Talk about someone with tons of power! J. Edgar Hoover was the first and one of the longest-serving directors of the FBI and is one of the reasons for how the FBI is structured the way it is. Hoover served as the Director of the FBI for 37 years until his death at 77 and was instrumental in getting the FBI set up. However, he really abused the power that he had, to the point that multiple presidents in the past have said that they would have let him go, except they were afraid of what kind of information he had on them. His term was even extended (He was supposed to retire once he reached 70, this limit was removed by LBJ, allowing Hoover to remain directory "for an indefinite amount of time").
Hoover was a republican, very anti-communist and very anti-civil-rights-groups. Many of his actions against these groups are now seen as overextensions of his power, with Hoover even spreading rumors to cover up crimes that he didn't want to prosecute, because they supported causes he supported. (Source). He was a supporter of the Klan, and even had well known FBI informants in the Klan, leading to other various cover-ups and non-prosecutions. He pereserved immense stores of blackmail of various celebrities and other dominant figures, constantly opening up files on those who caused him to become suspicious, just like how he opened files on Hugo Black once he began to defend the rights of communists. He illegally wiretapped people, withheld information from espionage from multiple presidents, and even was accused of not effectively investigating the assassination of J.F.K, as well as withholding information about this from other departments. These oversteps in power ended with the director position being restricted to a ten-year term, only able to be extended by the U.S. Senate.
There is a lot more interesting stuff about him, but in general, its really interesting how much Hoover was able to do as director of the FBI. I know last week I wrote a post about how the person behind the power is the one who actually has it, and I neglected to mention the director of the FBI. Although they are technically the one in charge of the FBI, they are still not as in the light as the president but exert a significant amount of power and control over what happens in government. It is a good thing that this term length has now since been restricted.
(Source)
The FBI is a really critical part of our society, so it's interesting that it was set up by such a corrupt person. His career really demonstrates the danger of people in government abusing their power in order to manipulate different people in our society. It's really important for the American government to be careful of who is allowed to obtain that much influence over large organizations like the FBI. In the Federalist Paper No. 51, the document discusses how society cannot function if it is run by people who are corrupted by ambition and the need for power. I think this is a perfect example of this sort of concept, in the way that when J. Edgar Hoover abused his influence over such a large organization, blackmail and manipulation prevented others from calling him out on his inappropriate actions.
ReplyDeleteI remember his name from Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI. There Hoover came off as having a very large ego and low empathy, despite helping bring the Osage murders to light. The 'hero' of the case, Tom White, an agent devoted to the FBI who lead the investigation, was given neither recognition or compensation by Hoover. By pushing White under the rug Hoover was able to claim the victory for the FBI and himself. Hoover even discharged White, and had to be reminded to send his most important agent a card after his wife died. I think Hoover's treatment of White aligns with the type of person you described in your post. Personally it's unsurprising to me that one of the most powerful agencies in our country was 'founded' by someone as power hungry and hateful as Hoover.
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