Back J. Edgar Hoover Afrikaans إدغار هوفر Arabic ادجار هوفر ARZ John Edgar Hoover AST Con Edqar Huver Azerbaijani Джон Эдгар Гувер Byelorussian Едгар Хувър Bulgarian জে. এডগার হুভার Bengali/Bangla John Edgar Hoover Catalan J. Edgar Hoover Czech
J. Edgar Hoover | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Official portrait, 1961 | |
| 1st Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation | |
| In office June 30, 1935 – May 2, 1972 | |
| President | |
| Deputy | Clyde Tolson |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Clyde Tolson (acting) |
| 5th Director of the Bureau of Investigation | |
| In office May 10, 1924 – June 30, 1935 | |
| President |
|
| Deputy | Clyde Tolson |
| Preceded by | William J. Burns |
| Succeeded by | Position dissolved |
| Assistant Director of the Bureau of Investigation | |
| In office August 22, 1921 – May 9, 1924 | |
| President |
|
| Succeeded by | Clyde Tolson |
| Personal details | |
| Born | John Edgar Hoover January 1, 1895 Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Died | May 2, 1972 (aged 77) Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Resting place | Congressional Cemetery |
| Political party | Independent[1] |
| Education | George Washington University (LLB, LLM) |
| Signature |  |
John Edgar Hoover (January 1, 1895 – May 2, 1972) was an American attorney and law enforcement administrator who served as the fifth and 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 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, to have used the FBI to harass and sabotage political dissidents, and to have extensively collected information on officials and private citizens using illegal surveillance, wiretapping, and burglaries.[2][3][4][5] Hoover consequently amassed a great deal of power and was able to intimidate and threaten high-ranking political figures.[6][7]
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Gruberg, Martin. "J. Edgar Hoover". www.mtsu.edu. Retrieved February 20, 2023.
- ^ "The FBI's War on King | King's Last March | APM Reports". features.apmreports.org. Retrieved July 21, 2024.
- ^ "A Huey P. Newton Story - Actions - COINTELPRO | PBS". www.pbs.org. Retrieved July 21, 2024.
- ^ "J. Edgar Hoover". Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. April 28, 2023.
- ^ "HOOVER'S ABUSE OF POWER". Chicago Tribune. September 8, 1991. Retrieved February 20, 2023.