Cold War Primary Sources | J. Edgar Hoover

Excerpt from "How to Fight Communism"

Originally published in Newsweek, June 9, 1947

"Our best defense in the United States against the menace of Communism is our own American way of life. The American Communists cannot hope to reach their objective of destroying our form of government unless they first undermine and corrupt it, causing confusion and disrupting public confidence in the workings of democracy."

Published in Newsweek magazine's June 9, 1947, issue, "How to Fight Communism" by J. Edgar Hoover (1895–1972) attempted to educate Americans about communists in the United States and the threat they posed. Hoover was head of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Asked by President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945; served 1933–45) in the mid-1930s to monitor the activities of communists and other potential subversives within...