J. Edgar Hoover: The FBI Director

The man behind the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Hot History

Nov 25, 2023

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A secret child

Hoover was born on New Year’s Day in Washington in 1895. It was at a time when Irish Catholics, Jews, and blacks were excluded from high public office. His best friend was his mother. She dressed him, cooked for him, and lived with him until her death. Even from an early age, Hoover was a secretive and reserved boy. He never told his friends about his insane father, who died in an asylum. He kept daily diaries, which only his mother were permitted to see.

Red Scare

In 1919, the 24-year-old Hoover witnessed a time of enormous upheaval in America. Racial and class tensions were at a fever pitch. The Ku Klux Klan boasted of over a million members. Having seized power in Russia, the Bolsheviks agitated for workers’ revolutions across the world. Their disruptive communist messaging was well-received among the struggling workers of America’s middle class, who engaged in mass strikes. Anarchist bombings, such as the Haymarket affair in Chicago, threatened public spaces. It was the beginning of the First Red Scare. Hoover became head of the General Intelligence Division. In this role, he was tasked with studying subversive elements. Creating the biggest file ever seen, he identified 450,000 revolutionaries, anarchists, and non-conformists. On November 7, 1919, Hoover organized police raids against unruly labor unions. Many agitators were arrested and deported. Among those targeted was Emma Goldman, a Russian-born anarchist and Soviet sympathizer. Hoover blamed her for inspiring the anarchist assassination of President McKinley nearly two decades before. On December 21, Hoover personally oversaw her deportation to Russia out of Ellis Island. Nearly two hundred and fifty other foreigners were deported as well. They sailed aboard the SS Buford, a ship that was mockingly nicknamed the Soviet Ark. Hoover invited the press to watch what he billed as a goodbye party. It immediately catapulted him into the public eye.

The Bureau

In 1921, the 26-year-old Hoover became assistant director of the Bureau of Investigation. At the time, it was rampant with corruption. Under the Coolidge administration in 1924, reforms were made to clean up the Justice Department and the Bureau. The new Attorney General, Harlan Stone, tasked Hoover with these anti-corruption reforms. At the age of 30, Hoover became the Director of the FBI. It was a position he kept for nearly five decades until his death. Hoover established special agents, known as G-men, who were only answerable to him. Not even the Attorney General or the president had control over them. His agents were all between the ages of 25 and 35. They were white, middle class, and conventionally good-looking men. They wore suits, white shirts, hats, and ties. Agents were expected to remain single. Hoover even used covert methods to split up couples. Women, blacks, Hispanics, and Jews were all prohibited from entering the service. When Hoover arrived at the Bureau, all three female agents were removed. Fat agents were forced to diet and regularly weigh themselves. A neurotic germaphobe, he installed a UV device in his office. An employee was responsible for swatting flies. Fingerprints were still a police practice in its infancy. Under Hoover, the process became more centralized. He organized it, and secured finances. He organized the world’s largest crime lab. Experts worked 24 hours a day. They studied ballistics, poisons, hairs, fabric fibers, anonymous letters, and handwriting. The FBI established a monopoly over all criminal information in the United States. By the end of Hoover’s tenure, the FBI had files on 159 million people.

Gangbuster

By the 1930s, America was gripped by the Depression. Unemployment and crime were high. In 1932, the son of famous aviator Charles Lindbergh was kidnapped. Known as the Crime of the Century, the Lindbergh case convinced Congress to establish kidnapping as a federal crime if the criminal crossed state lines. President Roosevelt granted more powers to Hoover’s FBI. Agents were permitted to operate in every state, and to carry weapons. Hoover consolidated the country’s disparate intelligence services into a single centralized agency, under his sole direction. Gangsters regularly made front-page news. Using machine guns, they wrecked havoc on cities. Machine Gun Kelly, Babyface Nelson, Ma Baker, and Bonnie and Clyde all became household names across America. Hoover had a keen understanding of the media, which he used to publicize the FBI’s mission and activity. He reconstructed the deaths of gangers for the press. Hoover hated the publicity of the gangsters, especially the infamous John Dillinger, who was known as Public Enemy Number One. Dillinger mocked the FBI, escaping them multiple times. The notorious criminal was finally gunned down by Hoover’s right-hand man, Melvin “Little Mel” Purvis. Organizing a late night press conference, Hoover used the opportunity to bask in the glory. In 1935, after 600 days of the War on Crime, Hoover and his G-Men successfully eliminated the gangster threat. Having defeating the gangsters, Hoover emerged as the public face of America’s law enforcement. He often appeared on magazine covers and radio shows. He created his own press service, known as Division Eight, which promulgated the FBI’s messages to the public. By 1936, millions of Americans had become addicted to the lore surrounding the FBI’s G-Men. Children played with FBI badges and toy guns, and slept in FBI pajamas. The FBI became prominent characters within American media and pop culture.

Hitler’s Germany

Prior to the Second World War, many Americans saw Hitler as a valuable bulwark against Soviet communism. That opinion was shared by Charles Lindbergh and Joseph Kennedy, the father of John F. Kennedy. Along with the American ambassador to London, those men urged an alliance with Hitler’s Germany. They sought out the support of Hoover, who was himself a prominent anti-communist. But Hoover remained convinced that Nazi Germany was a much larger threat to America. Within the Justice Department, the Radical Division investigated 400,000 German-Americans, who were suspected of supporting fascism. He grew increasingly alarmed by the growing power of Nazism, even within the United States. Dozens of Nazi spies were brought to justice. The hunt for the fascists began. Even Hollywood actors, such as Errol Flynn, were accused of being a Nazi agent. In June of 1939, when war broke out in Europe, President Roosevelt tasked Hoover with resisting Nazi espionage and sabotage. In May of 1940, the president authorized Hoover to use phone taps, which had previously been prohibited. Roosevelt’s wife became one of Hoover’s targets. She was suspected of an affair with a young communist soldier named Joseph P. Lash. He bugged Eleanor’s hotel room, including the bedroom and bathroom. Although Hoover found no evidence of a sexual relationship, Eleanor discovered the microphones. She reported Hoover to her husband, but the president was more concerned about the soldier. The next day, Lash was transferred to the Pacific. Hoover rapidly expanded the FBI’s files. He assembled information on America’s politicians. He began to sidestep the Attorney General, preferring to deal with the president directly. On December 7, 1941, the US was attacked by the Japanese at Pearl Harbor. America was left in shock. Hoover was blamed for not taking seriously the warnings of a double agent named Dusko Popov. During a televised interview, Popov had warned the FBI about the impending attack on Pearl Harbor on August 12 of that year. But Hoover’s reputation was rehabilitated after he foiled conspiracies and bombings organized by Nazis. His greatest feat came in 1942. Nazis arrived by submarine to blow up the Niagara Dam. Tipped off by one of the conspirators, the FBI apprehended eight Nazi spies. It won Hoover a Congressional Gold Medal. President Truman grew skeptical of the FBI’s growing power. He warned against creating a Gestapo in America. The president criticized the Bureau for meddling in sex scandals and blackmail rather than actually catching criminals. When he learned of President Roosevelt’s authorization of phone taps, Truman remarked, “What the hell is that crap? Tell the FBI we don’t have time for this kind of shit.” To counter Hoover’s influence, Truman organized the Central Intelligence Agency, or CIA. The CIA was answerable to the president, and excluded Hoover. Hoover prohibited his agents from sharing any information with the CIA.

Soviet spies

The Cold War began around April of 1945. Truman ordered civil servants to undergo a loyalty test. The House Un-American Activities Committee was formed. Hoover was tasked with the investigations, making him an anti-communist hero. Hollywood stars, such as Gary Copper, Robert Taylor, and Ronald Reagan, were questioned about the infiltration of communists in America’s film and media industry. Hoover pressured studios to blacklist actors suspected of communist sympathy. When the Hollywood Ten were faced with criminal charges, many high-profile celebrities, such as Humphrey Bogart, Frank Sinatra, and Ava Gardner, angrily marched on Washington. Hoover furiously threatened to end their careers. The Second Red Scare was harmful to the dwindling film industry, which was already being outcompeted by television. After Robert Oppenheimer resigned from the Manhattan Project, Hoover began to suspect that Russian spies had infiltrated it. Although President Truman was skeptical, Hoover’s suspicions were later vindicated by declassified documents. In 1990, Russian archives uncovered that there had been over 30 Russian agents within the Project. Many intellectuals came under the secret surveillance of the FBI, including Ernst Hemingway, John Steinbeck, Aldous Huxley, Arthur Miller, Picasso, and even Einstein. Truman wanted to get rid of Hoover, but the Director was much too popular. Attorney General Howard McGrath complained that Hoover was too powerful to be manipulated. When Joe McCarthy accused the Truman administration of harboring communists, Hoover secretly fed information to the Wisconsin Senator.

Cross-dressing

The media accused Hoover of being gay with his chief aide Cylde Tolson. Their friendship had lasted for four decades. Both men were unmarried and often seen together. Journalists spread the rumor that the Mafia possessed compromising photos of the Director. These alleged photos have never been seen. There is no solid proof of any supposed homosexuality. The only loving letters Hoover ever kept were from his mother and actress Dorothy Lamour. It is commonly rumored that Hoover was a cross-dresser. The wife of one of Hoover’s friend, a man named Lewis Rosenstiel, alleged that Homer appeared in drag at all-male parties at the Plaza Hotel. Hoover biographers are divided on the accuracy of these accusations. Skeptics point to Susan Rosenstiel’s lack of credibility, since she pled guilty to perjury and later served jail time in New York.

Kennedy conspiracy

Hoover kept millions of files. They were divided into categories, such as those related to sexual deviancy and confidential matters. Some files detailed the Bureau’s own misconduct. In the 1950s, Hoover learned that many politicians, including Nixon, LBJ, Truman, and Kennedy, asked the Mafia in Las Vegas for dirty money for their electoral campaigns. Hoover learned of Senator Kennedy’s affairs with girls, introduced to him by Sinatra, as well as Sinatra’s Mafia ties. One woman, Judith Exner, claimed to be the mistress of Kennedy and two Mafia leaders, Sam Giancana and John Roselli. When Kennedy became president in 1960, he decided to get rid of Hoover, but was unable to. It was clear that the Mafia was using Sinatra in order to gain illicit access to President Kennedy. The 66-year-old Hoover knew that Kennedy wanted to force him into retirement after his 1964 re-election. He hated Attorney General Robert Kennedy, who acted as a buffer between the president and Hoover. But thanks to his bugs in Las Vegas, Hoover learned that the Kennedys were implicated in the assassination attempts on Castro. He also found out how the Kennedys purposely blocked Hoover out of the operation. Hoover bugged the Malibu House of Peter Lawford, an actor and brother-in-law of President Kennedy. He learned about the secret affair between the gorgeous Marilyn Monroe and JFK, who had met there in secret. After Marilyn’s death, Hoover chose not to prosecute the Kennedys. But he still knew a lot of incriminating information about them. President Kennedy was assassinated on November 2, 1963. According to the transcripts of FBI wiretaps, the Mafia had been targeting Robert Kennedy. Hoover knew that the Kennedy assassination was designed to avenge the attempt on Castro’s life, which had been organized by Robert Kennedy, the CIA, and the Mafia. But he was too afraid to reveal this, fearing the American public would clamor for war against Cuba. He warned President Johnson that Cuba had 20 Russian missiles pointed at American cities, which the FBI estimated could cause 20 million deaths. Johnson and Hoover ordered a coverup by the Warren Committee. The Kennedy family agreed to silence, and never again commented on the assassination.

Abusing power

Hoover persuaded a reluctant Robert Kennedy to authorize surveillance on Civil Rights leaders, such as Martin Luther King Jr. Hoover bugged King’s office, motel rooms, phones, and car. The Director could not find any ties to the communist party, but he apparently uncovered multiple clandestine affairs. Hoover repeatedly listened to the tapes of King at home. It is a popular rumor, but it is unclear whether King actually had these affairs, or if it was simply misinformation invented by the Bureau to discredit him. By the early 1970s, Hoover was letting the Mafia commit murders in order to protect his informers within the organization. He authorized their crimes, and allowed his agents to arrest and convict innocent people. This was not revealed until after Hoover’s death. By 1971, Hoover’s popularity was plummeting. Nixon and his aides wanted to oust the Director. But Nixon discovered that the Democrats were about to reveal money he had received from millionaire Howard Hughes. Nixon hired former CIA agents, known as the Plumbers, to find the files. But the burglaries turned up nothing. When Hoover learned of Nixon’s activity, he sternly warned the president. But Nixon did not change. Hoover died of a heart attack on May 2, 1972. A few weeks later, Nixon sent his men to break into the DNC in the Watergate building. It was the end of Nixon. In 2006, it was discovered that the informer Deep Throat, who triggered an investigation by two Washington journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, was an FBI agent named Mark Felt. Felt had worked under Hoover for years.

Legacy

Hoover remains a deeply controversial figure. Both Republicans and Democrats have questioned whether the FBI headquarters should still be named in his honor. Since Hoover’s time, the FBI has refocused its attention toward counterterrorism. In Hoover’s day, intelligence gathering was all centralized and highly efficient. Today, modern intelligence is divided between Homeland Security, the CIA, TSA, and other specialized agencies. Critics of American intelligence have pointed to the failure to prevent 9/11, which was largely due to gaps in information sharing. Today, Hoover’s legacy reflects that need to balance between national security and civil liberties.