–Iraq War
- Somali Rebellion
- Reykjavík Summit
- 1986 Black Sea incident
- South Yemen Civil War
- Toyota War
- 1987 Lieyu massacre
- Operation INFEKTION
- 1987–1989 JVP insurrection
- Lord's Resistance Army insurgency
- 1988 Black Sea bumping incident
- 8888 Uprising
- Solidarity (Soviet reaction)
- Contras
- Central American crisis
- Operation RYAN
- Korean Air Lines Flight 007
- People Power Revolution
- Glasnost
- Perestroika
- Bougainville conflict
- First Nagorno-Karabakh War
- Afghan Civil War
- United States invasion of Panama
- 1988 Polish strikes
- Polish Round Table Agreement
- 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre
- Revolutions of 1989
- Fall of the Berlin Wall
- Fall of the inner German border
- Velvet Revolution
- Romanian Revolution
- Peaceful Revolution
Pro-communist | |
---|---|
Pro-Western |
competition
- Gar Alperovitz
- Thomas A. Bailey
- Michael Beschloss
- Archie Brown
- Warren H. Carroll
- Adrian Cioroianu
- John Costello
- Michael Cox
- Nicholas J. Cull
- Norman Davies
- Willem Drees
- Robert D. English
- Herbert Feis
- Robert Hugh Ferrell
- André Fontaine
- Anneli Ute Gabanyi
- John Lewis Gaddis
- Lloyd Gardner
- Timothy Garton Ash
- Gabriel Gorodetsky
- Fred Halliday
- Jussi Hanhimäki
- John Earl Haynes
- Patrick J. Hearden
- Tvrtko Jakovina
- Tony Judt
- Harvey Klehr
- Gabriel Kolko
- Walter LaFeber
- Walter Laqueur
- Melvyn P. Leffler
- Geir Lundestad
- Vojtech Mastny
- Jack F. Matlock Jr.
- Thomas J. McCormick
- Timothy Naftali
- Marius Oprea
- David S. Painter
- William B. Pickett
- Ronald E. Powaski
- Yakov M. Rabkin
- Mary Elise Sarotte
- Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.
- Ellen Schrecker
- Giles Scott-Smith
- Shen Zhihua
- Timothy Snyder
- Athan Theoharis
- Andrew Thorpe
- Vladimir Tismăneanu
- Patrick Vaughan
- Alex von Tunzelmann
- Odd Arne Westad
- William Appleman Williams
- Jonathan Reed Winkler
- Rudolph Winnacker
- Ken Young
intelligence
- List of Eastern Bloc agents in the United States
- Soviet espionage in the United States
- Russian espionage in the United States
- American espionage in the Soviet Union and Russian Federation
- CIA and the Cultural Cold War
- CIA
- MI5
- MI6
- United States involvement in regime change
- Soviet involvement in regime change
- MVD
- KGB
- Stasi
- Category
- List of conflicts
- Timeline