Description
First edition of The FBI Story: A Report to the People by Don Whitehead, inscribed by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover to the founder of the AFL-CIO, George Meany.
Octavo, xiv, 368pp. Gray cloth over black hardcover, title stamped in gilt on spine. Stated “first printing” on copyright page. Top edge dyed pink. Remnant of dampstain to rear endpaper, solid text block. Light rubbing to cloth, wear along bottom edge of front board. In publisher’s near fine dust jacket, retail price on front flap, bright colors and illustrations. Signed on the front free endpaper: “To George Meany, With cordial regards, J. Edgar Hoover. 11.16.56.”
George Meany was an American labor leader for most of his life. He was a key figure in the creation of the AFL-CIO, serving as its first president from 1955-1979. Meany was an ardent anti-Communist. His address to the FBI Graduating Class of 1956 is featured in this book, where he says “any system of government in which a party is the government – particularly when there is only one party with absolute power over every walk of life – cannot be government by law.” His anti-Communist stance and efforts to fight Mafia influence in organized labor were supported by FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. George Meany died in 1980.
