Albert Einstein
These days, Albert Einstein is popularly remembered as an eccentric genius. As well as being one of the greatest minds of all time, he was good-natured, modest and often self-deprecating. All of this means that he is remembered with fondness, even by those with little or no knowledge of physics. However, it wasn’t always like this. From 1932 onwards, the FBI kept a detailed dossier on Einstein, believing him to be a “radical” and even a potential security threat.
It was towards the end of 1932 that Einstein moved to the US with his wife, Elsa. Far from keeping his head down and staying quiet, the scientist was outspoken on many of the most pressing social issues of the day. Above all, he argued vociferously against not just racism but nationalism too. Then, later on in life, Einstein also became a vocal critic of the dangers of nuclear weapons. All of this combined to make him, in the eyes of the FBI, a potential subversive.
Between 1932 and Einstein’s death in April of 1955, the FBI compiled a fie some 1,427 pages long on the scientist. Some agents genuinely believed that he was a spy, working for the Communists. As one 2002 book revealed, they would monitor not just Einstein’s phone but those of his colleagues and friends in the hope of gaining some crucial evidence to back up their suspicions. G-Men even went through Einstein’s trash searching for clues. This hunt for proof of Communist sympathies became even more intense in the 1950s, especially when Einstein used his celebrity status to appeal for leniency for the Rosenbergs, who had been arrested for espionage and sentenced to death. He also called on his fellow scientists to refuse to testify before the subcommittees organised by Senator Joseph McCarthy, again making him appear even more suspect in the eyes of Hoover and his colleagues.
By 1953, the McCarthy-led campaign against Communist infiltrators in American society had come to an end. Surveillance on Einstein was eased and then brought to an end altogether. Two years later, Einstein died at the age of 76. A few days after his death. Hoover personally ordered the file on the scientific genius to be closed and put away. It remained hidden away from public view for around 30 years. Now, however, it can be read online on the FBI’s own website.