Podchaser Logo
Charts
Introducing SNAFU with Ed Helms

Introducing SNAFU with Ed Helms

Released Wednesday, 11th December 2024
Good episode? Give it some love!
Introducing SNAFU with Ed Helms

Introducing SNAFU with Ed Helms

Introducing SNAFU with Ed Helms

Introducing SNAFU with Ed Helms

Wednesday, 11th December 2024
Good episode? Give it some love!
Rate Episode

Episode Transcript

Transcripts are displayed as originally observed. Some content, including advertisements may have changed.

Use Ctrl + F to search

0:00

Hey there, it's Josh Levine. And And this week

0:02

I wanted to share an episode

0:04

from a podcast I think you'll

0:07

really like. you'll really a show about

0:09

history's greatest screw ups hosted by

0:11

actor, comedian, writer actor, bona fide history

0:13

nerd bona fide history nerd at Helms. Season

0:15

2, is a riveting heist

0:17

story. story. It It begins in 1971

0:19

when group when a group of

0:22

citizen activists decide to break into

0:24

an FBI office in media and

0:26

steal every classified document in

0:28

sight. They hope to prove that J.

0:30

Edgar Hoover and the FBI were

0:32

up to no good, good, surveilling, disrupting,

0:34

disrupting, and even plotting to assassinate

0:37

political opponents. I hope you heard my I hope you

0:39

heard my conversation with Ed about his at

0:41

Daily Show for one of our our burn bonus

0:43

episodes this season. this season. if you

0:45

want to hear more from him, more from is

0:47

a great choice. is a because the

0:49

story he tells the season is

0:51

incredibly timely today. incredibly timely today. Plus,

0:53

will be releasing in just a few

0:55

months. in want to catch up

0:57

before it's available. you want to catch keep

0:59

listening for episode one

1:01

of keep listening for episode one And

1:03

then listen to the entire season, wherever

1:06

you get podcasts. to the entire season

1:08

wherever you get podcasts. It's March

1:10

8th, 1971, and just about

1:12

every human being on planet

1:15

Earth is completely consumed by

1:17

one one event. Heavyweight boxers Joe Frazier Muhammad

1:19

Ali meet in New York's

1:21

Madison Square, the richest fight

1:23

of all time. fight

1:25

of least He's foreign countries will

1:28

show the fight on TV. Muhammad

1:30

Ali fight on Joe Frazier, better

1:32

known as the fight of the

1:34

as the fight of the century. I

1:37

want to tell you this is going to be a

1:39

spectacular evening. The tension and the excitement here is monumental.

1:41

A lucky 20,000 have scored tickets

1:43

to watch the fight at

1:46

Madison Square Garden. Anyone who's

1:48

anyone is there. anyone is include

1:50

a couple of Kennedys, foreign

1:52

dignitaries, astronauts who just returned

1:54

from the who just returned from the moon.

1:57

a who's is of who of 70s icons.

1:59

Ed Sullivan. Hugh Hefner, Ross,

2:01

Barbara Streisand, all here to

2:03

see this guy. here

2:05

to see this guy.

2:07

All right, Ali, in

2:10

the beautiful, beautiful, the

2:12

former heavyweight champ, is battling

2:14

to reclaim his title from

2:16

current heavyweight champ, is battling

2:18

to reclaim his

2:20

title There seems to

2:22

be a mingling of Frasier.

2:24

As the opening time stops

2:26

around the world. world. people

2:29

rush to their to and

2:31

radios, and streets completely empty out.

2:33

In barracks across Vietnam, out. In

2:35

.S. servicemen huddle around transistor

2:37

radios. Inside an arena in

2:39

Chicago, an actual riot

2:42

erupts when the projector

2:44

breaks down right before the

2:46

fight starts. erupts when the projector

2:48

breaks down right before the

2:50

fight starts. which

2:57

all means that some some miles south

3:00

of New York City in a small

3:02

Pennsylvania town called Media. town called The

3:04

streets are even sleepier than

3:06

usual. than usual. Downtown is deserted.

3:08

There are no policemen no

3:10

policemen on patrol, no locals out for

3:12

an evening stroll, and and no one

3:14

keeping a close eye on the

3:17

entrance of a four -story brick building

3:19

that sits at at one square. So

3:22

the doors to that building swing

3:24

open, swing and two men and two

3:26

women walk out, two nervously carrying

3:28

bulging suitcases and loading them into

3:30

a car out front. them into

3:33

a car out front, no one

3:35

takes notice. Those folks with

3:37

the suitcases? Well, they're not

3:39

leaving for a trip. for They're

3:41

part of a team of

3:43

burglars of decided this was the

3:45

perfect night to do something unthinkable.

3:47

do something unthinkable. Rob

3:49

the FBI! break

3:52

into their offices, steal every document

3:54

in sight, and zoom off into

3:56

the night with a trunk full

3:59

of secrets. I'm

4:05

Ed Helms and this is Snaff

4:07

a show a show about history's

4:09

greatest screw -ups. Last season

4:11

we told you all about about

4:13

Abel Archer 83, the nuclear near could have

4:15

ended the world as we

4:17

know it. as This season we

4:19

bring you you the story

4:21

of a of heist and

4:24

the colossal FBI FBI Snafoo it

4:26

exposed. It

4:33

was a Tuesday.

4:36

That morning I

4:39

arrived and as

4:41

usual

4:43

I It was a Tuesday. the

4:46

That morning room first go

4:48

to the mail room

4:50

first up up my mail.

4:53

This is journalist Betty Medsker.

4:55

That Tuesday was March 23rd 1971, two

4:57

weeks after the began like any other It

4:59

began like any other morning. her

5:01

Betty woke up in her apartment

5:03

in Washington, she D .C. She had

5:06

her usual breakfast, couple a couple of

5:08

pieces of toast, took took the

5:10

city bus to work, and arrived

5:12

at the Washington Post Post at at

5:14

o 'clock. I'd been off for

5:16

two days and so there was a

5:18

huge stack of mail. But but this

5:20

one stood out. only because

5:22

it was a large envelope,

5:25

but because the return address, which

5:27

was which was Publication Media, Pennsylvania.

5:30

Betty was a born Betty was

5:32

a born but she'd but she'd

5:34

never heard of Liberty publications. She She

5:36

took the envelope with her

5:38

to the her to the newsroom. You

5:40

might have a picture of

5:42

that Washington that newsroom. newsroom, typewriters

5:44

away like away like machine gun thick

5:46

haze of cigarette smoke, someone

5:48

screaming, copy! Woodward Woodward and Bernstein

5:50

running around shaking at each other

5:52

with their latest scoop. scoop. Well,

5:55

that that picture in the

5:57

the classic book and

5:59

movie Presidents Men. actually actually pretty

6:01

darn close. according to

6:03

to cigarette smoke. smoke. any there any

6:05

place you don't smoke? But

6:08

the spring of 1971, Woodward and

6:10

Bernstein were still Watergate was Watergate was

6:13

still just a hotel, and the

6:15

Washington Post hadn't yet become the

6:17

crusading institution that took down the

6:19

Nixon White House. House. Betty herself

6:21

was a young reporter who'd been

6:23

at the paper for just a

6:25

year. just a year. was was religion, she shared

6:27

an office about the size of

6:30

a walk -in closet closet a a

6:32

crew of fellow reporters. There

6:35

six of us in there, and we were.

6:37

with science, medicine, and and

6:40

education, and religion. An editor

6:42

made up a term. called It

6:44

was called Science, medicine,

6:46

Medicine. religion, religion, and

6:48

all that shit. I worked. that's where

6:50

I worked. the smurche in this

6:52

merch department. in worked in

6:55

the department. But morning,

6:57

Betty didn't have time for any time

6:59

for around. Like any good journalist

7:01

who's just been sent a mysterious

7:03

envelope, she was dying to know

7:05

what was inside. was dying to know what was

7:07

I got to my office,

7:09

I opened that envelope first. Dear

7:17

friend, in closed you will find

7:19

you will find copies of

7:21

certain files from the

7:23

media office of the FBI, which were removed

7:25

by our commission for public scrutiny.

7:27

We are making these copies. The

7:30

letter went on to say The

7:32

letter went on to say that Betty

7:34

had permission to make copies of the

7:36

files and publish their their contents. degree

7:38

of public association or

7:40

disassociation with our

7:42

commission is entirely a

7:44

matter of your choice.

7:46

is entirely a matter

7:49

of your choice.

7:51

Sincerely, the Citizens

7:53

Commission to investigate

7:55

the FBI. I'm

7:57

shocked. I think

8:00

people in the United States couldn't

8:02

imagine that anybody would have the

8:04

nerve to break into an FBI

8:06

office and would have thought that

8:09

such a place would have been

8:11

the most secure place. Inside

8:13

the envelope were 14 Xeroxed

8:15

FBI files. It didn't take

8:18

long for Betty to grasp

8:20

that these documents were explosive.

8:22

The first one was pretty

8:25

shocking. It was a document

8:27

urging agents to increase interviews

8:29

with dissenters and quote, for

8:32

plenty of reasons, chief of

8:34

which are enhance the paranoia

8:36

endemic in these circles and

8:39

further serve to get the

8:41

point across that there is

8:44

an FBI agent behind every

8:46

mailbox. An FBI agent behind

8:48

every mailbox. Sort

8:51

of like Uncle Fester, but

8:53

in wingtips. At first Betty

8:56

wondered if what she was

8:58

reading was a hoax? To

9:01

enhance paranoia? Seriously? She kept

9:03

reading. One of the things

9:06

was a file on Swarthmore

9:08

College, and it revealed that

9:11

every black student on the

9:13

Swarthmore campus was under FBI

9:16

surveillance. And this was being

9:18

done by people who had

9:21

been hired by the FBI

9:23

as informers and included switchboard

9:26

operators, letter carriers, the postmaster

9:28

of Swathmore, the local police

9:31

chief, and some college administrators.

9:34

And it didn't stop at

9:36

this one liberal arts college.

9:38

There was a pattern. Files

9:40

in the envelope showed the

9:42

FBI was surveilling citizens all

9:44

over Philadelphia. The subjects Betty

9:46

was reading about in these

9:48

files, they were anti-war protesters,

9:50

civil rights activists, labor unions,

9:52

and a noticeably high percentage

9:54

were black. The FBI was

9:56

operating something that was very

9:58

much like the. was

10:01

operating in East Germany.

10:03

What became clear was

10:06

every document was telling

10:08

a story about FBI

10:10

power that was unknown

10:13

to anyone outside the

10:15

FBI. That

10:23

brassy jingoistic tune comes from

10:25

a big-budget 1959 Hollywood production

10:28

called The FBI Story. Made

10:30

in cooperation with the Bureau

10:32

itself. The movie spins through

10:35

the greatest hits of agency

10:37

cases from the Osage Indian

10:39

Murders to the pursuit of

10:42

communists. And it wouldn't be

10:44

an all-American feel-good story without

10:47

everyone's favorite leading man, Jimmy

10:49

Stewart. Tell N.Y. 21 if

10:51

and when White he passes

10:54

the coin, arrest them. Stewart

10:56

played the quintessential FBI agent.

10:59

He was conservative, level-headed, trustworthy,

11:01

clean-shaven, well-coffed, and of course,

11:03

white. A government man. Or

11:06

in the parlance of the

11:08

day, a g-man. And g-men

11:10

were American heroes. FBI

11:13

mythmaking was pretty much its own

11:15

genre of entertainment in the mid-20th

11:18

century. It wasn't just movies. FBI

11:20

agents were valiant heroes in comic

11:23

books and radio shows. This is

11:25

your FBI. The official broadcast from

11:27

the files of the Federal Bureau's

11:30

investigation. And they were the stars

11:32

of a TV show that in

11:34

1971 was in its sixth season

11:37

and at the height of its

11:39

popularity. The FBI story

11:42

was everywhere, and that didn't

11:44

happen by accident. The story

11:46

of the Bureau, familiar to

11:48

most Americans, was crafted by

11:51

one man. The Ultimate G-Man.

11:53

America stands at the crossroads

11:55

of destiny. It is a

11:58

common destiny in which we

12:00

shall Jay Edgar Hoover, long-time

12:02

director of the FBI. He

12:05

was a small man, but

12:07

terrifyingly intimidating. So buttoned up

12:09

that he made Beaver Cleaver

12:11

look like a hell's angel.

12:14

Hoover was also a brilliant

12:16

PR man, transforming a relatively

12:18

obscure Bureau of the Justice

12:21

Department into a nationally revered

12:23

household name. That FBI TV

12:25

show, Hoover was intimately involved

12:28

in its production, often suggesting

12:30

storylines. As for that Jimmy

12:32

Stewart movie, Hoover edited and

12:34

approved the scripts himself. And

12:37

he tasked FBI agents with

12:39

investigating every person on set,

12:41

even the Gaffers. Careful with

12:44

a lighten, guys. It's starting

12:46

to look a little communist.

12:48

As far as Hoover's message

12:51

to the American people, it

12:53

was simple. They could always

12:55

count on the FBI. I

12:57

take humble pride in emphatically

13:00

stating here tonight that as

13:02

long as I am director

13:04

of the FBI, it will

13:07

continue to maintain its high

13:09

and impartial standards of investigation

13:11

despite the hostile opinions of

13:14

its detractors. The vast majority

13:16

of Americans revered Hoover. A

13:18

Gallup poll in 1971 found

13:20

that over 70% of Americans

13:23

thought he was doing a

13:25

good to excellent job. Only

13:27

7% had a negative view

13:30

of him. Hoover

13:33

had been exempted from compulsory retirement

13:35

in the 1960s, which essentially made

13:38

him FBI director for life. His

13:40

power across five decades was unquestioned.

13:42

When someone suggested to John F.

13:45

Kennedy that maybe it wasn't a

13:47

great idea for one person to

13:49

have all that power for that

13:52

long, Kennedy, then the president, replied

13:54

with resignation, you don't fire God.

13:56

Hey, God, sorry to bug you.

13:58

You are fired. the

14:01

FBI will continue to

14:03

be objective in its

14:05

investigations and will stay

14:08

within the bounds of

14:10

its authorized jurisdiction regardless

14:12

of pressure groups which

14:14

seek to use the

14:17

FBI to attain their

14:19

own selfish aims to

14:21

the detriment of our

14:23

people as a whole.

14:35

Back at the Washington Post offices

14:37

Betty Medsker was holding documents that

14:40

did not jibe with the FBI

14:42

America new. The contents of the

14:44

files were so shocking, so illegal,

14:46

Betty was skeptical that they were

14:49

actually real. She took the files

14:51

to an editor. I explained that

14:53

I just received these files that

14:55

were stolen from an FBI office

14:58

and she stops me and she

15:00

says, we just got a call

15:02

from Ken Classen. Ken Clausen was

15:04

a veteran reporter who was well

15:07

sourced inside the federal government. That

15:09

morning, one of Clausen's government sources

15:11

had reached out to him asking

15:13

if anyone at the post had

15:16

received stolen FBI documents. If the

15:18

FBI was asking about them, then

15:20

clearly the files Betty received were

15:23

authentic. I

15:25

started to confront within myself

15:27

the significance and the danger

15:30

involved. I realized I needed

15:32

to think about what I

15:34

was doing. I needed to

15:36

think about the personal implications

15:39

of it. Betty knew that

15:41

writing this story could make

15:43

her an enemy of the

15:45

FBI, something nobody wanted, as

15:47

it could have very real

15:50

consequences. I'm concerned about fingerprints

15:52

on the files that I've

15:54

received. So I thought it

15:56

was very important even when

15:58

thought of fingerprints

16:02

that I protect them as though they

16:04

were people that I had

16:06

faced and made a promise to.

16:08

to. And so despite knowing that it so despite

16:10

knowing that it could create

16:13

powerful enemies for this here to

16:15

under the radar Smurch reporter, Betty sat

16:17

down to write her story. I

16:19

just stayed on the office working

16:21

and writing and rewriting the

16:24

stories all afternoon. Like other story,

16:26

I would simply write it and

16:28

hand it in and it

16:30

would be published the next day.

16:32

would be But this wasn't like

16:35

any other story. other story. Betty finished

16:37

the piece and turned it in

16:39

at it .m. 6 p.m. then learned

16:41

that it might not be published

16:43

the next day day might not

16:46

ever be published. be published. that

16:48

was a great shock. shock. If

16:51

Betty's story never saw the

16:53

light of day, light of the public

16:55

might never know that the

16:57

FBI was watching them. Catherine

17:14

Graham was very frightened

17:16

by the situation. Graham

17:18

Graham was the publisher of

17:20

the Washington Post. Post. a journalism

17:22

legend who received the loftiest honor

17:25

you can imagine. loftiest Streep played

17:27

her in a movie. Do

17:29

you have the papers? in a movie. Do

17:31

you have Not yet. yet. The

17:34

movie The Post is all

17:36

about Catherine Graham and her and

17:38

editor, Ben Bradley, and their decision

17:40

to publish a batch of

17:42

leaked federal documents known as the

17:44

documents known as the But that was

17:47

all yet to come. was all On

17:49

this day, March day, March 1971, no

17:51

American American newspaper had ever published

17:53

government documents stolen by sources

17:55

from outside the government. Graham and the Post

17:57

Post's leadership were unlawful.

18:00

territory. It was not just

18:02

that it was unprecedented and

18:05

that the documents had been

18:07

stolen. We had them by

18:09

virtue of a crime being

18:11

committed. Betty would later learn

18:13

that earlier that day the

18:15

Attorney General of the United

18:17

States, John Mitchell, had repeatedly

18:20

phoned the post demanding that

18:22

they not publish her story.

18:24

It was the first time

18:26

that the publisher had been

18:28

asked by the administration to

18:30

suppress a story. They didn't

18:33

want the public to know.

18:35

The attorney general claimed that

18:37

the documents could damage national

18:39

security. That sounded plausible. Except

18:41

Betty and her editors, unlike

18:43

the attorney general, had actually

18:45

read the documents. Did they

18:48

threaten to embarrass the government?

18:50

Absolutely. But there was nothing

18:52

in those files that even

18:54

touched on national security. The

18:56

government had the power to

18:58

hurt the institution, and Catherine

19:00

Graham had responsibility for protecting

19:03

the institution. Hours passed. Finally,

19:05

Betty's phone rang. At 10

19:07

o'clock, I get a call

19:09

saying that the decision was

19:11

just made. The decision was

19:13

made to publish. stolen

19:18

documents describe FBI surveillance activities.

19:21

That was the headline plastered

19:23

on the front page of

19:25

the Washington Post on newsstands

19:28

and doorsteps all over America

19:30

on March 24th 1971. The

19:34

story painted a picture of

19:36

an FBI far different from

19:38

the g-men Americans new from

19:40

their TV sets and radios.

19:42

It described a vast surveillance

19:44

network, infiltrating college campuses, targeting

19:46

black students and activists, and

19:48

intentionally trying to create an

19:50

atmosphere of paranoia. The reaction

19:52

to the story was tectonic.

19:54

Soon members of Congress were

19:57

calling for an investigation into

19:59

the FBI. and for the

20:01

public, trips to the mailbox

20:03

were never quite the same.

20:05

Burglars at an FBI resident

20:07

office at Medea Records, stolen

20:09

from the media central radio

20:11

office, which have been made

20:13

public, include a letter. Betty

20:19

had seen just 14 files. The

20:21

letter from the Citizens Commission to

20:23

investigate the FBI implied that there

20:25

were still more files in their

20:27

possession. What Betty didn't know yet

20:29

was just how many, and how

20:31

much more damning those documents would

20:34

be. But for the time being,

20:36

Betty was just thrilled to see

20:38

her story published. I was very

20:40

excited, and early that morning I

20:42

opened my apartment door and picked

20:44

up my newspaper and was happy

20:46

to see it there. But

20:49

the story didn't end

20:51

there. Betty's article was

20:53

highly embarrassing for the

20:55

FBI, which, as she

20:57

was about to learn,

20:59

put her on J.

21:01

Edgar Hoover's radar. The

21:03

FBI entered my life

21:05

very soon after that.

21:07

I decided to call

21:09

a friend in Philadelphia

21:11

and share my excitement.

21:15

I lifted the receiver on

21:17

my kitchen phone and a

21:19

man spoke to me and

21:21

said, what are you doing?

21:23

And this is a great

21:25

shock to pick up your

21:27

phone and somebody talking to

21:29

you. And I said, who

21:31

are you? What are you

21:33

doing? And did not reveal

21:35

who they were, but kept

21:37

asking me, who was I

21:39

trying to call? And why

21:41

was I trying to call

21:43

someone? Here I was the

21:45

reporter who had just written

21:47

that the FBI agents are

21:49

supposed to make people paranoid

21:51

and feel as though there's

21:53

an FBI agent behind every

21:55

mailbox. So here apparently was

21:57

an effort to make me

21:59

paranoid and know that there

22:01

was an FBI. he was

22:03

never able to confirm that

22:05

he was an FBI agent.

22:08

But, I mean, who else

22:10

could it be? And this

22:12

wouldn't be the only time

22:14

she would have an unnerving

22:16

run-in that made her wonder,

22:18

was the FBI now after

22:20

her? Turns

22:29

out that first batch of stolen

22:31

FBI documents was just the beginning.

22:33

The files kept coming. Checking the

22:36

mail each morning became a moment

22:38

of high drama for Betty. So

22:40

one Saturday I was at my

22:42

desk and I had received more

22:44

files from the more FBI files

22:47

and I was sitting there reading,

22:49

starting to read them. And this

22:51

man I had never seen came

22:53

up and introduced himself and said,

22:56

um, I've been watching your mail

22:58

and I see that you're getting

23:00

these files from the FBI. And

23:02

then he said, I also see

23:04

that your mother is writing to

23:07

you from Johnstown that you're occasionally

23:09

getting mail from her. And that's

23:11

a sort of a strange thing

23:13

for somebody to be saying, but

23:15

it was even stranger than that

23:18

because, yes, my mother lives in

23:20

Johnstown, Pennsylvania, but she had never

23:22

written to me at the Washington

23:24

Post. She didn't even know the

23:27

address of the Washington Post. This

23:30

was a downright freaky interaction. Oh, hi there.

23:32

Yeah, we've never met, but I'm keeping really

23:34

close tabs on your mail, just FYI. By

23:37

the way, how's your mom, whom I've also

23:39

never met? Is she still getting her hair

23:41

done at that same place on the third

23:43

Tuesday of every month? Fantastic! Betty

23:46

was getting an object lesson in

23:49

what it meant for the FBI

23:51

to sow paranoia. Why was the

23:53

Bureau going to such lengths to

23:55

rattle her? Was this petty retaliation?

23:57

Or were there more secrets yet

23:59

to be revealed? anonymous packages had

24:01

been mailed from Pennsylvania. Betty had

24:03

previously worked as a reporter in

24:05

Philadelphia, so she was well-sourced in

24:07

the area. She reached out to

24:09

a source she thought might know

24:11

where the files were being kept,

24:13

and even better, might be able

24:15

to get Betty access to any

24:18

remaining files. She

24:21

was very open to the idea

24:24

and she said, let me pursue

24:26

people that would seem like logical

24:28

connections and get back to you.

24:31

So I was very excited and

24:33

as I walked back into the

24:35

newsroom from that appointment, I walked

24:38

past Ken Classam's desk. You might

24:40

remember Ken Closin. He was the

24:42

Washington Post reporter who had confirmed

24:45

the authenticity of the stolen files

24:47

on the day Betty received them.

24:50

Closin actually even shared a byline

24:52

with Betty on that first story

24:54

because of his contribution. One thing

24:57

worth mentioning here, it just so

24:59

happens, Closson had written a glowing

25:01

story on Hoover for the post

25:04

just a few months earlier. I

25:06

just spontaneously just stopped. I said,

25:08

Ken, I just had the most

25:11

wonderful thing happen. I told him

25:13

what had happened and that there

25:16

was a possibility that I would

25:18

be able to go some place

25:20

and see all of the stolen

25:23

files. And his eyes just came

25:25

alert and then hardened and he

25:27

said, I'm going with you. In

25:30

that moment, I knew that I

25:32

had made a terrible mistake. Betty

25:34

thought back to that fluff piece

25:37

that Closen had written on Jay

25:39

Ed Gerhuver months earlier. Maybe it

25:42

was best not to let Closen

25:44

be Woodward to her Bernstein. And

25:46

I said, well, no, Ken, these

25:49

are confidential sources of mine, and

25:51

there's no way that they would

25:53

let me bring somebody else along.

25:56

And he said, no, he said,

25:58

I will have to go with

26:00

you. And at that point, somehow

26:03

graciously got out of the conversation.

26:05

About a half hour passed and

26:08

he, I looked up and there

26:10

was Ken and he said in

26:12

very stern language, I am going

26:15

with you when you go to

26:17

see those files. He was saying

26:19

it as though he had the

26:22

power to give me an order,

26:24

which wasn't true. So

26:27

Betty reached out to her

26:29

source and canceled their rendezvous.

26:32

I had to make that

26:34

assumption that he was so

26:36

close to the FBI that

26:38

if we went and actually

26:41

found where the documents were,

26:43

that the FBI might be

26:45

there too. Betty

26:48

never learned for sure why

26:50

Closin was so weirdly aggressive

26:52

that day, but a year

26:54

later he left the Washington

26:56

Post for a job at

26:59

the White House, as Richard

27:01

Nixon's communications officer. And guess

27:03

what he proudly displayed on

27:05

his new White House desk?

27:07

A large framed photograph that

27:09

was signed to Ken with

27:11

affection, Jay Edgar. As

27:16

it turns out, just as

27:18

Betty suspected, the files she

27:20

was receiving, well, they would

27:22

just be the tip of

27:25

the iceberg. The full picture

27:27

was going to upend everything

27:29

the American public thought they

27:31

knew about the FBI and

27:33

would knock a revered American

27:36

hero off his throne. President's

27:38

official spokesman claims creating fear

27:40

mistrustness has spread far out

27:42

of control of its penetration,

27:44

labor unions, college campuses, church

27:46

groups. The FBI had under

27:49

surveillance every political figure, every

27:51

student activist, and every leader

27:53

for peace and justice in

27:55

this country. who exactly was

27:57

responsible for exposing the FBI's

28:00

secrets? Who were these anonymous

28:02

citizens who sent Betty those

28:04

files? And how the hell

28:06

did they successfully break into

28:08

the nation's most powerful law

28:11

enforcement agency? All under the

28:13

cover of a huge boxing

28:15

match. Hang on a second.

28:17

That plot is actually sounding

28:19

kind of familiar. On a

28:21

fight night, like the one

28:24

two weeks from tonight that

28:26

we're going to rob it.

28:28

150 million without breaking a

28:30

sweat. Oceans 11, one of

28:32

my all-time favorite heist movies

28:35

from master of the heist

28:37

himself, filmmaker Stephen Soderbergh. Speaking

28:39

of Stephen? While you were

28:41

making oceans, did you know

28:43

about this actual real-life burglary

28:46

that took place on a

28:48

fight night? No, I didn't.

28:50

I have so many questions.

28:52

I do too, Stephen. I

28:54

do too. I'm

28:56

excited for you to learn more

28:59

about this story. Well, here's the

29:01

thing. I have never listened to

29:03

a podcast before. Obviously, I have

29:05

to hear this. All right, Stephen,

29:07

and listeners, get ready. This season

29:09

you'll hear how Jay Edger Hoover

29:11

embroiled the FBI in one of

29:14

the worst intelligence snafoos of all

29:16

time. The daring heist that exposed

29:18

it all, and the staggering fallout

29:20

that sent shockwaves through America. We

29:22

love to say that we learned

29:24

our burglary skills from nuns and

29:27

priests. We know they have our

29:29

pictures. We know they're looking for

29:31

us. One day he came up

29:33

to me and he said, would

29:35

you like to be part of

29:37

a small group where we're going

29:40

to go after the FBI? I

29:42

just felt like I was living

29:44

in the heart of the dragon

29:46

and it was just my job

29:48

to stop the fire. And this

29:50

seemed like a way to do

29:53

it. I was just really angry.

29:55

I was really. And I thought,

29:57

here's something that might just make

29:59

a great big difference. Holy shit,

30:01

we are really here. This is

30:03

dynamite stuff. There was no place

30:06

to hide if they released their

30:08

powers against you. Like, well, that

30:10

was either the FBI or the

30:12

heating system. And there's only one

30:14

way to find out which. Many

30:16

of the techniques were clearly illegal,

30:18

but justified in the interest of

30:21

national security. If it meant some

30:23

risks that were involved, well, that's

30:25

what citizens sometimes have to do.

30:36

Snafu is a production of I-Hart

30:39

Radio, Film Nation Entertainment, and Pacific

30:41

Electric Picture Company in association with

30:43

Guilded Audio. This season of Snafu

30:46

is based on the book The

30:48

Burglary, the discovery of Jay Edgar

30:50

Hoover's Secret FBI, written by Betty

30:53

Metzger. It's executive produced by me,

30:55

Ed Helms, Milan Papelka, Mike Valbo,

30:57

Whitney Donaldson, Andy Chug, Dylan Fagan,

31:00

and Betty Metzger. Our lead producers

31:02

are Sarah Joiner and Alyssa Martino.

31:04

Producer is Stephen Wood. This episode

31:07

was written by Albert Chen, Sarah

31:09

Joiner, and Stephen Wood, with additional

31:11

writing and story editing from Alyssa

31:14

Martino and Ed Helms. Tori Smith

31:16

is our associate producer, Neven Calapali

31:19

is our production assistant, facts checking

31:21

by Charles Richter, our creative executive

31:23

is Brett Harris, Sensitivity Consult from

31:26

Oloa Kemi, Allah Desui, editing, sound

31:28

design and original music by Ben

31:30

Chug, engineering and technical direction by

31:33

Nick Dooley, additional editing from Kelsey

31:35

Albright, Olivia Kani, and Jimma Castelli

31:37

Foley Foley Foley, theme music by

31:40

Dan Rosado. Special thanks to Allison

31:42

Cohen, Daniel Welch, and Ben Rizak.

31:44

Additional thanks to Director Joanna Hamilton

31:47

for letting us use some of

31:49

the original interviews from her incredible

31:51

documentary, 1971. Finally, our deepest gratitude

31:54

to the courageous Citizens Commission to

31:56

investigate the FBI. Bill Davidon, Ralph

31:58

Daniel, Judy Farr. Heath

32:01

Forsythe, Bonnie Bonnie

32:03

Sarah Schumer, and

32:06

Bob Williamson. Sarah

32:08

Schumer, and Bob Williamson.

Rate

From The Podcast

Slow Burn

In Slow Burn’s 10th season, host Josh Levin takes you back to a crucial inflection point in American history: the moment between 2000 and 2004 when Fox News first surged to power and a whole bunch of people rose up to try and stop it.You’ll hear from the hosts, reporters, and producers who built Fox News, many who’ve never spoken publicly. You’ll also hear from Fox’s biggest antagonists—the political operatives, journalists, and comedians who attacked it, investigated it, and tried to mock it into submission. And you’ll hear from Fox’s victims, who are still coming to terms with how a cable news channel upended their lives.Want more Slow Burn? Join Slate Plus to immediately access all past seasons and episodes of Slow Burn (and your other favorite Slate podcasts) completely ad-free. Plus, you’ll unlock subscriber-exclusive bonus episodes that bring you behind-the-scenes on the making of the show. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Subscribe” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/slowburnplus to get access wherever you listen.Season 9: Gays Against BriggsA nationwide moral panic, a California legislator who rode the anti-gay wave, and the LGBTQ+ people who stepped up and came out to try and stop him.Season 8: Becoming Justice ThomasWhere Clarence Thomas came from, how he rose to power, and how he’s brought the rest of us along with him, whether we like it or not. Winner of the Podcast of the Year at the 2024 Ambies Awards.Season 7: Roe v. WadeThe women who fought for legal abortion, the activists who pushed back, and the justices who thought they could solve the issue for good. Winner of Apple Podcasts Show of the Year in 2022.Season 6: The L.A. RiotsHow decades of police brutality, a broken justice system, and a video tape set off six days of unrest in Los Angeles.Season 5: The Road to the Iraq WarEighteen months after 9/11, the United States invaded a country that had nothing to do with the attacks. Who’s to blame? And was there any way to stop it?Season 4: David DukeAmerica’s most famous white supremacist came within a runoff of controlling Louisiana. How did David Duke rise to power? And what did it take to stop him?Season 3: Biggie and TupacHow is it that two of the most famous performers in the world were murdered within a year of each other—and their killings were never solved?Season 2: The Clinton ImpeachmentA reexamination of the scandals that nearly destroyed the 42nd president and forever changed the life of a former White House intern.Season 1: WatergateWhat did it feel like to live through the scandal that brought down President Nixon?

Join Podchaser to...

  • Rate podcasts and episodes
  • Follow podcasts and creators
  • Create podcast and episode lists
  • & much more

Episode Tags

Do you host or manage this podcast?
Claim and edit this page to your liking.
,

Unlock more with Podchaser Pro

  • Audience Insights
  • Contact Information
  • Demographics
  • Charts
  • Sponsor History
  • and More!
Pro Features