-Caveat Lector- .............................................................. Forwarded from the Internet Conspiracy Community: From: Book Search Co-ordinator <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: J Edgar Hoover Refused to Endorse Orwell Novel! Date: Wednesday, October 13, 1999 9:22 PM ----Original Message----- From: Joe Feck <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Wednesday, October 13, 1999 10:05 AM Subject: [CTRL] George Orwell to Hoover: Please Endorse My Book -Caveat Lector- http://www.apbnews.com/media/gfiles/orwell/index.html George Orwell to Hoover: Please Endorse My Book Author's Publicist Sent 1984 to FBI Director Sept. 20, 1999 By Janon Fisher AP George Orwell NEW YORK (APBnews.com) -- In what could have been the ultimate marketing coup, the publisher of George Orwell's novel 1984 asked America's incarnation of Big Brother, FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, to endorse the book. According to Orwell's FBI file, released under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act, Hoover declined. Instead, Hoover filed the request in a dossier he created on Orwell. FBI files show that in April 1949, Eugene Reynal, vice president of Harcourt, Brace and Co., wrote Hoover, arguably the incarnation of Orwell's authoritarian bureaucracy, for his thumbs up on the book. Related Document: George Orwell's FBI File "We hope you might be interested in helping to call this book to the attention of the American public, and thus perhaps helping to halt totalitarianism," Reynal wrote. Did Hoover read the book? While it isn't clear what Hoover thought of the book, or even if he read Orwell's fictionalized account of an out-of-control totalitarian government, the file shows that Hoover's opinion was beside the point. Endorsements were against bureau policy. Thus, fans of the English novelist may never know whether Hoover objected to Orwell's placement of the Thought Police under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Love. But Hoover, in a very un-Orwellian move, said 'No' politely. "While I am looking forward to reading the book at the earliest opportunity, you are advised that in accordance with a long-standing policy I have refrained from lending my endorsement to commercial publications, and I am sure you will understand my inability to make an exception in this instance," Hoover replied. The copy of the book Reynal sent to Hoover wound up in the FBI library. Nevertheless, the bureau stayed on top of the situation. Another internal memo in the file with the subject heading "Smear Campaign/Committee for a return to the homeland internal security," discussed an article in a Russian-language newspaper arguing that 1984 was a portrayal of life in the United States. "Let us give what is due to the Hoovers," the memo states. "The mechanization of police surveillance of average Americans has assumed imposing proportions, especially in the technique of listening in on telephone conversations. This art has reached fabulous heights in the United States." The article concludes that "there is one field in the American life that never yet has suffered a decline, but is flourishing year after year. It is police surveillance and investigation. Indeed, in this field, America has surpassed the world and has no equals." Though the bureau might have looked on the Russian article as part of a smear campaign -- as its FBI categorization suggests -- there was more than a grain of truth to its assertions. According to The FBI Comprehensive Reference Guide, Congress banned wiretapping in 1934. But President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave a secret directive that allowed the bureau to tap phone lines with the attorney general's permission. The "Black Bag Jobs" described in the guide required FBI operatives to illegally break into residences and offices targeted for surveillance. Other Orwellian advancements in government monitoring of citizenry have kept up with the times. According to press reports, the National Security Agency operates a global spy system code-named ECHELON, which coordinates intelligence-gathering by spy agencies in Canada, New Zealand, Australia and Great Britain. Under the program, the agencies share intelligence-gathering duties and some of the intercepted information. In general, each country limits spying on its own citizens. However, a former Canadian intelligence official has claimed the British government once got around the rules by using Canada's Communications Security Establishment to collect intelligence on British citizens. Orwell's offspring If not for the original appearance of Big Brother, Orwell's prophetic book might now seem cliche. Movies today, such as Enemy of the State or The Truman Show, continue to delve into the issue of government invasion of privacy. "Nothing will be your own, private, exclusive, except a few cubic centimeters inside your cranium," Orwell wrote. Orwell's earlier novel Animal Farm also caught the FBI director's eye. The Orwell file includes several pages of Hoover's press clippings and memos on the radical left's denouncements of the book. According to the citations in Orwell's FBI dossier, the English author's books appealed to activists of all stripes. On the last page of the file -- a memo on the bombing of the U.S. Air Force Academy's officer's mess by a group calling itself "Americong" -- Orwell is quoted again with an excerpt from 1984. "[I]n a physical sense war involves very small numbers of people, mostly highly trained specialists. The fighting ... takes place on the vague frontiers whose whereabouts the average man can only guess." Janon Fisher is an APBnews.com staff member (janon.fisher@apbnews) DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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