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J. Edgar Hoover

American law enforcement administrator (1895-1972) · United States · Politicians · Died at 77

J. Edgar Hoover is read about 3,469 times a day, in 57 languages.

A typical day, 30 days to 21 October 2026

The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 396 days, one point a day.

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He ran the FBI for 48 years and eight presidents, long enough to build a surveillance machine that let him collect secrets on anyone who mattered - and use them.

LawyersOtherPoliticsLawScreenwritingUnited StatesAmericas20th Century

A life in dates

1972Died2 May 19721970“Purpose of counter-intelligence action is to disrupt [Black Panther Party] and it is immaterial whether facts exist to substantiate the charge.”In their words16 September 1970Memo (16 Sept. 1970).

1968“Justice is merely incidental to law and order [...] Law and order is what covers the whole picture.”In their wordsOn CBS News in 1968 with Walter Cronkite, cited by Beverly Gage "America Is Safer Than It Used to Be. So Why Do We Still Have Calls for

1956“Just the minute the FBI begins making recommendations on what should be done with its information, it becomes a Gestapo.”In their words14 June 1956Look magazine (14 June 1956).

“We are a fact-gathering organization only. We don’t clear anybody. We don’t condemn anybody.”In their words14 June 1956Look magazine (14 June 1956).

1955“Banks are an almost irresistible attraction for that element of our society which seeks unearned money.”In their words7 April 1955News summaries (7 April 1955).

1939NAS Public Welfare MedalAward1933“[Whoever did this] must be exterminated, and they must be exterminated by us.”In their wordsOn the perpetrators of the Kansas City Massacre of 1933, as quoted in Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the

1895Born1 January 1895

Also in Deutsch

Photos 8

Hoover-JEdgar-LOCHoover-JEdgar-LOCHoovers FatherHoovers FatherFBIHooverFBIHooverJ. Edgar Hoover in the 1916 George Washington University Law School yearbookJ. Edgar Hoover in the 1916 George Washington University Law School yearbookHooverJovenHooverJovenJ. Edgar Hoover by Samuel Johnson Woolf, 1935, charcoal and chalk on paper, from the National Portrait Gallery as a gift of Time magazine - NPG-NPG 78 TC451Hoover-000001J. Edgar Hoover by Samuel Johnson Woolf, 1935, charcoal and chalk on paper, from the National Portrait Gallery as a gift of Time magazine - NPG-NPG 78 TC451Hoover-000001Chief of G-men greeted at identification convention. Washington, D.C., Sept. 29. J. Edgar Hoover, (right) Director of The Federal Bureau of Investigation, is greeted by Arthur Muchow, LCCN2016872399Chief of G-men greeted at identification convention. Washington, D.C., Sept. 29. J. Edgar Hoover, (right) Director of The Federal Bureau of Investigation, is greeted by Arthur Muchow, LCCN2016872399Hoover & Tolson (cropped)Hoover & Tolson (cropped)

In their own words 9

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J. Edgar Hoover
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9 statements, newest first

  1. Purpose of counter-intelligence action is to disrupt [Black Panther Party] and it is immaterial whether facts exist to substantiate the charge.

    Sep 16, 1970, Memo (16 Sept. 1970)., Own words

  2. Justice is merely incidental to law and order [...] Law and order is what covers the whole picture.

    1968, On CBS News in 1968 with Walter Cronkite, cited by Beverly Gage "America Is Safer Than It Used to Be. So Why Do We Still Have Calls for, Own words

  3. Above all, I would teach him to tell the truth. Truth-telling, I have found, is the key to responsible citizenship.

    Jul 14, 1963, Family Weekly, 14 July 1963, Own words

Wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0

Awards

NAS Public Welfare Medal1939
Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire
James Cardinal Gibbons Medal

About this person

John Edgar Hoover joined the Bureau of Investigation in 1924 under Coolidge, then helped found the FBI in 1935 and stayed until he died in 1972. He modernized American policing: centralized fingerprints, forensic labs, a national index of suspects. He also built something else - a system of illegal wiretaps, break-ins, and dossiers that tracked political dissidents and civil rights leaders as closely as it tracked criminals. The FBI under Hoover violated its own rules and the laws it enforced, and the files he kept gave him leverage over officials at the highest levels. By the time evidence surfaced after his death, the shape of the power he'd held was clear: he'd made himself untouchable by making everyone else afraid.

Country
United States
Category
Politicians
Type
Politician
Status
deceased
Dates
Lived 1895 to 1972 · aged 77

In common with J.

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