Widely unknown details of Albert Einstein’s life, including secret attempts by J. Edgar Hoover to sabotage the scientist, were revealed last night in a lecture sponsored by the Boston University Center for the Philosophy and History of Science.
Entitled “The Einstein File,” the event was highlighted by a speech by Fred Jerome, a science journalist from Syracuse University, who wrote a book of the same name on the topic.
With an audience of about 30, the presentation began with a video clip of Einstein speaking during the American mentality of the Cold War, declaring the country was on “the path to world annihilation.”
Through his careful studies of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Einstein File, Jerome discovered that the morning after Einstein made this comment, Hoover requested any derogatory information on Einstein to be sent to the FBI headquarters.
Jerome said the equivalent of Einstein’s actions today would be if a widely respected figure spoke out nationally against Bush’s war on terrorism, citing that it would lead to more war, and the impoverishment of the population.
Jerome said that this is a story that few Americans know, but should.
“The headlines every day make it more important for people to know this story, not less so,” he said.
The FBI pursued Einstein for 22 years in an effort to undermine his effectiveness, according to Jerome.
Under Hoover’s direction, the FBI tapped Einstein’s phone, went through his mail and even searched through his trash. Jerome said that, in the 1950s, the agency even launched an effort to deport the famous scientist.
Jerome said though little was known about Einstein’s political beliefs, Hoover wanted to prove the scientist’s connection with Soviet intelligence.
“The FBI’s pursuit reflected the increasing anti-communism hysteria of the times,” he said
Jerome described an onslaught of attacks on Einstein by both extreme right-wing groups and anti-Communists as the Cold War heated up in the 1930s and `40s.
Jerome stressed the fact that these stories are known by few.
“A valuable shipment of history has vanished,” he said.
The socially active side of Einstein has been hidden, said Jerome, leaving the public left with the image of an “absentminded genius, certainly irrelevant to the real world.” Jerome insisted that this was not the way Einstein really was.
He also condemned the FBI’s method of silencing Einstein.
“While they sanctified him, they sterilized him,” he said.
Jerome said that Einstein’s least-known conviction is his anti-racism. Jerome pointed out that, though Einstein is quoted on everything from mugs to tee-shirts, one of his quotes that remains mostly unknown is, “Racism is America’s worst disease.”
Jerome also said that few are aware that Einstein was the co-chairman of a crusade to end lynching in the `40s.
This revelation surprised Judy Richardson, a local filmmaker present at the lecture, more than anything else.
“As someone who came out of the civil rights movement, what disturbs me is that most people do not know about how progressive Einstein was,” she said. “I was surprised that something so wonderful about him could be so hidden.”
Jerome said the FBI has now released the Einstein file online, but it has many omissions.