A conspiracy so monstrous

In the August 1956 edition of Elks Magazine, J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation from 1924 until 1972, said this:

"The objectives of communism are being steadily advanced because many of us do not readily recognize the means used to advance them. The communist, meanwhile, does not allow himself the luxury of inertia. He is intensely active. Because of him, the menace of communism in this country will remain a menace until the American people make themselves aware of the techniques of communism.

No one who truly understands what it really is can he taken in by it. Yet the individual is handicapped by coming face to face with A CONSPIRACY SO MONSTROUS HE CANNOT BELIEVE IT EXISTS. The American mind simply has not come to a realization of THE EVIL WHICH HAS BEEN INTRODUCED INTO OUR MIDST... a philosophy which must ultimately destroy all that is good and decent.

The straightforward American cannot conceive of another citizen enlisting in the espionage service of a foreign country, or deliberately propagating discontent, hatred and disunity at the orders of an alien group. He cannot believe that any American would serve a philosophy which moves inexorably toward the goal of reducing the status of the individual to that of slave...

The American citizen must hew to a line comprised of a little scepticism, a lot of knowledge, monumental faith, and an everlasting desire to get the facts. HE MUST ASCERTAIN FOR HIMSELF WHAT THE FACTS ARE. HE MUST ACCEPT NOTHING LESS THAN THE FACTS, neither the majority version nor the minority version. He must view all the evidence until the face of truth is plain."

The man who was the second most powerful living American for almost fifty years speaks here of the traitor within ('the evil introduced into our midst') and not the threat posed by Soviet and Chinese communism.

If you want to know a little of the treacherous background that moulded his attitude, go here.