Davis,S. Unbridled Power. 1998
Davis, Shelley L. Unbridled Power: Inside the Secret Culture of the IRS.
New York: HarperBusiness (HarperCollins), 1998. 284 pages.
Shelley Davis was only 12 years old in 1968, which explains why she
ended up as a yuppie civil servant, working in the Pentagon with a security
clearance. Perhaps she was rebelling against her father, an antiwar college
professor in Nebraska who had tied black armbands on her. Davis actually
claims the Pentagon is not so bad, but that's after comparing it with the
Internal Revenue Service. Upon leaving her Pentagon job in 1988, Davis
spent seven years at the IRS as its first (and last) historian.
This book is a humorous and well-written study of bureaucratic lunacy
and self-serving duplicity, and should be read by anyone considering a
career in government. More interestingly, Davis had access to IRS files from
the COINTELPRO days, when Nixon put pressure on the IRS to go after his
enemies. By 1972 an IRS strike force had files on 11,000 organizations and
individuals. These targets, according to IRS thug Paul Wright, "through
insidious methods have collaborated to form a revolutionary force." An FBI
agent blew the whistle in 1970, but few noticed. Then John Dean mentioned
it in his 1973 testimony, and said something about Nixon's "enemies list."
The media went ape over these two words, and missed the real story. Davis
points out that the IRS hit list was ten times larger than Nixon's list.
Moreover, the IRS is supposed to be a nonpartisan agency.
ISBN 0-06-097743-4
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- ALDRICH NELSON W (193)
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- ANNUNZIO FRANK (D-IL) (137)
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- BARNARD DOUG JR (D-GA) (118-22, 132-3, 160-2, 171, 176-7, 208-9, 217)
- BARTH ROGER VINCENT (84-5)
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- BLACK PANTHER PARTY (82-3)
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- CALDER JAMES D (170)
- CAPLIN MORTIMER M (59, 135)
- CAPONE AL (169-70)
- CASIMIR JIM (203-4, 227, 232, 238)
- CAULFIELD JACK J (102-4)
- CLYMER ADAM (112)
- COHEN SHELDON S (118, 174-5, 225)
- COLEMAN CONNIE (219-20)
- COUZENS JAMES (175-6)
- CROUCH DOUG (260)
- CURTIN MARY ANN (130-1)
- CURTIS DON (45-7, 117, 237, 241, 248-9)
- DAVIS SHELLEY L (7-8, 11-2)
- DEAN JOHN WESLEY (94-5, 104-6)
- DOLAN MICHAEL P (20-1, 67, 232-4, 260)
- DUNCAN WILLIAM C (IRS) (129-31)
- DUNFORD TERRY (217-23)
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- FILPI PETER (131)
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- GOLDBERG FRED T JR (119, 157, 208-9, 213)
- GORDON JOHN STEELE (197)
- GRANT DIANE (260)
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- GROSS ARTHUR (75)
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- HARDING WARREN G (195)
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- HEINZ JOHN (HENRY JOHN III R-PA) (54)
- HELVERING GUY T (181)
- HILGEN ROBERT (154)
- HILLIARD DAVID (82-3)
- HJELMERVIK KAREN (227, 233-5)
- HOFFA JIMMY (JAMES RIDDLE) (176)
- HOOVER HERBERT SR (195)
- HUGHES EDDIE D (BATF) (85-6)
- HUMMEL JOHN (44-5)
- HUSTON THOMAS CHARLES (85, 90)
- INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE
- JAMES OLLIE (193)
- JECH JOE (139-46, 150, 155, 157-8)
- JOHNSON JOHN (IRS) (103, 110)
- JOSEPHSON INSTITUTE ETHICS (213-4)
- JUNKINS DAVID (2, 204-7)
- KEARNS PAUL (147-8)
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- KEFAUVER ESTES (D-TN) (174)
- KERN TEDDY R (155-7, 182-3, 220)
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- KOTZ NICK (112)
- KOZAL BOB (141, 149)
- KUHN KEITH ALAN (258-9)
- LANGONE ANTHONY V (126-7)
- LEVY STEVE (IRS) (162)
- LIDDY G GORDON (102-3)
- LIGHTFOOT JIM (R-IA) (48-9)
- LINDSAY JOHN VLIET (89-90)
- LONG EDWARD V (D-MO) (176)
- MACLAINE SHIRLEY (89-90)
- MADDEN DAVE (IRS) (3-4)
- MADER DAVE (214, 217, 226-7, 236-7, 244, 249-50)
- MARDIAN ROBERT CHARLES (91)
- MARTINEZ MATTHEW G (D-CA) (172)
- MCCLAIN CHARLES (84)
- MCCLELLAN JOHN L (D-AR) (82-3)
- MCGOVERN JAMES J (IRS LAWYER) (260)
- MELLON ANDREW W (175, 195)
- MESSICK HANK (169-70)
- MITGANG DONALD (218-21)
- MOLLENHOFF CLARK (100-1)
- MONTOYA JOSEPH M (D-NM) (176)
- MOORE JAMES W (243)
- MORGAN EDWARD L (116)
- MUNOZ GEORGE (255-6)
- MURPHY ELLEN (219-20)
- MURPHY MICHAEL (IRS) (119, 127, 131-3, 153-5, 157, 183, 208)
- NADER RALPH (96-7)
- NEWMAN RALPH G (112)
- NIXON RICHARD MILHOUS (105-6, 112-6)
- NUNAN JOSEPH D JR (182)
- OBRIEN RAY (IRS) (237-8)
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- PAULING LINUS (89-90)
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- POWELL LARRY CLAYTON (82-3)
- RAISCH STEVE (2-3, 244-5, 247-9, 253-4, 256-7, 260-1)
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- REBEIN ROBERT L (142-5, 148)
- REDMOND BENJAMIN J (147)
- REIDY EDWARD J (158-9)
- RICHARDSON MARGARET MILNER (68, 179, 183, 250, 255-6)
- ROPER DANIEL C (57)
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- ROTH HERBERT (153-5)
- RUDD DERLE (148)
- RUML BEARDSLEY (196)
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- SEAL BARRY (129-30)
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- SLONE BRYAN (131)
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- THROWER RANDOLPH W (84, 87, 90-1, 101-4)
- TRUMAN HARRY S (197)
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- WALKER CHARLS EDWARD (102-3)
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- WALTERS JOHNNIE M (91-2, 94, 104-8)
- WEICKER LOWELL P JR (R-CT) (115, 165)
- WELLI STANLEY D (134-59, 217, 222)
- WESTFALL LARRY (66-7)
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- WILLIAMS PEGGY (241-2)
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