The Safety of the Kingdom

Government Responses to Subversive Threats

J. Michael Martinez

• Publisher: Carrel Books
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN:
  9781631440243
• eBook ISBN:
  9781631440335
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: 21st Century History
• Index: History

The horrendous events of September 11, 2001, heightened awareness of terrorism unlike all but a handful of major catastrophes in American history. Like the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and President Kennedy's assassination on November 22, 1963, 9/11 is a date forever enshrined in our national memory.But 9/11 once again raised the question: What should government do to eliminate or reduce the likelihood of a future attack? How should national leadership balance its responsibility to protect the civil liberties of U.S. citizens with its sworn duty to protect their lives?In The Safety of the Kingdom, J. Michael Martinez takes up the question of how the United States government has responded to terrorist attacks and, in the absence of an attack, the fear of foreign and subversive elements that may harm the nation. In some cases, the government "overreaction" led to a series of abuses that amplified the severity of the original threat. Rather than selecting every instance of government reaction to threats, Martinez examines representative cases, from the alien and sedition acts in the eighteenth century to the post-9/11 "war on terror."Edward Snowden's disclosure of classified information related to the NSA's surveillance program brought to the fore an important debate about government scrutiny of its citizens. As J. Michael Martinez makes clear in this book, it is a debate that has been ongoing for centuries.Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in history--books about World War II, the Third Reich, Hitler and his henchmen, the JFK assassination, conspiracies, the American Civil War, the American Revolution, gladiators, Vikings, ancient Rome, medieval times, the old West, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Introduction and Acknowledgments
• Chapter 1 The Alien And Sedition Acts
• Chapter 2 Lincoln And The Suspension Of Habeas Corpus
• Chapter 3 The Espionage Act Of 1917 And The Sedition Act Of 1918
• Chapter 4 The Smith Act Of 1940
• Chapter 5 Internment Of Japanese-Americans During World War Ii
• Chapter 6 The Internal Security Act Of 1950 (The Mccarran Act)
• Chapter 7 The House Un-American Activities Committee (Huac)
• Chapter 8 The Fbi And Cointelpro
• Chapter 9 The Post-9/11 War On Terror
• Chapter 10 Lessons Learned
• Notes
• References
• Index
• About the Author