Theoharis, Athan G.."Wiretaps, Mail Openings, and Break-Ins." Spying on Americans : political surveillance from Hoover to the Huston plan / Athan Theoharis. [0877221413 :] Philadelphia : Temple University Press, 1978. 94-132
Call#: Van Pelt Library JK468.I6 T45

 

In this chapter of Theoharis’ book, about the growth of technology for surveillance over the past century, the author explains the ways that the government could curb “subversive activities”. The legality of these operations is questionable, and this notion created paranoia in the minds of Americans among the midst of government cover-ups like Watergate. Theoharis argues that the government has conducted unjustified surveillance since the 1950s, and the attitudes towards centralized government helped Congress advance constitutional justifications in the next decades. During the time before Watergate, Congress authorized wiretaps for national security purposes and took a more lenient approach on explaining their tactics to the public. By 1974, in the midst of the public furor over Watergate, the public was not satisfied in the inherent powers of the government in people’s private lives because of national security measures. The fear of lack of privacy fuels the paranoia that is evident in The Conversation. The laws that were enacted to protect Americans from foreign threats through subversive methods were widely debated, but often just ignored. In fact, most of the seditious inquiries that were made were not against suspected treasons, but prominent New Deal liberals and Hollywood figures. These discoveries embarrassed the government, but most importantly, they made the general public aware that the government did not need evidence to conduct surveillance on people because they lacked the ability to assess the validity of certain investigations. After this upsetting revelation, the government answered by asserting that any wiretaps that involved trespassing would require the approval of the attorney general, but any wiretaps in public places were legal under the current law. Considering that The Conversation came out in 1974, the same time that the furor over Watergate was at its peak, there are many parallels between the paranoia of the general public and the main character, Harry Caul. The scene that drives The Conversation, where he conducts surveillance on his targets in the park, shows how even legal surveillance can defy our rights to privacy.