John Edgar Hoover was born on January 1, 1895. His father's name was
Dickerson Hoover. His mother was Anne Marie Scheitlin Hoover. He was the
youngest of 3 children, his brother, Dickerson Jr. who was 15 years older and
his sister, Lillian, who was 13 years older. After he quit school after his father's
mental breakdown, John became a messenger boy for the Library of Congress.
During that time he spent his evenings studying for a law degree at George
Washington University. He graduated in 1917. After graduation his uncle helped
him get a job with the Justice Department. In 1919, the attorney general of
the United States, made Hoover his special assistant. His job as the special
assistant was to lead an organization formed to gather evidence on
communists in the United States. In 1921, Hoover became assistant
director of the Bureau of Investigation. In 1924, Hoover became the
director of the Bureau of Investigation. In 1935 Hoover pushed for and
was eventually approved by Congress, the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Before then Bureau agents had few powers. They were not armed and
were not allowed to arrest individuals. After the Congress act, agents were
armed and had the power to arrest individuals all around the country. Hoover
then started a scientific crime detention laboratory. He also started the
FBI Academy. He then appointed Clyde Tolsen assistant director. After World
War 2, Hoover believed that many ranking Government officials were members
of the communist party. President Truman didnt believe his accusations, so he
bagan to leak information about the suspected communists in the government.
As a member of the HUAC, House Un-American Committee, he started the
investigation of suspected communists in the entertainment industry and was
able to name 151 entertainers that had communist belie
...