美国国家公共电台 NPR--Biography traces public support for J. Edgar Hoover in most of his 48 years in power

Biography traces public support for J. Edgar Hoover in most of his 48 years in power

Transcript¹

For nearly half a century, J. Edgar Hoover presided over the FBI with an iron fist.

His career began with a wave of anti-communist raids in 1919. It ended during the presidency² of his friend Richard Nixon.

The modern public image of Hoover conjures³ an old man in a dark room, listening to wiretaps and marking up secret documents. But a new biography explores how presidents, members of Congress and even a significant percentage of the American people understood much of what Hoover was doing, and approved of it, until almost the end of his life.

Beverly Gage⁴, a professor of American history at Yale University, spent 13 years writing and researching G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the making of the American Century.

Beverly Gage is the author of the J. Edgar Hoover biography G-Man.

"One of the most fascinating subjects that I was able to get into in the book was Hoover's college fraternity, which was this organization called Kappa Alpha [Order]. It had been known that he liked his college fraternity and that he had become president of the college chapter at George Washington University. But what I found ... is that it was this deeply reactionary⁵ Southern fraternity. It was a segregationist⁶ Southern fraternity. Thomas Dixon, who wrote the book The Clansman that became the basis for The Birth of a Nation, was one of its most influential⁷ figures. Lots of Southern Democrats⁸ around D.C. were part of this racist⁹ Southern fraternity that Hoover joined. ... And then it was fascinating to watch the ways in which he took a young generation of men who were steeped in this racist, segregationist ideology¹⁰ and made them some of the first generation of FBI officials."

"One of the most egregious¹¹ moments of any president kind of asking the FBI to do things that were fundamentally political rather than related to criminal investigation¹² or national security was this moment in 1964 where Lyndon Johnson, who was about to get the Democratic nomination¹³ for the presidency, was very worried that civil rights activists¹⁴ were going to disrupt the Democratic National Convention. So he went to his old friend Hoover, and they had been neighbors on 30th Place in Washington, so they knew each other very well. And he went to his old friend Hoover and said, 'Surely you can send some fellows over to keep an eye on things.' And so at the Democratic Convention, they were wiretapping and bugging¹⁵ and infiltrating¹⁶ civil rights activists who were really simply trying to find a way for Black people to have a say in what was happening in Democratic politics."

"The FBI today uses the King case and the example of what Hoover's bureau did to Martin Luther King as kind of its great cautionary tale. And there's lots that's good about that. But I think it's also important to remember and one of the things that my book really tries to emphasize is that that's kind of easy for us to say ... we think of Hoover as a great villain¹⁷ and King as a great saint. And so we have this great morality tale. But if you look back to 1964, '65, really the peak of the FBI's efforts against King, the moment that Hoover comes out and calls King 'the most notorious liar¹⁸ in the country.' If you look at what public opinion polls said in that moment, 50% of the public sided with Hoover in that controversy¹⁹. Just 16% said that King was on the right side and that a lot of people said they didn't know what to think. So it's easy to make these judgments²⁰ now. It was much more complicated and I think tells a much darker tale about American history, if you look back to the history itself."

The cover of upcoming J. Edgar Hoover biography, G-Man, by Beverly Gage.

"One of the things that happened very quickly, toward the end of Hoover's life and then after his death, was that Congress very rightly jumped in to put a whole new set of constraints²¹ on the FBI that weren't there during Hoover's lifetime. He had almost no mechanisms²² of accountability. So the congressional committees that now oversee²³ intelligence operations, none of that existed. And perhaps most importantly, the FBI director is now limited to a 10-year term, and that is in direct response to this colossal²⁴ career of J. Edgar Hoover's. And I think if we can take one very simple lesson out of that, it's that you probably don't want a single individual in a position with that kind of power for half a century."

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

3 conjures   

用魔术变出( conjure的第三人称单数 )； 祈求，恳求； 变戏法； （变魔术般地） 使…出现

参考例句：

• The word 'birthday' conjures up images of presents and parties. “生日”这个词使人想起礼物和聚会的情景。
• The name Sahara conjures up images of a desert of aridity. "撒哈拉"这个名字使人想起干旱的沙漠情景。

4 gage   

n.标准尺寸，规格；量规，量表 [=gauge]

参考例句：

• Can you gage what her reaction is likely to be?你能揣测她的反应可能是什么吗？
• It's difficult to gage one's character.要判断一个人的品格是很困难的。

5 reactionary   

n.反动者，反动主义者；adj.反动的，反动主义的，反对改革的

参考例句：

• They forced thousands of peasants into their reactionary armies.他们迫使成千上万的农民参加他们的反动军队。
• The reactionary ruling clique was torn by internal strife.反动统治集团内部勾心斗角，四分五裂。

6 segregationist   

隔离主义者

参考例句：

• Recent federal action undermined the segregationist position. 近期的联邦行动消弱了隔离主义者的地位。

7 influential   

adj.有影响的，有权势的

参考例句：

• He always tries to get in with the most influential people.他总是试图巴结最有影响的人物。
• He is a very influential man in the government.他在政府中是个很有影响的人物。

8 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 racist   

n.种族主义者，种族主义分子

参考例句：

• a series of racist attacks 一连串的种族袭击行为
• His speech presented racist ideas under the guise of nationalism. 他的讲话以民族主义为幌子宣扬种族主义思想。

10 ideology   

n.意识形态，(政治或社会的)思想意识

参考例句：

• The ideology has great influence in the world.这种思想体系在世界上有很大的影响。
• The ideal is to strike a medium between ideology and inspiration.我的理想是在意识思想和灵感鼓动之间找到一个折衷。

11 egregious   

adj.非常的，过分的

参考例句：

• When it comes to blatant lies,there are none more egregious than budget figures.谈到公众谎言，没有比预算数字更令人震惊的。
• What an egregious example was here!现摆着一个多么触目惊心的例子啊。

12 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

13 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

14 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 bugging   

[法] 窃听

参考例句：

• Okay, then let's get the show on the road and I'll stop bugging you. 好，那么让我们开始动起来，我将不再惹你生气。 来自辞典例句
• Go fly a kite and stop bugging me. 走开，别烦我。 来自英汉 - 翻译样例 - 口语

16 infiltrating   

v.（使）渗透，（指思想）渗入人的心中( infiltrate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Be vigilant against the danger of enemy agents infiltrating the government and boring from within. 要警惕敌特渗入政府内部进行暗中破坏。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The metastatic melanoma is seen here to be infiltrating into the myocardium. 图示转移性黑色素瘤浸润到心肌。 来自互联网

17 villain   

n.反派演员，反面人物；恶棍；问题的起因

参考例句：

• He was cast as the villain in the play.他在戏里扮演反面角色。
• The man who played the villain acted very well.扮演恶棍的那个男演员演得很好。

18 liar   

n.说谎的人

参考例句：

• I know you for a thief and a liar!我算认识你了，一个又偷又骗的家伙！
• She was wrongly labelled a liar.她被错误地扣上说谎者的帽子。

19 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

20 judgments   

判断( judgment的名词复数 )； 鉴定； 评价； 审判

参考例句：

• A peculiar austerity marked his judgments of modern life. 他对现代生活的批评带着一种特殊的苛刻。
• He is swift with his judgments. 他判断迅速。

21 constraints   

强制( constraint的名词复数 )； 限制； 约束

参考例句：

• Data and constraints can easily be changed to test theories. 信息库中的数据和限制条件可以轻易地改变以检验假设。 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史
• What are the constraints that each of these imply for any design? 这每种产品的要求和约束对于设计意味着什么？ 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

22 mechanisms   

n.机械( mechanism的名词复数 )；机械装置；[生物学] 机制；机械作用

参考例句：

• The research will provide direct insight into molecular mechanisms. 这项研究将使人能够直接地了解分子的机理。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He explained how the two mechanisms worked. 他解释这两台机械装置是如何工作的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

23 oversee   

vt.监督，管理

参考例句：

• Soldiers oversee the food handouts.士兵们看管着救济食品。
• Use a surveyor or architect to oversee and inspect the different stages of the work.请一位房产检视员或建筑师来监督并检查不同阶段的工作。

24 colossal   

adj.异常的，庞大的

参考例句：

• There has been a colossal waste of public money.一直存在巨大的公款浪费。
• Some of the tall buildings in that city are colossal.那座城市里的一些高层建筑很庞大。