Episode 107 - G-Men at Work (FBI in Peace and War & This is Your FBI)

Down These Mean Streets (Old Time Radio Detectives)

Jack Mooney

Arts, Performing Arts, Tv & Film

4.5 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 12 April 2015

⏱️ 69 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

J. Edgar Hoover's FBI agents captured headlines with their daring pursuits of bank robbers and enemy spies, and their exploits made for thrilling radio adventures. Several radio programs brought the cases of the Bureau to listeners and featured dramatizations of actual FBI case files. We'll hear special agents on the job in "The Traveling Man" from The FBI in Peace and War (originally aired on CBS on June 10, 1953), and "The Hollywood Frame-Up" from This is Your FBI (originally aired on ABC on February 10, 1950).

Transcript

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0:00.0	The For over 80 years, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has not only protected American citizens,
0:28.0	it's also captured their imaginations.
0:31.0	Books, movies, and TV shows featuring FBI agents continue to entertain audiences today.
0:37.0	And it was no different during the golden age of radio,
0:40.0	where several programs presented the adventures of the FBI and drew big ratings as eager listeners tuned in for the stories. The FBI began as the Bureau of Investigation in 1908, changing names, government departments, and responsibilities
0:57.0	until it officially became the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1935.
1:02.0	Today, the Bureau's chief responsibilities are counterterrorism, white-collar
1:07.2	crime, and cybercrime, but its mission has evolved and changed since those early days. The most influential figure in the history of the Bureau was J. Edgar Hoover, the director from 1924 until 1972. During his tenure the FBI developed its crime laboratory
1:25.9	with its fingerprinting system. It battled the Ku Klux Klan and
1:29.7	organized crime and it pursued foreign agents and saboteurs. Of course, and a The FBI's rules were revised to limited directors' charm to no more than 10 years.
1:45.6	It was during Hoover's War on Crime in the 1930s that he became focused on building the
1:51.0	reputation of the Bureau, particularly as bank robbers like John Dillinger,
1:55.6	Ma Barker, and Babyface Nelson became folk heroes across the country.
2:00.7	Hoover saw radio as an opportunity to beef up the Bureau's profile and play up the heroism of FBI agents.
2:08.0	Hoover's first attempt to get the FBI on the air came in 1935 with the radio series gmen. The show didn't click with
2:16.6	audiences, but it found long-running popularity when it was retooled as gangbusters. But it started Hoover and the Bureau's interest in media
2:25.3	depictions of its agents. 1935 saw the release of G-Men, not related to the
2:30.7	radio series but a James Cagney film that went against the popular trend of crime pictures of the day.
2:36.5	Those tend to focus on the luxurious lives of gangsters.
2:40.5	G-men instead depicted hard-working morally upstanding federal agents.
2:46.5	Movies like this helped to build the Bureau's reputation, and it led to the publication
2:50.8	of books and magazines detailing the exploits of the FBI.
	...

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