Douglas M. Charles

Douglas M. Charles (born 1971) is assistant professor of history at The Pennsylvania State University, Greater Allegheny campus (a.k.a., Penn State Greater Allegheny ) in McKeesport, Pennsylvania. He is a specialist in modern American history --- in the fields of political, intelligence, foreign relations, and gay & lesbian history --- and is the author of numerous articles on the history of the FBI and American intelligence. He is also the author of the book "J. Edgar Hoover and the Anti-interventionists: FBI Political Surveillance and the Rise of the Domestic Security State, 1939-1945" (Columbus: The Ohio State University Press, 2007). ISBN 978-0-8142-1061-1 The book examines the FBI's surveillance of President Roosevelt's "isolationist" foreign policy critics prior to and during the Second World War as well as the bureau's liaison with British intelligence.

Charles was educated at The Pennsylvania State University, earning a B.A. in 1995. He then took an M.A. in 1997 at Marquette University where he studied with the prominent FBI historian Athan Theoharis. Undertaking doctoral work in the United Kingdom, Charles took his Ph.D. in history at the University of Edinburgh in 2002 studying with Professor Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones, noted historian of American intelligence, and Professor David A. T. Stafford, historian of British intelligence and its operations in the United States during the Second World War.

Charles previously taught as a tutor of history at the University of Edinburgh, a visiting professor at Marietta College in Ohio, and as a lecturer in history at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College.

Charles's research interests focus primarily on the history of the FBI, but especially its political surveillance activities, interest in obscenity, and monitoring of gays and lesbians.

Published Works

Books

* "J. Edgar Hoover and the Anti-interventionists: FBI Political Surveillance and the Rise of the Domestic Security State, 1939-1945" (Columbus: The Ohio State University Press, 2007).

Articles

* “‘Before the Colonel Arrived’: Hoover, Donovan, Roosevelt, and the Origins of American Central Intelligence,” Intelligence and National Security 20 (Summer 2005): 225-237.

* “Informing FDR: FBI Political Surveillance and the Isolationist–Interventionist Foreign Policy Debate, 1939-1945,” Diplomatic History 24 (Spring 2000): 211-232.

–published afterwards in Walter Hixson, ed., "The American Experience in World War II: Isolationists and Internationalists, the Battle over Interventions", vol. 2 (New York: Routledge, 2002).

* “FBI Political Surveillance and the Charles Lindbergh Investigation, 1939-1944,” The Historian 59 (Summer 1997): 831-847, with John P. Rossi.

–published afterwards in Walter Hixson, ed., "The American Experience in World War II: Isolationists and Internationalists, the Battle over Interventions", vol. 2 (New York: Routledge, 2002).

* “Is It Really Wise to Expand the FBI's Investigative Techniques?” Published online with History News Network, 29 September 2008. [http://hnn.us/articles/54746.html]

* “Was Gonzales’s Historical Defense of [NSA] Eavesdropping Convincing?” Published online with History News Network, 20 February 2006. [http://hnn.us/articles/21722.html]

* “Franklin D. Roosevelt, J. Edgar Hoover, and FBI Political Surveillance,” USA Today: The Magazine of the American Scene 128 (September 1999): 74-76.

* “American, British, and Canadian Intelligence Links: A Critical Annotated Bibliography,” Intelligence and National Security 15 (Summer 2000): 259-269. –reprinted in David Stafford and Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones, eds., "American-British-Canadian Intelligence Relations, 1939-2000" (London and Portland, Oregon: Frank Cass, 2000).

External links

* [http://www.ohiostatepress.org/Books/Book%20Pages/Charles%20Edgar.html OSU Press]
* [http://www.ga.psu.edu Penn State Greater Allegheny]