John Edgar Hoover's War On Communism

motion, in order to send information to certain organizations beyond the executive branch of the Federal Government, as stated by Cathleen Thom and Patrick Jung (348). Hoover referred to communism as “the mad march of Red fascism,” because of American communists seeking to make a Soviet America (Weiner 24). The “zealots” of the communist party intended to overthrow the Government of the United States (26-27).

Hoover had declared a war on communism, and he had multiple resources on his side. During his war on communism, Weiner explains that Hoover had thirty five undercover informants and sixty one FBI agents under his leadership. To spike the somewhat unethical methods used to crackdown on communism, breaking and entering was used in

During his career Hoover made many enemies, however his rivalry with senator Joseph McCarthy was perhaps one of the most important. John Edgar Hoover, being the secretive man he was, supplies information to HUAC and senator McCarthy, and therefore, unintentionally helped spread McCarthyism in the United States during the Cold War (Thom and Jung 347). At first, Hoover viewed McCarthy as a friend and thought McCarthy felt likewise, as Tim Weiner states. McCarthy however began attacking numerous people and organizations with accusations. McCarthy’s attacks soon began threatening national security, causing Hoover to perform damage control (184). “Senator McCarthy’s attacks were scattershot, but on occasion, when the Bureau’s reports steadied his hand, his aim was true.” (183). McCarthy’s accusations and investigations caused people to be fired, and some committed suicide during investigations. The majority of McCarthy’s attacks came straight from FBI documentation (184-185). Hoover told McCarthy to stop, however the senator did not heed his warning, and started up with more attacks. McCarthy came into possession of one of Hoover’s secret files about possible corrupt people at Fort Monmouth (185). Hoover had his agents cut ties with McCarthy, so without their files, McCarthy would be on his own (187). Hoover and attorney general Brownell ruled McCarthy’s possession of

Hoover held a meeting with the governor’s conference in hopes to thwart vigilantes, or people who take the law into their own hands (Thom and Jung 350). Tim Weiner implicates that Hoover teamed with immigration and passport services, police commissioners, and political vigilantes, which is slightly ironic considering his disapproval for vigilantism (23). As Ronald Kessler states, essentially, Hoover formed the FBI (31). “Hoover’s penchant for perfection led him to pioneer use of technology to solve crimes in the laboratory.” (31). Beverly Gage mentions that early on in Hoover’s career, he partnered himself with an organization called the Wickersham Commission. This partnership was so early on in his career that the FBI was not yet federal, in other words it was called the Bureau of Investigation. During this time, the Bureau was inefficient, small, and rather unimportant (1110). During the 1920’s, a national fingerprint database had become part of the FBI, thanks to Hoover’s success with the idea