John Edgar Hoover's Accomplishments

On January 1st, 1985 in Washington D.C., one of the most notable leaders of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, John Edgar Hoover was born. J. Edgar Hoover was the director of the Bureau of Investigation and the reorganization of the BI into the FBI. Through his leadership, Hoover carved himself out to be one of the most revered figures in American history as he served through many important eras of crime in American history. John Edgar Hoover was the longest serving director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, directed the FBI in an authoritarian and manipulative manner, and was both a national asset and liability. J. Edgar Hoover was born on New Year’s Day in 1895 in Washington D.C.. He attended college and received both a masters and

Hoover organized the Palmer Raids in late 1919 that ended in the arrests of approximately 6,000 suspected radicals, who would then face deportation hearings because of arrest warrants with no justification for the arrests (Coben). These raids would be reviewed in front of a Congressional committee and questioned, causing speculation to J. Edgar Hoover’ s character. Hoover also collected secrets from everyone ranging from the public to people in government offices and used the secrets to push his career further. After President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s death in 1945, Hoover began to leak unsavory stories about Eleanor Roosevelt, accused Charlie Chaplin of associating with communist activities, believed Frank Sinatra had Mafia ties, and sent a letter to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. encouraging him to commit suicide (Maurer). These manipulative tactics that John Edgar Hoover utilized against political figures and celebrities during his time caused him to be feared by the public and some government officials, which led him to become one of the most exalted people to lead the FBI. Because of his ways of directing the FBI, Hoover became a national asset and a liability at the same

His ability to be a puppeteer to media sources like television and journalism enabled Hoover to give slander about his personal enemies and enemies of his country. John Edgar Hoover was a mastermind at collecting detrimental political information and how to use it, specifically targeting communists, New Left activists, and civil rights leaders (Gauge). The significance of Hoover’s manipulation is that sometimes, it was done out in the public, with public support. Hoover’s manipulation of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was greeted with a fair amount of public support, and the FBI was behind threats made against him. J. Edgar Hoover also utilized media to display a bona fide image of himself and his FBI, by controlling what was covered and how it was covered, which glorified the good the Federal Bureau of Investigation without mentioning the things the FBI was doing under the table to get to the