Describe the life of the personality you have studied (10 marks) John Edgar Hoover is a controversial figure

in American history as the longest serving director of the Federal Bureau Investigations (FBI). He grew up with a conservative, white, middle class background in Washington, Seward Square in a friendly neighbourhood populated by public servants. Hoover was a very filial son, living with his mother until her death. His main influence originated from his mother who was a very strict and disciplined person whose values shaped his attitude towards the Bureau Investigations as he became the acting director. After graduating from his high school in 1913, he began working in the Library of Congress where he looked up to Herbert Putnam, who was a master of knowledge with the activities within the building. Hoover also studied his law degree while working in the Library of Congress, graduating from George Washington University in 1916. He began to work for the US Department of Justice in 1917 as a clerk where he soon assisted in Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmers activities such as the Palmer Raids, targeting suspected radical figures such as Emma Goldman. 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 nonpartisan. 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. Hoovers 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 requirements for those wishing to work for the Bureau, picking graduates with either a law or accounting degree. All of the agents also had to undergo a training course in which they were taught scientific and information gathering techniques such as bugging and wiretapping. Clyde Tolson, a man who was often linked with Hoover in regards to their allegedly homosexual relationship became the assistant director of the Bureau in 1931. The two were frequently seen dining, working and vacationing together which raised such allegations. In the following year, the Bureau of Investigation Crime Lab was established which helped assist in the Lindbergh baby kidnapping case. The case allowed the Bureau to gain more power and authority in which Hoover used to his great advantage. In the same year the Bureau of Investigations was renamed as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in 1935, Hoover actively used the media and Hollywood to his advantage, particularly in the countenance of gangsters. The G-Men was a movie released by Hollywood which glorified the FBI, presenting the FBI agents with a heroic image to the public while degrading the gangsters who were eventually captured by the G-Man in the movie. Hoover loved the publicity given to him and the FBI, being described by Senator George Norris as the greatest hound for publicity on the American continent. With the help of the media and Hollywood, Hoover soon became the American Public Hero Number 1 which he enjoyed immensely. His love for publicity has seen him act selfishly in that he moved Melvin Pelvis, a heroic FBI agent that has captured and killed infamous gangsters such as John Dillinger, to a division which allowed him little to no power. Hoovers motive to rid of Pelvis is often seen as an act of jealously for the agents public coverage, an aspect he wanted solely on

himself, revealing his cold-hearted desire in obtaining his wants while neglecting the problems faced by the FBI and the American public. Hoover was a very pragmatic person with his ability to adapt to the situations he found himself in. His relationship with the 8 presidents he served under was not all pleasant but he was able to overcome them and remain as the director of the FBI for nearly 38 years before his death in his home in 1972 from a heart attack.