Hoover, J. Edgar (1895–1972)

Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 1924 to 1972. In his nearly 50-year career, J. Edgar Hoover became a household name as head of the nation's top law enforcement agency. His innovations included establishing the world's first fingerprint index and crime laboratory.

Early Life and Career

John Edgar Hoover was born in Washington, DC, on January 1, 1895. His father was a government printmaker who spent the last eight years of his life in an asylum. Hoover left school to take a position as a messenger in the Library of Congress to help the family's finances. However, he eventually returned to his studies by attending night school, and by 1917 he had earned both a bachelor's and master's degree in law.

After graduation, Hoover went to work for the U.S. Department of Justice as an assistant in the alien registration section. He was promoted to special assistant to Attorney General Alexander M. Palmer two years later and charged with monitoring alien radicals.

After World War I, Hoover created a massive index of 450,000 individuals with leftist political views. The index contained biographical data and detailed notes on 60,000 people whom Hoover considered dangerous and recommended for deportation. On November 7, 1919, more than 10,000 suspected communists were arrested in 23 different cities in the so-called Palmer Raids. However, most of those rounded up were U.S. citizens who soon were deemed harmless and set free. The Palmer raids marked the beginning of Hoover's lifelong crusade against communists and other radicals in the United States.

Taking over the Bureau

In 1921, Hoover was made assistant director of the Bureau of Information, which was later renamed the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In 1924, he was named director and made several institutional changes. He fired agents whom he considered unqualified or political appointees. He required background checks, interviews, and physical testing for new agents, favoring those with legal or accounting training. In 1926, Hoover established what would become the world's largest fingerprint file. Several years later, in 1932, he founded the FBI crime laboratory, one of his major efforts to apply science to police work.

Under Hoover in the 1930s, the bureau targeted violent criminals and gangsters. High-profile cases—such as the arrest of Alvin “Kreepy” Karpis, John Dillinger, and other public enemies—made Hoover and his “G-men,” as FBI agents were called, a part of American culture.

Although Hoover never held a news conference, he was a master of leaking stories to the press. In 1931, [Page 333]he undertook a massive law and order publicity campaign that ultimately turned him into a folk hero. Movies, books, radio dramas, and comic strips all publicized the FBI's efforts against gangsterism and other forms of lawlessness. Junior G-men clubs were established nationwide, and the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List provided innumerable headlines for newspaper and radio. Walter Winchell, the popular radio broadcaster, carried almost daily items on Hoover and his G-men.

In 1935, Congress established the Federal Bureau of Investigation, giving Hoover's organization jurisdiction throughout the United States. During the 1930s and 1940s, Hoover arranged for FBI agents to report on Americans who had fought in the Spanish Civil War, viewing such individuals as members of the international communist movement. Later, he persuaded President Franklin D. Roosevelt to expand the FBI's responsibilities to include combating foreign espionage in the United States. By 1945, Hoover was convinced there was a communist conspiracy to overthrow the U.S. government and that several senior U.S. officials were secretly members of the Communist Party.

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