The FBI Files on John Steinbeck
5/5
()
About this ebook
Thomas Fensch
Thomas Fensch has published 40 books in the past 50 years--his first three were published in 1970. He has published five books about John Steinbeck; two about James Thurber; two about Dr. Seuss; the only full biography of John Howard Griffin, the author of Black Like Me, and a variety other titles.
Read more from Thomas Fensch
The FBI Files on Elvis Presley Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5War Dairies from Inside Hitler's Headquarters Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Man Who Was Dr Seuss: The Life and Work of Theodor Geisel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Oskar Schindler and His List: The Man, The Book, The Film, The Holocaust and Its Survivors Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5FBI Files on the Lindbergh Baby Kidnapping Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOf Sneetches and Whos and the Good Dr. Seuss: Essays On the Writings and Life of Theodor Geisel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Man Who Was Walter Mitty: The Life and Work of James Thurber Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Books That Haunt Us Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Kennedy-Khrushchev Letters Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSteinbeck's Bitter Fruit: From the Grapes of Wrath to Occupy Wall Street Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAnne and Emmett Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe C.I.A. and the U-2 Program, 1954-1974 Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Steinbeck and Covici: The Story of a Friendship Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFOUR Complete Sets of Felony Indictments Filed Against Donald John Trump Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWriting Solutions: Beginnings, Middles and Endings Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSubverting Justice: How the Former President and His Allies Pressured DOJ to Overturn the 2020 Election Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsInside Nixon's Enemies List Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow They Survived and Why We Lost: Central Intelligence Agency Analysis, 1966: The Vietnamese Communists' Will to Persist Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChronicles from past Plague Years Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMasters of Despair Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Sordid Hypocrisy of to Protect and to Serve: Police Brutality, Corruption and Oppression in America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBehind Islands in the Stream: Hemingway, Cuba, the FBI and the crook factory Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAt the Dangerous Edge of Social Justice: Race, Violence and Death in America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOrwell in America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLegal Aspects of Impeachment: U.S Department of Justice Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLife, Love, Losses and Dogs: A Memoir, With Paw Prints Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Man Who Changed His Skin: The Life and Work of John Howard Griffin Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to The FBI Files on John Steinbeck
Related ebooks
The Red Badge of Courage Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMiami Twilight Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Complete Autobiographies of Frederick Douglass Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ernie Pyles War: America's Eyewitness to World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Death of Raymond Yellow Thunder: And Other True Stories from the Nebraska–Pine Ridge Border Towns Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Magnificent Ambersons Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5John Steinbeck: The Years of Greatness, 1936-1939 Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Gentleman in Moscow: A Novel by Amor Towles | Conversation Starters Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Master of Ballantrae Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Payback: Five Marines After Vietnam Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Study Guide for Bernard Malamud's "The Fixer" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWords of Wisdom: John Steinbeck Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Diary from Dixie Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5David Copperfield (with an Introduction by Edwin Percy Whipple) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Time Machine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tenting On The Plains OR General Custer In Kansas And Texas Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPersonal Memoirs Of U.s. Grant Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Last Chapter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Don't Just Look - See!: My Parents' War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Road to Wigan Pier Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDon't Give Up, Don't Give In: Lessons from an Extraordinary Life Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon (Trivia-On-Books) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRenaissance Man of Cannery Row: The Life and Letters of Edward F. Ricketts Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for Norman Mailer's "The Naked and the Dead" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Diaries of Adam and Eve Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ulysses: New Revised Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Literary Biographies For You
The Woman Who Could Not Forget Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O'Connor Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: the heartfelt, funny memoir by a New York Times bestselling therapist Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Incest: From "A Journal of Love": The Unexpurgated Diary of Anaïs Nin, 1932–1934 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Confessions of a Bookseller Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Diary of Anaïs Nin, 1931–1934 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Party Monster: A Fabulous But True Tale of Murder in Clubland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Henry and June: From "A Journal of Love," The Unexpurgated Diary (1931–1932) of Anaïs Nin Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Agatha Christie: An Elusive Woman Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dad on Pills: Fatherhood and Mental Illness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Real Lolita: A Lost Girl, an Unthinkable Crime, and a Scandalous Masterpiece Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Writers and Their Notebooks Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Teacher Man: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Deliberate Cruelty: Truman Capote, the Millionaire's Wife, and the Murder of the Century Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Murder Your Life: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Glass Castle: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5James Baldwin: A Biography Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Shakespeare: The World as Stage Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5These Precious Days: Essays Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5remembered rapture: the writer at work Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Govt Cheese a memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Man of Two Faces: A Memoir, A History, A Memorial Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Writing into the Wound: Understanding trauma, truth, and language Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Very Best of Maya Angelou: The Voice of Inspiration Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Lincoln Lawyer: A Mysterious Profile Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOscar Wilde: The Unrepentant Years Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pity the Reader: On Writing with Style Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Truth & Beauty: A Friendship Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Distance Between Us: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The FBI Files on John Steinbeck
1 rating0 reviews
Book preview
The FBI Files on John Steinbeck - Thomas Fensch
.
Chronology:
Key dates in the life of
John Steinbeck
The following is a general chronology of the career of John Steinbeck.
1902—John Steinbeck born in Salinas, California.
1920–1925—Steinbeck attends Stanford University, but fails to graduate.
1926–1929—Steinbeck lives in California, writing stories and novels.
1929—Steinbeck’s first novel, Cup of Gold, published by Robert M. McBride & Co.
1932—Steinbeck’s second novel, The Pastures of Heaven, published by Brewer, Warren and Putnam.
1933—Steinbeck’s third novel, To a God Unknown, published by Robert 0. Ballou.
1935—Tortilla Flat is published by Covici-Friede. It won the Commonwealth Club of California Gold medal.
1936—Covici-Friede publishes In Dubious Battle. It wins another Gold Medal from the Commonwealth Club of California.
1937—Covici-Friede publishes Of Mice and Men as novel and play and The Red Pony.
1938—Covici-Friede dissolved. Pascal Covici joins The Viking Press as senior editor. The Viking Press publishes The Long Valley.
1939—The Viking Press publishes The Grapes of Wrath.
1940—Steinbeck awarded a Pulitzer Prize for The Grapes of Wrath.
1941—The Viking Press publishes Sea of Cortez, by Steinbeck and Ricketts, and The Forgotten Village.
1942—The Viking Press publishes Steinbeck’s The Moon Is Down and Bombs Away.
1945—The Viking Press publishes Cannery Row.
1947—The Viking Press publishes The Wayward Bus and The Pearl.
1948—The Viking Press publishes A Russian Journal.
1950—The Viking Press publishes Burning Bright as novel and playscript.
1951—The Viking Press publishes Steinbeck’s The Log from the Sea of Cortez, with preface about Ed Ricketts.
1952—The Viking Press publishes East of Eden.
1954—The Viking Press publishes Sweet Thursday.
1957—The Viking Press publishes The Short Reign of Pippin IV.
1958—The Viking Press publishes Once There Was a War.
1961—The Viking Press publishes The Winter of Our Discontent.
1962—John Steinbeck wins The Nobel Prize for Literature. The Viking Press publishes Travels with Charley in Search of America.
1964—Pascal Covici dies.
1966—The Viking Press publishes America and Americans, edited by Thomas Guinzburg.
1968—John Steinbeck dies.
1969—The Viking Press publishes Journal of a Novel: The East of Eden Letters.
1975—The Viking Press publishes Steinbeck: A Life in Letters, edited by Elaine Steinbeck and Robert Wallstein.
1976—Farrar, Straus and Giroux publishes Steinbeck’s The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights.
Introduction
The FBI Files on John Steinbeck is the seventh volume in the Top Secret Series of formerly-secret government files, published by New Century Books.
This volume begins with a short memorandum from then Attorney General Francis Biddle, to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, with a note from Steinbeck:
Do you suppose you could ask Edgar’s boys to stop stepping on my heels? They think I’m an enemy alien . . .
This is nothing in the Steinbeck file prior to that memo from Biddle and the Steinbeck note, written in New York City, presumably just prior to Biddle’s memo to J. Edgar Hoover, which was dated May 11, 1942 (except for a clip about a California extortion attempt).
J. Edgar Hoover steadfastly denied, over the years, that the FBI had ever investigated Steinbeck; Hoover’s denials were, at the very least disingenuous, at worst, an outright lie.
Although there is nothing in the FBI files prior to the Biddle to Hoover memo in May, 1942, earlier letters, memos and records could have easily been discarded, to prove
Hoover’s statement that the FBI had never investigated Steinbeck.
In fact, the FBI may well have been involved in the investigation by the governmental agency, G-2, which formally stated that Steinbeck was unfit to be an officer in the U.S. Armed Forces. That decision was made despite the California agent-of-record’s recommendation that Steinbeck was of good character, intelligence and clearly capable of being an officer in the armed forces, during World War Two.
Steinbeck may have known that G-2 was investigating him as an officer candidate and presumably believed the FBI was involved.
(Steinbeck spent the war as a correspondent and published the book, Bombs Away: the Story of a Bomber Team (1942) and, years later, in 1958, published his war correspondence under the title, Once There Was a War. These books are now two of Steinbeck’s least republished titles.)
In these files are citizen complaints about Steinbeck’s books, files of the G-2 investigation, which the FBI referred to, in later years, and reviews of evaluations of Steinbeck’s publications.
The FBI repeatedly up-dated profiles on Steinbeck, using anonymous citizen complaints and occasional reviews of his work.
The FBI also acted as clearinghouse for Steinbeck files; FBI agents in specific bureaus reported to Washington when Steinbeck entered the country; records from other governmental agencies were filed at the FBI and the FBI frequently sent copies of their records to other agencies asking for background material on Steinbeck.
In 1954, a summary was sent from the FBI to the U.S.I.A. (United States Information Agency) with the following first sentence:
No investigation has been conducted by this Bureau concerning the above-named individual. A review of the files, however, reflects that in May, 1945, a reliable source . . .
Files occasionally mention references to The Daily Worker, the Communist newspaper. However, reactions to Steinbeck’s books by communist leaders and publications were, over the years, mixed. The communist press generally approved of Steinbeck’s California novels such as The Grapes of Wrath and In Dubious Battle, but did not appreciate his post-World War Two books such as A Russian Journal, which was, in fact, out-of-date as soon as it was printed.
In 1940, John Steinbeck won the Pulitzer Prize for The Grapes of Wrath and in 1962, Steinbeck won the Nobel Prize for literature, one of the very few Americans to win the Nobel Prize for literature. But throughout the years, the FBI files mention vague references to communist organizations, approval of Steinbeck’s work by the communist press and, of course, denial by G-2 of Steinbeck’s character as an officer candidate during World War Two.
Were Edgar’s boys
on Steinbeck’s heels, as he claimed in 1942? Clearly personnel from G-2 were. Did Steinbeck confuse FBI agents with G-2 personnel? Probably. Were there records in the Steinbeck file prior to the Biddle-Hoover correspondence that begins this file? After some 60 years, there is now no proof.
Were there other records in the Steinbeck file not now open to public view? New Century Books advises that original documents make no reference to other such letters withheld from this archive during the years in question, but that still may be the case.
Every effort has been made to accurately reprint these letters, memos, files and data, however many of the letters are very dark and neither New Century Books nor the editor can completely guarantee the accuracy of the dates, or names or other phrases reproduced in this book. Sections of pages which have been redacted (blacked out prior to release to the public) are indicated in the text; some of the pages which have redactions are shown in the Appendix.
Note: Many pages shown in the Appendix are faint (or illegible) because of the age of the original file pages and because these pages had to be photocopied and then recopied and reduced for publication. These pages are included to show the contents of a variety of FBI file pages and to also show the redactions prior to release to the public.