Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones
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Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones (born 28 July 1942) is professor of American history emeritus and an honorary fellow in History at the
University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...
( School of History, Classics and Archaeology),
Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
. He is an authority on American intelligence history, having written two American intelligence history surveys and studies of the CIA and FBI. He has also written books on women and American foreign policy, America and the Vietnam War, and American labor history.Jeffreys-Jones, Rhodri
"Learning the Scholar’s Craft: A Journey with Enid Jones, John Hope Franklin, Sir Denis Brogan, Sidney Fine, and Oscar Handlin."
''H-Diplo'', Essay 221 (2020)


Biography

Jeffreys-Jones was born in
Carmarthen Carmarthen (, ; , 'Merlin's fort' or possibly 'Sea-town fort') is the county town of Carmarthenshire and a community (Wales), community in Wales, lying on the River Towy north of its estuary in Carmarthen Bay. At the 2021 United Kingdom cen ...
and grew up speaking Welsh in
Harlech Harlech () is a seaside resort and community (Wales), community in Gwynedd, North Wales, and formerly in the Historic counties of Wales, historic county of Merionethshire. It lies on Tremadog Bay in the Snowdonia National Park. Before 1966, it ...
. Having moved to Harlech at a young age, he attended Ysgol Ardudwy, the local comprehensive school. He attended the University College of Wales at Aberystwyth (now
Aberystwyth University Aberystwyth University () is a Public university, public Research university, research university in Aberystwyth, Wales. Aberystwyth was a founding member institution of the former federal University of Wales. The university has over 8,000 stude ...
), taking a B.A. in 1963. During 1964-65 he pursued graduate study at the
University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...
and, during 1965–66, at
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
. In 1967 Jeffreys-Jones took his PhD in American history at
Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...
in England. He stated in 2020:
I originally approached American history after following a left wing trajectory that billed the United States as arch-conservative, arch-capitalist, and hostile to democratic socialism and world peace.
He taught as a tutor of history at Harvard's
Kirkland House Kirkland House is one of twelve undergraduate residential Houses at Harvard University, located near the Charles River in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was named after John Thornton Kirkland, president of Harvard University from 1810 to 1828. ...
, at
Fitzwilliam College Fitzwilliam College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college has origins from 1869, with the foundation of the Non-Collegiate Students Board, a venture intended to offer academically excellent students of all ...
, Cambridge University, and for the Transport and General Workers Union before becoming a lecturer in history at the University of Edinburgh in 1967. After rising through the academic ranks as a lecturer and reader, in 1997 he became the university's second professor of American history, or its first exclusive professor of American history, given that in 1965 George "Sam" Shepperson had become "Professor of Commonwealth and American History." During his career, Jeffreys-Jones held visiting appointments, including: a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Charles Warren Center for the Study of American History at
Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...
(1971–72); a Stipendiary at the JFK Institut für Nordamerikastudien, Berlin, Germany; and a Canadian Commonwealth Fellowship and visiting professorship at the
University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...
. Jeffreys-Jones has directed postgraduate students, master's and doctoral. Jeffreys-Jones was one of the founders of the Scottish Association for the Study of America.


Research and publications

Jeffreys-Jones began his scholarly pursuits examining the issue of violence in American industry during the
Progressive Era The Progressive Era (1890s–1920s) was a period in the United States characterized by multiple social and political reform efforts. Reformers during this era, known as progressivism in the United States, Progressives, sought to address iss ...
, including the use of private detective agencies in labor disputes. Building on his work involving private detectives who collected intelligence for big business, Jeffreys-Jones then shifted his focus during the late 1970s to examine American secret intelligence, a time when the field began to blossom with the release of historical records and revelations of American intelligence agencies' activities. Jeffreys-Jones published an historical survey examining the development of American intelligence from the establishment of the Secret Service in the 19th century to the CIA in the 20th. This was followed by one of the first academic histories of the CIA at a time when most studies were undocumented, a book examining American intelligence and exaggeration, and a history of the FBI in which Jeffreys-Jones traced its origins to the 19th century and the federal government's pursuit of the Ku Klux Klan. More recent books by Jeffreys-Jones traced the history of British-American intelligence cooperation and the recent rise of European Union intelligence, and analyzed the achievements of the American left since 1900. The latter book was the winner of the Neustadt Prize for the best British book on American politics published in 2013. His next two books were about the history of surveillance in the US and the UK, and about the 1938 Nazi spy ring in America. A further recent work, ''A Question of Standing'', brings the history of the CIA up to 2022, making a case for the importance of analysts. According to Lawrence D. Freedman in "Foreign Affairs" (November/December 2022), the book "provides a concise, informed, and thoughtful history of the agency." He has recently updated his history of the FBI in a Turkish edition, and published a book on Allan Pinkerton and his legacy.


Published works


Books

* ''American Espionage: From Secret Service to CIA'' (New York: Free Press, 1977) * ''Violence and Reform in American History'' (New York: New Viewpoints, 1978) * ''The CIA and American Democracy'' (New Haven:
Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day and Clarence Day, grandsons of Benjamin Day, and became a department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and ope ...
, 1989) * ''Changing Differences: Women and the Shaping of American Foreign Policy, 1917-1994'' (New Brunswick:
Rutgers University Press Rutgers University Press (RUP) is a nonprofit academic publishing house, operating in New Brunswick, New Jersey under the auspices of Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Pub ...
, 1995) * ''Peace Now! American Society and the Ending of the Vietnam War'' (New Haven:
Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day and Clarence Day, grandsons of Benjamin Day, and became a department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and ope ...
, 1999) * ''Cloak and Dollar: A History of American Secret Intelligence'' (New Haven:
Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day and Clarence Day, grandsons of Benjamin Day, and became a department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and ope ...
, 2002) * ''The FBI: A History'' (New Haven:
Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day and Clarence Day, grandsons of Benjamin Day, and became a department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and ope ...
, 2007) * ''In Spies We Trust: The Story of Western Intelligence'' (Oxford:
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...
, 2013) * ''The American Left: Its Impact on Politics and Society since 1900'' (Edinburgh:
Edinburgh University Press Edinburgh University Press is a scholarly publisher of academic books and journals, based in Edinburgh, Scotland. History Edinburgh University Press was founded in the 1940s and became a wholly owned subsidiary of the University of Edinburgh ...
, 2013) * ''We Know All About You: The Story of Surveillance in Britain and America'' (Oxford:
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...
, 2017) * ''Ring of Spies: How MI5 and the FBI Brought Down the Nazis in America'' (Cheltenham:
The History Press The History Press is a British publishing company specialising in the publication of titles devoted to local and specialist history. It claims to be the United Kingdom's largest independent publisher in this field, publishing approximately 300 ...
, 2020) * ''The Nazi Spy Ring in America: Hitler’s Agents, the FBI, and the Case that Stirred a Nation'' (Washington, D.C.:
Georgetown University Press Georgetown University Press is a university press affiliated with Georgetown University that publishes about forty new books a year. The press's major subject areas include bioethics, international affairs, languages and linguistics, political s ...
, 2020) * ''A Question of Standing: The History of the CIA'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022) * ''FBI Tarihi, 1908-2023: Kuruluşundan Günümüze'' (Istanbul: Kronik, 2025). https://kronikkitap.com/kitap/fbi-tarihi-1908-2023/ * ''Allan Pinkerton: America's Legendary Detective and the Birth of Private Security'' (Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 2025. https://press.georgetown.edu/Book/Allan-Pinkerton


Books (edited)

* ''Eagle Against Empire: American Opposition to European Imperialism, 1914-1982'' (Aix-en-Provence: Publications Université de Provence for European Association for American Studies, 1983) * With Bruce Collins, ''The Growth of Federal Power in American History''. (DeKalb:
Northern Illinois University Press Northern Illinois University Press is a publisher affiliated with Northern Illinois University and owned by Cornell University Press. The press publishes about twenty new books per year in history, politics, anthropology, and literature, with abou ...
, 1983) * With Andrew Lownie, ''North American Spies: New Revisionist Essays'' (Edinburgh University Press, University of Kansas Press, 1991; London: Lume, 2021) * With Christopher Andrew, ''Eternal Vigilance? 50 Years of the CIA'' (London and Portland, OR: Frank Cass, 1997) * With David Stafford, ''American-British-Canadian Intelligence Relations, 1939-2000'' (London and Portland, OR: Frank Cass, 2000)


Book contributions

* "What Burleson and Orwell Overlooked: Private Security Provision in the United States and the United Kingdom." In: ''Private Security and Modern States: Historical and Comparative Perspectives,'' edited by David Churchill, Dolores Janiewski and Pieter Leloup (London:
Routledge Routledge ( ) is a British multinational corporation, multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, academic journals, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanit ...
, 2020), pp. 214–31. * “J. Edgar Hoover.” In: ''The Federal Bureau of Investigation: History, Powers, and Controversies of the FBI'', edited by Douglas M. Charles (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2022), pp. 221–28.


Articles (since 2015)

* "The Death of a Myth: How Socialism and the Left Succeeded in America." ''Reviews in American History'', vol. 43 (June 2015), pp. 281–87. * "Inter-Allied Commando Intelligence and Security Training in Gwynedd: The Coates Memoir," ''Intelligence and National Security'', vol. 30, no. 4 (August 2015), pp. 545–59. * "State Surveillance is More Ethical than Private-Sector Intrusions," ''Wired'' (January/February 2016), p. 97. * "Antecedents and Memory as Factors in the Creation of the CIA," '' Diplomatic History'', vol. 40, no. 1 (January 2016), pp. 140–54.
"A Brief History of the FBI’s Meddling in US Politics."
Vox (November 5, 2016) * "Verraden." '' Geschiedenis Magazine'' (January/February 2017), pp. 45–49. * "Hector Davis: A Liberal at War." ''History'', vol. 102, no. 350 (April 2017), pp. 242–58.
"Forcing Out Unwanted FBI Directors: A Brief, Messy History."
''Vox'' (May 23, 2017)
"The Sensitivity of SIGINT: Sir Alfred Ewing's Lecture on Room 40 in 1927."
'' Journal of Intelligence History'', vol. 17, no. 1 (2018). pp. 18–29.
"American Espionage: Lessons from the Past."
''
Brown Journal of World Affairs The ''Brown Journal of World Affairs'' is a biannual academic journal of international relations and foreign policy produced at Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University. It was founded in 1993 as the ''Brown Journ ...
'', vol. 26, no. 1 (Fall/Winter 2019), pp. 93–106.
"Learning the Scholar's Craft: A Journey with Enid Jones, John Hope Franklin, Sir Denis Brogan, Sidney Fine, and Oscar Handlin."
H-DIPLO, Essay 221 (April 29, 2020) * "Nazispionnen in Washington, 1937." ''Geschiedenis Magazine'', vol. 55, no. 5 (July/August 2020), pp. 20–24. * "Leon Turrou and the Nazi Spy Ring in America." ''The Historian'', vol. 82, no. 2 (2020), pp. 138–55.
"Leon Turrou: The Greatest Detective of Them All?"
''
Strand Magazine ''The Strand Magazine'' was a monthly British magazine founded by George Newnes, composed of short fiction and general interest articles. It was published in the United Kingdom from January 1891 to March 1950, running to 711 issues, though the ...
'' (September 2020) * "A Forgotten Scandal: How the Nazi Spy Case Affected American Neutrality and German Diplomatic Opinion." ''Passport: The Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations Review'' (September 2020). pp. 45–48. * With R. Gerald Hughes, “Timely Memoirs and the ‘British Invasion’: Two Trends in the Historiography of the CIA,” ''Journal of Intelligence History'' (March 2022): https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/16161262.2022.2051920 * “The Inside Story of the CIA v Russia – from cold war conspiracy to ‘black’ propaganda in Ukraine” Insights, ''The Conversation'', 25 August 2022: https://theconversation.com/the-inside-story-of-the-cia-v-russia-from-cold-war-conspiracy-to-black-propaganda-in-ukraine-188550. * “CIA at War – Inside the Agency’s Operations from Cold War Hotspots to 21st Century Battlefields”, ''Military History Now'', 31 August 2022: https://militaryhistorynow.com/2022/08/31/cia-at-war-inside-the-agencys-operations-from-cold-war-hotspots-to-21st-century-battlefields/ * “Allan Pinkerton: Informed Scot or Scottish Informer?” ''Journal of Scottish Historical Studies'', 42/2 (2022): 197–216. * "The Pinkerton Pause: How opposition to Pinkertonism delayed the advent of the private security state," ''Intelligence and National Security'', 39/6 (2024): 1067-1075. * "Agnes M. Driscoll: Documents on FBI Suspicions of the Cryptographic and Feminist Icon," ''The Historian'', 85/1 (2024): 390-401.


Further reading

* Freedman, Lawrence D. Review of ''A Question of Standing: The History of the CIA'', in ''Foreign Affairs'', 101 (November/December 2022), pp. 194–5. * Daskal, Jennifer. "Public and Private Eyes" '' Foreign Affairs''. (Nov/Dec 2017), 96#6, pp 139–143; review of '' We Know All About You''. * Morello, John, "We Know All About You: The Story of Surveillance in Britain and America. By Rhodri Jeffreys‐Jones, " '' History'' (Jan 2020) 105#364, pp 173–175. * O'Reilly, Kenneth. review of ''The FBI: A History,'' in ''American Historical Review'' (June, 2008), p. 865. * "Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones." ''Gale Literature: Contemporary Authors'' (Gale, 2018)
online


References


External links

* History Unplugged interview with Scott Rank on Allan Pinkerton and his Legacy, June 2025: Apple Podcasts and https://uk.radio.net/podcast/history-unplugged-podcast * History of CIA interview, 2022: https://app.talkshoe.com/episode/20124243


History Unplugged interview

International Spy Museum lecture

New Books Network interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jeffreys-Jones, Rhodri 1942 births Academics of the University of Edinburgh People associated with the University of Edinburgh School of History, Classics and Archaeology Alumni of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge Fellows of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge Harvard University alumni Living people University of Michigan alumni People from Carmarthen People from Harlech Alumni of Aberystwyth University