J. Edgar Hoover’s 50-Year Career of Blackmail, Entrapment, and Taking Down Communist Spies

History Unplugged Podcast

History Unplugged

Society & Culture, History

4.2 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 3 January 2023

⏱️ 57 minutes

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Summary

J. Edgar Hoover was possibly the most powerful non-elected person in modern American history. As FBI director from 1924 through his death in 1972, he used the tools of state to create a personal fiefdom unrivaled in U.S. history. He ruthlessly rooted out real and perceived threats to the United States, from bank robbers to Soviet spies to civil rights groups, calling Martin Luther King, Jr. “the country’s most notorious liar.” But Hoover was more than a one-dimensional tyrant and schemer who strong-armed the rest of the country into submission; he was a confidant, counselor, and adversary to eight U.S. presidents, four Republicans and four Democrats.

Today’s guest is Beverly Gage, author of “G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century.” We explore the full sweep of Hoover’s life and career, from his birth in 1895 to a modest Washington civil-service family through his death in 1972. Hoover was not above blackmail and intimidation, but he also embodied traditional values ranging from a fierce view of law and order to anticommunism, attracting him the admiration of millions of Americans. He stayed in office for so long because many people, from the highest reaches of government down to the grassroots, wanted him there and supported what he was doing.

Transcript

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0:00.0	The most powerful non-elected person in modern American history is arguably Jay Edgar
0:13.1	Hoover, who led the FBI for 48 years.
0:16.5	Today he's remembered as a paranoid, secretive power monger who kept piles on everyone and
0:22.4	would blackmail them if necessary, and also for his purported tendency to cross-dress,
0:26.8	but he was much more than a one-dimensional tyrant and schemer who strong armed the rest
0:30.6	of the country into submission.
0:32.0	As FBI director from 1924 to his death in 1972, he was a confidant, counselor, and
0:38.0	adversary to eight U.S. presidents.
0:39.8	He became director of the FBI as a wide-eyed, wonder-kind, full of optimism and progressive
0:45.0	ideas about using the state to transform society in a good way.
0:48.4	He had many early career successes, taking down bank robbers like John Dillager, and later
0:52.3	rooting out communist spies like the Rosenbergs.
0:54.7	But the 1950s, millions of Americans admired him, and as approval rating reached his
0:59.1	highest 98 percent.
1:00.3	But to start fell when it was discovered he launched the Co-Intel program, the series
1:03.9	of covert and illegal projects to infiltrate domestic-American political organizations,
1:08.8	including anti-Vietnam war organizers, civil rights groups, and many others.
1:13.3	To talk about Hoover's complicated legacy is today's guest Beverly Gage, author of
1:17.0	G-Man, Jay Edgar Hoover, in the making of the American Century.
1:19.8	We'd look at why he was so successful, why he was felt by his own hubris, and the reason
1:24.1	Hoover was so powerful is because he reflected the ideals of many people in the administrative
1:28.4	state.
	...

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