Patrick G. Eddington
Patrick G. Eddington

A new book, The Triumph of Fear: Domestic Surveillance and Political Repression from McKinley to Eisenhower, by Cato’s Patrick G. Eddington, a senior fellow in homeland security and civil liberties, was released on April 1. The book, excerpted below, examines the rise and expansion of surveillance-enabled political repression in America from the late 1890s to early 1961 and shows how this domestic spying has helped fuel federal assaults on free speech and association that continue to this day. To purchase the book, click here, here, or here. 

Conclusion

At the dawn of the twentieth century, the only two executive branch agencies routinely involved in domestic surveillance and related political repression were the Secret Service and the Postal Service, and the former—despite the relatively limited number of Secret Service agents—was far more active than the latter, which acted as a partner with the Treasury Department’s investigative arm when needed. Three related events changed that and put the United States on the path to creating a domestic surveillance and political repression apparatus that in time would rival those of its European neighbors.
The first event was the growth of the popularity of anarchist, socialist, and communist ideals among major segments of American labor and left-leaning political elites.
As noted in Chapter 1, at least as early as 1898, the Secret Service was monitoring anarchist political activists and labor organizers in places like Patterson, New Jersey, at the time a major hub of both immigrant labor and textile mills with generally deplorable working conditions. In the period between the Spanish-American War and President McKinley’s assassination, federal authorities had generally been content to keep an eye on key anarchist groups and leaders while leaving it to state and local authorities to deal with anarchist-inspired or led strikes and labor–business disputes, even when violent incidents occurred.  » Read More
https://www.cato.org/blog/triumph-fear-excerpt-cato-scholars-new-book-domestic-surveillance-political-repression