What Nat Hentoff Found in His FBI File

Nat Hentoff is a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute. http://www.cato.org/people/nat-hentoff

In this clip, Hentoff discusses being monitored by the FBI and what he found when he received his own FBI file. Video produced by Caleb O. Brown and Austin Bragg.

Nat Hentoff is one of the foremost authorities on the First Amendment. While his books and articles regularly defend the rights of Americans to think and speak freely, he also explores our freedoms under the rest of the Bill of Rights and the 14th Amendment by showing how Supreme Court and local legislative decisions affect the lives of ordinary Americans. Hentoff's column, Sweet Land of Liberty, has been distributed by the United Feature Syndicate since 1992.

Hentoff has earned numerous awards and is a widely acknowledged defender of civil liberties. In 1980, he was awarded an American Bar Association Silver Gavel Award for his coverage of the law and criminal justice in his columns. In 1983, the American Library Association awarded him the Imroth Award for Intellectual Freedom. In 1995, he received the National Press Foundation Award for Distinguished Contributions to Journalism, and in 1999, he was a Pulitzer finalist for commentary.

Hentoff was a columnist and staff writer with The Village Voice for 51 years, from 1957 until 2008. A jazz expert, Hentoff writes on music for The Wall Street Journal and Jazz Times.

Hentoff has lectured at many colleges, universities, law schools, elementary, middle and high schools, and has taught courses in journalism and the Constitution at Princeton University and New York University. Mr. Hentoff serves on the Board of Advisors of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (F.I.R.E.) and is on the steering committee of the Reporters' Committee for the Freedom of the Press. A native of Boston, he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in education and was a Fulbright Fellow at the Sorbonne in Paris in 1950. He did graduate work at Harvard University, received his B.A. with highest honors from Northeastern University and was awarded an honorary doctorate of law from Northeastern in 1985.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• nat hentoff
• fbi file
• j. edgar hoover
• cato institute
• first amendment
• free speech
• jazz
• wall street journal
• village voice
• jazz times

[BlameTheFirst]

That's government for you. Making the innocent guilty, and the guilty innocent! :(

[lizardfirefighter110]

So now we know how to, indirectly, get in touch with the head of the FBI! Don't sugar coat it, just tell him how you really feel about the FBI's total !@#$%^& ups just before 9/11, and lack of investigation during the clean up! Oh yea,how come the general public does not know if the black boxes to the jets on 9/11 were ever found?If they were found, what did they reveal? If they were not found,why not? Up to 9/11, and in the total history of Black Boxes (really orange) they were always found.

[PolitcalIslam]

I have been a libertarian since I was 11 years old.

[GalaticSpaceHero]

@BlameTheFirst good is evil,, evil is good. criminalize society and ever one is felon nobody votes the rich take over the sheep. Laws for everything and you proclaim freedom ,all the sheep believe it because there being sprayed with dumb ass gas. CIA proves there hand in hand with organize crime and terrorist groups all over the world. Bin laden was being paid by the CIA. Wasnt taken prisoner , apperently killed(no body shown) so he wouldnt snitch about his roll 9/11. he might of been OSWALD

[KaelinSaint]

@httm241

Scandinavian countries are almost completely white, they are almost completely Christian, and the entire population of all Nordic countries combined is about 25 million not to mention most of the populations in each country has the same language. The US has about 12 times the population and much more diversity of race, color, religion, and creed. I think that is the reason they are happy their. Taxes are still immoral, happiness does not equal morality. And what system do we have?

[httm241]

@KaelinSaint are you kidding taxes are what make a country run tax. look at Scandinavian countries they have really high taxes and they seem to happy. explain that. what is so bad about socialism anyway it seems way better than the current system now

[KaelinSaint]

@httm241

Hmmm. Compare oil spills by American companies vs oil spills in dictatorships where the oil production is nationalized? Oil spills happen but private companies have more of an incentive to minimize damage and loss. I'm against taxes in general, I wouldn't go so far as to call taxes evil, but taxation is immoral. There never has and never will be a corporate tax. The burden of such a tax is always born by the employee and consumers. They seem to want to save the economy.

[httm241]

@KaelinSaint oil spills. against taxing the rich and corporations against programs to help the poor. anti health care. as well as anti corporate regulation. there trying to ruin are economy as we speak. 

[KaelinSaint]

@httm241

Haha. So supporting and funding groups that espouse liberty and freedom is evil? These men sound extremely powerful since they and they alone are the reason we are cutting education? Cutting it how? We sure haven't cut the spending on education. What are some of the worse things the Koch brothers have done? Help me narrow my search on these evil, evil men.

[Licmycat]

@freesk8 Oh, I see you use Ayn Rand for an example. You are clearly a Mammonist. One of many atheists I see. Blocked.

[Licmycat]

@freesk8 Never heard none of that. But I did see that they were supporting the crooked Republicans. Not amused by those who hate me. Who hates me hates the GOD who sent me.