European University Institute Library

Reining in the state, civil society and Congress in the Vietnam and Watergate eras, Katherine A. Scott

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 219-228) and index

government publication of a state province territory dependency etc

index present

non fiction

Reining in the state

bibliography

818143713

Katherine A. Scott

civil society and Congress in the Vietnam and Watergate eras

Presidents Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon dramatically expanded the federal government's domestic security apparatus to cope with social unrest that rocked their administrations. By the mid-1970s, the Justice Department and Army maintained some 400 databanks containing nearly 200 million files on supposedly subversive individuals and organizations. Katherine Scott chronicles the subsequent public response to that government action: a determined citizens' movement to rein in the state. She details the efforts of a group of unheralded heroes who battled to reinvigorate judicial, legislative, and civic oversight of the executive branch in order to curtail and prevent future abuses by government agencies. Working closely with allies in Congress, they challenged state power, instituted open government policies, and protected individual privacy rights. Scott has assembled a cast of characters with compelling stories: Russ Wiggins of the Washington Post, who organized a citizens' campaign for government transparency; Representative John Moss, who called attention to government censorship; ACLU Director Aryeh Neier, who created a legal strategy for judicial oversight of executive branch security measures; Senator Sam Ervin, a civil libertarian who demanded greater oversight of the executive branch; and Morton Halperin, a former NSC staff member, who called attention to the gross constitutional violations of the nation's top security agencies. Rejecting the agendas and methods of both the radical left and the antigovernment right, these progressive reformers sought to bring the American state in line with democratic practice --, Provided by Publisher

Introduction -- "Recruiting an army" : Russ Wiggins demands transparency -- "What's going on in the Black community?" : Ramsey Clark investigates civil disorder -- "A communist behind every bush" : the Army spies on civilians -- Senator Sam, or, How liberals learned to stop worrying and love a southern segregationist -- It's "poppycock" : Congress challenges executive privilege -- An "effective servant of the public's right to know" : Representative Moorhead revises FOIA -- "Tempers change, times change, public attitudes change" : passing FISA -- Epilogue