J. Edgar Hoover's FBI - Giant Among G-Men | 2

American History Tellers

Wondery

Society & Culture, Kids & Family, History, Education For Kids

4.7 • 18.3K Ratings

🗓️ 17 April 2019

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

J. Edgar Hoover became director of the FBI when he was just 29 years old. His orders? Clean up the Bureau. At first, he proved to be a brilliant and innovative leader, setting new standards for education, physical fitness, and training of federal agents.

But there was a dark side to his success. Hoover was also obsessed with tracking anyone he considered to be disloyal to the U.S. government. By the early 1930s, the Bureau was secretly compiling dossiers on tens of thousands of American citizens, in defiance of government orders. And Hoover understood that the best cover for his actions lay in bolstering the Bureau’s reputation as a beloved and virtuous American institution. All he needed was the help of an expert in an emerging but promising field: public relations.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, Prime members, you can listen to American History Tellers add free on Amazon Music,
0:05.6	download the app today.
0:09.0	Imagine it's October 7th, 1935.
0:21.1	You were a producer for Universal Pictures, but you're not on satin Hollywood.
0:25.2	You're in the office of FBI Director Jay Eglier Hoover, shooting a scene for a short film
0:30.5	called You Can't Get Away With It.
0:33.1	The film will tell the story of the FBI, a topic of widespread interest since President
0:37.8	Franklin Delano Roosevelt's recent declaration of the war on crime.
0:42.8	The crew is propping up a large Kodak 35-millimeter camera in front of Mr. Hoover's huge desk.
0:48.6	The desk is slightly higher than a normal desk, set up on a 6-inch platform in front of
0:53.7	double doors that open into Hoover's private office.
0:56.9	On the wall in the room beyond, you see a large mounted swordfish that will dominate
1:01.0	the background of the shot.
1:02.9	Hoover's top public relations aid approaches you.
1:05.3	Good morning.
1:06.3	I'm Lou Nichols, public relations chief for the Bureau.
1:08.8	Good to meet you.
1:09.8	I'm person Mr. Nichols, Charles Ford.
1:11.5	Mr. Ford.
1:12.5	Director Hoover will be here in five minutes.
1:14.6	He has the script, and we expect this to be taken care of quickly.
1:17.4	He is a busy man.
	...

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