J. Edgar Hoover & The FBI

Warfare

History Hit

History

4.5 • 943 Ratings

🗓️ 13 January 2023

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Known today as one of the most powerful law enforcement agencies in the world - the Federal Bureau of Investigation, more colloquially known as the FBI, didn't always have such a great reputation. Once riddled with scandal and unseemly behaviour, how did the FBI turn into the well oiled machine it is today? And just who was responsible for this change?

In today's episode, James joined Professor Beverly Gage at Yale University to talk about the man behind this extraordinary feat - J. Edgar Hoover. Looking at Beverly's decade of research into this infamous figure - just how did Hoover transform the FBI, and what secrets was she able to uncover in the process?

Beverly's book G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century is available here.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Towards the end of last year we spent a lot of time looking at the history of the CIA during our special CIA month on the warfare podcast,
0:07.0	but what about that other intelligence-driven security organization in the United States, the FBI.
0:14.4	When was the Federal Bureau of Investigation formed, and how did its most famous figure,
0:19.5	the bulldog looking and fearsome Jeyed GeGahova, transform the agency from a failing organization
0:25.0	riddled with scandal into a modern law enforcement machine.
0:29.0	Well, I'm your host James Rogers,
0:31.0	and to find out, I travelled over to the United States to chat with an old
0:34.2	friend of the podcast Professor Beverly Gage. From her office at Yale University Beverly
0:39.2	reveals the decade-long investigation behind her new book, G-Man, and along the way she reveals the history of
0:45.8	Jayagahoover, the FBI, and the Making of the American Century.
0:50.8	Enjoy.
0:51.8	I'm Enjoy. to have you back on. We promised listeners last time we were on and we were talking about the bombing of Wall Street back in the 1920s that when your new book came out we would get you back on and we have kept true to that promise and not that, I'm back here at Yale University in New Haven in Connecticut.
1:16.8	We've got the bells ringing outside. I'm sure we're going to have sirens kicking up pretty soon.
1:21.6	All to talk about your new book on Jay Edgar Hoover. Now he's
1:26.2	one of those figures that just spans American history and seems to be
1:29.7	involved in one way or another in every major event of the 20th century. He was appointed
1:35.1	director of the FBI in 1924 and he served in that role until his death in 1972.
1:42.1	So he is a behemothhemoth a massive figure of the American political
1:45.9	scene nationally and internationally as well but despite all of that we can
1:51.8	understand why we might be interested in Jayagahoover.
1:56.3	Why would you want to dedicate about a decade of your career to writing THE book, and we were talking
2:02.1	about it just before we started recording.
	...

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