Hoover, J. Edgar

AMERICAN
GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL

For more than forty-five years, J. Edgar Hoover served as the director of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Under Hoover's leadership, the bureau gained responsibility and importance within the U.S. government. A proponent of forensic investigation techniques, Hoover established the FBI's national fingerprint depository and crime laboratory. Hoover is also known for his aggressive anti-Communist and anti-radical actions and illegally investigating suspected individuals with wiretaps and surveillance.

Born in Washington, D.C., Hoover was active in the cadet corps and debate team in high school. He attended George Washington University, earning bachelor and master's degrees in law in 1916. In 1917, he joined the U.S. Department of Justice, working in the General Intelligence Division. When his division was moved to the FBI (at that time known as the Bureau of Investigation) in 1921, Hoover became the assistant director there.

Hoover became the director of the FBI in 1924, a position he would hold until his death in 1972. At the time, the FBI had been undergoing much criticism for a number of scandals under the previous administration. With Hoover in charge, the bureau rid itself of unqualified special agents, and implemented a new hiring process that selected only high-quality candidates. Hoover also ordered the creation of a crime laboratory, one that would provide forensic analysis on investigations across the country. In addition, he made the bureau's new fingerprint collection a national resource. The FBI thus became well known across the country, in particular because of its high-profile pursuit of gangsters like John Dillinger, Pretty Boy Floyd, and Baby Face Nelson. Hoover was honored for his contributions to the field of forensic science in 1959, when he was given the John A. Dondero Award from the International Association for Identification.

Over the course of his career, Hoover also became known for his relentless pursuit of Communists and other politically radical groups. He publicly attacked such figures as Martin Luther King, Jr., Robert Kennedy, and Ramsey Clark, and, in the privacy of the bureau, arranged such illegal investigative measures as wiretapping, surveillance, and the use of informers. Knowledge of some of these activities didn't become public until after Hoover's death in 1972.