A New York Times–bestselling author’s revealing, “important” biography of the longtime FBI director (The Philadelphia Inquirer). No one exemplified paranoia and secrecy at the heart of American power better than J. Edgar Hoover, the original director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. For this consummate biography, renowned investigative journalist Anthony Summers interviewed more than … Anthony Summers interviewed more than eight hundred witnesses and pored through thousands of documents to get at the truth about the man who headed the FBI for fifty years, persecuted political enemies, blackmailed politicians, and lived his own surprising secret life. Ultimately, Summers paints a portrait of a fatally flawed individual who should never have held such power, and for so long.
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Great research!
What a great read! How much power and preference J. Edgar held, that influenced a nation, was shocking. Very detailed and certainly a page turner. Corruption, mafia influence and how much information was kept from Americans. I can only imagine what has still been hidden that we may never know.
It supported every reason we have to not trust what is going on in past (and porbably current) government operations. Hoover manipulated himself into a position where everyone was terrified of him and only a few brave people opposed him – and paid dearly. Frightening account of power at its worst.
Nothing
Very interesting to compare Hoover to current event. I’m not sure they ever completely cleaned up the FBI after Hoover…..
J. Edgar WAS the deep state.
Should be taught in school
Wow. You’ve got to read this. The information although disturbing is highly informative . Life changing even.
Eye opener.
Full of conspiracy theories
Mostly a hit job, full of hyperbole and badly documented. Hoover was undoubtedly a troubled guy with lots of character problems, but he built the FBI and needs credit for numerous things. This book is just hateful.
I was shocked to find out how this paranoid bully of a man spent many decades assigning thousands of agents to spy on everyone in government in case someone might find out about his sex-life & threatened to reveal it. He hand files on everyone of importance & threatened to expose anyone who wasn’t in agreement with him. He very much reminds me of Trump. A very sick man.
J Edgar is what Trump needs
Boring and hard to read.
Although I knew of many scandals Hoover was involved in, I was shocked at the extent that he used the FBI for political uses, getting dirt on every elected official he could. And I was very disappointed to see the extent of corruption in every US president from Franklin Roosrvent through Richard Nixon, with the exception of Harry Truman.
Hoover makes trump look like a boyscout.
I trusted Mr. Hoover far more than I trust journalists
By Charles van Buren on June 18, 2018
Format: Kindle Edition
I worked for the FBI as a clerk in the Jackson, Ms Field Office from 1968 through 1971. I was there at the end of the FBI’s remarkable destruction of the Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi. After graduating from college I worked in various law enforcement positions in Mississippi and again had the opportunity to work with FBI agents. I trusted Mr. Hoover and the FBI then and even now far more than I trust journalists.
Probably more than you want to know about a psychopath with too much power. A man who was prepared to destroy careers on a whim. Sick.
Slow going at times, but worth the read, just to find out how much of a hypocrite was running the FBI. It’s interesting how (and why) organized crime was completely disregarded during Hoover’s reign. We may someday learn more about his involvement in the assassination of JFK.
Eyes are opened on how one man can manipulate a large government. Scary.