John Edgar Hoover was born on January 1st, 1895 in Washington, D.C. Born one of four children in a middle-class protestant home, Hoover remained there until the death of his mother when he was 43-years-old. Hoover gained much of his appreciation for law and politics from his mother who was the niece of a Swiss consulate and his father who was a Coast Guardsman and Geodetic Surveyor. Hoover's first job was at 12-years old as a grocery carrier at the local market, when he noticed people needing help and realized he could pick up cash tips from doing this. Growing up, Hoover attended a Lutheran church but in his teen started attending a Presbyterian church because of his respect and admiration for Rev. Donald Macleod, who Hoover claimed was his "hero" in his support for younger people and inspired him to teach Sunday school and become a junior superintendant of his church. Although Hoover stuttered as a youth he read about how to perfect his speech and eventually taught himself not to stutter; later Hoover joined the debate team in high school. He excelled in his classes, which included French and Latin, and also at sports even though he was rejected by the football team for being too thin, he joined the track team instead and helped them win four national championships. He participated in ROTC and loved keeping a journal, where he took note of analyzing people's actions and behaviors. Hoover studied law at George Washington University participated in a work-study program where he became an aid at the Library of Congress under of the watchful eye of Herbert Putnam who made the library a pillar of 20th century U.S. Government. Hoover worked there for over four years and graduated from George Washington University in 1916; he then began working on a master's in law that he completed a year later and passed the bar exam.
In 1917, President Woodrow Wilson initiated the draft and Hoover registered but did not enlist, he was after all the primary care provider for his mother, and father who had to retire early from the Department of the Interior due to mental illness. Edgar's uncle, Supreme Court Justice William Hitz, helped him get a draft-exempt position in the justice department. Hoover quickly rose through the ranks making $900 per year as a file clerk to twice as much within a year being promoted to an attorney position. Hoover was then placed in charge of a unit of the Enemy Alien Registration Section. Hoover researched statistics of enemy aliens and began supporting efforts of the American Protective League and the Burea of Investigation's raids on suspected spies war opposers. By the end of the war, Woodrow Wilson had appointed a new attorney general, A. Mitchell Palmer, who appointed Hoover as his special assistant. They used the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Alien and Sedition Act of 1918 to begin working against radicals and their organizations. Hoover worked on deporting Germans that he labeled "anarchist," such as Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman. In 1924, Hoover was selected to head the Bureau of Investigation. Hoover quickly began restructuring the organization through changing hiring, promotion and retention of agents. Hoover's career with the bureau was heavy-laden with battling organized crime and tracking down fascists, communists and anti-government radicals. Hoover was noted as being obsessed with Martin Luther King, Jr. and opposed many of his public and even private endeavors even though Hoover was also known as a supporter of civil-rights advocacy. Hoover also reportedly criticized the Nixon administration and his cabinet of CIA operatives and was noted as being disliked by other presidents. Many rumours surround the persona of Hoover as being one of the most influential and mysterious men in America's history. Hoover's power as the director of the FBI and as an untouchable "G-man" was beyond measure and cannot be compared by today's standards since there have been laws passed by congress to prevent such power in the future. Hoover is known to some as an American hero and has changed not only the face of modern law enforcement but intelligence gathering and the information sciences in general.
Freedom of Information Act: Personal File