J. Edgar Hoover

J. Edgar Hoover
Hoover in 1961
1st Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
In office
June 30, 1935 – May 2, 1972
President
DeputyClyde Tolson
Preceded byHimself (as Director of the Bureau of Investigation)
Succeeded byClyde Tolson (acting)
Director of the Bureau of Investigation
In office
May 10, 1924 – June 30, 1935
President
DeputyClyde Tolson
Preceded byWilliam J. Burns
Succeeded byHimself (as Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation)
Assistant Director of the Bureau of Investigation
In office
August 22, 1921 – May 9, 1924
President
Succeeded byClyde Tolson
Personal details
Born
John Edgar Hoover

(1895-01-01)January 1, 1895
Washington, D.C., U.S.
DiedMay 2, 1972(1972-05-02) (aged 77)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Resting placeCongressional Cemetery
Political partyIndependent[1]
EducationGeorge Washington University (LLB, LLM)
Signature

John Edgar Hoover (January 1, 1895 – May 2, 1972) was an American law-enforcement administrator who served as the final Director of the Bureau of Investigation (BOI) and the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). President Calvin Coolidge first appointed Hoover as director of the BOI, the predecessor to the FBI, in 1924. After 11 years in the post, Hoover became instrumental in founding the FBI in June 1935, where he remained as director for an additional 37 years until his death in May 1972 – serving a total of 48 years leading both the BOI and the FBI and under eight Presidents.

Hoover expanded the FBI into a larger crime-fighting agency and instituted a number of modernizations to policing technology, such as a centralized fingerprint file and forensic laboratories. Hoover also established and expanded a national blacklist, referred to as the FBI Index or Index List.

Later in life and after his death, Hoover became a controversial figure as evidence of his secretive abuses of power began to surface. He was also found to have routinely violated both the FBI's own policies and the very laws which the FBI was charged with enforcing, and to have collected evidence using illegal surveillance, wiretapping, and burglaries.[2][3] Hoover consequently amassed a great deal of power and was able to intimidate and threaten political figures, including high-ranking ones.[4][5]

  1. ^ Summers, Anthony (January 1, 2012). "The Secret Life of J Edgar Hoover". The Guardian. Retrieved April 21, 2018. Hoover never joined a political party and claimed he was 'not political'. In fact, he admitted privately, he was a staunch, lifelong supporter of the Republican Party.
  2. ^ Cox, John Stuart; Theoharis, Athan G. (1988). The Boss: J. Edgar Hoover and the Great American Inquisition. Temple University Press. ISBN 978-0-87722-532-4.
  3. ^ Gruberg, Martin. "J. Edgar Hoover". www.mtsu.edu. Retrieved February 20, 2023.
  4. ^ "J. Edgar Hoover". Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. April 28, 2023.
  5. ^ "HOOVER'S ABUSE OF POWER". Chicago Tribune. September 8, 1991. Retrieved February 20, 2023.