Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationIn the 1960s and 1970s, J. Edgar Hoover and the agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) were on the hunt for subversives - but what, beyond political considerations, made someone a "subversive" and why were they so determined to find them? This dissertation examines why the FBI targeted groups based on categories such as age, race, and personal expression. It argues that the FBI investigated individuals and groups to perpetuate their idea of what it meant to be a respectable American worthy of the privileges of citizenship. This dissertation first examines the unique culture of the Bureau and the way in which FBI officials and agents saw themselves as defenders of white middle-class values. It then examines the way the FBI used racial stereotypes and tensions to interfere with groups such as the Black Panthers and ultimately argues that class distinctions often meant more to the FBI than racial distinctions. Next, it analyzes the FBI's interaction with the Students for a Democratic Society and reveals the way groups were explicitly targeted due to forms of personal expression. Fourth, it analyzes the Bureau's investigation of the American Indian Movement, and argues that these interactions demonstrate that even while the Bureau changed its practices 1970s, its desire to police particular definitions of "American" continued to influence their interaction with social movements. The FBI's focus on respectable behavior resulted in the investigation of law-abiding individuals and diverted the FBI's manpower and resources away from those who presented a real threat to the safety of the United States. Throughout American history, the federal government has often justified unconstitutional actions by claiming that they protected American citizens. However, the FBI's narrow view of who could claim "citizenship" actually served to harm, in very direct ways, a great number of the citizens they were charged to protect