Preview

J. Edgar Hoover

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1055 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
J. Edgar Hoover
J. Edgar Hoover
Former Senator Joseph McCarthy put it perfectly when he said, "… for the FBI is J. Edgar Hoover and I think we can rest assured that it will always be." (qtd. in Denenberg 7). J. Edgar Hoover is credited for reconstructing the Bureau of Investigations (later renamed Federal Bureau of Investigations). Regardless of how people saw him, Hoover was powerful and committed, and did everything within his power to improve the agency that would make this country a safer place for all.
John Edgar Hoover was born New Years Day in 1895. After years of education and law school he started as a third generation government worker in July 1917 as a clerk for the Justice Department (Denenberg 23,25-26). In 1919 he was promoted to acting director and later to director in 1924. He ran the FBI until his death on May 2, 1972 at the age of 77 (DeLoach 226).
With all of the changes to the system that occurred because of his hard work, J. Edgar Hoover is referred to as the "father of modern-day law enforcement" (DeLoach 226). Hoover can take credit for separating the Bureau from politics, raising standards for agents, and implementing many other necessary crime programs (DeLoach 226-227).
Most people were frightened of Hoover and this caused an attempt to portray him, through the media, in a manner that was far from complimentary (DeLoach 228). It is very difficult to find positive information about him; but no one can deny the hard work and accomplishments he made for the good of this country.
To this day, he is the longest-serving leader of an executive branch agency, having served through the terms of eight presidents. He had good standing relationships with all the presidents regardless of their political position. Herbert Hoover (no relation) recommended J. Edgar Hoover to the attorney general for his director position with the Bureau based on his previous performances. No president came close to firing him (Hoover 34-35). For almost three



Cited: Denenberg, Barry. The True Story of J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI. New York: Scholastic Inc., 1993. DeLoach, Cartha. "J. Edgar Hoover." Booknotes: Life Stories. Ed. Brian Lamb. New York: Random House, 1999. Directors: Then and Now. Home page. Federal Bureau of Investigation. 1 July 2004 . Hoover, J. Edgar. "J. Edgar Hoover Speaks Out." By Jack Wooldridge and Wilbur Martin. Nation 's Business January 1972: 32-45.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Alan Pinkerton Biography

    • 821 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In 1852 he founded his own detective agency known as the Pinkerton National Detective Agency. His success of catching criminals led to contracts with the government to help protect the post office from robbery and to investigate issues concerning counterfeit money (Biography of Allan Pinkerton, n.d.).…

    • 821 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Past Hsc Hoover Question

    • 722 Words
    • 3 Pages

    When Harlan Fiske Stone was appointed the new Attorney-General, he offered the 29 year old Hoover the job of acting director of the Bureau of Investigations in which Hoover agreed to take on the position with certain conditions. One of these conditions was for the Bureau to become non-partisan. He accepted the position and became the acting director of the Bureau in 1924. He later became the director of the Bureau within the same year, undertaking massive reforms within the organisation. Hoover’s disciplined nature is thus reflected in his work and the agents working for the organisation. He also established his anti-communist value with his on-going pursuit of communists, radicals and African Americans since becoming the director of the Bureau. He imposed a dress code for his agents and raised the entrance…

    • 722 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    After the Hoover years, however, a man portrayed as a father figure became some of the…

    • 1371 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    President of the New York City Police Board. He used his time there to root out corruption in the Police Department, which he described as "utterly demoralized." (1895-1897)…

    • 2541 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Fbi History

    • 1902 Words
    • 8 Pages

    The FBI started in 1908 from a group of special agents by Attorney General Charles Bonaparte during the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt. The two became fast friends after they met at the Baltimore Civil Service Reform Association (“A Brief History of the FBI”). Roosevelt and Bonaparte both were called "Progressives." They shared the conviction that efficiency and expertise, not political connections, should determine who could best serve in government. Theodore Roosevelt quickly appointed Bonaparte to be attorney general. In 1908, Bonaparte applied that Progressive philosophy to the Department of Justice by creating a corps of special agents. It had neither a name nor a designated leader other than the attorney general. Yet, these former detectives and Secret Service men were the beginning of the FBI (“A Brief History of the FBI”). The establishment of this kind of agency at a national level was highly controversial;…

    • 1902 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    President John F. Kennedy was a good, but not great president. He accomplished many good things but there were a couple things that held him back from being an overall great president. Investigating why he was a good, but not great president is important because, by learning about him we can look at his good qualities and decision making skills and learn from what he did wrong; to make an even better president and an even better tomorrow.…

    • 673 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hoover Roosevelt Dbq

    • 435 Words
    • 2 Pages

    After World War One ended in 1918, America moved towards isolation. After Wilson the next two presidents, Harding and Coolidge, had relatively unremarkable terms. The next two presidents, Herbert Hoover and Franklin Delano Roosevelt can be measured by their policies and the laws enacted during their time terms. Herbert Hoover and Franklin Delano Roosevelt have been labeled as Conservative, and Liberal, respectively.…

    • 435 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Fbi

    • 1699 Words
    • 7 Pages

    First, what is the FBI and what do they do? The FBI is a federal law enforcement agency created in 1905 that addresses and investigates major crimes where the fugitive or fugitives have cross state borders or fled the jurisdiction of the United States. When first open, the FBI had no name and was just known as a “special agent force.” The future of what is known today as the FBI was the direct result of the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. During this time there was a strong need for a federal law enforcement agency. The Department of Justice did have a few investigators, but it was not enough to combat the growing enterprise of organized crimes and other interstate crimes. So on July 26, 1908, the current Attorney General, at the time, Charles Joseph Bonaparte created the FBI with a few special agents. Perhaps, the most influential person in the history of the FBI is J. Edgar Hoover. Hoover served for more than fifty years as the FBI Director.…

    • 1699 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Allan Pinkerton started his career in law enforcement in 1849 when he was appointed the first detective in Chicago. In the 1850s, he joined forces with Chicago attorney Edward Rucker in forming the North-Western Police Agency, later known as the Pinkerton National Detective Agency which is still in existence today as Pinkerton Consulting and Investigations, a subsidiary of Securitas AB. Pinkerton's business insignia was a wide open eye with the caption "We never sleep."…

    • 296 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Policing Functions Paper

    • 1078 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The police departments have come a long way from the way they were many years ago. The police have changed for the better but there is still room for improvement. In policing today there are a lot more officers, detectives, and other law enforcement officials accounted for then there was in the past years. When we have all of these people in the criminal system, it has made the government to be able to provide better protection for the people in the communities. Policing in the past and in the present there are many different outlooks of how the policing functions.. These functions stem from different levels of law enforcement which includes the local, state, and federal organizational levels. These are very important parts of the criminal justice system, because every individual within these levels must be sure to protect citizens, enforce law, and perform the duties that are required of them in order to keep the United States safe from criminals and terrorist attacks from other foreign countries that might try to attack the United States. As years have passed on within policing, there are many possible future changes that will have an effect in the field of policing.…

    • 1078 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Nannie Doss

    • 1822 Words
    • 8 Pages

    References: * Wilson, Colin. The Mammoth Book of True Crime. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 1998. ISBN 0-7867-0536-1…

    • 1822 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Pope Urban At Clermont

    • 412 Words
    • 1 Page

    able to bring the minds and pride of Americans to join together and bring justice. The Pope also…

    • 412 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Herbert Hoover Voluntarism

    • 1413 Words
    • 6 Pages

    This definitely made Hoover unfavorable and far from being reelected. Later on Franklin D. Roosevelt steps in to lessen the effects of The Great Depression by using reliefs and reforms. Then when World War 2 starts occurring, America's economy went back up again and completely ended The Great Depression. The Great Depression most likely soiled Hoover’s reputation, but it should not be forgotten that he did accomplish a lot before his presidency. He just unfortunately got caught up with The Great Depression that his ideas on stopping the depression ended up backfiring. If he was to be considered as popular or unpopular, he would have been both, because as mentioned before he did help aid people during World War 1 and valued himself as a humanitarian. Which was the quality on why people loved him so much and chose him to be their president. But he couldn’t do the same for The Great Depression, because he just was not successful at handling it and part of the reason why was because he did not want the involvement of the government. Instead he created Hooverville and that ended up failing as it did not resolve the…

    • 1413 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Herbert Hoover

    • 4993 Words
    • 20 Pages

    Herbert Clark Hoover was born on August 10, 1874. He was the thirty first president of the United States. Hoover's Term for President was from 1929 to 1933. He was a world-wide known mining engineer and humanitarian administrator. • "As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted economic modernization. In the presidential election of 1928, Hoover easily won the Republican Nomination. The nation was prosperous and optimistic; leading to a landslide for Hoover over the Democrat Al Smith, a Catholic whose religion was distrusted by many. Hoover deeply believed in the Efficiency movement (a major component of the Progressive Era), arguing that there were technical solutions to all social and economic problems. That position was challenged by the Great Depression, which began in 1929, the first year of his presidency. He energetically tried to combat the depression with volunteer efforts and government action, none of which produced economic recovery during his term. The consensus among historians is that Hoover's defeat in the 1932 election was caused primarily by failure to end the downward spiral into deep depression, compounded by popular opposition to prohibition, Hoover's lack of charisma in relating to voters, and his poor skills in working with politicians."…

    • 4993 Words
    • 20 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    William Howard Taft Dbq

    • 932 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Just shy of his 52nd birthday, Chester Arthur became the 21st U.S. president on September 19th,1881 after the assassination of President James Garfield. He served until March 4th, 1885.…

    • 932 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays