wiretapping — Bunk History

Henry Kissinger in the table in the White House situation room.

Kissinger, Me, and the Lies of the Master

‘Off off the record’ with the man who secretly taped our telephone calls.

by Seymour M. Hersh via seymourhersh.substack on December 6, 2023

Person making call in telephone booth.

The Making of the Surveillance State

The public widely opposed wiretapping until the 1970s. What changed?

by Andrew Lanham via The New Republic on April 21, 2022

Ray Walston, Eileen Brennan and Paul Newman in the 1973 movie ‘The Sting,’ in which con artists use wiretapping to gamble on a horse race.

The Wiretappers Who Invented a High-Tech Crime

Before Americans worried about government or corporate surveillance, 19th-century criminals took advantage of a new technology to steal valuable information.

by Brian Hochman via The Wall Street Journal on March 31, 2022

A still from the 1955 film 'Wiretapper.' The still depicts a man wearing headphones and touching a wire.

When New York City was a Wiretapper’s Dream

Eavesdropping flourished after WWII, aided by legal loopholes, clever hacks, and “private ears”.

by Brian Hochman via IEEE Spectrum on March 25, 2022

A Brief History of Surveillance in America

With wiretapping in the headlines and smart speakers in millions of homes, a look back to the early days of eavesdropping.

by Brian Hochman, April White via Smithsonian on March 22, 2018

Photograph of a soldier using a telephone in the field.

A History of Wire-Tapping

Meyer Berger’s 1938 look at the technology, history, and culture of eavesdropping, from the wiretapping of Dutch Schulz to the invention of the Speak-O-Phone.

by Meyer Berger via The New Yorker on June 11, 1938

Image of a man distributing newspapers at a post office.

The Post Office and Privacy

We can thank the postal service for establishing the foundations of the American tradition of communications confidentiality.

by Matthew Wills, Anuj Desai via JSTOR Daily on May 19, 2024

Henry Kissinger, 1975.

Henry Kissinger: The Declassified Obituary

The primary sources on Kissinger’s controversial legacy.

by Peter Kornbluh, Tom Blanton, William Burr via National Security Archive on November 29, 2023

J. Edgar Hoover in front of a stained glass church window

One Bureau Under God

On the white Christian legacy of J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI.

by Jeanne Theoharis, Lerone A. Martin via Boston Review on October 10, 2023

Whistleblower Edward Snowden addresses an audience at a conference in Lisbon, Portugal, 2019.

Ten Years Ago, Edward Snowden Blew the Whistle on the US’s Most Secretive Spy Agency

The government responded with ruthless persecution — just one egregious example in the NSA’s long, sordid history of fiercely guarding its secrecy.

by Chip Gibbons via Jacobin on June 9, 2023

Banksy's Spy Booth depicting 3 spies listening in to a phone booth.

How the Drug War Convinced America to Wiretap the Digital Revolution

How the FBI's doomed attempt to stop criminal activity conducted via mobile phones shaped the regime of ubiquitous backdoor surveillance under which we live today.

by Brian Hochman via Humanities on January 6, 2023

J. Edgar Hoover.

A Biography That May Change Your Mind About J. Edgar Hoover

Behind his tough image, the longtime FBI director was a man of profound contradictions.

by Kai Bird via Washington Post on November 9, 2022

National Security Agency headquarters.

They Know Much More Than You Think

US intelligence agencies seem to have adopted Orwell’s idea of doublethink—“to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies.”

by James Bamford via New York Review of Books on August 15, 2013

Richard Nixon at a press conference pointing at a reporter.

Nixon’s Official Acts Against His Enemies List Led to a Bipartisan Impeachment Effort

An enemies list isn’t a weapon against ‘the Deep State.’ It was a tool Richard Nixon used to create a deep state of his own.

by Ken Hughes via The Conversation on December 18, 2024

Henry Kissinger, Who Shaped World Affairs Under Two Presidents, Dies at 100

He was the only person ever to be national security adviser and secretary of state at the same time. He was also the target of relentless critics.

by Thomas W. Lippman via Washington Post on November 30, 2023

Henry Kissinger

Henry Kissinger, War Criminal Beloved by America's Ruling Class, Finally Dies

In a demonstration of why he was able to kill so many people and get away with it, the day of his passage will be a solemn one in Congress and newsrooms.

by Spencer Ackerman via Rolling Stone on November 30, 2023

Former President Nixon addressing the press

The Saturday Night Massacre at 50

What actually happened in one of the most disruptive episodes of the supposed Watergate scandal?

by Declan Leary via The American Conservative on October 23, 2023

Hands placing silhouettes of witnesses onto a chart using tweezers.

An Offer You Can’t Refuse

How a mob statute metastasized.

by Piper French via The Drift on July 12, 2023

Mexican president José López Portillo at a press conference on May 19, 1980.

Declassified Documents Uncover Yet Another Mexican President’s CIA Ties

Recently declassified documents have exposed former Mexican president José López Portillo as a CIA asset.

by Fernando Herrera Calderón via Jacobin on June 13, 2023

Jonathan Big next to cover of "King: A Life."

Restoring the Real, Radical Martin Luther King Jr. in “King: A Life”

A new biography of King emerges at a "critical juncture" for his legacy.

by Jonathan Eig, Steve Nathans-Kelly via Chicago Review of Books on May 23, 2023

Cartoon of Henry Kissinger blowing out birthday candles on a cake depicting his criminal legacy.

Henry Kissinger, War Criminal—Still at Large at 100

We now know a great deal about the crimes he committed while in office. But we know little about his four decades with Kissinger Associates.

by Greg Grandin via The Nation on May 15, 2023

Daniel Ellsberg at a press conference in New York City, 1972.

My Fifty Years with Dan Ellsberg

The man who changed America.

by Seymour M. Hersh via seymourhersh.substack on March 8, 2023

Richard Nixon giving a speech

Why We’re Still Obsessed With Watergate

The reasons that Nixon’s scandal endures when other presidents’ disgraces have not.

by David Greenberg via Politico Magazine on June 19, 2022

Eavesdropping on Roy Cohn and Donald Trump

Remembering the switchboard operator who listened in on Cohn’s calls with Nancy Reagan, Gloria Vanderbilt, Carlo Gambino, and Trump.

by Marcus Baram via The New Yorker on April 14, 2017

The Curious Death of Oppenheimer’s Mistress

Who killed J. Robert Oppenheimer's Communist lover?

by Alex Wellerstein via Restricted Data: The Nuclear Secrecy Blog on December 11, 2015

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