POWERS, Richard Gid 1944-

PERSONAL: Born 1944; son of Richard M. (an artist) and Evelyn Powers.

ADDRESSES: Office—Department of History, City University of New York, College of Staten Island, 535 E. 80th St., New York, NY 10021. E-mail—rgpsi@earthlink.net.

CAREER: City University of New York, College of Staten Island, professor of history and American studies and director of CORE program.

WRITINGS:

G-Men: Hoover's FBI in American Popular Culture, Southern Illinois University Press (Carbondale, IL), 1983.

Secrecy and Power: The Life of J. Edgar Hoover, Free Press (New York, NY), 1987.

(Editor with Hidetoshi Kato) Handbook of Japanese Popular Culture, Greenwood Press (Westport, CT), 1989.

Not without Honor: The History of American Anticommunism, Free Press (New York, NY), 1995.

Broken: The Troubled Past and Uncertain Future of the FBI, Free Press (New York, NY), 2004.

Contributor to The Art of Richard Powers by Jane Frank, Paper Tiger (London, England), 2001.

SIDELIGHTS: Richard Gid Powers has written extensively on American history, particularly on the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the anticommunist movement of the mid-twentieth century. In Secrecy and Power: The Life of J. Edgar Hoover, he deals with the man who led the FBI from 1924 until his death in 1972. During Hoover's tenure, the FBI hunted infamous criminals and suspected subversives. Powers traces Hoover's life from his childhood in a close, solidly middle-class family through his years as a brilliant student to his joining the U.S. Department of Justice in 1917 and his life's work with the FBI. Powers makes the case that Hoover's upbringing left him suspicious of anyone who could be considered an outsider—such as foreigners, and political radicals—and also defends many of the actions that brought Hoover criticism. His discussion of Hoover's personal life includes mention of the director's long relationship with Clyde Tolson, which some observers have considered a homosexual partnership. Powers does not come to a definite conclusion on this, but notes that the relationship appeared "spousal."

Powers's attention to the forces that shaped Hoover earned praise from some critics. "He establishes his originality in Hoover scholarship by fixing his early character within the history of the British and American Sunday schools," commented Taylor Branch in the Washington Monthly. Powers, Branch continued, "portrays Hoover as a man whose energy and identity sprang from a tightly Victorian concept of middle-class pride." According to Nation reviewer Anthony Marro, Powers does not ignore the less-admirable aspects of his subject's character, but Hoover's "failings—his racism, his intolerance of activists, his fierce resistance to change—are shown as being rooted in, and shaped by, the world in which he was raised." As Marro added, "Powers tries hard to see things through Hoover's eyes, and at times ends up giving him the benefit of the doubt." The critic voiced some reservations about that approach, but still found the biography "a valuable book, perhaps even an essential one," marked by "a smooth writing style" and "a dry and gentle wit." Branch deemed it "the first satisfying life of Hoover," while New Leader contributor David M. Oshinsky called the book "a first-rate piece of work, both as a political biography and as a social history of Hoover's times."

Fighting communism, internationally and domestically, was an integral part of mid-twentieth-century history, and Powers explores this topic in Not without Honor: The History of American Anticommunism. He traces the anticommunist movement from the first "Red Scare" of 1919 through the collapse of the Soviet Union eighty years later. One of the themes of the book is that, while many American historians have focused on the excesses of the anticommunist movement, such as the exaggerated accusations made by Senator Joseph McCarthy, there were people of good conscience (some of them quite liberal) who were rightly appalled by the threat of Soviet-style communism. Indeed, Powers says, "Writing this book radically altered my view of American anticommunism. I began with the idea that anticommunism displayed America at its worst, but I came to see in anticommunism America at its best."

While some reviewers welcomed Powers's work, others disagreed with his thesis, and still others thought he did not go far enough in lifting up the reputation of anticommunism. "His research is thorough and substantially original, his prose fluent, and his analysis consistently illuminating," reported John Earl Haynes in Commentary. "This is an exemplary work." Nation contributor Michael Kazin allowed that Secrecy and Power "is a well-researched volume that attempts to give redbaiting its historical weight and its political due," adding that "Powers is a real scholar … not a right-wing warrior." Nathan Glazer, writing in the New Republic, remarked that Powers has "made a major contribution" to the understanding of the anticommunist movement, and Insight on the News critic Harvey Klehr called the book "fascinating," saying it "restores the reputations and wisdom of some much-reviled figures in American historiography."

Powers returns to the topic of the FBI with Broken: The Troubled Past and Uncertain Future of the FBI. The book deals with the bureau's origins during President Theodore Roosevelt's administration and with its successes and failures over the subsequent years. Powers comes to the conclusion that efforts to avoid the overzealousness that characterized Hoover's tenure made the agency far too cautious in more recent years, to the point of ignoring warnings about the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Powers was working on the book at the time of the attacks, and his research led him to believe that the warnings were quite clear.

The material on September 11 forms "the heart of the book," related James Q. Wilson in Commentary. This, he went on, is "especially valuable reading in conjunction with the report of the 9/11 Commission, and should be carefully studied by people who think they know how to fix the problem." Similarly, a Kirkus Reviews critic deemed the work "necessary reading for would-be reformers and critics of the agency alike." A Publishers Weekly reviewer described the volume as "a timely and nuanced history" that provides "appropriate context" through which to view current events. An Internet Bookwatch contributor, meanwhile, called it a "controversial, intriguing history" that is "strongly recommended."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Prospect, September-October, 1996, Jacob Heilbrunn, "Who Won the Cold War?," p. 87.

Booklist, November 15, 1995, Gilbert Taylor, review of Not without Honor: The History of American Anticommunism, p. 521; September 15, 2004, Jay Freeman, review of Broken: The Troubled Past and Uncertain Future of the FBI, p. 184.

Commentary, February, 1996, John Earl Haynes, review of Not without Honor, p. 52; October, 2004, James Q. Wilson, "Artificial Intelligence," p. 81.

Foreign Affairs, January-February, 1996, Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., review of Not without Honor, p. 153.

Historian, winter, 1998, James G. Ryan, review of Not without Honor, p. 366.

Journal of Social History, spring, 2001, Stanley Cohen, review of Secrecy and Power: The Life of J. Edgar Hoover, p. 703.

Kirkus Reviews, August 1, 2004, review of Broken, p. 731.

Library Journal, September 15, 2004, Daniel K. Blewett, review of Broken, p. 69.

Nation, March 21, 1987, Anthony Marro, review of Secrecy and Power, p. 365; January 22, 1996, Michael Kazin, review of Not without Honor, p. 28.

National Interest, fall, 1996, Joshua Muravchik, review of Not without Honor, p. 101.

National Review, May 20, 1996, Ralph De Toledano, review of Not without Honor, p. 68.

New Leader, May 4, 1987, David M. Oshinsky, review of Secrecy and Power, p 13; December 18, 1995, David M. Oshinsky, review of Not without Honor, p. 5.

New Republic, March 4, 1996, Nathan Glazer, review of Not without Honor, p. 42.

Nieman Reports, fall, 1996, Richard Dudman, review of Not without Honor, p. 85.

Policy Studies Journal, autumn, 1993, Kenneth O'Reilly, review of Secrecy and Power, p. 609.

Publishers Weekly, October 16, 1995, review of Not without Honor, p. 48; August 9, 2004, review of Broken, p. 238.

Review of Politics, winter, 1997, Wilson D. Miscamble, review of Not without Honor, p. 175.

RQ, spring, 1990, Christina J. Woo, review of Handbook of Japanese Popular Culture, p. 443.

Washington Monthly, April, 1987, Taylor Branch, review of Secrecy and Power, p. 46.

ONLINE

Midwest Book Review Online, http://www.midwestbookreview.com/ (June 16, 2005), review of Broken.