J. Edgar Hoover: The Man Who Rebuilt The FBI | Dark Side Of The FBI | Timeline

this channel is part of the history hit Network [Music] [Music] we may never see another one like J Edgar Hoover because of the explosion of information it'd be much more difficult to centralize information in the way Jagger Hoover was able to that's some of the problem with American intelligence today is that maybe there's too much information and too much too much diffusion of power there's there's there's there's so many different agencies that are that are looking out for American Security interests that no one person knows everything that's going on in J Edgar Hoover's day you couldn't say that one person did know everything that was going on and that was J Edgar Hoover and so people have to ask in this time do we want to do we want another Jagger Hoover to keep us safe that's a tough question because perhaps you would be more secure but there's at what cost [Music] on May 2nd 1972 Jay Edgar Hoover director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for 50 years and the most feared man in the U.S died from a heart attack when President Nixon was told he kept it secret while he sent a covert team to search Hoover's house the [Music] ignored Hoover's body as it lay there their Obsession was to find the famous secret files in which Hoover kept explosive confidential information on all the American politicians journalists movie stars and presidents of the last half century [Music] they found nothing not a trace of the files Nixon changed the locks on Hoover's FBI office and kept the only key he was finally free to act five weeks later he ordered the burglary of the democratic party's Watergate offices a move which Hoover had opposed Nixon had no idea that the move would destroy him Hoover made the FBI the world's largest investigation organization using defamation and wiretaps to solidify his power and keep him as the only boss of the bureau his strength was knowing how to keep secrets and to never let on which Secrets he knew [Music] Richard hack an investigative journalist wrote the best seller Puppet Master The Secret Life of J Edgar Hoover he alone was given access to over 100 000 uncensored FBI memos [Music] if you love history then you will love history hit our extensive library of documentary features everything from the ancient origins of our earliest ancestors to the daring mission to sink the bismar history hit has hundreds of exclusive documentaries with unrivaled access to the world's best historians we're committed to Bringing history fans award-winning documentaries and podcasts that you cannot find anywhere else sign up now for a free trial and timeline fans get 50 off their first three months just be sure to use the code timeline at checkout no one ever heard it's the slightest leak of anything out of those files which is why no one knew what was in them today the the suggestion that anyone can keep a secret in government is absurd there is no such thing as a government secret Hoover kept secrets for 50 years think about that no one was able to ever get one piece of information out of those files how did this neurotic fearful short fat stuttering child become director of the FBI born January 1st 1895 he was raised a calvinist in Washington he grew up in a time where Jews blacks and Irish Catholics were excluded from high administrative positions a friend was his mother he dressed him cooked for him and lived with him until her death from an early age he was secretive never telling anyone his father died in an insane asylum he kept detailed Diaries which only his mother was permitted to see this was a man who really did his homework and he did it from the ground up he worked every single level of politics learning his way beginning as a messenger at the Library of Congress learning how to keep files learning how to gear his memory to minute every detail every number he learned how to remember and then he learned what to do with what he knew 1919 Hoover was 24 years old the U.S was taking shape and Civil War rivalries were still strong the Ku Klux Klan had over 1 million members Lennon was calling for World Revolution the American middle classes were suffering from a series of strikes and Anarchist bombings the Red Scare began Hoover became head of the general Intelligence Division his mission to study subversives he created the biggest file ever seen naming 450 000 revolutionaries anarchists and non-conformists on November 7 1919 Hoover organized raids on the unions violent dragnets and deportations followed Hoover wanted to Mark public opinion he managed to convict the famous revolutionary Emma Goldman as an anarchist claiming she had inspired the assassination of President McKinley 18 years earlier on December 21st at Ellis Island Hoover personally oversaw Emma Goldman's deportation to Russia alongside 249 other foreigners they sailed on the SS Buford nicknamed the red ark Hoover invited the press to this so-called goodbye party it was the beginning of his Fame and won him a promotion in 1921 at 26 he became assistant director of the Bureau of Investigation the time the Bureau of Investigation was extremely corrupt it didn't take much to become an agent in fact they would pay people one dollar a year give them access to stationary and name them agents and they could do what they basically wanted in the name of the federal government and apparently everyone was on the payroll in those days in 1924 President Coolidge decided to clean up the American Administration and the image of the justice department and its Bureau of Investigation [Music] foreign [Music] General Harlan Stone decided to clean up the Bureau of Investigation and he turned to Jake or Hoover this young man still in his 20s saying can you do this job and Hoover said I can do the job but I won't do the job if I have got to answer to anyone else but you [Music] at 30 Hoover became director of the FBI he kept the position for 48 years to his death foreign [Music] in which the Federal Bureau of Investigation works formula is a simple one intensive training carefully investigated and highly efficient Personnel Plus rigid requirements in regard to conduct intelligence and integrity [Music] Hoover established special agents the G-men who answered only to him not even the attorney general or the president [Music] foreign had to be above reproach his agents were all between 25 and 35 white attractive and middle class they wore suits white shirts hats and ties [Music] the single men lived like monks [Music] Hoover even used covert methods to split up couples no blacks no Hispanics no women no Jews when he arrived there were three female agents two were fired the third ended her days in a psychiatric hospital threatening to kill Hoover when she got out he also got rid of those with spots big ears damp hands and the bald and fat [Music] agency found overweight had to diet and were weighed each month under threat the Asian secretly called Hoover kid Napoleon because he was short his swivel chair was at a maximum height and mounted on a platform visitors were Seated on a low couch like Howard Hughes Hoover was paranoid about germs he installed an UltraViolet device in his office to eradicate them an employee was responsible for swatting flies this one branch of the Federal Bureau of Investigation the G-Man this is a bureau of scientific crime detection you modern up to the minute in action day and night the FBI never sleeps the G-men have become a legend so what's the mystery behind their badge there's heroism we know that in addition he decided to centralize the rudimentary taking a fingerprint identification [Music] yes Hoover organized it put people in charge got the budget to pay for it brought it to Washington and it became the center of the FBI's actual power base with police around the country [Music] Hoover established the world's largest crime lab 24 hours a day experts studied ballistics poisons hairs fabric fibers Anonymous letters and handwriting the lab and its identification division became the key to Hoover's power the FBI established a monopoly over all the country's criminal information [Music] foreign death the fingerprint archives had files on 159 million people in 1929 the stock market crash plunged America into chaos Hoover was 34. the public remained too unaware of his new Bureau for his taste and that of his boss in 1932 when the child of the famous Aviator Charles Lindbergh was kidnapped America was shattered and Hoover took advantage [Music] he had the president send him to oversee the case to no avail the baby's body was found just days later Hoover used this the investigation had been slowed by different state jurisdictions Hoover asked Franklin Roosevelt to increase his power from then on his agents had the right to operate in all states to Bear weapons and Hoover could investigate anyone he deemed a threat he United all the information services in one office the Federal Bureau of Investigation under his sole Direction chosen I think it's going to be necessary to enlarge the detail of Agents of Little Rock Arkansas so consequently I think we will have to transfer two agents from St Louis into Little Rock selecting agent bush agent Hardy for that detail he was the first politician to understand the media's power and how to use it the mafia gave him his chance [Music] thank you thank you at this time the popular Heroes who made Front Page News were the gangsters Machine Gun Kelly Babyface Nelson ma Baker and the famous Bonnie and Clyde Hoover with his genius for communication reconstructed their deaths for the Press director Hoover supervising field practice and the target might be a gangster car this is what happened to Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow in a battle with local laws Hoover hated the gangster's popularity especially John Dillinger known as Public Enemy Number One Dillinger mocked the FBI escaping them every time when Hoover's right-hand man Melvin Purvis finally shot down Dillinger Hoover organized a late night press conference to bask in the glory in 1935 after 600 days of War on crime Hoover and his G-Man rid America of its gangsters and became heroes in turn hyping their exploits to the Press a plane brings Machine Gun Kelly and his wife Catherine from Memphis Tennessee less than 90 days after the kidnapping 15 were convicted six get life Bailey and Kelly and Alcatraz when Machine Gun Kelly was captured he begged G-Man don't shoot meaning government men and the name G-Man flashed in the news [Music] Hoover and Bush needed a contract for control over G-Men a radio show in the FBI's Feats he made every magazine cover as the symbol of National Security and created division eight a press service dedicated to the glory of himself and the FBI in 1936 millions of Americans were addicted to the tales of the G-men children played with FBI Badges and guns and slept in FBI pajamas Hoover even became a cartoon hero it's because of Jay Hoover that they became Heroes and they started to show up in movies the no longer was the bad guy the one to win at the end it was the G-Man who who won at the end of day and literally did put this country on the path of Law and Order In A Major Way [Music] before World War II many Saw Hitler as the obvious Bastion against communism Airman Charles Lindbergh and Joseph Kennedy father of John F Kennedy and U.S ambassador to London publicly called for an alliance with Hitler they wanted the support of Hoover a renowned anti-communist who not only refused but persuaded President Roosevelt that the Nazi threat was more dangerous than communism [Music] the U.S government decided to look at this some 400 000 Germans who lived in the United States and they created a department called The Radical division within the justice department Jager who was a part of those individuals looking for these Germans looking at them to decide who was the good German and who was the bad German who was your spying who was not spying and it set him on a course this is Jay Edgar of being able to look underneath the floor mat he looked behind the individual he got to know what was lurking in the Dark Shadows of America and he was startled by what he saw Hoover built up hundreds of files on Germans living in the U.S and American Nazi Party members worried by their rise in power [Music] dozens of Nazi spies were brought to Justice the hunt for subversives began fear was that Nazi spies were everywhere including Hollywood where star Errol Flynn was accused of being a Nazi agent in June 1939 when war broke out in Europe Roosevelt announced that Hoover would lead the fight against Espionage and sabotage in May 1940 Roosevelt authorized Hoover to use phone taps formally prohibited Hoover's First Choice to Target was the president's wife Eleanor Roosevelt were suspected an affair with a young communist Soldier Joseph lash he bugged Eleanor's hotel room including the bedroom and bathroom he found no proof of a sexual relationship Eleanor found the microphones and went to her husband but Roosevelt seemed more worried about the young soldier who he transferred the next day to the Pacific Eleanor Roosevelt's file contained 449 Pages FBI Espionage for the White House allowed Hoover to increase his collection of files he assembled information on every politician and began dealing directly with Roosevelt cutting out his immediate boss the Attorney General [Music] December 7th 1941. the U.S was attacked by the Japanese at Pearl Harbor America was in shock Hoover was blamed for not taking seriously the statement of a double agent Popov warning of the attack Hoover saved his reputation by thwarting conspiracies and bombings organized by pro-nazis his greatest feat came in 1942 George Dash the leader of a group of saboteurs arrived by submarine off Long Island with seven other spies their mission was to blow up the Niagara Dam but strangely daesh warned the FBI Hoover saw a media godsend and called the press to announce the FBI had caught eight Nazi spies he never mentioned Ash and busted him with the others it won Hoover the Congressional gold medal later questions were raised as to Dash's role was he a U.S agent who had infiltrated the group and been sacrificed to save other U.S spies to this day nobody knows [Music] on April 12 1945 Roosevelt died the war was almost over President Truman was showing concern about the power of Hoover and the FBI in a May 12th memo he wrote we don't want a Gestapo or secret police some in the FBI are meddling in sex scandals in blackmail instead of catching criminals it has to stop when Truman discovered how Roosevelt used Hoover for phone taps he wrote what the hell is that crap tell the FBI we don't have time for this kind of [ __ ] but Truman changed his mind when he discovered that the file on his opponent Tommy Cochran a former Truman aide who switched camps had 5 000 pages of compromising wiretaps he saw the advantage of political Espionage and encouraged Hoover to continue making him his confidante but also falling in his debt now Hoover wanted the FBI to become a world Network to counter this a worried Truman created the Central Intelligence Agency the CIA which answered to the president and excluded Hoover Hoover banned his FBI agents from sharing information with the CIA [Music] on August 6 1945 to end the war with Japan Truman launched an atomic bomb over Hiroshima two hundred thousand died [Music] on October 16 1945 the physicist Robert Oppenheimer director of the Manhattan Project resigned and began campaigning against the atomic bomb Hoover suspected that Russian spies have infiltrated the project and were feeding Stalin with information Truman was skeptical however in 1990 Russian archives showed they had over 30 Russian agents within the project [Music] on April 16 1945 Senator Bernard baruche declared America's entry into the Cold War Truman ordered all civil servants to undergo a loyalty test the house on American Activities Committee was formed Congress gave Hoover a complete authority over these investigations making him a hero he made the Newsweek cover entitled how to fight communism Hoover saw that accusing stars of Communism would attract more attention than going after ordinary citizens on October 20th 1947 the first hearings of the House of Un-American Activities Committee began with Gary Cooper Robert Taylor and Ronald Reagan Hoover also put pressure on the studio heads to send him all actors suspected of Communism this campaign against Hollywood virtually destroyed the movie industry which was already suffering from the Advent of television on October 21st 19 screenwriters and directors were summoned and asked are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party the first 10 took the Fifth Amendment only the 11th bear told brecht swore to never having been a communist he was congratulated by the committee the first ten were convicted on October 24th Humphrey Bogart Lauren Bacall Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner came to Washington in support of the convicted 10. Hoover Furious threatened to ruin their careers they all backed off and denied any communist sympathies you have to understand the context of the time and and Hoover Hoover acted within that context and he acted within the context of anti-communist Hysteria or anti-communist concern it was there was real and there was exaggerated concern about communist influence in in America at the same time a file was opened for a Hollywood actor under the number 100-382196 height six foot one weight 174 pounds eyes blue name Ronald Reagan Hoover knew Reagan then a Democrat had mafia ties through his friend and lawyer Sydney korshak when Reagan became president of the screen actor's guild which defended its members against the committee Hoover brought up this dobius Association under threat Reagan changed sides becoming an agent for Hoover under the code number T10 [Music] indicated the names of actors and actresses with suspected communist ties while remaining their Union president in 1952 one of the most surprising events occurred when Reagan fell in love with an actress Nancy Davis whose name appeared on the Communist Meeting Lists Regan implicated another Unknown actress by the same name and cleared his loved one Hoover closed the file Hoover's files accumulated as writers and intellectuals took their turn they were Anonymous so no one could find a trace of the FBI only Hoover had access and he circulated material confidentially Hammett Thomas mon Ernest Hemingway John Steinbeck Aldous Huxley Arthur Miller Tennessee Williams Truman Capote Picasso and even Albert Einstein had secret files Truman worried wanted to get rid of Hoover but he was too popular attorney general Howard McGrath is quoted as saying Hoover is too powerful to be manipulated what happened with Jake or Hoover was that he wasn't so much eager to tell some tell America what somebody was doing wrong particularly if they were in a political power position what he was eager to do was let the person in the power position know he knew what they were doing wrong I J Edgar Hoover know what you did and your secret is safe with me but for crying out loud be careful in the future that right there put the senator the judge the president president's family on notice that somebody knew somebody was Keeping a Secret and with each secret he kept this man's power increased and because his power increased his popularity increased they were constantly inviting him to be part of the photo opportunity so he was constantly in front of America's eyes and they loved it they felt safe he was kissing Shirley Temple on the cheek he was America's Cup and he was honest he didn't get a big salary he didn't want a big salary and when Joseph Kennedy the father of a later President John F Kennedy offered him the presidency he said no I won't run as president I have no interest in running as president on October 11 1955 Joseph Kennedy wrote to Hoover Walter Winchell mentioned your name as a presidential candidate it would be wonderful for the United States whether on a Republican or a Democratic ticket I guarantee my support the United States deserves you and when Kennedy Jessica Kennedy asked him why he said because I already have more power than the president and I said I want that job I'll be out of business in four years I've got all the power I want right now and I am not an elected official and in fact he wasn't he was an appointed official that managed to go from Administration to Administration to Administration and very very very popular [Music] in February 1950 Senator Joseph McCarthy stated that the Truman government was knowingly harboring over 200 Communist party members when someone to give proof he requested Hoover's help Hoover dug out prudent material and began to secretly feed him information in the late 40s Senator McCarthy was on a rampage to expose Communists within the country and for Jay Hoover anyone who was joining his team to expose Communists was a friend most people in this country knew someone that had flirted with joining the Communist Party only because it was very popular it was like a radical cause it was very in at the time with the youngsters and with those who were trying to be politically forward it wasn't so much that they were in favor of Communism they were in favor of doing something avant-garde in 1951 Hoover joined the Nixon Eisenhower camp for the coming elections the opponent was Illinois governor Adlai Stevenson the day Stevenson announced his candidacy the FBI prepared a memo accusing him of homosexuality and communist sympathies Hoover ordered an anonymous letter making sexual allegations the rumor spread through Washington his FBI file was titled Stevenson sexual deviant Hoover used McCarthy and journalist Walter Winchell to destroy Stevenson's good reputation in November 52 Eisenhower won with 55 percent of the vote over feed McCarthy material there was no suggestion that the FBI and McCarthy were together up until the point that McCarthy decided to announce his source as soon as he was challenged to prove some of these facts he was spouting he said well the FBI gave me the material at which point Hoover became outraged and went and made up a uh an announcement publicly that the FBI did not indeed directly Supply McCarthy with any information the fact was as soon as he was directly involved with McCarthy however he started to back away from the senator and as McCarthy became more and more unpopular Hoover became more and more popular he was talking to America saying we need to be level-headed we need to be reasonable here it was the type of thing that Hoover did repeatedly he did it with journalists he did it with his friends his Superstar friends he would feed them bits of information tantalize them and uh as soon as they became unuseful to him he would drop them and this was a man who did not cultivate friendships he cultivated opportunities he manipulated America he manipulated Congress he manipulated Hollywood who were new rumors of homosexuality ruined political careers he used this he was a master manipulator so his enemies began using the same methods accusing him of romantic relationship with his chief aide Clyde Tolson which had lasted 40 years they worked together were unmarried and inseparable [Music] journalists spread the rumor that the mafia had compromising photos no one has seen these photos and while these accusations could have ruined Hoover's career no mafia boss would have risked blackmailing the country's most formidable man [Music] Tolson stayed with him to the end he left the FBI the day that Hoover died there was not one single and a shred of proof and believe me I looked there would have been something somewhere to suggest that something was going on and the only thing that I found that showed any sign of Love whatsoever was all the mentors he kept from his mother and Dorothy Lamour [Music] the concept that Hoover was more powerful than anyone in the United States was based on fact you did not want to get on the bad side of this man you wanted to be his friend if at all possible this not only included people in Washington it definitely included people in Hollywood Hoover often visited Hollywood he loved being seen with stars and them with him he was America's biggest star and the photos made all the magazines the actors sought the favor of America's leading cop they welcomed him during filming died with him some even took shooting lessons at the FBI [Music] they didn't know he had them followed wiretapped and kept files on each of them he knew that the glamor of premieres palm trees and beautiful Villas hid a world of gangsters blackmail prostitutes drugs corrupt lawyers and publicity hungry politicians in 1953 he named a committee to launch a series of Investigations into Hollywood this is how Lana Turner Gary Cooper Anthony Quinn Marilyn Monroe Charlton Heston Spencer Tracy Groucho Marx Bert Lancaster Edward G Robinson Charlie Chaplin and many others ended up with FBI Files and tap producers homes and film studios all Hollywood was bugged Jagger Hoover had his own unique style and method of filing it is what made his power base so remarkable because no one knew where to find anything among these millions of documents Hoover's files had five categories obscene sexual deviancy personal and confidential official and confidential and the fifth do not file which reported on the bureau's OWN infractions Hoover understood that Sex and Money were the key weaknesses of politicians each number representing something absolutely unique to Jake or Hoover but for anyone else that was looking at it to figure out I mean it wasn't alphabetical it wasn't by subject it wasn't by state it wasn't by crime it had absolutely no sense yet if you needed a file his assistants went right to that filing cabinet and put out the one piece of paper you need and even to this day the filing system has not changed and to this day there is absolutely no semblance of order to it unless you work within the FBI and if you do then you know exactly where to find everything and believe me they know where to find things they also know by the way because of the Freedom of Information Act in this country you can get access to all these files it's one of the ways I was able to write this book on Jager Hoover but they also have a big black pen and they Mark everything out that they don't want you to see the key is to getting the pieces of paper without the black pen marked on them that's a real Secret in the 1950s Hoover learned that many politicians including Nixon Johnson Truman and Kennedy would go to Las Vegas Sin City to get dirty money from the mafia to assist in their electoral campaigns foreign Hoover bugged a whole City hotel rooms casinos restaurants administrative buildings and unions he knew everything about Senator Kennedy's affairs with girls introduced to him by Sinatra and the latter's mafia ties when JFK became president in 1960 he decided to get rid of Hoover this was Hoover's first real threat [Music] well in a lot of ways J Edgar Hoover and Frank Sinatra were made for each other when Frank Sinatra died in 1998 we both became interested in his FBI Files because we we both work in that area I I do I do a lot of work with government archives and Philip Phil does a lot of work with an investigative reporting and we knew that since Sinatra had been such a dominant figure in American entertainment and American politics for the last half century that his files would no doubt be quite interesting and they were what you had was a A History of the United States for about 50 years going from the Communist era through the Kennedy era through the Reagan Era because Frank Sinatra was rubbing elbows with everybody in that time period he was a celebrity that both found himself attracted to powerful figures and saw powerful figures attracted to him and the entire time another great figure in American history J Edgar Hoover was watching this whole thing unfold and keeping copious notes on both things that were observed facts that were observed and also unverified rumors about Frank Sinatra's life all of it was taken down in this dossier that you that that we took and put into this book Frank Sinatra was forever hanging out with very very questionable figures Sam giancana who was the head of the Chicago mob is the most famous of them in 1960 Frank Sinatra introduced both Sam giancana and John F Kennedy who was in a presidential candidate on separate occasions he introduced them to one Judith Campbell Judith Campbell was mistress to uh to Jack Kennedy and to Sam giancana so you had this bizarre circumstance where this this woman who's got ties to the Mob is sleeping with the president of the United States and J Edgar Hoover because of how well connected he was and his informants were knew about this at the time and made it clear to Robert Kennedy that he knew it President Kennedy's brother and Jagger Hoover immediately went to the White House and said to Robert Kennedy I want you to know that it might be wise for you to talk to your brother the president about the relationship he is currently having with a woman named Judith Campbell who has connections with this Mafia through her own relationships [Music] it might not look good your secret is perfectly safe with me but who knows who else might be able to find out about it and Robert Kennedy was absolutely dumbstruck he stopped he paused he knew he was wise enough to realize there was no getting rid of Jake or Hoover there was no possibility of removing this man because of what he knew you could say it was Jagger Hoover's finest Hour argue arguably because um at no point in American history I don't think did did the underworld become so come so close to gaining influence at the highest level of the American government I mean you think of this sort of thing happening in Italy but not in the United States but it was clear that Mobsters were were using Frank Sinatra to gain an entree to the president of the United States Hoover was 66 and knew Kennedy wanted to retire him after his 1964 reelection he hated Jack's brother Robert Kennedy who forced Hoover to go through him to reach the president but thanks to his Las Vegas bugs he knew the Kennedys were implicated in the assassination attempts on Castro and that they adjusted the job to the CIA to keep Hoover out of it when the CIA chose two Las Vegas Mafia bosses for the mission friends of Sinatra and the president Sam Gymkhana and Johnny rosselli Hoover merely opened a new Kennedy file and waited [Music] despite Robert Kennedy's ban Hoover bugged the Malibu House of actor and Kennedy brother-in-law Peter Lawford and learned about the secret relationship between Marilyn Monroe and JFK who met there in secret a transcript revealed that when Maryland advised the president to get rid of Hoover he said impossible Hoover knows too much Hoover gloated after Marilyn Monroe's death Hoover protected the Kennedys but they knew he had all the facts on them Hoover could relax he was untouchable [Music] the fact that Hoover put everything in Black and White made things very simple particularly in America life itself is not that difficult if you look at things in black and white you have the good guys and the bad guys what you have right and you have wrong that is exactly the way Jagger who painted things that's what he thought there was no complications in Jaeger Hoover's theories Hoover felt that the attacks on Fidel Castro and the mafia by Robert Kennedy had left his brother exposed President Kennedy's assassination on November 2nd 1963 didn't surprise Hoover is a different shock Robert Kennedy Hoover felt John Kennedy died in his brother's place according to FBI wiretap transcripts on June 4th 1962 mobster Eddie M was trying to have Robert Kennedy assassinated to stop his attacks on the mafia foreign knew JFK's murder was designed to avenge the assassination attempt on Castro organized by Robert Kennedy the CIA and the mafia [Music] but he couldn't reveal this the American people would call for a war on Cuba he warned President Johnson that Cuba had 20 Russian missiles pointed at American cities which the FBI estimated could cause 20 million deaths Johnson and Hoover ordered the investigating committee to bury the truth in the famous Warren report the Kennedy family agreed to silence and never commented on the assassination again [Music] one of the more interesting ways that Hoover managed to control not only the government but the media was his ability to to escape taking direct responsibility for anything when he wanted to a microphone in the offices of Martin Luther King before he would do that however he wanted to have the authority from someone else in this particular case it was the Attorney General his boss Robert Kennedy who he went to multiple times requesting that he have the right to bug this band's office based on the fact that he had communist infiltrations the man Stanley levison who was his financial Guru was supposedly a member of the Communist party and he wanted to learn what was going on in that office if indeed there was a communist connection eventually Robert Kennedy said yes he acquiesced and he gave Hoover the power to bug he not only bugged his office he built his motel rooms he bugged his house he bugs his phones he he bugged his car and he discovered nothing about the Communist party but he discovered that Martin Luther King was having multiple clandestine affairs with women and it turned Jager Hoover's stomach Hoover would take these tapes home with him and listen to them at night which is sort of fascinating and he spent the rest of his living days trying to discredit this man who essentially was doing a lot of good and what he did in his private time was his own business to most people but not to Jagger Hoover Robert Kennedy never backtracked he never said all right enough stop he never took that power away from Jacob Hoover and as such to the moment he died Martin Luther King was a bugged man there was a wonderful meeting where Martin Luther King came to Jack Hoover in the FBI headquarters to try to make peace and they shook hands and it appeared to everyone that they were again on friendly terms was not the kid nothing had changed in Hoover's eyes he merely saw another photo opportunity so he smiled for the cameras in the suit of Martin Luther King was out of touch he he authorized another wiretap in the early 70s Hoover went against all his principles having bugged them off as Leaders he let them commit murders he knew about to protect his informers within the organization he authorized their crimes and let his agents arrest and convict innocent men is it true that in the year 1950 you devised the murder of the heads of the so-called five families in New York it's a complete fossil [Music] it wasn't until after Hoover's death of this information became known and stands as far more and interesting appellation of of irresponsibility than any rumor we may have heard about this man having a relationship with the second in command which pales by comparison to getting someone falsely accused of murder and letting the real murderers that you know about Go free it is appalling to me and everyone else that's heard the story and it it does put a giant black spot on the man's name in 1971 Hoover's popularity was plummeting Nixon and his aides wanted him out an FBI Memo from October 8 1971 records the president's words for many reasons Hoover's got to resign he must go of his own accord to avoid waves before next year's elections at the same time Nixon discovered that the Democrats were about to reveal supposed backhanders he'd received from millionaire Howard Hughes he hired some former CIA agents known as the plumbers to find the files but a series of countrywide burglaries turned up nothing when Hoover learned that the president had created his own secret police a new turn of events he gave him a warning Nixon didn't listen [Music] on May 2nd 1972 Hoover died of a heart attack strangely there was no autopsy leaving doubts as to the cause his death was well timed released from this burden a few weeks later Nixon sent his men to burgle the Democratic party's headquarters in the Watergate building the Watergate Affair began Nixon had signed his political death warrant in 2006 we learned that the Informer deep throat who triggered the investigation by two Washington journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein which led to Nixon's resignation was an FBI agent named Mark felt who had worked under Hoover for years [Music] and it'll remain a mystery I think it's a mystery even to Bob Woodward you don't know if the source is actually using you or that you are being given information that someone higher up wants you to have or in fact you're getting information that higher-ups don't know you're getting it's why journalists have to be very professional that's why investigators have to be very professional when it comes to the use and understanding and handling of confidential sources so that's why they call Espionage the Wilderness of mirrors you don't know who you're working for after a while that's right this building is the headquarters of the Southern jurisdiction of the Scottish Rite Freemasons Jay at gehoover was a member of the Scottish Rite Freemasons when he passed away he was a 33rd degree Freemason which was the highest level of Freemasonry that one could achieve foreign [Music] 's death the FBI changed the FBI became open there was not the glamor that there was the FBI had to yet again reinvent itself it had to become Beyond reproach yet again and it did and because it did and because we were all watching as they did it we took on and renewed respect once again and Hollywood noticed and we have the Jodie Fosters playing FBI agent the FBI Academy a criminal Asylum hello sir a young student of the Criminal Mind I'm here to learn from you just your job but never forget what he is now we have have celebrities that are not afraid to put their name in the mix associated with the Federal Bureau of Investigation now FBI profiler Terry McCaleb owes his life to the victim of a Murder [Music] three years after Hoover's death in December 75 Congress opened an investigation into the FBI they summoned Hoover's secretary Helen Gandy who'd been with him since 1918. where did the millions of secret files disappear to only one thing was certain documents were taken to Hoover's house after his death Helen Gandhi swore these were only Hoover's personal effects but the driver who carried them contradicted her saying at least 25 binders and 35 boxes were put in the basement monitored by employee Annie fields no one knows what became of them [Music] as we claimed a few months later that files damaging to Nixon's White House remained in the possession of Hoover's close friend Clyde Tolson at tolson's death his house was searched by FBI agents Helen Gandhi never talked and was never questioned again in 1977 the FBI burned the sexual devancy files containing three hundred thousand Pages Edgar Hoover is a very very complicated figure to this day his name adorns the headquarters of the FBI building in Washington DC it's called the J Edgar Hoover building and to this day there are people in Congress both Republicans and Democrats fighting over whether or not his name should be on that building because he oversaw such a huge invasion of privacy during his time period the FBI of today is a prevention of terrorism is really what the uh what the country demands of us at this particular time identifying the problem before it become serious problem before the 9 11 in the fact of 9 11 is not that we didn't know about it it's that we didn't tell about it there was information out there it wasn't just going to the right places I mean we were getting bits and pieces it just never was collected in a single pot and in Jaeger Hoover's time it would have been selected they would have been put there it would have been found out there was no other place for it to go now we have Homeland Security we've got the CIA we've got the you know we've got this TSA we've got all these initials and everybody has their own little place and nobody knows what to do and in Hoover's case he knew what to do he was the end the buck stopped there and he knew he got the information and nobody ever didn't tell him everyone was was proud to be able to get their memo to Hoover and I too agree it would not have happened it would definitely not have happened that's a very good point I mean and it's a debate that's going on right now because President Bush is determined to keep America safe to not have another attack like we had on September 11 2001 but he's doing so in ways that lots of people in this country feel are threatening to civil liberties and the question is do we do we want to be so safe that we're no longer a free country um Jager Hoover probably would have argued for just trust me and I'll keep you safe but that also means I'll be watching you foreign

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Keywords: Timeline World History, Timeline, Full Length Documentary, History Documentary, World History, learn history, history facts, FBI, j edgar hoover

Id: oRjfiQZfWNY

Length: 56min 40sec (3400 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 31 2022