Freedom's detective : the Secret Service, the Ku Klux Klan and the man who masterminded America's first war on terror

The Resource Freedom's detective : the Secret Service, the Ku Klux Klan and the man who masterminded America's first war on terror

Label

Freedom's detective : the Secret Service, the Ku Klux Klan and the man who masterminded America's first war on terror

Title remainder

the Secret Service, the Ku Klux Klan and the man who masterminded America's first war on terror

Statement of responsibility

Charles Lane

Language

eng

Summary

Chronicles the story of the Reconstruction-era Secret Service and its battle against the KKK's effort to suppress the emancipated African-American vote, sharing particular insights into the career of controversial Secret Service chief, Hiram C. Whitley. In the years following the Civil War, a new battle began. Newly freed African American men had gained their voting rights and would soon have a chance to transform Southern politics. Former Confederates and other white supremacists mobilized to stop them. Thus, the KKK was born. After the first political assassination carried out by the Klan, Washington power brokers looked for help in breaking the growing movement. They found it in Hiram C. Whitley. He became head of the Secret Service, which had previously focused on catching counterfeiters and was at the time the government's only intelligence organization. Whitley and his agents led the covert war against the nascent KKK and were the first to use undercover work in mass crime--what we now call terrorism--investigations. Like many spymasters before and since, Whitley also had a dark side. His penchant for skulduggery and dirty tricks ultimately led to his involvement in a conspiracy that would bring an end to his career and transform the Secret Service. Populated by intriguing historical characters--from President Grant to brave Southerners, both black and white, who stood up to the Klan--and told in a brisk narrative style, Freedom's Detective reveals the story of this complex hero and his central role in a long-lost chapter of American history

Biography type

individual biography

Cataloging source

NjBwBT

Illustrations

illustrations

Index

index present

Literary form

non fiction

Nature of contents

bibliography

Context

Context of Freedom's detective : the Secret Service, the Ku Klux Klan and the man who masterminded America's first war on terror

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