The Vendetta by Alston Purvis Book

by Alston Purvis

Son of Melvin Purvis

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credit for photo and story 

Guidance from the G-Man's Son

Alston Purvis

Alston Purvis received his BFA in graphic design from Virginia Commonwealth University and an MFA in graphic design, Yale University.  He was an art tutor at The Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, The Netherlands.  An Associate Professor at Boston University College of Fine Arts, Chairman of the department since 1982.  He has written several books, one of which is The Vendetta.  The Vendetta was created by Universal Studios into a major picture known as Public Enemies.

credit

In 1934, SC native Melvin Purvis was the most famous man in America, second only to FDR.  Although only 31 years old, he had just completed a remarkable sweep of the great "Public Enemies" of the Depression; John Dillinger, Pretty Boy Floyd, Baby Face Nelson.  America finally had a hero, and the face of the all-conquering champion of law enforcement was Melvin Purvis.

Yet every new success and every new appearance of Purvis' face in the newspapers and magazines added to one man's bitter, implacable resentment.  J. Edgar Hoover's jealousy was immense, and he determined that Purvis would be brought down.

A vendetta began that would not end--not even with Purvis' death.  After Hoover removed him from his FBI assignment, Purvis returned to Florence, SC, to start a new life.  However, he remained haunted by Hoover's betrayal and died of a self--inflicted gunshot wound in 1960.

But Hoover's jealousy lived on; it was only after he had smeared Purvis' reputation, called his courage and competence into question, and erased his name from all the records of the FBI's great triumphs did Hoover finally end the pursuit and persecution of Melvin Purvis.

Alston Purvis began to reinvestigate his father's story only after his own son was born.  With the benefit of a unique family archive of documents and new testimony from Purvis' colleagues, telling of the gangster era.  The Vendetta, brilliant in its portraits of good and bad guys alike, also eerily foreshadows Hoover's bitter paranoia throughout the 20th century that would come to overwhelm the bureau he had created.

Alston Purvis is the sole surviving son of Melvin Purvis.  He is the head of Boston University's design department and has published many books on that subject.  He lives with his wife and son in Boston.
The Vendetta:  FBI Hero Melvin Purvis' War Against Crime
credit:   Columbia Star



SFA Professor Sets the Record Straight on His G-Man Father

Mr. Ross Beard and my husband Chuck

Mr. Ross Beard

The Childhood Home of Melvin Purvis.

To Tell The Truth.

The Secrets of J Edgar Hoover

G-Man The Rise and Fall of Melvin Purvis

Play now Here 56 m 47 sec aired in 2016 PBS Carolina Stories



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To win an unsigned paperback copy of the book.

 

Until Next Time....

UPDATE!

WE HAVE A WINNER

BETH FROM MELVIN'S HOMETOWN..

CONGRATULATIONS!