Athan Theoharis

Athan George Theoharis (born August 3, 1936) is a professor of history emeritus at Marquette University. He has written and edited a number of books, primarily on the Federal Bureau of Investigation, J. Edgar Hoover, and U.S. intelligence agencies.

Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Theoharis earned all his degrees from the University of Chicago: two bachelor's degrees in political science in 1956 and 1957, a master's degree in 1958 and his Ph.D. in history in 1965. He has taught at Texas A&M University, Wayne State University, City University of New York, State University of New York at Buffalo, and lastly at Marquette University. The scope of his writings has extended to Cold War history, anti-communism in America, civil rights and the politics of government secrecy.

In the mid-1970s, because of his work exploring the Truman and Eisenhower loyalty and security programs as well as his articles on FBI wiretapping, Theoharis was asked by the Church Committee to conduct research at presidential libraries. The Church Committee---the Senate select committeee to study governmental operations with respect to intelligence activities---was formed by Senator Frank Church after Nixon administration, FBI, and CIA abuses became public. First without and then with qualified security clearances, Theoharis examined some presidential records relating to the FBI and White House at the Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson presidential libraries. He also examined some FBI records for the Church Committee at FBI headquarters. Following this work, and changes made to the Freedom of Information Act in the 1970s, Theoharis became a specialist in the history of the FBI. He focused on FBI records procedures, rather than individual FBI targets, leading to discoveries or further understandings of the complexities and uses of FBI office files (as opposed to "official" FBI files), the JUNE mail file, the National Security Electronic Surveillance Index Card File, Surreptitious Entries file, COMPIC file, and COMRAP file.

His work has led some of his graduate students also to embark on FBI research. Two of his former PhD students include Kenneth O'Reilly (FBI and HUAC) and Christopher Gerard (FBI and the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee). Several of his master's students also studied the FBI with him while taking PhDs elsewhere: David Williams (PhD, University of New Hampshire) studied the early history of the FBI; Francis MacDonnell (PhD, Harvard University) studied the FBI and the Fifth Column; Douglas M. Charles (PhD, University of Edinburgh) studied the FBI and the anti-interventionist movement of 1939-45.

Grants and awards

Theoharis's grants and awards include:
* 1965, 1966: Grant from the Truman Institute for National and International Affairs
* 1971: Grant from the Institute for Humane Studies
* 1976: American Bar Association Gavel Award
* 1976: National Endowment for the Humanities summer fellowship
* 1979: Binkley-Stephenson Award
* 1980: Grant from the Field Foundation
* 1980: Albert Beveridge research grant
* 2002: Lawrence G. Haggerty Award for Research Excellence
* 2003: Wisconsin Academy of Arts, Science and Literature, fellow
* 2006: American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin’s Eunice Z. Edgar Lifetime Achievement Award

Bibliography

*cite book
last = Theoharis
first = Athan
title = The Yalta Myths: An Issue in U.S. Politics
publisher = University of Missouri Press
date = 1970
id = ISBN 0826200885
*cite book
last = Theoharis
first = Athan
title = Seeds of Repression: Harry S. Truman and the Origins of McCarthyism
publisher = Times Books
date = 1971
id = ISBN 0812962834
*cite book
author = Theoharis, Athan and Griffith, Robert, editors
title = The Specter: Original Essays on the Cold War and the Origins of McCarthyism
publisher = New Viewpoints
date = 1974
id = ISBN 053106493X
*cite book
last = Theoharis
first = Athan
title = Spying on Americans: Political Surveillance from Hoover to the Huston Plan
publisher = Temple University Press
date = 1978
id = ISBN 0877221413
*cite book
last = Theoharis
first = Athan, editor
title = The Truman Presidency: The Origins of the Imperial Presidency and the National Security State
publisher = E.M. Coleman Enterprises
date = 1979
id = ISBN 0930576128
*cite book
author = Theoharis, Athan and Dubofsky, Melvyn
title = Imperial Democracy: The United States since 1945
publisher = Prentice Hall
date = 1982
id = ISBN 0134517660
*cite book
last = Theoharis
first = Athan, editor
title = Beyond the Hiss Case: The FBI, Congress, and the Cold War
publisher = Temple University Press
date = 1982
id = ISBN 087722241X
*cite book
first = Theoharis, Athan and Cox, John Stuart
title = The Boss: J. Edgar Hoover and the Great American Inquisition
publisher = Temple University Press
date = 1988
id = ISBN 087722532X
*cite book
last = Theoharis
first = Athan, editor
title = From the Secret Files of J. Edgar Hoover
publisher = Ivan R. Dee, Publisher
date = 1992
id = ISBN 1566630177
*cite book
last = Theoharis
first = Athan, editor
title = The FBI: An Annotated Bibliography and Research Guide
publisher = Garland Science
date = 1994
id = ISBN 081530871X
*cite book
last = Theoharis
first = Athan
title = J. Edgar Hoover, Sex, and Crime: An Historical Antidote
publisher = Ivan R. Dee, Publisher
date = 1995
id = ISBN 1566630711
*cite book
last = Theoharis
first = Athan, editor
title = A Culture of Secrecy: The Government versus the People's Right to Know
publisher = University Press of Kansas
date = 1998
id = ISBN 0700609989
*cite book
last = Theoharis
first = Athan, editor
title = The FBI: A Comprehensive Reference Guide
publisher = Checkmark Books
date = 1999
id = ISBN 0816042284
*cite book
last = Theoharis
first = Athan
title = Chasing Spies: How the FBI Failed in Counterintelligence but Promoted the Politics of McCarthyism in the Cold War Years
publisher = Diane Publishing Co.
date = 2002
id = ISBN 0756787300
*cite book
author = Theoharis, Athan and Theoharis, Jeanne
title = These Yet to Be United States: Civil Rights and Civil Liberties in America Since 1945
publisher = Wadsworth Publishing
date = 2002
id = ISBN 0155069896
*cite book
last = Theoharis
first = Athan
title = The FBI & American Democracy: A Brief Critical History
publisher = University Press of Kansas
date = 2004
id = ISBN 0700613455
*cite book
author = Edited by Theoharis, Athan; Immerman, Richard and Olmsted, Kathryn
title = The Central Intelligence Agency: Security under Scrutiny
publisher = Greenwood Press
date = 2005
id = ISBN 0313332827
*cite book
last= Theoharis
first = Athan
title = The Quest for Absolute Security: The Failed Relations Among U.S. Intelligence Agencies
publisher = Ivan R. Dee
date = 2007
id = ISBN 1-56663-697-3