Ebook: Clearer than truth: the polygraph and the American Cold War

Introduction -- How the polygraph does and does not work -- Truth to remake society -- World War II, national security, and the search for loyal citizens -- The polygraph and the specter of totalitarianism within -- Truth and national security in the American Cold War -- Immeasurable security : the polygraph and the CIA -- The polygraph and the problems of deterrence -- Congress, the right to privacy, and the retrenchment of the polygraph -- Epilogue.;In this first comprehensive history of the polygraph as a tool and symbol for American Cold War policies, John Philipp Beasler tells the story of a technology with weak scientific credentials that was nevertheless celebrated as a device that could expose both internal and external enemies. Considered the go-to technology to test agents' and employees' loyalty, the polygraph's true power was to expose deep ideological and political fault lines. While advocates praised it as America's hard-nosed yet fair answer to communist brainwashing, critics claimed that its use undermined the very values of justice, equality, and the presumption of innocence for which the nation stood.