This
plan of inquiry discusses the method used to explore the relationship between
Hoover's direction of bureaucratic politics and whether or not that direction
had any affect on the success of COINTELPRO operations. A comparison between the COINTELPRO: WHITE
HATE and COINTELPRO: NEW LEFT programs will be made on the basis of two
variables: (1) How Hoover used bureaucratic politics regarding that specific
program, and (2) was that operation considered a success or not.
Research Question
RQ: How did FBI Director Hoover's political direction
of the agency affect the efficiency of COINTELPRO operations?
IV = Hoover's use of bureaucratic politics
DV = The successful use of a COINTELPRO program to degrade a subversive group's ability to harm a nation.
DV = The successful use of a COINTELPRO program to degrade a subversive group's ability to harm a nation.
Data Sources
The
data sources chosen were selected for their applicability to the study in
several criteria; a phenomenological approach in which those that participated
in the operations subjectively judged both or either variable, the identification of themes used in text
(used primarily in identifying the use of Hoover's political maneuvering),
statistical information, and content analysis.
The sources were located from a variety of origination, although most
sources were located from cross-referencing bibliographies once a data source
had been identified. Enough sources were
selected to provide a balance between credibility and validation on one hand,
and redundancy on the other.
Annotated Bibliography
Cunningham, D. (2003). The
patterning of repression: FBI counterintelligence and the New Left. Social Forces, 82(1), 209–240.
Cunningham, D., & Browning,
B. (2004). The emergence of worthy targets: Official frames and deviance
narratives within the FBI. Sociological
Forum, 19(3), 347–369.
Cunningham is a professor of
sociology at Brandies University. His
work has centered on the FBI's response to subversive groups (referred to by
Cunningham as “dissidents”). In these
studies, he examines the FBI's internal policies in COINTELPRO and discuses
Hoover's role. Cunningham performs a
content analysis on 2,487 COINTELPRO” NEW LEFT memos in which he coded
background information, type, and target.
Drabble, J. (2008). The FBI,
COINTELPRO-WHITE HATE, and the decline of Ku Klux Klan organizations in Alabama.
Alabama Review, 61(1), 3–47.
Drabble's work has focused
specifically on COINTELPRO: WHITE HATE.
He is a professor who teaches Human Rights at the University of
California at Berkeley. Drabble provides
a historical narrative that relies primarily on internal FBI memos and
contemporary news reports, although he also sources Keller and O'Reilly. He does conclude that FBI action against the
Klan caused a loss in membership, and provides membership figures to demonstrate
his claim
Keller, W. W. (1989). The
liberals and J. Edgar Hoover: Rise and fall of a domestic intelligence state.
Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press.
Keller, an analyst with the
Congressional Office of Technology Assessment, Program of International
Security and Commerce, discusses Hoover's alliances with political liberals in
protecting and establishing the FBI's bureaucratic domain.
Kessler, R. (2003). The bureau: the secret history of the FBI
(St. Martin’s Paperbacks ed). New York: St. Martin’s Paperbacks.
Kessler, a former Washing Post
reporter, has written more than 10 books concerning the FBI and other security
agencies of the United States. This a
history based upon the interview method and using other historical sources. Kessler's writing about Hoover and the FBI
provide information regarding Hoover's personality and it's effect on the way
that he utilized politics to advance the FBI's interests.
Powers, R. G. (1987). Secrecy and power: the life of J. Edgar
Hoover. New York; London: Free Press ; Collier Macmillan.
Power's biography of Hoover is the
most controversial of those listed as sources. Powers, a professor of history
at the College of Staten Island, specializes in American security issues and
the FBI. The focus of this book is on
Hoover's decision making and political infighting capabilities. It can help in explaining COINTELPRO
operations in terms of the bureaucratic politics model.
Sullivan, W. C. (1979). The Bureau: My thirty years in Hoover’s FBI
(1st ed). New York: Norton.
Sullivan was an Assistant Director
of the FBI under Hoover, and responsible for several COINTELPRO
operations. However, this book was
written after his retirement from the FBI.
This is primarily an autobiography
focused on Sullivan's time in the FBI overall.
Sullivan does discuss COINTELPRO operations
against both the Klan and the New Left.
His perspective adds a phenomenological approach to the study.
Varon, J. (2004). Bringing
the war home: the Weather Underground, the Red Army Faction, and revolutionary
violence in the sixties and seventies. Berkeley: University of California
Press.
Varon is an assistant professor of history at Drew
University. His purpose in writing this
book was to compare the violence committed by the New Left in America versus
the New Left in Germany. His sources range
from ethnographic interviews with the terrorists themselves to government
reports to histories and news reports. This
information in gauging the success of COINTELPRO: NEW LEFT
Weiner, T. (2013). Enemies: a history of the FBI. New York:
Random House.
Weiner is a national security
reporter for the New York Times; he has won the National Book Award for his
work on the CIA, Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA. Weiner
based his research on Freedom of Information requests and 208 oral histories
that had been compiled by retirees. Weiner's information can be utilized to
gather data regarding Hoover's bureaucratic politics.
Research Design
Data
needs to be collected for both variables. As the bulk of the data collected
will be narrative in nature, Creswell (2012) suggests coding for themes as a
method of analysis. The application of
coding for theme is most suited for the variable of Hoover's use of
bureaucratic politics. The level of
success in each program can be weighed on two basis; success against the Klan can be measured in
membership levels and in the narrative of those that conducted the operations,
while success against the New Left can be measured in the narrative of those
that took part in New Left terror actions, and the narrative of those that
conducted the operations against them.
Data Analysis Strategy
There
are five steps in exploring the relationship between Hoover's use of
bureaucratic politics and whether a given operation could be considered a
success. Data should be analyzed with the
purpose of identifying the methods of politics that Hoover used. Then which method of politics Hoover used in
regards specifically to each program (WHITE HATE, NEW LEFT) should be
classified. At this point, an analysis
must be made as to whether there was a significant difference in Hoover's
maneuvering between the two programs.
Both programs must be judged as to the level of success. Finally, the political method used must be
evaluated against the success or failure of that operation.
Summary
The
methodology used to explore the relationship between Hoover's direction of
bureaucratic politics and whether or not that direction had any affect on the
success of COINTELPRO operations. A
comparison between the COINTELPRO: WHITE HATE and COINTELPRO: NEW LEFT programs
is based upon the independent variable of
Hoover's use of bureaucratic politics and a dependent vraiable of the
level of that program's success. Data has been gathered from biographies,
histories, interviews and studies regarding both Hoover and COINTELPRO. This data must be analyzed to identify the
methods of politics used by Hoover, and
the data must also be used to evaluate the success of the two COINTELPRO operations.
References
Creswell, J. W. (2012). Educational research: planning, conducting,
and evaluating quantitative and
qualitative research (4th ed). Boston: Pearson.
Cunningham, D. (2003). The
patterning of repression: FBI counterintelligence and the New Left. Social
Forces, 82(1), 209–240.
Cunningham, D., & Browning, B.
(2004). The emergence of worthy targets: Official frames and deviance narratives within the FBI. Sociological Forum, 19(3), 347–369.
Drabble, J. (2008). The FBI,
COINTELPRO-WHITE HATE, and the decline of Ku Klux Klan organizations in Alabama. Alabama
Review, 61(1), 3–47.
Keller, W. W. (1989). The
liberals and J. Edgar Hoover: Rise and fall of a domestic intelligence state. Princeton, N.J: Princeton
University Press.
Kessler, R. (2003). The bureau: the secret history of the FBI
(St. Martin’s Paperbacks ed). New York:
St. Martin’s Paperbacks
Powers, R. G. (1987). Secrecy and power: the life of J. Edgar
Hoover. New York; London: Free Press ;
Collier Macmillan.
Sullivan, W. C. (1979). The Bureau: My thirty years in Hoover’s FBI
(1st ed). New York: Norton.
Varon, J. (2004). Bringing
the war home: the Weather Underground, the Red Army Faction, and revolutionary violence in the sixties and
seventies. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Weiner, T. (2013). Enemies:
a history of the FBI. New York: Random House.
