John Edgar Hoover (1895 - 1972)

Born 1 Jan 1895 in Washington, District of Columbia, United States

Ancestors

Died 2 May 1972 at age 77 in Washington, District of Columbia, United States

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J. Edgar Hoover is Notable.

Biography

J. Edgar Hoover is best known as the first director of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation. He was born on New Year's Day 1895 in Washington, D.C., to Anna Marie (née Scheitlin; 1860–1938), who was of German Swiss descent, and Dickerson Naylor Hoover, Sr. (1856–1921), of English and German ancestry.

He graduated from The George Washington University Law School in 1916. After getting his LL.M degree, Hoover was hired by the Justice Department to work in the War Emergency Division. In August 1919 Hoover became head of the Bureau of Investigation's new General Intelligence Division—also known as the Radical Division because its goal was to monitor and disrupt the work of domestic radicals.

In 1921, he rose in the Bureau of Investigation to deputy head, and in 1924 he was elevated to director. Hoover was noted as sometimes being capricious in his leadership making childish and emotional decisions. However, his power and influence grew during the 1930's due to his high profile battle with organized crime.

In subsequent years his power began to be questioned by others in power. According to President Harry S. Truman, Hoover transformed the FBI into his private secret police force; Truman stated that "we want no Gestapo or secret police. The FBI is tending in that direction. They are dabbling in sex-life scandals and plain blackmail. J. Edgar Hoover would give his right eye to take over, and all congressmen and senators are afraid of him". Presidents Harry S. Truman and John F. Kennedy each considered dismissing Hoover as FBI Director, but ultimately concluded that the political cost of doing so would be too great.

Biographer Kenneth D. Ackerman notes: "For better or worse, he built the FBI into a modern, national organization stressing professionalism and scientific crime-fighting. For most of his life, Americans considered him a hero. He died at home on May 2, 1972, from a heart attack attributed to cardiovascular disease. His body lay in state in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol, where Chief Justice Warren Burger eulogized him.

Sources

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Edgar_Hoover
• Wikidata: Item Q210435
• Find A Grave: Memorial #499