J Edgar Hoover

J. Edgar Hoover’s Abuse Of Power Essay, Research Paper

John Edgar Hoover’s Abuse of Power

John Edgar Hoover, an American criminologist and government official, directed the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for 48 years. Hoover was born on January 1, 1895 in Washington, D.C. After standing out among his peers, Hoover went on to study law at George Washington University. After receiving a law degree from George Washington in 1917, Hoover joined the staff of the U.S. Department of Justice where he earned $1200 a year. Two years later, Hoover was named special assistant to the U.S. attorney general. Soon, in 1924, he was named head of the Bureau of Investigation of the Justice Department. Later, in 1935, when the department became the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Hoover was appointed its director. He was leader of the FBI under every president from Calvin Coolidge to Richard Nixon. As director, John Edgar succeeded in establishing an exceptional record of positive changes in law enforcement, establishing intense training schools for teaching crime detection methods to special agents, and creating an organized fingerprint file on millions of Americans. Despite these improvements and contributions, Hoover was often accused of abusing his power and exceeding the jurisdiction of the FBI. Under Hoover’s reign as Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the power of the FBI was greatly abused. Hoover’s FBI carried out thousands of illegal break-ins, illegally monitored and recorded conversations, manipulated the Supreme Court, interfered with the American people’s official and constitutional rights to freedom of speech and freedom of political expression, and blackmailed hundreds of congressmen, senators, and presidents. To this day, Hoover’s past actions still provoke controversy.

Under the direction of J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI held millions of detailed files and illegal wiretaps that contained top-secret information on millions of Americans. These files and recordings contained damaging facts about sexual, political, and financial information of the country’s most powerful and influential people. Hoover kept personal files on every politician who passed through Washington. Investigative reports were held on popular icons like Eleanor Roosevelt that included allegations of Roosevelt’s extramarital affairs. Hoover’s FBI also possessed reports of investigations of the possible homosexuality of future U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Senator Henry Cabot Lodge. Another secret file was created regarding a member of Congress whose wife allegedly had an affair with an African American and a post office employee. Hoover also held criminal files that recorded FBI investigations of rapists, murderers, spies, con artists, arsonists, blackmailers, and agents of foreign countries. In addition, John Hoover held personal information files on thousands of innocent people who took stands against his views and actions. Hoover kept all highly confidential information including presidential personal reports, memos, letters, memos, photos, case summaries, microphone and wiretaps, and recordings of special investigations, in two concealed files in his personal secretary’s office. These secret files guaranteed J. Edgar Hoover a secure job and ensured his safety from exposure and criticism. He could use these files to blackmail members of Congress, presidents, and other people in the government. In tapes recorded of former President, Richard Nixon, Nixon clearly stated that he was afraid to remove Hoover from office because he feared Hoover would “bring down the temple”(Kessler 300) by releasing damaging information of him to the public. The Bureau even sent agents to find out if Hoover held any damaging files on members of Congress because they feared Hoover’s blackmail files so greatly. Administration often accepted many of Hoover requests. He was continuously re-appointed the administration suspected Hoover held secret files on them. The Senate Select Committee disclosed that Hoover had done illegal investigations for several presidents including Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Richard M. Nixon. Hoover supplied these leaders with information on many of their political opponents. With his secret files and detailed information about millions of Americans in the general public and in the government, Hoover’s power was not contested.

During Hoover’s direction of the FBI, a new operation called COINTELPRO was established. COINTELPRO was the code name the FBI gave to procedures targeted at political and social protest groups that it considered to be disruptive. COINTELPRO was aimed at protesting groups like the Communist Party USA, the Socialist Workers Party, black nationalists groups, New Left Movement groups, the Ku Klux Klan, and against American Indian Movement of Puerto Rican Nationalists. The goal of the program was to disrupt each group so that they would be stripped of any political force. The first target of COINTELPRO was the American Communist Party. Although Hoover claimed that this group was a major threat to the United States, the American Communist Party had little influence and was of little threat to America. He secretly requested the White Houses’ approval for a specific program that would disturb the A.C.P.’s activities and told members of the National Security Council to stop the party by any means necessary. His act