August 3, 2018 ▸ History, People

Episode 320: J Edgar Hoover: The Flawed Founder of the FBI

On this episode of The Sofa King Podcast, we break out the Tommy Guns, polish our badges, and talk about the life, power, corruption, and secrets of the ultimate G-Man, J Edgar Hoover. J Edgar Hoover was the first director of the FBI (he even predated the FBI when it was simply the Bureau of Investigation), and he ran the joint for almost 50 years.

All the roaring twenties gangster arrests were on his watch, as was prohibition, World War II, the Red Scare, the Cold War, and civil rights. His vision of the FBI defined politics in Washington and criminal prosecution throughout the land, for better or worse. At his height, J Edgar Hoover was so powerful that every president and D.C. power broker feared him and information he’d inevitably gathered on them (and everyone).

Hoover started COINTELPRO, which was often illegal and always immoral. He spied on Martin Luther King and tried to convince him to commit suicide (like you do…). He hated commies and persecuted them even before he was the director during a crazy episode in American history called the Palmer Raids. He also persecuted homosexuals as security risks for spying communists, though many experts are convinced he was a closet homosexual himself.

So, why did he hate MLK so much? What was wrong with his COINTELPRO program? Who was Clyde Tolson, and why do people think he was his gay lover for decades? Did he really dress in drag? Listen, laugh, learn.

Anthony Summers Article on Hoover’s Secret Life: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/jan/01/j-edgar-hoover-secret-fbi

MLK Letter: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2017/12/13/an-old-letter-sheds-light-on-fbis-malice-toward-martin-luther-king-jr/?utm_term=.3891f7ba8069